Jump to content

Thailand road carnage: "Big Bike" rider among 26 dead on Tuesday


webfact

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, mok199 said:

Sadly many of us have become numb to this road carnage , worrying more about the filthy, toxic air pollution..

I was reading a study that concluded that living in Chiang Mai cut 2.5 years off life expectancy and, in BKK was it was four years! ???? And, it's only going to get worse. ????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply
8 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I find that when riding a motorcycle in Thailand (primarily Bangkok) it is the other motorcyclists who present the greatest risk to me. 

They ride dangerously close to me, they sit in my blind spot, they overlap wheels (i.e. if I am to swerve round a pot hole I can hit them), the pull in-front of my 'braking zone', they pull out in front of me. 

 

While some vehicles in their 'steel cage' are an absolute nuisance (particularly delivery drivers and in many cases Taxi drivers) most cars drive with exceptional consideration towards motorcyclists.

 

The consideration the majority of cars give to motorcyclists here is one of the things which surprises me, almost every car driver is aware that there is always likely to be a motorcyclist around. 

 

I drive a car here and ride a motorcycle - the motorcyclists are by far the biggest danger to themselves and others.

I can share your experiences.. other riders are often the worst danger to yourself as a motorcyclist. I find the best way to avoid most of those situations is to always ride slightly faster than other traffic (assuming you ride something bigger than 125cc). Always get in front of other traffic (except some speeding lunatics) and this way you only need to worry about what happens in front. 

Just had a near miss recently that fits your description very well. A taxi was hogging the right lane on a two-lane road, and as I undertook it, the driver suddenly swerved left and put the indicator at the same time after seeing a passenger. Was going to dodge left naturally but then some Xmax 300 missile blasted past me from the left probably 100km/h and almost hit me. Lucky I was tired that day and didn't countersteer quickly enough to get on the way of the big scooter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

No it doesn't - it ranks Thailand as one of the most dangerous places to 'Ride a Motorbike'.

 

74% of deaths are on Motorcycles. 

12% of deaths are in 4 wheels vehicles / cars - Thats 2880 to 3000 per year. 

Thai Population is 69.04 Million people -

 

The death rate in cars in Thailand equates to 4.17 to 4.34 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

In the UK the Total Death rate is 3.1 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

 

Thailand has a major issue with Motorcyclists dying on the roads, obviously because most of the road users are motorcyclists and then a combination of other factors involved to place those high numbers of motorcyclists in an environment of higher risk than it should be (i.e. no helmet, drink, poor rider education, lack of awareness of safety, poor road design, poor road quality etc etc).

 

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/caraccidents.asp

 

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

 

 

 

 

For some reason I can’t find weekly carnage reports of buses and mini vans turning into shredded metal in the UK. I’ve looked but can’t find them. 
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, webfact said:

This ranks Thailand as one of the most dangerous places in the world to drive.

Only as a biker. 

The fact is that only a few got a licence with a driving school and a test. 

They simply don't know the rules therefore. 

Lots to improve. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Maybe that is the idea of ramping up the the speed limit to 120kph so no one leaves the scene alive ????

Ramping up the speed limit is the most stupid, dumb decision that could be taken. It is much like a "license to kill".

Although Thailand is not big on issuing speeding infractions, western countries have increased speed limits from time to time, as an example, from 100 to 110 and found that vehicle drivers just add 10 or 20 km/h to the posted speed limit. Therefore, 110 becomes 130.

Speed kills. Increasing the speed limit in Thailand will just kill more. Dahh

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

No it doesn't - it ranks Thailand as one of the most dangerous places to 'Ride a Motorbike'.

 

74% of deaths are on Motorcycles. 

12% of deaths are in 4 wheels vehicles / cars - Thats 2880 to 3000 per year. 

Thai Population is 69.04 Million people -

 

The death rate in cars in Thailand equates to 4.17 to 4.34 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

In the UK the Total Death rate is 3.1 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

 

Thailand has a major issue with Motorcyclists dying on the roads, obviously because most of the road users are motorcyclists and then a combination of other factors involved to place those high numbers of motorcyclists in an environment of higher risk than it should be (i.e. no helmet, drink, poor rider education, lack of awareness of safety, poor road design, poor road quality etc etc).

 

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/caraccidents.asp

 

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

 

 

 

 

Indeed its a motor bike related issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly when you see these Thais on there high powered motor bikes come past past you it sends a shiver down your spine No helmet and they are really moving. I always think "Oh well soon they will be picking him or her off the road and putting them in the back of an ambulance. Is it a really good idea selling Thais these high powered bikes considering there limited driving skills and stupidity?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

As a cyclist (yep, I'm getting ready to duck!), I reckon motorcyclists are my biggest danger. Having said that, nearly all Thais appear to ride or drive with a reckless disregard for mortality. Couldn't, of course, have anything to do with their religious beliefs. . . 

I too am a cyclist; between 12 and 15,000 km per year on the roads I prefer,  red roads, sometimes in cement where traffic is almost nonexistent.
I avoid the high traffic roads as much as possible because you always have to be on the alert.

Of course when I can't do otherwise, I ride on it ... but it's not my favorite playground.
In addition, I carry on my back a photo-bag in which there is my Canon 70D and its UGA 10-22 zoom, another zoom the 70-300 and another camera, my Lumix G85 with another focal length.

As for the religion of the Thai people ... they are especially animists and fetishists but certainly not Buddhist because none respects the precepts of the Buddha :

( especially the last one )

 

"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings." (Pali: Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)

"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given." (Pali: Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)

"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures." (Pali: Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)

"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." (Pali: Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)

"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness." (Pali: Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed are kings 

It is a proverb; so don't take it at first ...

 

So we will compare Thailand with which other countries?
Those who are at war and still have fewer deaths than on the roads in Thailand?
or better with Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia .... and curiously we will find that these countries have comparable mortality rates with Western countries.
Thailand is truly a special case;
and the recent proposal to increase speed on some open roads is not going to go in the right direction.:1zgarz5:

 

That's an interesting perspective, but, at the same time, let's do look at Vietnam for example.  I can't claim to be an expert on Vietnam roads but the several times I was in HCMC, at nearly every intersection, you would see a mass of motorcycles so thick that I hardly even remember there being cars. 

 

To truly be a fair comparison, you would need, for instance, Bangkok's car to motorcycle ratio be about the same.  Two bikes running into each other may cause some injuries but, unless they are traveling at high speed (difficult to do in traffic), that's it.  Meanwhile I would guess there's a much higher fatality rate of bikes hitting cars/trucks regardless of speed simply due the physics of vehicles being almost unmovable objects that don't absorb an impact the way that hitting another bike would. 

 

I think it just points to the fact that it's difficult to make a apples to apples comparison between any two populations without normalizing for ratio of different types of vehicles. 

 

As someone that used to ride a big bike in the US, I appreciate the fact that they break down accidents into very granular segments showing single-vehicle vs multi-vehicle accidents, alcohol related vs non-alcohol related, helmet vs no-helmet, average speed, licensed vs not-licensed, etc.  You can get a much better picture of where the deaths are coming from with this additional data. 

 

One particular statistic that I always found interesting in the US is that if you eliminate accidents caused by alcohol, unlicensed motorcycle drivers, and accidents where the rider was not speeding at the time of the accident, riding motorcycles seemed much safer than the raw stats would indicate. 

 

Also, in the US, if I'm remembering the stats correctly, single-vehicle accidents were either the biggest percentage of accidents or very high.  That means people hitting a corner too hot and going off the road or losing control of the bike and running into something. 

In Thailand, you also have to remember, most people aren't wearing even the most basic safety gear. The helmets they hand out with a bike purchase here are a joke.  I mean, literally, they have "novelty helmets" (which are illegal) in the US with better safety specs than the helmets they give you when you purchase a new bike.  No gloves.  No leathers or abrasion resistant clothing, people wearing flip-flops instead of leather boots, etc. 

 

Just on that, I would expect more injuries and fatalities than western countries where they preach AGATT (all the gear, all the time). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, BobbyL said:

You could search and find an identical news story to this from one, two, three etc years ago. 

 

Einstein's famous quote could not be more apt to describe Thailand's road safety enforcement. 

 

 

 

 

images.jpg

I wonder how many Thais have even heard of Einstein,let alone his famous equation? The answer might explain why so many aren’t bright enough to understand basic road safety. Next topic for them "The origin of species". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

I almost crashed into plenty motorbikes because they cross lanes, ride out from in between cars and do stuff you wouldn't imagine. 

 

    

You need to attend a Defensive Driving course. That's right, there is no driver road safety education in Thailand. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, SS1 said:

I can share your experiences.. other riders are often the worst danger to yourself as a motorcyclist. I find the best way to avoid most of those situations is to always ride slightly faster than other traffic (assuming you ride something bigger than 125cc). Always get in front of other traffic (except some speeding lunatics) and this way you only need to worry about what happens in front. 

Just had a near miss recently that fits your description very well. A taxi was hogging the right lane on a two-lane road, and as I undertook it, the driver suddenly swerved left and put the indicator at the same time after seeing a passenger. Was going to dodge left naturally but then some Xmax 300 missile blasted past me from the left probably 100km/h and almost hit me. Lucky I was tired that day and didn't countersteer quickly enough to get on the way of the big scooter.

Taxi's picking up passengers are an absolute nuisance to motorcyclists.... 

 

Exactly the same happened to me last night but from a different perspective. I was the passenger flagging down a taxi.

 

I saw the red light of the taxi approaching, right hand lane of a two lane  (in each direction road) in central Bangkok (Sukhumvit 71). The Taxi didn't see me until late and suddenly swerved into the left lane and abruptly stopped with a 'screech'... two motorcyclists following didn't predict the unpredictability of a taxi stopping for a passenger and also both skidded and nearly crashed.

 

They [the motorcyclists] didn't look impressed at all - I don't know how they kept cool and didn't kick in the taxi !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, neeray said:

Ramping up the speed limit is the most stupid, dumb decision that could be taken. It is much like a "license to kill".

Although Thailand is not big on issuing speeding infractions, western countries have increased speed limits from time to time, as an example, from 100 to 110 and found that vehicle drivers just add 10 or 20 km/h to the posted speed limit. Therefore, 110 becomes 130.

Speed kills. Increasing the speed limit in Thailand will just kill more. Dahh

 

 

Speed does NOT kill , inappropriate speed kills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, neeray said:

Ramping up the speed limit is the most stupid, dumb decision that could be taken. It is much like a "license to kill".

Although Thailand is not big on issuing speeding infractions, western countries have increased speed limits from time to time, as an example, from 100 to 110 and found that vehicle drivers just add 10 or 20 km/h to the posted speed limit. Therefore, 110 becomes 130.

Speed kills. Increasing the speed limit in Thailand will just kill more. Dahh

 

 

It's not speed that kills. Looking at the daily crash videos how many of them are actually caused by excessive speed? Very few. Of course many accidents could be avoided by driving slower, but it doesn't remove the fact that usually the root cause is someone breaking another traffic law, not checking mirrors, not looking, cutting in front, crossing a solid yellow line etc.. 

Look at a German highway and statistics, says it all. 

 

But yeah I agree that increasing speeds certainly don't reduce accidents here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.





×
×
  • Create New...