Are double-decker buses safe for public transport? Land traffic authorities must answer this question quickly and transparently. There is no more time for guessing games, for trial and error.
Indeed, it’s shocking that this crucial question is being asked now when double-decker buses have been allowed to freely use the roads and highways as public transportation carriers for years.
Registration statistics show that there are more than 6,200 double-decker buses nationwide.
Bus travellers will also know that the double-decker is a standard option for most bus operators, with the single-decker a rare exception. This means travellers generally have no alternative when it comes to bus transportation.
What is also worrisome is this is not the first time that this very question has been asked, along with a proposal to see if the buses should be banned from the roads altogether.
In July last year, a double-decker had a head-on collision with a truck in Roi Et, causing 19 deaths. Many of the casualties were caused by a fire that spread after the crash because they could not climb down from the high, second deck of the bus quickly enough. Four months later in October, another double-decker bus plunged into a ravine in Payao, killing 22.
Following these accidents, the question of whether 4.3-metre-high buses are safe enough to be used on the country’s roads was raised. It was discussed for a while, then forgotten.
The latest fatalities were on Monday when a double-decker bus driver lost control on a hilly road and the bus plunged into a ravine in Tak, killing 29 people and injuring 23 others.
Following the accident, caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt revealed that many of the buses could be unsafe as they can overturn when negotiating curves at high speed.
Mr Chadchart also said that up to 45% of the buses that took the slope test did not pass.
Prof Paiboon Suriyawongpaisal, head of the traffic accident research team at the National Public Health Foundation, also told Thai Rath on Tuesday that because of its higher centre of gravity, a double-decker bus is 25% more prone to overturning than a single-decker.
The information is appalling. What is questionable, however, is what was the point of the authorities sharing the data, except to frighten the public who essentially have no choice in their means of public bus transportation?
If the transport authorities are unsure about the double-decker bus’s safety record, why do they let thousands of them travel on the roads legitimately in the first place?
Following the accident in Tak, the Department of Land Transport said it will consider banning double-decker buses on hilly roads and steep, dangerous terrain. The department director-general Asdsathai Rattanadilok na Phuket said he will ask for cooperation from bus operators to use the buses only on straight roads.
He said the department will assess in three months if bus companies have cooperated and whether road safety has improved. If not, it will seek to ban the double-deckers from dangerous routes. Mr Chadchart has shown a much more lenient stance. Even though he pointed out that drivers may find it difficult to control the buses in an emergency situation, considering the extra height and weight, the minister has only proposed that the height of all passenger buses be limited to four metres in the future.
These proposed measures miss the point. Before the transport authorities can decide what to do with double-decker buses or how best to deploy them, they must first and foremost prove to the public that they are safe for public transport. If they aren't, the double-deckers must be banned from the roads.