The Transport Committee aims to amend the law specifying the age of public transport vehicles and the conditions for organizing educational tours according to the age criteria, pointing out that the problem lies in the enforcement of the law, confirming that they will continue to integrate frequent monitoring, and revealing that the insurance has already paid compensation to 90% of the families of the victims, but there is still a problem that the vehicles are carrying more passengers than the number of people insured, confirming that the operators must be held responsible.
After the Transport Committee meeting ended, Mr. Wuttichai Kalyanamitra, a member of the Senate and chairman of the committee, chaired the meeting. The agenda was to consider the case of a fire on a school bus for students at Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in Uthai Thani Province. He revealed the meeting results that initially, the Department of Land Transport was asked to report on the incident. The committee made observations and di
scussed the issue of fuel, which must be supervised to meet the standards in accordance with the facts, not just reporting something else but installing more proactively to prevent the installation of additional tanks and to adjust it to be a proactive measure. The Department of Land Transport called a meeting to set strict measures. We agreed that we would use this crisis as an opportunity to improve safety standards to be higher, safer, and minimize future losses.
As for the emergency door outside, it may have to be adjusted to be in a way that outsiders can also go in and open it. Currently, the average height is about 2 meters, which should be reduced to the standard height to 1.20 meters or no more than 1.50 meters so that outsiders can open it immediately.
For determining the age of the vehicle, even though buses are different from passenger cars and general private cars, there is the matter of changing the body but still using the original chassis. It should be determined how long the chassis should
last and how many times the body can be changed. From the inspection of this matter, the vehicle is 54 years old and has been used all the time. The exterior may look new, but it may not be consistent with the condition of the equipment. The Department of Land Transport has a measure that from now on there will be a proactive operation, issuing an order for more than 10,000 passenger cars to come in for inspection within 60 days, by having the provincial transport inspect the vehicles first to prevent modifications or removal of the gas tanks. Removing these gas tanks is not easy because there will be traces.
As for the cancellation or suspension of the license of this operator, because of the impure intention of taking the car to remove the gas tank in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, even though it was called to inspect the condition in Ang Thong Province, but fortunately there was still GPS that could track the situation in a timely manner, which the committee viewed as not relevant, even though there was a pr
oactive operation, but there should be a follow-up every month to see if there were any modifications or changes in the condition.
In terms of the Transport Association, there is currently monitoring and self-inspection to set standards. If anything does not meet the standards, the Department of Land Transport must be notified for inspection to show that safety standards are the most important issue.
For the Safety Academic Center, it is agreed that safety cannot be bought with a price. Therefore, with a limited budget, in terms of hiring a car, such as the standard of a car for hiring a distance of 300 kilometers back and forth, the service fee is 10,000 baht, but the budget received is only 8,000 baht, so it may have to be cut in half, such as this price may reduce the distance. And for the Ministry of Education, there should be a separation of the types of students who will go on a field trip, such as how old the children are, what distance should they travel, and there should be training or inclusion in
the curriculum for emergency survival assistance.
However, on October 16, the Transport Committee will visit the Ministry of Transport to discuss this issue. Therefore, we would like to see an integrated plan to see how to solve the problem to reduce the loss if these incidents occur, and an overall integration of the transport development plan so that it is in the same direction and not everyone is doing it separately.
Mr. Wuttichai said that all proposals of the committee will be collected and submitted to the parliament to forward to the government for implementation. Today, urgent motions have been proposed and proposals from the senators have been collected. He confirmed that this matter will not be ignored. There will be monitoring from now on. An expert secretary and those who will come to help will be integrated in the overall picture. Drive together by which agencies are involved, such as various foundations, the Department of Land Transport, and the association of operators, must send representati
ves to help the committee so that they can discuss as a whole. It is not like when an incident occurs, we call this person and that person. Today, we will not blame each other. However, whoever did something must be held responsible. The deputy director-general of the Department of Land Transport promised that in the case of vehicle inspections, if it is a fake inspection, there must be punishment for those responsible.
As for the problems that occurred, whether they were legal or practical loopholes, Mr. Wuttichai said that the law covers at least 80-90%, but the practical loopholes that he and everyone agree on are likely the cause of non-compliance with the regulations, leading to accidents. Therefore, the committee confirmed that they will follow up and monitor these matters and will definitely not let them go. The committee has discussed that today we will create a new dimension of work, working from the beginning to the end to reach a conclusion of the study results. This is considered a regulation and
a constitution for working together.
When asked how long the follow-up will take, Mr. Wuttichai said that this will have to be done by the relevant persons. We may have to evaluate and follow up periodically and will announce to the media. The period of what we are following today in another 1 month and 45 days, what is the progress? And how far has the improvement and improvement of safety standards that the relevant agencies are responsible for integrated?
As for the compensation for those affected, Mr. Wuttichai said that from the inquiries, whether it is mandatory or voluntary insurance, most of it is in accordance with the law. But there is an issue that the responsible insurance has been informed by the operator that there are 20 passengers in that car, but there are more passengers. This is an issue that needs to be followed up on. We cannot accept it. For the part that is beyond the responsibility of the insurance, it must be the responsibility of the operator.
When asked if the reason for the dela
y in compensation payment was due to the above, Mr. Wuttichai said that most of the insurance companies, such as Dhipaya Insurance and Mitra Tae Insurance, voluntary and compulsory, 90% have already paid. Only the ones that are not settled are left. In terms of insurance, how many passengers were there? In fact, there were more passengers than were insured. Therefore, all of this must be looked at in terms of the law because the insurance companies that declare the number of passengers affects the insurance premium.
When asked if the meeting was informed about the year when the vehicle specifications were changed from diesel to gas, Mr. Wuttichai said that it was during the time when the government was campaigning to change from diesel to NGV. He confirmed that everything that was inspected according to the standard did not cause any danger or damage if it was not modified. It was stated that there were 3-4 gas tanks, but it was increased to 11 tanks, which is what caused the safety problem because the stand
ards were not followed. This is an issue that, when found, the Department of Land Transport must severely punish and revoke the operating license. In this case, we definitely cannot let it go.
Mr. Sek Som Akaraphan, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Land Transport, said that the number of gas tanks each vehicle can have depends on the vehicle’s performance. The registration will state how many gas tanks each vehicle can install. If it is the specification of this type of vehicle, it will have only about 5-6 gas tanks.
As for the cause of the accident this time, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Land Transport said that from the evidence and from the vehicle itself, we found that it was broken and is currently under investigation by the investigators and the forensic evidence division, which is likely due to overloading, but everyone should wait for the results of the forensic evidence.
When asked how long the pipe that came off before the accident had been out, the deputy director
-general of the Department of Land Transport said the investigation results had not yet been released, but the forensic science division had already collected all the information
and had already inspected all the vehicles. The number of passengers was consistent with the vehicles registered.
Source: Thai News Agency