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Thailand has the deadliest roads in the world, new report claims


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9 minutes ago, NoBrainer said:

According to their calculation (which is an estimate ,based on who knows what) the fatality rate is about 70 people per day.

That seems quite high, as even on the busiest 2 travel periods, New Years & Songkran, that is about the fatality rate during those periods.

Maybe those estimates were based on reported figures for those 2 holidays. The normal rate would be much lower.

 

As I have said before, they could cut that fatality rate in half, just by enforcing mandatory helmut use everywhere in the country, all of the time, by everybody on a motorcycle.

They would do this by way of massive fines and forfeiture of the motorcycles, of people not complying. Habits will change very quickly when it is announced that you will lose your motorcycle for 90 days, if caught riding without a helmut, and the first few hundred people that lose their bikes hit social media.

 

This could be achieved in 1 month, if they wanted to actually do it.

 

 

The death rate on holidays in Thailand is the same or LOWER than the daily rate. This is the norm for most countries. It also is an example of how the media has got the wrong end of the stick.

 

Effective enforcement of anything, helmets or otherwise is pretty much impossible until there is a standard for helmets, ( that would include a government testing office) a police force trained and a legal system to cope with any fines imposed....... Thailand does not have and is nowhere near obtaining such an infrastructure

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4 hours ago, jaywalker said:

OOOOOH!!!! Another "Crackdown"! How original.

 

That makes sense, as that's about the age they start driving.

 

=============

I also wonder who the driving instructors will be? Just folks that have been around & grew up in the Psychotic World of Thai Driving is all they've got.

Hey... hey hey.... this thread is a better example of a fatuous post, isn’t it? ????

 edit.... ooops... sorry jaywalker.... I was having a back and forth with jayboy... my mistake

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3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

"it's official" - Total nonsense!

 

This is  a quote from world atlas reporting on a meeting in Brazil where they don't cite the original source of the figures - but it is jumped upon by those who seem to think this is some kind of macabre football league. They are citing death rates per 100k which is only one ofa set of 4 or 5 figures used to report DEATHS from RTAs.......but the article title talks about "accidents" (wrong term) not deaths.....it shows that yet again that the writer James Burton doesn't know what he is talking about.

 

Thailand still remains as safe as the USA for drivers of 4 wheel private vehicles.

 

There is one glimmer of hope here, if the continual battering of Thailand on the road safety front continues in the media, then maybe the authorities will finally take the advice that the road safety orgs have been offering for years.

 

Lets hope they don't take the advice from many on Thaivisa though or the carnage will continue.

 

Make your mind up - is it "as safe as the USA for drivers of 4 wheel private vehicles." or "the carnage will continue."

 

4 wheel private vehicles is a small sector - death on the road is death on the road and the fact that it's made up of bikes, minivans, buses, buffalo, pick-ups, tractors, unlicensed contraptions, trikes, drunk pedestrians and mobile woks is irrelevant.

 

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for westerners these seems to be disturbing truth but thais see physical dead as a natural occurance that can't be avoided...if it arises  pray, burn the body and carry on life as long it lasts... any activitys to avoid death is seen as a waste of time...

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I do believe that one of the reasons the Thai death toll is so high is because the majority people are riding motorcycles and have a higher chance of dying in a crash. I would be interested to see how Thailand fared if you remove motorcycle deaths from the equation. 

 

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Like most statistics in Thailand you wonder if it is accurate or fixed up a bit ( or a lot).  It is appears still to be confirmed if these figures included deaths that occurred later as a result of the accident that the deceased was involved in,  or as suggested on other posts on this site figures only include people killed at the scene of the accident and not those that die as a result of the accident some later time.   In Australia and most Western Countries the Coroner decides how and the cause and why a person dies, not the Police.  Sometimes it may a long time, even years after the accident that the cause of death is determined.  Those statistics are then adjusted.

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2 minutes ago, spermwhale said:

I do believe that one of the reasons the Thai death toll is so high is because the majority people are riding motorcycles and have a higher chance of dying in a crash. I would be interested to see how Thailand fared if you remove motorcycle deaths from the equation. 

 

I’d be more interested to see how thailand fared if it enforced the road laws... and.... removed unroadworthy vehicles of any description.

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     I imagine it has unofficially been number 1 for years.  And, is likely to stay firmly at the top as long as there is so little VISIBLE traffic enforcement being done.  Now at 7 1/2 years being here, I still have not witnessed a single car being pulled over for speeding, running a red light, reckless driving, double-parking, etc.   Just the 'ol not wearing a helmet cash grab.  

     The times I have ever seen any police work, at traffic stops set up on the highway--I guess to check for expired stickers or some such--the traffic set-ups were done so unsafely and haphazardly that they likely ended up causing accidents or near misses.   Same for lane closures for highway maintenance--usually no warning whatsoever.   Plenty of work to be done--starting with traffic police proper training and deployment.

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11 minutes ago, farcanell said:

I’d be more interested to see how thailand fared if it enforced the road laws... and.... removed unroadworthy vehicles of any description.

What! and have police drive among the traffic violators and run the risk of they themselves being involved in a fatal accident...gosh it too bloody dangerous for the police to get out there and do their jobs.  It's much safer for them to just hide and play games with their phone in some back street.  If you drive from Cha-am to Bangkok any day you will see a hundred or more serious road violators.  Perhaps eye test on the police could help?    I dreamed a dream.

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considering how many people use motorbikes in this county, the lack of use of seat belts, ... exceeding recommended passenger limits in/on a motorized vehicle, drivers working long ass shifts, and pure reckless behavior of some...  it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Thailand would have such a high accident/fatality rate.

 

Almost forgot the sheer amount of corruption and apathy from law enforcement regarding enforcement of road safety!

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1 hour ago, NoBrainer said:

According to their calculation (which is an estimate ,based on who knows what) the fatality rate is about 70 people per day.

That seems quite high, as even on the busiest 2 travel periods, New Years & Songkran, that is about the fatality rate during those periods.

Maybe those estimates were based on reported figures for those 2 holidays. The normal rate would be much lower.

 

As I have said before, they could cut that fatality rate in half, just by enforcing mandatory helmut use everywhere in the country, all of the time, by everybody on a motorcycle.

They would do this by way of massive fines and forfeiture of the motorcycles, of people not complying. Habits will change very quickly when it is announced that you will lose your motorcycle for 90 days, if caught riding without a helmut, and the first few hundred people that lose their bikes hit social media.

 

This could be achieved in 1 month, if they wanted to actually do it.

 

 

They have failed to achieve this in 2561 years.....I do admire your optimism! Eventually they will work it out that the police should be more than extortionists!.......but....then again.

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3 minutes ago, Lingba said:

yes more dachcams...never mind law enforcement and education

Two of my adult students take a standard van to go home, the route is about 25 kilometers, the drivers still pack the passengers in, 18, including some sitting / crouching on the little amount of free floor space, drivers still driving like speed crazed idiots. No other transport options for that route.

 

And most of the day 2 or 3 police right on the departure spot outside the uni, never say one word to the van drivers.

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6 minutes ago, Ron19 said:

A number of posts denigrating thai people in general have been removed.

Yes it's a crime to criticise or even offer advice to Thai people in Thailand where improvement could be achieved. Pity, that's called defamation and is a crime. How will they ever learn? How will they ever learn.  You may may note I have only stated facts.

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The idiots driving the taxis and buses we are passengers in are not just confined to the ground, the mind set is there everywhere.

Take a look at the National Geographic Channel (TrueVisions Channel 558) and look at Air Crash Investigations episode "The Lost Plane" currently being featured.

 

When your finished think carefully with whom you fly with as well. That Captain should have never been given a license to ride a push bike let alone fly a Thai International Airbus A310, slamming it into a mountain near Kathmandu!

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The appalling accident figures are related to a less dangerous feature of Thai driving - the shocking lack of Courtesy.  I drove and rode in LoS for 7 years, and i think i can remember another driver giving way to me about once - maybe twice. In the UK i give way to another road-user or am given way to, about once an hour or more.  This signifies a real awareness of the overall need for smooth and safe manoeuvres when turning right or coming out of side roads etc.  Same with flashing headlights - in the UK it's used to say 'Come forward, i've seen you'...in LoS it's used to say 'Bugger off i'm coming through'.  Interesting that none of this is taught in normal UK driver training lessons and is certainly no part of the driving test - unless things have changed since the distant past when i was doing that stuff - it is just an expression of the normal intelligence and social awareness of a member of an advanced society.  NB: these thoughts only apply to the UK - what they do in other 'Western' cultures i've no informed ideas on - Paris ? Rome ? Madrid ?...maybe not so polite.

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2 minutes ago, crazydrummerpauly said:

The appalling accident figures are related to a less dangerous feature of Thai driving - the shocking lack of Courtesy.  I drove and rode in LoS for 7 years, and i think i can remember another driver giving way to me about once - maybe twice. In the UK i give way to another road-user or am given way to, about once an hour or more.  This signifies a real awareness of the overall need for smooth and safe manoeuvres when turning right or coming out of side roads etc.  Same with flashing headlights - in the UK it's used to say 'Come forward, i've seen you'...in LoS it's used to say 'Bugger off i'm coming through'.  Interesting that none of this is taught in normal UK driver training lessons and is certainly no part of the driving test - unless things have changed since the distant past when i was doing that stuff - it is just an expression of the normal intelligence and social awareness of a member of an advanced society.  NB: these thoughts only apply to the UK - what they do in other 'Western' cultures i've no informed ideas on - Paris ? Rome ? Madrid ?...maybe not so polite.

In Thailand the rule is " always give way to a vehicle bigger then you".  It does not even rate if you have right of way.  TIT

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The latest stats from Libya are from 2013.  Therefore it's pointless including them in current data.

 

36+ per 100,000 in Thailand.  The UK with a similar population size is somewhere between 2 and 3 per 100,000.  I wonder what's different!!

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6 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

That's some going, to beat those 3rd world countries to the top spot !!!

 

In most of the 3rd world countries, the vast majority of people don't have access to a motor vehicle.  In Thailand, everyone and their dog has access to at least a scooter.   Reporting deaths per 100,000 population can skew the comparisons when there's such a huge difference in the number of vehicles.  

 

A more meaningful number would be deaths per vehicle- with scooters broken out.  The most meaningful number would be deaths per 1 billion km driven (again, scooters broken out), but that's not reported for Thailand.  I want to know what my odds are of dying when I get into a vehicle and travel X number of km.    Not what the odds of a Thai citizen are of being killed whether they get into a vehicle or not.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

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7 minutes ago, bdenner said:

The idiots driving the taxis and buses we are passengers in are not just confined to the ground.

Take a look at the National Geographic Channel (TrueVisions Channel 558) and look at Air Crash Investigations episode "The Lost Plane" currently being featured.

 

When your finished think carefully with whom you fly with as well. That Captain should have never been given a license to ride a push bike let alone fly a Thai International Airbus A310, slamming it into a mountain near Kathmandu!

 

NOT a good example. One of the trickiest airports, a flap malfunction, change of runway at the last minute (without any reason), an inexperienced first officer, and an inept air traffic controller, all making it practically a solo effort for the Captain. Does not make it excusable, but he certainly had the odds against him. The Surat Thani accident on the other hand... Anyway, back to the Thai roads!

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4 minutes ago, MrY said:

 

NOT a good example. One of the trickiest airports, a flap malfunction, change of runway at the last minute (without any reason), an inexperienced first officer, and an inept air traffic controller, all making it practically a solo effort for the Captain. Does not make it excusable, but he certainly had the odds against him. The Surat Thani accident on the other hand... Anyway, back to the Thai roads!

Take a look at the FACTS before making obscure observations! The 1st officer is telling him he is heading North after 1 360 deg turn ??? It should have been South then during a terrain warning he calls it as faulty (his last words).

 

I'm pointing out the Thai mind set whether it be on the ground or in the air!

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43 minutes ago, spermwhale said:

I do believe that one of the reasons the Thai death toll is so high is because the majority people are riding motorcycles and have a higher chance of dying in a crash. I would be interested to see how Thailand fared if you remove motorcycle deaths from the equation. 

 

The WHO used to have a nice interactive bar chart on their site which has now been removed...

 

Overall the rate is 36 per 100,000 with 73% of deaths from motorbikes so your rate would be 26 per 100,000. This is by far the highest with the next highest being the Dominican Republic with 13 per 100, 000; from memory.

 

Interestingly, only 5 per 100,000 are drivers of 4-wheeled vehicles which puts Thailand on par with the US and some EU countries.

 

http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A998

 

There are also other measures, such as 'per 100,000 vehicles' and 'per billion km driven' which put Thailand way down the list... :smile:

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