Road deaths rocket by 3,000 as Thailand set to be named world number one in carnage, say academics

[AlQaholic]

12 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

So many points to work on (proper driving education e.g.).

 

But for a start a traffic police force that deserves the name would help.

Speed checks, drug and alcohol checks.

Working (!) cameras, much more civil patrol cars.

Fines tenfold (for some maybe 20 or 50 fold). The amounts are laughable (must be from the 70s).

Imprisonment for negligent homicide not just paying funeral and a wai.

 

Driving without number plates is a criminal offense in many countries, here it's the norm for new cars seen daily.

 

 

 

 

On my 3 km stretch of road between work and home, In the morning and evening rush hours, it is complete chaos, there are so many crossing without lights, people coming out of industrial parks left and right, motorcycles dashing out into traffic, it would be impossible for any police force to control. The few traffic police we have in the area must manually control the few traffic lights that are there, just to avoid complete standstill of all traffic. They do not have any resources left to police traffic. Rush hours are when the accidents happen. We have on average I would say 3 accidents a day just on this 3km stretch, almost all involving motorcycles and mostly caused by motorcycles. I personally see accidents happen right in front of me regularly, maybe once a month. In my assessment of the situation in my particular area, there are simply too damn many stupid people on the road at rush hours. Put enough volume of stupid on the roads and things will happen. I don't see many ways this can be fixed, without investing massively in road safety systems and resources. But then it would take people an hour to get to work in the morning on this 3 km stretch of road.

[wavemanwww]

Wow Thailand since 1952 have won 33 Gold Medals at the Olympics. If road deaths was a sport they make that no 34 medals. Aside from that comment this is a very sad story for Thailands reputation.

 

Dr Withaya Chartdanchachai, an expert on road safety from Khon Kaen hospital, said,

• "that the statistics showed a damning and sharp rise despite road safety efforts".  What road efforts the cops do not drive anywhere except to get Tea money and do not patrol roads with a speed camera ?

 

• "that 22,000 was terrible for a country of just over 60 million people and the death figures were only one part of the issue". What's the other issue? Lack of police enforcement is my guess!

 

• "Some 1 million people suffer injuries or are handicapped by road accidents. And damages per year are put at a staggering 500 billion baht". Horrendous  stats.

Geeze! when will the politicians actually fix this this human suicide rate without just counting numbers?

[ThaiTrav]

51 minutes ago, NumbNut said:

 

Couldn't agree more Richard, I can't see anything changing until a points-based licencing system is introduced in Thailand and enforced. Maybe combined with a vehicle impounding process for certain offences.

 

Nothing will change until traffic and vehicle transgressions are enforced.

 

I must be honest though, I would hate the price of safer roads in Thailand to mean the same level of policing we experience now in most western countries... how can we arrive at a happy medium, that is the question!

I see a problem doing this as if the cars or licence is taken away ...they will still drive !!! They don't care  most licences came from the weetbix box anyhow. The problem is as I see it where do you put all the offenders and repeat offenders the fails are already overfull! So now we need more jails.!!!

The government has control over all media channels we saw that when the king passed or any coup arose , so the why would they not run as community awareness ,hard hitting ads that show the carnage ,people flaunting the law and results of drink driving???

Run a few ads too showing the boys in brown napping or and turning a bling eye. Or playing facebook at the checkpoints. Every soi you see riders wearing no helmets. Man if I was a cop theres instant cash in itself and yet they run around instead for brown envelopes from business owners ?? Doesn;t make sense you were right in saying thais have a different common sense. Just whilst I was writing this i could have made several thousand baht by charging the folk a mere 200 baht who drove past with no helmet.

[Rally123]

How can the police enforce the traffic laws when they drive in exactly the same manner as the wrong doers. Erratic, selfishness, and ignorance etc etc etc is a way of life here. 

[LennyW]

Thai drivers seem to operate in their own little bubble, oblivious to who or what is around them and they just dont care .

 

Difficult to fix that!

 

 

[Zendo]

Government has an organic demographic control system, let the roads unsafe and people kill eachothers so they don't need to invest in contraception campaigns... SO clever isn't it ?!

[ThaiTrav]

2 minutes ago, Zendo said:

Government has an organic demographic control system, let the roads unsafe and people kill eachothers so they don't need to invest in contraception campaigns... SO clever isn't it ?!

well not really a lot whom don;t die but are severly mamed become burdon on society!

[connda]

Not enough is spent, there are insufficient funds available and there is not enough technology employed to help with the situation, said TNA.

What technology does the government need?  Standard traffic enforcement in the West for the last 70 years has been to place a police office in a patrol car and to pull over traffic violators and issue citations.  Citations are tied to a database to track points.  That citation records are open to insurance companies.  The amount of the fines is directly related to the danger of the violation and are substantial enough to provide a significant deterrent. Fines are then used to fund further traffic enforcement efforts.  Don't pay your citations or drive with a revoked license - you go to jail.  They have plenty of police officers.  They have plenty of police vehicles.  Now they simply need to assign those officers to a police vehicle. stop escorting VIP, and start enforcing traffic law!  
Their entire premise is complete BS.  They make excuses and choose not to act.

Fat chance.  What will happen?  They'll spend billions on traffic cameras and radar guns, and add more roadblocks to shake down helmetless motorcycle drivers.  And they'll maintain either First or Second place in the Most Dangerous Roads in the World.  The corruption and hubris is too establish to change.

[edwinchester]

It won't change because the people that have the power to actually do something about the appalling carnage have either no clue of what to do or don't give a shit...I suspect both.

[agudbuk]

So agreed Thailand driving is abysmal.
Steps that could be taken.
On the road training and testing.
Enforcement of moving traffic violations . Dangerous overtaking, driving on the wrong side of the road, DUI. Overloaded vehicles. Speeding.
Make the speed limits realistic on main roads 30kph on a 3 lane highway 24/7 because a school is in the area will not be complied with.
Discourage U turns. More roundabouts and educate people how to use them.
Enforcement of driving without a licence/underage
etc. etc..

[berrec]

Read lots of logical sane suggestions to potential solutions to reduce this insane self-inflicted attitude of Thais wanting to kill other Thais on their roads.

 

But, as I said in my previous post last week based on my scary Khao Yai driving trip experience, trying to resolve this problem sadly will be a  "Mission Impossible".

 

And you all gave many valid reasons why this issue will never been resolved................. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zendo]

I always thought that the vehicule you drive can make the difference... as I didn't find a real Mad max vehicule for sale I think that the "made in thailand" Thairung car called TRANSFORMERS II is exactlly what you need here !

 

 

but you still might need some tuning accessories to be really out of the crowd

 

 

[transam]

1 minute ago, agudbuk said:

So agreed Thailand driving is abysmal.
Steps that could be taken.
On the road training and testing.
Enforcement of moving traffic violations . Dangerous overtaking, driving on the wrong side of the road, DUI. Overloaded vehicles. Speeding.
Make the speed limits realistic on main roads 30kph on a 3 lane highway 24/7 because a school is in the area will not be complied with.
Discourage U turns. More roundabouts and educate people how to use them.
Enforcement of driving without a licence/underage
etc. etc..

We have a roundabout near us, one side was shorter to go straight on, the wrong side, what did folk do...?......Correct...

 

So they put road cones to guide folk to the correct side...

[ThaiTrav]

5 minutes ago, agudbuk said:

So agreed Thailand driving is abysmal.
Steps that could be taken.
On the road training and testing.
Enforcement of moving traffic violations . Dangerous overtaking, driving on the wrong side of the road, DUI. Overloaded vehicles. Speeding.
Make the speed limits realistic on main roads 30kph on a 3 lane highway 24/7 because a school is in the area will not be complied with.
Discourage U turns. More roundabouts and educate people how to use them.
Enforcement of driving without a licence/underage
etc. etc..

More roundabouts ....pppppppppppppppppphaaaahahahahaahahhahahhhahahahahahahahaah! They don't even know how to use the one they got ??? Even so it was modified years back as a blockrd roundabout and the latest is they wa

[Jack Mountain]

With New Year's 7 dangerous days, the average will go down again. Mark my words.

[PAIBKK]

Thai logic:

- If you don't have it, it can't get lost... (Driving licenses for example.)

- If it is on the ground, it won't fall down.

- Left is where your thumb is on the right side of your hand. Right is where your thumb is on the left side of your hand.

- Driving right is on the left.

- One plus one is two. One plus one plus one is two many...

[ThaiTrav]

nt toput traffic lights back, but then they will become laughing stock of the world for any country gets rid of the lights in preference to flowing traffic of roundabouts

[David Walden]

13 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

So many points to work on (proper driving education e.g.).

 

But for a start a traffic police force that deserves the name would help.

Speed checks, drug and alcohol checks.

Working (!) cameras, much more civil patrol cars.

Fines tenfold (for some maybe 20 or 50 fold). The amounts are laughable (must be from the 70s).

Imprisonment for negligent homicide not just paying funeral and a wai.

 

Driving without number plates is a criminal offense in many countries, here it's the norm for new cars seen daily.

 

 

 

 

Gosh the whole country would be in Jail if they took your advice.

[toofarnorth]

13 hours ago, Get Real said:

That has been long coming. Nice to get the top score at something. Now the country can feel pride!

And I think that pride is the key.  If LoS dropped to number 3 it would be loss of face.

[Get Real]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Far more men die than women and the group most likely to perish on the roads are aged 15-29.

Just means what was believed all the time. They just ain´t reach a grown up stage in life before they are around 40. 

[Jonmarleesco]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

'... law enforcement ... fail to cope with the dangerous behavior of the Thai public.'

Law enforcement? What enforcement? If there were enforcement, allied to appropriate penalties, and preceded by realistic training and testing, LoS wouldn't be looking at this title. Instead, the question now should be: what next? The Blue Riband for road deaths?

[YetAnother]

14 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Let's face it, it was only a matter of time, and will probably stay top for quite a while.

how can the thais get More undisciplinable each year ?!

[Happyman58]

Transport ministry take a bow You made it to No1  Why dont you have another meeting to see what you can do about it ?Went for my walk this morning and saw the same ole same ole  Cars running red lights Cars going up the wrong way No helmets Its like a bloody jungle out there  A mob of chooks driving around like there is no tomorrow The answer is simple Get the police to do there jobs and start booking lawbreakers But might as well talk to the brick wall One again Thailand Congratulations you made it to No 1 Hooray

[nickmondo]

Most of you are missing the point here by talking about speeding, drinking, etc, etc.

Its very simple.

NOBODY HERE IS INSTRUCTED HOW TO DRIVE!

Plain and simple.

Getting a licence is a joke.

Have a medical where they dont even test your eys.

Go to the transport office, do a colour blind test and reaction test.

For those that are selected for the classroom, sit and play with your phone for an hour or sleep.

Maybe take a computer based mulitple choice answer test (and yes, you can legally drive a tank on the road here, but not a car with no windscreen!)

Then go out and drive your BMW, FERRARI, etc, etc.

Its very simple.

TEACH THEM HOW TO DRIVE.

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[farcanell]

1 hour ago, transam said:

 

A few weeks back Mrs.Trans got a 500bht fine for parking more than 25cms from the curb, whilst children were flying bye on bikes...Crazy stuff...

A couple of months back, I got fined 500 bt for parking too close to a corner.... lol.... true story.

 

on the other side of the road, outside a busy bank, people were triple parking!

 

anyway... I don’t believe we need draconian road laws like in the nanny states, to bring about a downturn in the statistics.... we don’t need to be worlds best... just not worlds worst. Maybe somewhere around number 126 out of 180(?)

 

to acheive this... pick three only big ticket issues, and crucify transgressors... next year... pick three different ones, just to change it up a bit ( advertise the bejesus out of them, as well, so no one can claim ignorance)

[FitnessHealthTravel]

The Country should hang its head in SHAME. All the BS this Government tries to do Policing the Internet and suppressing FREE SPEECH which its people drink and speed and drive and kill, kill, kill. Go to jail for a bag of pot, kill someone with your car and get a fine!!! Something very out of balance here.

[outsider]

Congratulations Thailand. Finally you're world no. 1 at something.

[White Boong]

Well what would you expect with only 15 Hours Driver Training? Sad but True

[bust]

As I have said before....anyone who believes in reincarnation should never be allowed to operate a motor vehicle ?

[Skallywag]

Not thinking horses, that would be less inefficient that a bicycle.  Lets face it, with all the technological advances in the last 100+ years, we still use the terribly inefficient,  CO2 emitting internal combustions engine....  public transport and walking should be encouraged more