Drunk and drunker bus driver plows into passenger vehicle
BANGKOK – Mr Thirapong Rodprasert, Director-General of Land Transport Department has reported that more than 800 public buses were found to be involved in speeding and 19 drivers were caught driving beyond the four-hour limit at a time without taking a break during the December 30-January 2nd.
Mr Thirapong Rodprasert disclosed that 631 public buses were found to be not in good working conditions but yet they were put into services by their operators during the same period.
Mr Thirapong Rodprasert said that the department had imposed fine on all these road safety offenders without exception. He vowed that officials concerned would strictly enforce the safety measures throughout the safety campaign period during the New Year’s festival which is due to end today.
According to 1584 hotline of the centre for the protection of city bus commuters, altogether 178 complaints were lodged with the centre during December 26-January 2 mostly regarding reckless or drunk driving, followed by rudeness by drivers and conductors and drivers’ refusal to stop at bus stops.
An inter-provincial passenger bus travelling from Ranong to Bangkok and a pickup truck plunge into a roadside ditch on Phetkasem Road in Prachuap Khiri Khan in the early hours of Jan 4.(Photo by Chaiwat Satyaem)
Meanwhile, A report in the Bangkok Post say’s three men were seriously injured when a pickup truck they were
travelling in was hit by an inter-provincial passenger bus in Prachuap Khiri Khan in the early hours of Sunday.
The crash took place at kilometre marker 383 on Phetkasem Road in tambon Ron Thong in Bang Saphan district at about 10 minutes past midnight, said Pol Lt Lert Sriraksa, of Bang Saphan district police station.
Police and rescue workers rushed to the scene and found an overturned Bangkok-Ranong inter-provincial passenger bus in a roadside ditch. A badly-damaged pickup truck was seen in front of the bus.
Three men were found trapped in the wreckage of the pickup truck. All sustained serious head injuries and were retrieved from the vehicle by rescue workers