Meanwhile, police at this stage have no intention of installing safety measures to prevent further similar accidents from happening.
Phuket resident Adisak Thongsri, 40, lost control of his Toyota Vios after he pulled out to overtake a small box-on-back van heading southbound in front of him.
Adisak swerved to avoid ploughing head on into a pickup truck coming straight at him, but spun out of control and slammed into the side of the same pickup truck, driven by Prascha Sujarittham, 50, also from Phuket.
“Adisak’s three-year-old child was in the car at the time of the accident, but she was unharmed by the impact,” said Wichit Police Deputy Inspector Lt Jaras Laempan, who blamed the accident simply on driver recklessness.
“He tried to overtake in the tunnel, which is a no-overtaking zone. It was a good thing that no one was injured, only vehicles damaged,” he said.
“Adisak admitted to attempting to overtake a truck in front of him, but changed his mind when he saw a pickup truck coming, and lost control of his vehicle,” Lt Jaras added.
Though, with CCTV footage of the accident circulating on the Internet, The Phuket News notes that Adisak may have had difficulty in asserting any other version of events.
Col Kittipong Klaikaew, Chief of the Wichit Police, whose Traffic Police division is responsible for road safety at the underpass, confirmed that his officers would not be taking any action to install safety measures to prevent similar accidents – for now.
“All accidents at the Darasamut Underpass, including the recent one on Monday, are caused by reckless driving. Drivers need to obey traffic laws and follow the safety precautions when approaching tunnels or curves on roads,” he told The Phuket News on Wednesday (May 4).
“It is sad to see people getting involved in accidents that can easily be avoided or prevented. Reducing speed when going into a tunnel is a must, and overtaking there is a no-no,” he added.
“If accidents keep happening at this tunnel, we will find a better solution to prevent them, such as putting up barriers to divide lanes – but for now I think the signal lights (dedicating lanes to traffic) are working just fine,” Col Kittipong said.
“Right now, lanes through the underpass can be changed, depending on how heavy the traffic is in each direction, so this can help ease congestion, but any changes inside the tunnel is up to the Highways Department to decide. If safety changes are made, having a barrier would be best,” he said.
Samak Luedwonghad, Director of the Highways Department Phuket office, said, “I would love to have the same design as the Sam Kong Underpass, which has four lanes and a safety barrier in the middle separating them, but the space for the lanes at the Darasamut Underpass is limited.
“Darasamut has only three lanes, and we only have signals to tell drivers which lanes they can use. Also, the underpass is still under the two-year contract insurance provided by the construction company, so we cannot make any structural changes to it.
“We will wait for the Sam Kong Underpass to be completed, then we will adjust what is needed,” Mr Samak added.
“We might install traffic cones to divide lanes, but for now drivers need to be extra careful when driving through the tunnel, and I am sure police already work hard to enforce the law in that area.”