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Phuket Tourist Bus Crashes Into Patong Hill Temple Wall as Brakes Fail
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
PHUKET: An empty tourist bus with failed brakes roared down Patong Hill on Phuket today and wiped out two motorcycles before halting by crashing into a temple wall at the base of the hill.
Driver Pirom Jobpromrat, 45, sustained injuries to the left side of his body but managed to halt the Thammachart brand bus by sliding it into the temple wall. He was the only person on the bus.
Police were told by Khun Pirom that the brakes failed and hitting the wall was his only choice. Two parked motorcycles were destroyed.
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Comments
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Wow i believe thailand has the most truck and or bus brake failures in the whole wide world (if you believe)
Posted by
beach lover
on
December 10, 2014 23:46
@beach lover
have ever been to Egypt? there have even no mandatory inspection, so virtually any vehicle except apparently brand new, are killer vehicles or coffin or 2 in 1.
Posted by
Sue
on
December 11, 2014 01:05
"Police were told by Khun Pirom that the brakes failed" Do the police check the brakes for reel?
Posted by
retired roadworker
on
December 11, 2014 07:43
Editor Comment:
Usually, yes.
It would be interesting to know what time of day this accident occurred. The so-called ban at peak hours introduced after last year's fatal accident at the same location has fallen by the wayside.
There are no officials at either end of the hill during peak hours to ban these vehicles. Empty actions as usual (as is the 'brake failure' excuse).
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
December 11, 2014 08:42
Thais don't understand power to weight ratio momentum or vehicle maintenance to they do the brake failure excuse continues usually in these arguments the temple wall wins.
Posted by
slickmelb
on
December 11, 2014 08:45
Education about brake fade and the necessity of using a low gear while descending hills should be mandatory for all drivers. Unfortunately its not, and this will continue to happen. Brakes don't fail with the regularity implied here. It is brake fade due to heat generated by prolonged braking down a hill. The brakes become ineffective and are not designed to be engaged for hundreds of metres at a time continuously which is often the case on Patong hill.
Posted by
A local
on
December 11, 2014 09:06
Is this type of bus technical spoken a bus suitable for driving Patong Hill? So many break failures of busses on that hill. Many near that temple.
Posted by
Kurt
on
December 11, 2014 09:52
What happened to the law that stopped large vehicles going over Patong hill and that they had to take the other route?
How quickly people forget...
Oooh a sunbed
Posted by
Tbs
on
December 11, 2014 10:30
Another crashing bus! Thank God nobody killed. Probably thanks only to the skill of the driver using the wall as his brake.
These dreadfully badly made buses are still ploughing up and sown Patong Hill every day endangering lives. When oh when are the authorities going to start imposing some decent standards to these vehicles??
Posted by
jimbo34
on
December 11, 2014 10:31
I wish the headlines of these stories would change to "when the bus failed to break".
Posted by
rc
on
December 11, 2014 11:05
@RC
It's not usually "failed to brake".
As A Local has suggested, it's usually due to the driver riding the brakes all the way down the hill and cooking them, causing them to fail, rather than using a low gear and engine braking.
Although we don't know the specifics of this incident - this isn't a guess, I drive over the hill most days and you can see the brake lights on all the cars, trucks and buses as they go down on both sides.
That funny lever with D, 3, 2 and L written next to it appears to be some form of "mystery stick" here in Phuket- maybe its somewhere to hang your handbag.
Education, education, education !
Posted by
Amazing Thailand
on
December 11, 2014 12:58
To rc 'I wish the headlines of these stories would change to "when the bus failed to break". Yes i agree, but when the bus fail to BRAKE, it often does BREAK the bus>
Posted by
Gary
on
December 11, 2014 13:31
Here's how to stop this happening again:
Add a clause to the driver's contract or terms of employment that states that the driver will pay for any damage to the bus under any circumstances.
Posted by
Smithy
on
December 11, 2014 16:36
Editor Comment:
Unworkable and unfair.
So how could he pass the check point in Kathu ? At 5Pm he should not be allowed to drive over the hill.
Posted by
Mj
on
December 11, 2014 19:08
@MJ what checkpoint all lip service and big talk again they don't really do anything about a problem.
Posted by
slickmelb
on
December 14, 2014 09:59
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Wow i believe thailand has the most truck and or bus brake failures in the whole wide world (if you believe)
Posted by beach lover on December 10, 2014 23:46