BANGKOK — Another car was sacrificed to the so-called “Hundred-Death Curve” on Thursday night, but luckily no one was hurt.
Police reported that a Porsche 718 Cayman, driving on the inbound side of Ratchadaphisek Road, lost control on the slippery surface before hitting a tree shortly before 5am.
The driver, Kanapol Kowatana, and the accompanying passenger walked away from the wreckage without injuries. But the sports car sustained major damage to its front, with a busted bumper and grille.
Kanapol refused to talk to the press after meeting with police.
Locals have dubbed the two-kilometre curve stretching in front of the Criminal Court on Ratchadapisek Road as the “Hundred-Death Curve” due to the many accidents and fatalities that befall it.
Thanapong Jinwong, the manager of the road-safety advocacy group Academic Centre for Road Safety, said the stretch of road has been designed to road safety standards. He posits that drivers may simply be reckless, driving at high speed at night when they see no traffic on the road.
Over the past few years, the city has installed signs, guard rails, and even removed road-side offerings to ghosts (such as zebra dolls and red soda bottles) in an effort to mitigate accidents.
This week has not been generous to Porsche owners, with several reported incidents involving the German luxury cars. On Monday, a yellow Porsche stopped smack in the middle of the bustling Khlong Tan intersection. The driver was drunk and evaluated that rush hour was a good time to rest the vehicle.
Then on Sunday, a silver Porsche skidded off the road after trying to cut in front of another car on Motorway No. 7. Both drivers emerged safe.
