Patong Hill 3 killed

[landofsmiles]

Tragic accident on the hill yesterday. 3 Thais killed in a small car crushed by a cement truck. Unconfirmed as it has come from my landlord.

Completely seperate incident to the bus full of tourists that crashed and overturned early evening I believe.

I hate that hill!

[Dingo's]

It's a rough hill that one. Apparently they're spending 80 Million baht on ANOTHER study to determine if they should put a tunnel in or not.

What a terrible way to go...

[LivinLOS]

I read somewhere else that a bus also rolled early evening too ?!?!

[landofsmiles]

Re Bus accident>>>

Bus accident on Patong hill road caused traffic paralysis for 3 hours last night.

The accident occurred around 6 pm last night, when an airconditioned bus with 37 tourists, mostly Israeli, crashed and overturned, on a hilly road connecting Patong beach with Kathu, into Phuket town. The initial report indicated that the bus was taking tourists back to Patong after a trip to Phang Nga. When it got to the scene, it was raining on the slippery road, and the driver lost control of the bus. Even though there were no fatal cases, all the injured were rushed to hospitals for treatment, such as Patong Hospital, Phuket International Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Phuket. The accident forced police to block off the route for 2-3 hours to remove the bus, but a checkpoint was set up to keep the public informed. During this holiday period, the authority has set up an ad hoc centre for road safety, and yesterday was the first day.


from Andaman News TV11 Phuket,

[landofsmiles]

Originally Posted by Dingo's

It's a rough hill that one. Apparently they're spending 80 Million baht on ANOTHER study to determine if they should put a tunnel in or not.
What a terrible way to go...

That money would be better spent resurfacing the WHOLE hill and lighting it properly.The Kathu side is diabolical where all the concrete lumps and debris are near the bottom. Crazy that the Patong side got resurfaced last year but not the Kathu side because it's under a different jurisdiction.

[Soupdragon]

Originally Posted by landofsmiles

That money would be better spent resurfacing the WHOLE hill and lighting it properly.The Kathu side is diabolical where all the concrete lumps and debris are near the bottom. Crazy that the Patong side got resurfaced last year but not the Kathu side because it's under a different jurisdiction.

Yes the road surface is bad on the Kathu side can be very difficult to come up that side in the wet without spinning the wheels and sliding all over the road.

Also I think vehicle maintenace and driver attitude could be an issue here. That is the 5th incident involving the cement trucks that go back and forward over the hill everyday that I have heard about/witnessed. Even when people are killed it seems no action is taken against the company for its obviously unsafe operating practices. I shit myself everytime I am coming down that hill and see one of those trucks filling my mirrors, no way could he stop that thing in a hurry coming down the hill at the speeds they drive.

[Nicke]

I would like to see the road between Patong and Wat Chalong completed aswell, to lessen the traffic on current roads to/from Patong. Also with the increasing number of sois at Patong Hill stretch it also makes it more dangerous as more vehicles drive in/out these sois.

I guess a tunnel cost too much for a small municipality like Patong?

[Masterwoodsman]

The hill is bad enough in its own right, what makes it worse is most of these tw@ts can't drive !!!

[MajorTom]

I drove past there after it happened yesterday. The car was smashed to about half of its original size. Feared that someone had been killed.

[Captain]

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

Yes the road surface is bad on the Kathu side can be very difficult to come up that side in the wet without spinning the wheels and sliding all over the road.

Also I think vehicle maintenace and driver attitude could be an issue here. That is the 5th incident involving the cement trucks that go back and forward over the hill everyday that I have heard about/witnessed. Even when people are killed it seems no action is taken against the company for its obviously unsafe operating practices. I shit myself everytime I am coming down that hill and see one of those trucks filling my mirrors, no way could he stop that thing in a hurry coming down the hill at the speeds they drive.

If I see how they drive on Beach Road and Second Road in Patong I am ammazed that they didn't kill anybody there.

[TV Channel 11]

Just to clarify that bus accident was on 30 December 2005 !
MiniVDO on ThaisNews

Originally Posted by landofsmiles

Re Bus accident>>>

Bus accident on Patong hill road caused traffic paralysis for 3 hours last night.

The accident occurred around 6 pm last night, when an airconditioned bus with 37 tourists, mostly Israeli, crashed and overturned, on a hilly road connecting Patong beach with Kathu, into Phuket town. The initial report indicated that the bus was taking tourists back to Patong after a trip to Phang Nga. When it got to the scene, it was raining on the slippery road, and the driver lost control of the bus. Even though there were no fatal cases, all the injured were rushed to hospitals for treatment, such as Patong Hospital, Phuket International Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Phuket. The accident forced police to block off the route for 2-3 hours to remove the bus, but a checkpoint was set up to keep the public informed. During this holiday period, the authority has set up an ad hoc centre for road safety, and yesterday was the first day.


from Andaman News TV11 Phuket,

[landofsmiles]

Originally Posted by TV Channel 11

Just to clarify that bus accident was on 30 December 2005 !
MiniVDO on ThaisNews

Oops sorry...forget the bit about the bus then. I was googling trying to find more info on the fatal accident with the cement truck and the bus crash came out top...didn't notice the date.

[K2]

Another tale of woe from 'landofsmiles' - sorry mate never met you - but seriously on this board if there is a mishap, disaster or some other untoward event you are there to post about it. Perhaos a BM name change to 'land of depression' is in order.

[easyrider_au]

Dr. Death perhaps?

[LivinLOS]

Thailands already got one..

[Dupree00]

Won't it be awesome! Patong in the future. Everyone with James Bond jet packs flying over that hill. You think the Thai will still put a family of 3 on one?

[ATMwalking]

Not to be cruel, but how is this different than anyother day? Death is baked into the road design.

[Hobbsy]

while that is true the truck drivers drive irresponsibly unaware that they are carrying a heavy load. they are nearly always at fault in these accidents and get no repurcussions.

[Baz]

Girlfriend just coming back from patong to kathu 4.15pm today, big tail backs again, this time a car off the road and landed on it's roof.

The thing is now that most of the crash barriers to patong from kathu to stop vechiles going of the road, there is now loads of it missing or so damaged that there half the height they should be.

Baz

[SiamGecko]

Originally Posted by Hobbsy

while that is true the truck drivers drive irresponsibly unaware that they are carrying a heavy load. they are nearly always at fault in these accidents and get no repurcussions.

Agree there. Those things scare the hell out of me. I regularly use Chao Fa West and Wiset Roads and they thunder along at breakneck speed....I can't imagine one stopping in less than 2-300 metres when they are up at 120kph. Saw one run a red light the other day and everyone was literally diving for cover, cars driving off the road to get out of the way.

Sad to say, but I think the only thing that would make anyone pay any attention to doing anything about the driving here would be a truck ploughing through a market and killing scores of people.