Thailand road carnage: Death toll tops 12,000 since start of the year

[BobbyL]

And as usual, no plans in place to try and sort out this scandalous loss of life each day. 

[Orton Rd]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

As fun as it is to have a Thai bash, if the UK or USA had 70-80% scooters like Thailand, their traffic fatality rate would be just as high.  If you actually slice and dice the statistics, it would be even higher.

 

 

Not very likely as those countries have real driving tests, enforced laws such as helmet use and crippling punishments for offenders, as well as bikes being maintained to roadworthy standards. DOn't know about the USA but in the UK we tend to ride on the correct side of the road, it does help.

[impulse]

Just now, Orton Rd said:

Not very likely as those countries have real driving tests, enforced laws such as helmet use and crippling punishments for offenders, as well as bikes being maintained to roadworthy standards.

  Numbers, please.  Or your answer doesn't count.

 

[Orton Rd]

You cannot have numbers for accidents which do not happen

[impulse]

1 minute ago, Orton Rd said:

You cannot have numbers for accidents which do not happen

 

Nice try. 

 

You can have numbers for accidents that don't happen.  Take the total number of trips, minus the number that ended in an accident.  Then you have your number.  But I'm not seeing any numbers.  Just a Thai bash, based on conjecture and little more.

[Assurancetourix]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

Just a Thai bash, based on conjecture

What would tend to write that the article starting this thread would be a fake?

Be serious and admit that thai people have just half a pea in place of the brain when they take the wheel or ride a motorbike.

[heybuz]

One state in Australia has banned Thai licences lately, Victoria I think.

[impulse]

24 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

What would tend to write that the article starting this thread would be a fake?

Be serious and admit that thai people have just half a pea in place of the brain when they take the wheel or ride a motorbike.

 

Another Thai bash with absolutely no numbers to back it up.  

 

Simple algebra problem...  If 70% of the private vehicles in the USA were scooters instead of cars (today, it's 4% scooters in the USA), how much would the accident rate increase given that a scooter is 20-40 times as dangerous per mile as a car.  Just to make it easy, let's split the difference and say 30 times as dangerous.

 

If ya can't do that simple math, you have no business commenting on why Thai roads are dangerous. 

 

[Assurancetourix]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

If 70% of the private vehicles in the USA were scooters instead of cars

The number of deaths has nothing to do with the number of scooters or armored vehicles that roll;
on the other hand, it has to do with the number of drivers who have gone to a driving school and who have therefore learned the traffic rules on roads open to the public.

And above all to do with responsible drivers who know how to drive with reason and not with their ego.

If in USA 100% of vehicles in circulation were scooters there would be no more deaths on the road and maybe even less ...

[Bassosa]

4 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Exactly! I've given up making mundane, oft repeated comments on this topic.

 

As almost any Thai will say, 'it's up to them'.

If it was a problem it would be dealt with.

 

And it's clearly NOT being dealt with.....so the horrific road toll clearly isn't a problem in the Thai mind.

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

The number of deaths has nothing to do with the number of scooters or armored vehicles that roll;
on the other hand, it has to do with the number of drivers who have gone to a driving school and who have therefore learned the traffic rules on roads open to the public.

And above all to do with responsible drivers who know how to drive with reason and not with their ego.

If in USA 100% of vehicles in circulation were scooters there would be no more deaths on the road and maybe even less ...

  

So, what you're saying is that you can't do the math?

 

[thailand49]

No matter what they suggest in 10 years instead of getting better they have gotten worse!  So now they have resorted to under reporting the deaths and last claim they are #9?????

[30la]

And what did you learn from these numbers?
Nothing as usual, nobody is seriously willing to change anything!
We will continue to see the accidents, the dead and the wounded published month after month!

[thaibook]

30% of drivers on Thai roads do not have a driving licence.  But do the Thai police care ?

 

How many drivers (cars and motorbikes) go through red lights or drive on the wrong side?  But do the Thai police care?

 

People join the police to make money or more money if they are from a rich family.  Money is made not by fining drivers a few 100 baht but from procurement contracts ( fake explosive detectors, etc).  Any new device will be considered - what matters is not effectiveness but the  financial flowback.  A few dead here and there - they will be reincarnated, if lucky to become policemen.

[seajae]

1 hour ago, heybuz said:

One state in Australia has banned Thai licences lately, Victoria I think.

heard of one thai lady that drove for 20 years in Thailand and has failed around 10 times to pass the driving test in Australia, not surprised at all with the lack of driver education here as well as the lack of knowledge regarding road rules even though they are virtually the same

[ChipButty]

1 hour ago, thailand49 said:

No matter what they suggest in 10 years instead of getting better they have gotten worse!  So now they have resorted to under reporting the deaths and last claim they are #9?????

The Thai answer to that is there is more cars and bikes on the road than 10 years ago

[Grumpy John]

You farang the poblem!  You come to Thailand and drive funny....you dangrous to Thai people.  You get angy when Thai people ride Thai way.  Thai way good.   Farang way no good.  You cause acksedt you go jail bad farang.  

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts have been removed. 

[Artisi]

7 hours ago, ttkeric said:

....and here I am, thinking it's a nice sunny for a motorcycle ride. I think I better stay home and grow fungi. Cheers! 

 

On a more serious note, where my workspace is there are some 20 odd Thais. Guess who's the only one with the driving licenses (both car and motorcycle)? This alien fellow. 

 

Again, cheers and have a good day everyone. Stay safe ????

Soon you will be able to stay home and grow dope, beats dying on the roads. 

[Scot123]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

As fun as it is to have a Thai bash, if the UK or USA had 70-80% scooters like Thailand, their traffic fatality rate would be just as high.  If you actually slice and dice the statistics, it would be even higher.

 

It's 20-40 x as dangerous to ride a scooter (per km) as it is to ride in a 4 wheeled vehicle,  That comes from studies done in the US and Aus.  In the USA, only 4% of the vehicles are scooters (a term including all motorcycles)  If they had 17-20 times as many scooters (70-80% instead of 4%), each of them being 20-40 times as dangerous, the fatality rate would skyrocket.

 

Sure, I've seen a lot of horrendous drivers in Thailand.  But I'm amazed that the death rate isn't a lot higher.

 

I challenge any math whizzes to actually slice and dice the statistics and come up with a different conclusion.  Math only, please.  Intuition, common sense, obviousness based on observations don't count.  Just an analysis of the actual numbers, please.

 

 

Just utter rubbish, sorry. Just come back to the UK from a 9 year stay in Thailand. As I ride motorbikes and my wife and I both had our own motorbikes (not scooters) plus drove our SUV all the time to try and compare Thailand to the UK with a but, but is beyond stupid. Let's get a few things straight: there are far more big bikes/motorbikes on the road here, there are more people riding bikes both adult and children but here in the UK you do not have 3 idiots trying to kill them selves or kill you every 3 km, you don't experience vehicles from busses to truck cuming around blind bends on the wrong side of the road. Please do not even try to compare the two because it has zero to do with what type of vehicle and everything to do with attitude and ignorance. 

[eggers]

It's a total blight on the country, the Thai Gov't, Thai Police & Thai people !!!... A disgrace!!  

[Bangkok Barry]

8 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Sums it up...

Motorcycle changes lanes without looking.

Pick-up driver not concentrating and/or driving too fast.

 

 

About 150 metres from my house a woman on a bike decided to do a right-turn from the left lane. Too much trouble to actually look first. She was killed by an overtaking pickup and her passenger lost both legs. For what! Pure laziness and stupidity. And nothing here will ever change. Many, especially on bikes, don't have the mental capacity and common sense to know how to drive safely.

Same junction, several people were killed when a pickup waiting to turn right was hit from behind and shunted into the path of another pickup. When my wife does a right turn into our driveway, if there are any cars behind she pulls over to the left off the road and waits until it is clear behind before making the turn. She, not me, because I simply do not have the nerve to drive here. Too much like Russian Roulette. She though is an excellent driver. I have no idea how that happened.

[cornishcarlos]

8 hours ago, impulse said:

As fun as it is to have a Thai bash, if the UK or USA had 70-80% scooters like Thailand, their traffic fatality rate would be just as high.

 

I think the amount of driver training, law enforcement and basic survival instincts, in the U.K, would prove you completely wrong... Its third world mentality from top to bottom here, which creates this road carnage. 

 

Some numbers from the U.K for you though..

2016 there were 19,297 bikers reported injured in road accidents. 319 of those died, that's less than 2% fatalities. Why do you think that is ???

If Thailand's fatalities were say 20,000, that would mean 1 million injuries per year to achieve just a 2% fatality rate  !!!

[digger70]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand road carnage: Death toll tops 12,000 since start of the year

Great News, For sure they are aiming for the Gold Medal Again.  ????

[hotchilli]

In reality Thais are more aware of the road situation than most and are happy to live with it as it brings an advantage of an easy life.

Take a chance with no helmet, no licence, no insurance, no tax and no need to obey any road rules, if you get caught no hassle just a small fine and carry on!

Don't expect any great changes.

[Orton Rd]

Just imagine what 12 thousand coffins look like lined up, and all those families affected and the year not over. It's a crime against the country not doing anything about it as the solutions really are simple to see a large reduction in this slaughter.

[essox essox]

10 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

Well, i try to compensate, when i am riding the motorbike, my awareness magically multiplies 3 folds.

mine multiplies ten times when driving my truck ....need to do so here....

[simtemple]

There's a real opportunity for the international sale of Thai organs & body parts here.

Keep it up Thailand. Rich people in the USA need your organs. 

[MartinL]

15 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

You farang the poblem!  You come to Thailand and drive funny....you dangrous to Thai people.  You get angy when Thai people ride Thai way.  Thai way good.   Farang way no good.  You cause acksedt you go jail bad farang.  

Blimey, I thought that was Yinn posting!!

[mikebell]

Meanwhile Chonburi (AKA Pattaya) with the 2nd highest death figures employs its police as bandits to cream easy money from tourists and Thais alike in roadside stick-ups.