Get these double-decker death traps off our roads 

Back in 2016 when the spate of double-decker accidents began, the Transport Ministry announced a crackdown on substandard buses and promised a thorough investigation to weed them out. Two years and several horrific accidents later, the authorities have again made the same promise. Has it ever occurred to those in charge that perhaps this isn’t the appropriate approach?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or an engineer for that matter, to see that the problematic double-decker buses now roaming our streets shouldn’t be there in the first place. Those of us who have to endure driving behind such monstrous vehicles, especially when they are struggling their way up a steep slope, can attest to this. A giveaway is when the driver has to fully crank up the overloaded engine to overcome the immense weight of the illegal modifications made to accommodate the extra deck. Furthermore, since the modifications weren’t part of the original design, the modified buses have a much higher centre of gravity than engineering safety standards allow. This results in a very unstable vehicle that can easily topple over when forced over steep slopes it hasn’t been designed for, especially when the bus is moving downhill at a high speed.
Let’s hope that the short-term measures being adopted by the Transport Ministry, as well as their rigorous enforcement, will be sufficient to prevent similar accidents during the fast-approaching Songkran holiday. Until the substandard modified buses can be kept off the roads, the nightmares will continue.
Anan Pakvasa
Bangkok