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

[Airbagwill]

5 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

There is so much wrong from such an early age. The education and attitude to safety is non existent and embedded at an early age. It starts with Children riding motorbikes and goes from there. If anyone challenges it, it's their "culture", their country etc. so they reap what they sow.  

They are light years behind enforcing anything that causes more death on the road like using telephones. They can't even police the wearing of seat belts or motorbikes without helmets. 

It will take a fantastic effort nationally to make any sort of difference but unless the start from an early age and be consistent it will be a waste of time. 

One  can only dream. 

the funny thing is by reading most of the posts on this thread, you begin to realise how relatively LITTLE effort is required from the public - those from other countries are in fact completely unaware of the road safety programs that have been in operation in their home countries  in US, Oz and Europe for the past 20 years....I doubt that many Aussies are aware of a major shift in policy that has already started to reduce accidents there. the Thai general public don't need to be aware of what is happening - road safety is the science of PREVENTING AND MITIGATING crashes - this involves manipulation and control of behaviours that are endemic throughout the world. Accidents  don't need to happen, they are reduced by the creation of a safe environment that understands human nature and protects us from it.

[Nemises]

Hardly newsworthy. TIT. Driving standards here will NEVER improve. Death rates will keep rising. Road toll will stay #1. Next story please...

[kiwikeith]

15 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

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

 

sorry to say that the government has achieved number one for something this hideous.

I never feel safe on Thai roads as the idiots approach from behind at great speed trying to overtake you no matter what.

 

The government has not figured out the revenue it could make from speed cameras/ enforcement /control

[Airbagwill]

2 minutes ago, Gregster said:

Hardly newsworthy. TIT. Driving standards here will NEVER improve. Death rates will keep rising. Road toll will stay #1. Next story please...

It's obvious that that is a totally subjective comment - cynicism replacing a reasoned argument.

Change can occur if the authorities understand - at present no one is listening, but their are plenty of organisations in Thailand building up the necessary information. Things will change and there are good reasons - they actually have to if only for economic reasons - this has been demonstrated throughout the world - and looks like 25 to 30 DP100K is the watershed. So it is only a matter of time before someone puts up their hands and admits they've got it wrong.

[Time Traveller]

Number one for deaths in the world ?

Sad., but it won't be long before someone from the anti gun lobby comes and says Thailand should ban people from owning ...........oops, wrong forum.

[Chris Lawrence]

The taxi's usually run at F1 pace. The mini buses are not far behind them on the expressways.

 

I used to do a bit of driving between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. A lot of Thai's just didn't like being overtaken, and the truck drivers, some would play chicken with you. Never saw anyone get hit with a speeding ticket only for not wearing helmets. This is while 13 year olds would be riding around the streets in Chiang Rai.

[saminoz]

Well done Thailand!

A glorious achievement brought about by your governments doing what they do best.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

[Airbagwill]

1 minute ago, Chris Lawrence said:

The taxi's usually run at F1 pace. The mini buses are not far behind them on the expressways.

 

I used to do a bit of driving between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. A lot of Thai's just didn't like being overtaken, and the truck drivers, some would play chicken with you. Never saw anyone get hit with a speeding ticket only for not wearing helmets. This is while 13 year olds would be riding around the streets in Chiang Rai.

Perceptions from driver a anecdotal and misleading. I have probably driven more in Thailand than anyone on this site (including Thai people!) - but that is not or at least only part of how I analyse road safety.

[joecoolfrog]

3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

If road deaths are increasing it kind of puts to sleep the "all Thai drivers are stupid" theory.

As this by definition must be a constant.

 

I would suggest that the real problem is that no one has actually admitted what the problem is and that is that the authorities have not addressed any of the real underlying issues that surrounded road safety in Thailand - driving is NOT road safety, it is only one factor.

as with many of the members of TV, they fail to realise that road safety isa science based activity - as the government cant even gather statistics properly on the topic they can't SEE the situation for what it is and therefore can't even begin to start.

 

Trying to accuse Thais of being more stupid than other countries is not seeing the subject, it is applying a racial prejudice to th issue and as racism is a false premise it can't be helpful.

 

The obvious response to your theory is that perhaps they are becoming more stupid every year ! More likely though there are ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the road , hence a larger volume of bad drivers and consequently of accidents.

[Airbagwill]

1 minute ago, saminoz said:

Well done Thailand!

A glorious achievement brought about by your governments doing what they do best.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Inactivity is the governments attitude, but as they don't have even a basic grasp the issues surrounding road safety, that is inevitable.

[saminoz]

1 hour ago, agudbuk said:

If there were no cars and they were replaced by horses how many would die?

If that could ever come about, I think you'd see the fragile Thai males acting like those cowboys in the westerns!

There would be NO town big enough for two of them.

[Airbagwill]

8 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

The obvious response to your theory is that perhaps they are becoming more stupid every year ! More likely though there are ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the road , hence a larger volume of bad drivers and consequently of accidents.

 

8 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

The obvious response to your theory is that perhaps they are becoming more stupid every year ! More likely though there are ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the road , hence a larger volume of bad drivers and consequently of accidents.

 

8 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

The obvious response to your theory is that perhaps they are becoming more stupid every year ! More likely though there are ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the road , hence a larger volume of bad drivers and consequently of accidents.

The figures are deaths per hundred thousand population - so to support increased traffic you need another set of stats. The death per 100k figures are the ones everyone rolls out time and again. As driving and road safety are not the same the theory of "bad drivers" has long since been discredited - it is of course an easy get out for those who know nothing about road safety. For instance the US figures peaked in the 70s - so lots of bad drivers then and then with an increase of traffic the figures gradually reduced - where did all the bad drivers go? or was it something else?

 

of course their is a lot more to it than that and it isn't helped by the fact that Thailand has DP 100K vehicle but no records of serious injuries and minor injuries - (the international standard) and has no figures what soever for VKM - in billions.

 

I think that if you take your theory of "more stupid" seriously, that would reflect of your analysing abilities more than reality.

[mrmicbkktxl]

15 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Not sure if the bad economy got anything to do with the increase in 2016. Money hard to come by and drivers are doing more shifts and less sleep to make ends meet. Maybe even drinking more to ease their misery and behind the wheels. There must be a logical reason. The junta government has been imposing tough measures and still the accidents piled up. 

Which tough measures?Anyway you can impose whatever you want,if nobody enforces the laws it brings nothing.1year US highway patrol or German traffic police in Thailand would improve the situation drastically.Driving on wrong side 10000bt and 3months dl away,3times caught without dl gives you a month prison just for example

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, Rc2702 said:

F1 being in thailand is an absolute disgrace with carnage like this on the rd.

Well, for you and anyone doesn't like it the answer is simple. For myself I'll continue to chance it ( with insurance for when it does go wrong ).

LOS is already becoming far too PC for my liking, and when the pleasure of driving here is gone as well, I won't have much to regret when I eventually have to leave for the last time.

If I actually wanted a place like home country, I'd have stayed there.

 

Looking at the stats, I'm wondering if they are in any way related to how good the roads are, or traffic density. Bkk has a low death rate for a very simple reason- can't drive fast there for the traffic jams, but Rayong has good roads and can drive fast.

[Nemises]

...This is while 13 year olds would be riding around the streets in Chiang Rai.

 

I’ve expanded upon (IN CAPS) to include my frequent observations:

 

“This is while TEN (10) year olds would be SPEEDING around the streets IN ALL PROVINCES , WITH OFTEN 3 ON AN UNROADWORTHY BIKE, ALL WITHOUT HELMETS, SOMETIMES RACING THEIR SCHOOL MATES.”

 

 

 

 

Good luck changing their culture.

[dieseldave1951]

15 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

With the Me first attitude and the bib off sleeping somewhere what else do you expect, but finally no lies in the statement they are the death roads of the world driven by the worlds deadliest drivers. The Hub of death.

and the number crunching was done by international agencies (not falsified thai accounting)

[Gunna]

15 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Not sure if the bad economy got anything to do with the increase in 2016. Money hard to come by and drivers are doing more shifts and less sleep to make ends meet. Maybe even drinking more to ease their misery and behind the wheels. There must be a logical reason. The junta government has been imposing tough measures and still the accidents piled up. 

Or maybe it is all the idiots driving who bought cars under Yingluck first car scam - couldn't afford the car, couldn't afford to get lessons to drive and had to buy the driving licence and now can afford to maintain the vehicles and struggling to repay loans they should never been allowed to take out in the first place.

.

[Anythingleft?]

Bangkok also tops the list for worst traffic jams in SE Asia:


https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1010343-Bangkok-worst-in-SE-Asia-for-traffic-jams%3A-survey

Why take a single line from my post? I followed that by saying it was also hugely congested so it was no wonder..

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Airbagwill]

2 minutes ago, Gunna said:

Or maybe it is all the idiots driving who bought cars under Yingluck first car scam - couldn't afford the car, couldn't afford to get lessons to drive and had to buy the driving licence and now can afford to maintain the vehicles and struggling to repay loans they should never been allowed to take out in the first place.

.

If that was the case there would have been a noticeable chance in the stats, but that wasn't the case.

 

As for economy - in times of recession fatalities go down as cars are used less  and traffic in general reduces - or according to some on this thread people become less stupid(!?!?)

 

It is unfortunate that the Thai authorities on road safety don't gather VKT stats at all.

 

[owl sees all]

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

There is so much wrong from such an early age. The education and attitude to safety is non existent and embedded at an early age. It starts with Children riding motorbikes and goes from there. If anyone challenges it, it's their "culture", their country etc. so they reap what they sow.  

They are light years behind enforcing anything that causes more death on the road like using telephones. They can't even police the wearing of seat belts or motorbikes without helmets. 

It will take a fantastic effort nationally to make any sort of difference but unless the start from an early age and be consistent it will be a waste of time.

I agree, generally, with this post however I'll just put in my two-bob's worth.

 

The police work is simply attracting people who want money. At the present time a policeman can expect to at least double his wages every month by fleecing. A good deal of the Provincial Police's bunce comes from the regular 200 Baht stop and fine over seat belts and crash helmets (and any other misdemeanor). They don't want to kill the goose.

 

Got to start somewhere so how about local police - on a nationwide scale - visit every School and tell the principle or boss or chief that any bike leaving the school where the riders or passengers are not wearing helmets will be impounded. Give each School or College or Uni' 30 days to comply. With that there must be a regulator to ensure the police actually do it.

 

If this could be done it would gradually get into family's heads that wearing helmets is OK.

 

 

 

 

[Chaiwallah]

Could the fact that Thailand is ranked number four worldwide for alcohol consumption be a factor? I've read previously that only fatalities at the scene are counted. People that die later are not figured in. Is that the case here?

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

Which tough measures?Anyway you can impose whatever you want,if nobody enforces the laws it brings nothing.1year US highway patrol or German traffic police in Thailand would improve the situation drastically.Driving on wrong side 10000bt and 3months dl away,3times caught without dl gives you a month prison just for example

You can keep your US or German police far far away from LOS. We don't want those sorts of people oppressing the folk in LOS. I like LOS precisely because it doesn't have those sorts here. It's bad enough seeing all the pretend farang cops strutting around on Walking Street in their little black uniforms, without giving them any real power.

In Germany do they fine people more than they make in a month for a simple traffic offence, or put them in prison for speeding?

I can't say what I really think of your post, but we don't want that sort of thing in LOS.

[Airbagwill]

9 minutes ago, dieseldave1951 said:

and the number crunching was done by international agencies (not falsified thai accounting)

No the numbers are gathered by up to 10 different authorities (see above) in Thai all using nonstandard methods, then sometimes people like WHO try to make sense of them.

but they are used as pointless figures picked out of a bag by far too many people - take for instance the "one million" alcohol casualties quoted recently - that just isn't a thing.

 

I  haven't checked who released the current figure of 3000 extra - not sure what that means anyway. Probably rubbish

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

If that was the case there would have been a noticeable chance in the stats, but that wasn't the case.

 

As for economy - in times of recession fatalities go down as cars are used less  and traffic in general reduces - or according to some on this thread people become less stupid(!?!?)

 

 

 

No recession in Thailand where I've been. Loads of money in the towns and countryside. I haven't been to Issan though.

[ericnoodeeka]

scary thing is they only count dead at the scene, not dead on arrival, or die within 1 week from injuries. now it really starts to look scary, I recon about 50,000 per year dead from rta's. shocking.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

I agree, generally, with this post however I'll just put in my two-bob's worth.

 

The police work is simply attracting people who want money. At the present time a policeman can expect to at least double his wages every month by fleecing. A good deal of the Provincial Police's bunce comes from the regular 200 Baht stop and fine over seat belts and crash helmets (and any other misdemeanor). They don't want to kill the goose.

 

Got to start somewhere so how about local police - on a nationwide scale - visit every School and tell the principle or boss or chief that any bike leaving the school where the riders or passengers are not wearing helmets will be impounded. Give each School or College or Uni' 30 days to comply. With that there must be a regulator to ensure the police actually do it.

 

If this could be done it would gradually get into family's heads that wearing helmets is OK.

 

 

 

 

I just don't get why people come to live in Thailand and then try to turn it into the same over regulated PC c***hole they came to escape.

Look, it's THEIR country, THEIR culture and it's up to THEM what to do about it.

 

I'm glad that for all the TVF blather about imposing western laws and culture on LOS it's not going to make one iota of difference in reality.

 

Seriously, if people really feel their life is in danger on the roads, they have the solution in their own hands. No one is making any of us drive on the roads or even stay here.

[ericnoodeeka]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I just don't get why people come to live in Thailand and then try to turn it into the same over regulated PC c***hole they came to escape.

Look, it's THEIR country, THEIR culture and it's up to THEM what to do about it.

 

I'm glad that for all the TVF blather about imposing western laws and culture on LOS it's not going to make one iota of difference in reality.

 

Seriously, if people really feel their life is in danger on the roads, they have the solution in their own hands. No one is making any of us drive on the roads or even stay here.

well I got kids here, so I do care about them. nothing to do with western pc really.and I did not escape anything, still running a business in uk too.

[rwill]

according to the WHO report for 2015 73% of Thailand's fatalities were for 2-3 wheel motorbikes.  They also said Thailand reported 14,059 deaths but WHO estimated the figure to actually be 24,237.

 

[KiChakayan]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I just don't get why people come to live in Thailand and then try to turn it into the same over regulated PC c***hole they came to escape.

Look, it's THEIR country, THEIR culture and it's up to THEM what to do about it.

 

I'm glad that for all the TVF blather about imposing western laws and culture on LOS it's not going to make one iota of difference in reality.

 

Seriously, if people really feel their life is in danger on the roads, they have the solution in their own hands. No one is making any of us drive on the roads or even stay here.

I don't see why living in Thailand should stop me from pointing at what is blatantly wrong. And look, in this  case it is a Thai who's been doing the fingerpointing..