Thai roads: 6,129 dead so far this year - 729 this month - 29 on Monday

[webfact]

Thai roads: 6,129 dead so far this year - 729 this month - 29 on Monday

 

 

Daily News reported the latest unofficial figures for people pronounced dead at the scene of road accidents in Thailand. 

 

They cautioned that the figures were likely to rise when all agencies reporting the death toll had returned from days off. 

 

The deaths on Monday were 29. 

 

 

This made 729 so far this month. 

 

Since the start of the year 6,129 had died at the scene of accidents. 

 

Thaivisa notes that figures are in reality much higher when those that succumb in hospitals are taken into consideration. Some reports suggest the annual death toll in Thailand is somewhere between 24,000 and 30,000 with hundreds of thousands injured each year. 

 

Thailand is said to be number two in the world for per capita road death.

 

In their headline Daily News said that brakes are important and should be regularly serviced.  

 

 

This went along with a picture of a Nissan pick-up in which three people were injured after it collided and partly demolished the Amnat Charoen Service shop in Lam Lukka, Pathum Thani. 

 

Daily News are running a long term campaign to inform the public about the accident figures and are trying to improve road safety with their reports. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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[darksidedog]

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

In their headline Daily News said that brakes are important and should be regularly serviced.  

There's a lot more than brakes that need to be in good working order. Equally, if not more important of course, is the intelligence and awareness of the person behind the wheel. Too often brake failure is used as an excuse for the driver being an idiot, going way too fast, and without the slightest respect for other road users.

[Misterwhisper]

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

In their headline Daily News said that brakes are important and should be regularly serviced. 

I am not sure if functioning brakes will be that crucially important if the person wedged behind the steering wheel has practically no driver education and in addition ignores pretty much every traffic rule and safety precaution known to civilized mankind.

[ezzra]

In the next item on TV it says that Thailand is the least miserable country in the world according to Bloomberg index, if you ask me, country that has the second highest road fatalities a year and loses so many of its sons and daughters in a wholesale numbers in road carnage is a miserable country indeed...

[Odysseus123]

In any case I would hazard a guess that these are the most conservative numbers that they can stump up with.

 

..I agree with ThaiVisa on that one.24-30,000 is far more plausible.

[AtoZ]

Murphy's law got work permit in Thailand, it's not Thai drivers fault!

[poohy]

1 hour ago, Misterwhisper said:

I am not sure if functioning brakes will be that crucially important if the person wedged behind the steering wheel has practically no driver education and in addition ignores pretty much every traffic rule and safety precaution known to civilized mankind.

yesterday we had massive storm torrential rain extremely bad visibility obviously resulting in surface water on an already slippery road surface, i was sheltering in a shop front watching cars/trucks scream by regardless....utter madness

[BobbyL]

A truly shocking / inhumane / scandalous / whatever you call want to call it statistic.

 

For me this is the number one thing that needs to be fixed in this country. The daily numbers are unbelievable. Yet it has been mentioned time and time again, year on year, and nothing is properly put in place to rectify this by the government.  

[Wilsonandson]

The police enforcing motorcyclists to wear helmets might help reduce those number of deaths.

Sent from my SM-A700FD using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[PatOngo]

28 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

The police enforcing motorcyclists to wear helmets might help reduce those number of deaths.

First, they need to learn what police do! They have little or no idea.

[Odysseus123]

21 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

First, they need to learn what police do! They have little or no idea.

The almost complete anarchy is the warp to the weft of their social and cultural fabric-it would be extremely difficult to unravel one thread without the whole garment falling apart..

[legend49]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

In the next item on TV it says that Thailand is the least miserable country in the world according to Bloomberg index, if you ask me, country that has the second highest road fatalities a year and loses so many of its sons and daughters in a wholesale numbers in road carnage is a miserable country indeed...

only second highest road fatalities; damn I thought we had the gold medal!!!

[legend49]

1 hour ago, poohy said:

yesterday we had massive storm torrential rain extremely bad visibility obviously resulting in surface water on an already slippery road surface, i was sheltering in a shop front watching cars/trucks scream by regardless....utter madness

they needed to get home quickly before their car got wet.

[samsensam]

In their headline Daily News said that brakes are important and should be regularly serviced

 

the media, aalong with the authorities need to get real and stop living in this denial/ignoring responsibility bubble. how often is 'brake failure' blamed for an accident when there is no mechanical evidence? just supposition by individuals and the authorities and the media, a way of denying/avoiding personal responsibility.

 

come on thailand get real.

[sammieuk1]

Just have to accept it Thai's like killing each other on the road and you if they get a chance????

[RotBenz8888]

Our thai friends all have top car and healt insurances.  But they don't like seatbelts and none of them have car seats for their kids. 

 

So the only thing that seem to frighten them is the possibility of money loss....

 

 

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

the person wedged behind the steering wheel has practically no driver education and in addition ignores pretty much every traffic rule and safety precaution known to civilized mankind

Nothing to do with education (can't teach stupid), it's all about the lack of common sense.

[Iforbach]

As we all know ..driving in thailand has more than its fair share of loonies ..came back from udo thani .. to pattaya ..insane mad drivers ..overtaking tailgating etc ..

When will it end or at least reduce this carnage ? 

[geoffbezoz]

2 hours ago, ezzra said:

In the next item on TV it says that Thailand is the least miserable country in the world according to Bloomberg index, if you ask me, country that has the second highest road fatalities a year and loses so many of its sons and daughters in a wholesale numbers in road carnage is a miserable country indeed...

Unless there is some morbid enjoyment in road fatalities which I doubt. All comes down to Buddha's will I suspect.

[Pedrogaz]

I saw it reported....perhaps here on TV...some time ago that the figures we see are only those who actually die at the scene of the accident. Persons who die in the ambulance or in the hospital as a result of their injuries are not reported. If we factor up this death toll for 2019 we come to some 15000 deaths for the year. I have seen figures for deaths at 26000 and 42000 which were used to justify Thailand's infamous position as the 2nd worst country for accidents in the world.

 

I do wish reporters would clarify exactly what is being counted....without a definition then it is meaningless. The other thing is that reports of deaths come in over a period of time and are not reported exactly when they happen..another source of error.....likely the numbers will be hiked up when all the reports come in.

[Justgrazing]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

in their headline Daily News said that brakes are important

Phew .! Glad they reminded us of that I'm just going to drive down the shops .. 

[Odysseus123]

3 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I saw it reported....perhaps here on TV...some time ago that the figures we see are only those who actually die at the scene of the accident. Persons who die in the ambulance or in the hospital as a result of their injuries are not reported. If we factor up this death toll for 2019 we come to some 15000 deaths for the year. I have seen figures for deaths at 26000 and 42000 which were used to justify Thailand's infamous position as the 2nd worst country for accidents in the world.

 

I do wish reporters would clarify exactly what is being counted....without a definition then it is meaningless. The other thing is that reports of deaths come in over a period of time and are not reported exactly when they happen..another source of error.....likely the numbers will be hiked up when all the reports come in.

No..they won't hike the numbers up.WHO consistently states that the Thai gov't under reports by between 25 and 33%.

 

Probably the same for any other figures they produce-except for TAT and 'happyness' indexes.

[PatOngo]

23 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Unless there is some morbid enjoyment in road fatalities which I doubt. All comes down to Buddha's will I suspect.

I always think it comes down to Daeng's or Somchai's or Noi's and Lek's etc. will to drive pissed or with dodgy brakes on any given day. Their powers of concentration are minimal to say the least. But, hey, they don't seem to care, it just keeps happening EVERYDAY!

[ocddave]

5 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

I always think it comes down to Daeng's or Somchai's or Noi's and Lek's etc. will to drive pissed or with dodgy brakes on any given day. Their powers of concentration are minimal to say the least. But, hey, they don't seem to care, it just keeps happening EVERYDAY!

Their whole life is based on "luck", from their birth to their death, they don't believe in consequences. 

[mike787]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

In the next item on TV it says that Thailand is the least miserable country in the world according to Bloomberg index, if you ask me, country that has the second highest road fatalities a year and loses so many of its sons and daughters in a wholesale numbers in road carnage is a miserable country indeed...

WELL stated Ezzra!  The mortality in Thailand (especially in light of Bloombergs article) defies description only equal to a statistical value X squared...an absolute death wish.  Crossing the road or riding 2 wheels is a high probability of NOT making to your destination alive or intact.  WHY? Only explanation: it's the Thai wai (pun intended).  So pathetic here.  I must say, the circumstances are aggravated by such disregard for human life and common sense in light of the option to simply apply caution and respect  of others on roads.  

[Odysseus123]

17 minutes ago, ocddave said:

Their whole life is based on "luck", from their birth to their death, they don't believe in consequences. 

I think that you are right-my wife's whole complaint in life is that she is "unlucky" ie..could have met a richer "farang"

 

But she is not so dumb as to get up to her (or her family's) driving antics in Australia...????

 

'tis why it is the "lucky" as well as the "happy" kingdom.

[Orton Rd]

Do they still fiddle the numbers by only counting you dead if at the scene? They were found out at one time to be counting a victim as injured if they died in the ambulance on the way to Hospital, or at the Hospital if they reached it alive.

[Orton Rd]

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Our thai friends all have top car and healt insurances.  But they don't like seatbelts and none of them have car seats for their kids. 

 

So the only thing that seem to frighten them is the possibility of money loss....

 

 

Our neighbour bought a baby seat for the car- put it in the boot. When asked why she said she thought it was for good luck!

[dddave]

Some will see this as racist and invoking a stereotype but there really does seem to be lower sense of situational awareness here than in other places. Thais frequently seem to be totally oblivious to what's going on around them.

You experience it frequently on sidewalks where people just cut into your path, either totally unaware or totally self-entitled to whatever space they aim to occupy. People routinely exit doorways directly onto footpaths without pause or looking either way, then give you the dirty look when they bump into you.

From the countless videos I've seen on Thai TV of deadly vehicle accidents, drivers seem to cut across busy roads and make U-turns with hardly a look or pause, frequently somehow never seeing the colossal truck bearing down 50 feet away that is about to end their time on earth. 

 

I think we from western societies sometimes fail to appreciate how much we learn as kids about how to get around.  As toddlers, we walked hand in hand with parents who knew how to walk in crowds, making way for others and observing rules of the walkway/road.  Most of us had parents with cars and though we weren't aware of it at the time, our brains absorbed a huge amount of practical knowledge on driving techniques.   

 

The inundation of Thailand with personal cars and motorbikes has happened only in the last 40 years.  Most drivers are first and second generation and I think the driving knowledge passed from generation to generation in the west is totally lacking here.  Most nations with a lot of first generation drivers have high death rates. Why Thailand's rate is above most others seems to me to be a result of that strange obliviousness that many Thais seem to have. 

[Orton Rd]

It's all their own fault, there is no real driving test, no enforcement of the law, no common sense and a harmful -will die when your time no matter how reckless mentality.