Road carnage: January death toll goes through the roof

[ginjag]

Try L plates on all vehicles that have learner drivers,     keep them on until a year after passing the test.

 

[hashmodha]

Please, tell us if you travel in Europe

I don't about this....I have driven all over Europe....many many times....through many countries....the defensive driving attitude in some countries as opposed to offensive driving or both.....like taking care of the front cause the rear takes care of itself!..Thailand has road rage and mixtures of big pickups and impaired abilities for drivers..

Please Excuse spelling mistakes/Misunderstanding/Grammar! :-)

[hashmodha]

It's not the "graduates from motorbikes" that are the majority of victims, it's still the 2 -wheelers.

One should see the 2 wheels kids ....on our seaside doing the one wheels jumps at high speeds...they do it on the road where the local police lives..and no prizes for guessing what the local Bobby is up to?

Please Excuse spelling mistakes/Misunderstanding/Grammar! :-)

[Bob12345]

11 minutes ago, nong38 said:

There are many issues here which contribute to the figures.

The road designs are not the best but a good start would be close all U TURNS which do not use bridges or tunnels.

Thai vehicles should all be automatic, wont start until the seat belt is connected and have a speed limiter fitted that cannot be interfered with.

Thais in general don't consider or look for other road users which is big scorer in the figures and finally, from me, I am sure you can add but I also notice that whoever has the right of way ( I know they don't have a clue because they have never read the highway code ) its size that counts and you give way regardless!

What is needed to start to make things better and I cannot see it happening is to get the police out in force at a busy place and make life uncomfortable for the bad motorists, hit them where it hurts, cash and a walk home, maybe confiscate the machine make then buy it back or crush it.

Shock tactics are required.

Forget about it, just wait for self-driving cars and till that time try to stay indoors.

[Odysseus123]

11 minutes ago, kaorop said:

Yes ive thought the same, as is oft quoted, "when you make peacful protest impossible you make violent protest inevitable"  and the roads are place where it begins as with this increase and ends with an overthrow, will the overthrow come is anyones geuss..but fersur its going to get worse on the roads..

Yes-I agree with you.

 

All these suppressed and repressed little behavioural volcanoes in command of a vehicle.

 

That is the trade off in the more than inadequate Social Contract that they have with a gov't which really,in Western terms,is not even a gov't at all..Repression above and near anarchy below.

[soalbundy]

14 hours ago, HenryPattaya said:

The way they drive I think that figure is not correct in my 10 sq kilometer radius I drive everyday 5. deaths a month 

perhaps if you stopped driving.....

[Nong Khai Man]

Soooooooooooo Is Thailand STILL Number 1 in Road Death Figures ???

[Airbagwill]

If it's just down to "bad driving" why would the figures go up?

[DieterWiehe]

15 hours ago, YetAnother said:

we have been predicting this for a couple years now;

all the academic studies point to a half dozen common causes; same ones;

i believe it is far more fundamental; thais are not careful, orderly people;

they do not grasp the value of order;

given them bigger,faster cars and trucks and more and more graduates from motorbikes.....;

this is what you get

Darwin's theory at work after weeding out the bad apples it may get better in about 100 years

[Airbagwill]

23 minutes ago, hashmodha said:

I don't about this....I have driven all over Europe....many many times....through many countries....the defensive driving attitude in some countries as opposed to offensive driving or both.....like taking care of the front cause the rear takes care of itself!..Thailand has road rage and mixtures of big pickups and impaired abilities for drivers..

Please Excuse spelling mistakes/Misunderstanding/Grammar! :-)
 

Could you define "defensive" and Offensive" driving?

[Henrik Andersen]

Really not surprised 

[Thian]

2 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

I'll never forget in Phuket on my scooter about to do a right hand turn into a side street, at the last moment saw another rider passing on the right, on the wrong side of the road. Had I not seen him, it would have been a serious crash.

 

 

5555 i see that every 2 minutes while driving in BKK...

[Jonnapat]

14 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I just drove from Pattaya to Phrae and back and encountered seriously awful driving continuously. Tailgating on the Motorways, when they can clearly see dozens of vehicles ahead of you, especially pisses me off, especially since every 30km or so, you could see 2-6 cars involved in dents and insurance claims from such stupidity. Cars overtaking the other way, not letting your lane free was pretty common.

Giving right of way? Yeah, Right!

Over a 750 Km journey, each direction, I saw the cops twice. And both times were paperwork check or search, not one out there managing traffic.

And then they wonder why the death toll is up? Hmmm! I think I know! No one is stopping idiots driving like buffaloes.

Impossible to stop them, it's the mindset of 'me first , to hell with other road users' that needs to be altered. But how?  It's ingrained from an early age when motorbikes push their way to the front of any queue and then the graduation to cars, same mentality.

[Odysseus123]

7 minutes ago, Nong Khai Man said:

Soooooooooooo Is Thailand STILL Number 1 in Road Death Figures ???

Absolutely..

 

"We will,we will rock them!!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY

[Thian]

2 hours ago, DavidB4 said:

I know the situation in Thailand is terrible but honestly you make Europe sound like a big-brother police state that scares me even more than the Thai drivers! 

Don't go to Europe then mate, far to developed for you....stay in Nakhon Nowhere and watch out on the roads!

[KIWIBATCH]

So....the Chicken essence had the opposite effect...more people died on the roads...!!!.....must be an opening in Thailand to now sue the manufacturers of the chicken essence surely....

[davhend25]

13 hours ago, wotsdermatter said:

Please, tell us if you travel in Europe< Canada, and the USA, if you see many police "managing traffic" because when I travel in other countries it is a rare occurrence to see police unless they are hiding somewhere with their radar guns or controlling traffic at collision scenes, etc.  While Thailand has a poor record other countries do not necessarily fare better, regardless of reports from worldwide agencies.

Wotsdermatter makes an excellent point here...I'm an expat from the USA, only been here in Thailand for a year.  I lived in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area for 32 years. The driving habits of a significant number of Americans are atrocious. The U.S. has cracked down hard on drunk drivers over the past 20 years or so, but reckless driving and excessive speeding has increased substantially. And, yes, you can drive for literally hundreds of miles without seeing a police officer! It had gotten to a point, in my area, where I was literally afraid to drive on the Capitol beltway in Washington. A local news crew drove around the beltway to determine average speed. After completing the 64 mile/103 Km trip, they discovered an average speed per vehicle at 136 Km/hour. The posted speed limit is 105 km/hour. What saves the U.S. and probably a lot of other non-Asian countries, from the road carnage being experienced here in Thailand, is significantly better equipment, i.e., newer and better maintained vehicles. Annual vehicle inspections are pretty much standard in most U.S. states. Things like brakes, lights, and tires are rigorously inspected. Vehicles failing these inspections are taken off the road until appropriate repairs are made. I know first hand because my tires failed one year and I couldn't legally drive my car until they were replaced. There are currently measures being taken to target "aggressive" driving in the U.S., similar to what has been done with impaired driving. Penalties are severe. Additionally, when you get a speeding ticket in the U.S. your car insurance rates get jacked through the roof for at least 3 years!  The bottom line is that we are now living in a "Me Me Me" "Now Now Now" world. It's not just Thailand. 

[Odysseus123]

2 minutes ago, davhend25 said:

Wotsdermatter makes an excellent point here...I'm an expat from the USA, only been here in Thailand for a year.  I lived in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area for 32 years. The driving habits of a significant number of Americans are atrocious. The U.S. has cracked down hard on drunk drivers over the past 20 years or so, but reckless driving and excessive speeding has increased substantially. And, yes, you can drive for literally hundreds of miles without seeing a police officer! It had gotten to a point, in my area, where I was literally afraid to drive on the Capitol beltway in Washington. A local news crew drove around the beltway to determine average speed. After completing the 64 mile/103 Km trip, they discovered an average speed per vehicle at 136 Km/hour. The posted speed limit is 105 km/hour. What saves the U.S. and probably a lot of other non-Asian countries, from the road carnage being experienced here in Thailand, is significantly better equipment, i.e., newer and better maintained vehicles. Annual vehicle inspections are pretty much standard in most U.S. states. Things like brakes, lights, and tires are rigorously inspected. Vehicles failing these inspections are taken off the road until appropriate repairs are made. I know first hand because my tires failed one year and I couldn't legally drive my car until they were replaced. There are currently measures being taken to target "aggressive" driving in the U.S., similar to what has been done with impaired driving. Penalties are severe. Additionally, when you get a speeding ticket in the U.S. your car insurance rates get jacked through the roof for at least 3 years!  The bottom line is that we are now living in a "Me Me Me" "Now Now Now" world. It's not just Thailand. 

Right,splendidly put.

 

Could you possibly use paragraphs in future-instead of typing directly from the screen in front of you?

[Benmart]

I am driving from Ubon Ratchthani to Chonburi. The dangerous antics and lack of police on Highway 24 is obvious. Easy does it for me. At Amazon Coffee for a rest break.

[marko kok prong]

I would like to know the death toll in Syria,or Iraq,or Yemen for january all countries with wars going on,i doubt any of them recorded a death toll of 1,452,then add the figures of those who died later, lets say 50%,so close on 3 thousand so if we apply that over a year close to 36,000.

[davhend25]

8 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Right,splendidly put.

 

Could you possibly use paragraphs in future-instead of typing directly from the screen in front of you?

Yes, you're right! There should have been at least a couple of paragraphs in that post. I kind of got carried away with my rant...Lol. Thanks for pointing that out.

[SunsetT]

to be expected when more and more smartphone use is factored in.

[Odysseus123]

2 minutes ago, davhend25 said:

Yes, you're right! There should have been at least a couple of paragraphs in that post. I kind of got carried away with my rant...Lol. Thanks for pointing that out.

Yup...that dear ol' Beltway,huh?Lol.

[thaibeachlovers]

15 hours ago, mommysboy said:

Unbelievable. Still, I expect the apologists will be out insisting black is white, and white no colour at all.

 

 

Well seeing as you brought it up, white is not a colour.

http://education.seattlepi.com/not-list-black-white-colors-physics-3426.html

 

However, re the OP, no amount of cops on the road, even if they did enforce the law, would prevent accidents caused by blatent stupid driving of which there is a great deal on Thai roads.

Whenever I see some (always young ) idiot powering down the road on a m'bike, I feel sorry for his ( always a guy ) relatives having to pay for his soon to happen cremation.

[kaorop]

These days i will go out of my way to avoid the busy single carriageway roads, prefer dual carriage way or quiet back roads. Not that its a garantee but it does serve to sooth my nerves.................I see 'our' residential traffic 'expert' is spruiking his usual "but its in the book" mantra or posing irrelevant questions to other members...

[WHYWHY]

Maybe its time the Powers that Be start being Powers.

Not worrying about other stuff 

Grow a Pair and start looking at this Serious Problem 

Get out their and Police not taking kick backs do your job if in law enforcement.

Start looking for Selutions get your heads out of your a-- 

Look at other countries tail gateting is Illegal in most countries 

Over taking unless safe to do so illegal 

Using Mobile Phones illegal 

How about changing road speeds instead of one constant Speed Fast and Don't care

 

[kaorop]

10 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

I would like to know the death toll in Syria,or Iraq,or Yemen for january all countries with wars going on,i doubt any of them recorded a death toll of 1,452,then add the figures of those who died later, lets say 50%,so close on 3 thousand so if we apply that over a year close to 36,000.

Id imagine people are less inclined to travel when theres a war going on. So the numbers would be skewed.

[farcanell]

And yet, ironically, driving in Thailand has definitely improved my driving skills..... go figure.

[davhend25]

5 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Yup...that dear ol' Beltway,huh?Lol.

When I first relocated to the DC area in 1980, you could drive the beltway midday and not see another vehicle for a minute or two. When I left the area in 2012, it had become a rolling parking lot! Believe me, I don't miss it...Lol  

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, kaorop said:

These days i will go out of my way to avoid the busy single carriageway roads, prefer dual carriage way or quiet back roads. Not that its a garantee but it does serve to sooth my nerves.................I see 'our' residential traffic 'expert' is spruiking his usual "but its in the book" mantra or posing irrelevant questions to other members...

will go out of my way to avoid the busy single carriageway roads

You'd have to add a lot of kms to your journey trying to get to Uttaradit from Lampang without using the very dangerous two lane road. They are widening it but won't be dual carriageway the entire distance for decades.

 

BTW, the most dangerous U turn, probably on the planet, is on the dual carriageway between Lamphun and Lampang.