New Year Death Toll Rises To 365: Thailand

[kimamey]

Really only 365? What about those who died on the way to the hospital and afterwards?

Apparently those aren't counted, at least not those that don't die on the day. So the figure will be much higher.

[Anon999]

"More than 4.7 million vehicles were flagged down, and 688,381 offenders punished for violating traffic laws. Of those caught, 202,893 faced legal action for driving without a licence"

Nice to know that at least a majority of the drivers out there have a license

Taken that, of those caught, 29.5% didn't have a license, on a national basis that is an awful lot of people driving around without one!

[dcutman]

I saw yesterday that Trat hadn't recorded any fatalities - that's a surprise considering the number of accidents that there have been on Koh Chang over the last week.

Trat had no injuries either or accidents at all for that matter, not one. How amazing is that? I guess if the rest of the provinces reported like Trat, the government would achieve its goal of 0 deaths during these holidays.

[Anon999]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Utter dross. If you never teach people to do something then they're going to be totally incompetent at it. There are no official driving schools or realistic driving tests here and when was the last time you saw a Highway Code let alone the requirement to have to pass a written exam from its contents, before taking an accompanied driving test? Making all those that haven't passed a test display 'L' plates would be a good starting point so that everyone else would at least beware.

[noddy77]

Nothing is going to change quickly.

How about the Thai Gov make 2013 the year to start using indicators.

If it takes all year to take effect then its a great start.

Maybe 2014 could be the year they teach the Thais that is OK to have your lights on at night while driving.

Who knows, 20 years of one achievment per year and it might be safe for us all to get back on the roads.

Edited January 4, 2013 by noddy77

[bhatmasterson]

"More than 4.7 million vehicles were flagged down, and 688,381 offenders punished for violating traffic laws. Of those caught, 202,893 faced legal action for driving without a licence"

Nice to know that at least a majority of the drivers out there have a license

Yes but to know that there are more people driving without a driver's license than there are riding motorcycles without helmets is sobering.

[vijer]

202,893 faced legal action for driving without a licence

I know who they are, I've driven behind them before!

Official statistics show that 24.39 per cent of the fatalities were caused due to the failure to wear a helmet.

Survival of the fittest, if you do not care about your safety should the rest of us be troubled by your removal from the population?

[vijer]

More than 4.7 million vehicles were flagged down, and 688,381 offenders punished for violating traffic laws.

The cynic in me says, that 4.7 million were advised that if you pay the fine in town it is XXX baht .... er ah, can I pay the fine here? Of those 4.7 million 688,381 said give me the ticket I will pay it in town.

Official statistics show that 24.39 per cent of the fatalities were caused due to the failure to wear a helmet.

So if you are not concerned for your own life should we care if you are remved from the population?

[marchawkes]

Nobody can save a people or a community from itself. Just watch people tailgate, overtake, turn into main streets, jump lights, speed....... Its part of Thai-DNA to do whatever is necessary from early in life to end up on a funeral pyre or in a wheelchair. Life is cheap in Thailand and can be visibly evidenced on the roads.

Change comes from the grassroots through education at all levels and information kits for the sub-literate villagers. Year round rigor when enforcing traffic laws enforces the learning. It is quite idiotic for police to wake up for 7 days each year; in the hope that traffic will flow safely. The 7-days effort smells of third world thinking for a country aspiring for first-world status.

[TPI]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Sorry my friend, Australia, a country with a third of the population has at most 1500 dead a year...Thailand has 16,000! You obviously don't drive, if you did you would soon see the horrifying way in which the locals operate their vehicles! Where in the world would you find a car overtaking a bus which is overtaking a truck on a blind corner which is topped by a unsighted crest!! Vietnam perhaps, Cambodia maybe Thailand all of the time! These guys see every overtaking maneuver as a test of manhood...and real men don't back down to oncoming vehicles!

[noddy77]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Sounds like youv'e been stuck in Pattaya too long.

If you have ever driven a car in Isaan you would not be talking like this.

I love Thai people but they couldn't drive a greasy stick up a dogs @#$%

[rattler]

"More than 4.7 million vehicles were flagged down, and 688,381 offenders punished for violating traffic laws. Of those caught, 202,893 faced legal action for driving without a licence"

Nice to know that at least a majority of the drivers out there have a license

Taken that, of those caught, 29.5% didn't have a license, on a national basis that is an awful lot of people driving around without one!

I dont care if they dont have a licence the biggest problem here is motorcycles with NO rear lights, a huge amount on the road lately.

[oldsailor35]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Utter dross. If you never teach people to do something then they're going to be totally incompetent at it. There are no official driving schools or realistic driving tests here and when was the last time you saw a Highway Code let alone the requirement to have to pass a written exam from its contents, before taking an accompanied driving test? Making all those that haven't passed a test display 'L' plates would be a good starting point so that everyone else would at least beware.

OK! and what about the school kids, do they get a "mini" L plate or just one of a different colour ?

Bye the way, i have a highway code its quite new, but all in Thai so no bloody good to me at all.

Edited January 4, 2013 by oldsailor35

[marstons]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Sounds like youv'e been stuck in Pattaya too long.

If you have ever driven a car in Isaan you would not be talking like this.

I love Thai people but they couldn't drive a greasy stick up a dogs @#$%

having driven back from Udon to Pattaya on Jan 1st would totally agree, complete absolute madness, well and trully wacky races and not a check point in operation in site,suprised the figure was not higher.

[theajarn]

I doubt any "reward" will be substantial enough to sway ANY politician in Thailand to do the jobs they're being paid to do in the first place.

Instead of rewards (as if they don't reap their own 'rewards' enough), the PEOPLE should get these greedy politicians to do the jobs they were elected to do -- and that's only achievable by the direct opposite: PUNISHMENT.

[Buckaroo]

If the police actually did what they are paid to do and enforced the law concerning driving and road use there would be a lot less death on the road. Never mind I will put some bollards out into the road to cause a hazard and then sit here under my gazebo watching the traffic go by when there are advertisements showing during my favourite soap opera.

[crazydrummerpauly]

To the posters who think it is either clever or funny to remark on the coincidence of there having been 365 human beings killed and that being the number of days in the year - <deleted> ? Crap humor, disgraceful disrespect for the dead.

[simple1]

Many problems arise for Farangs that are too old to react, or too old to adapt.

40,000 a year die on US roads, why is that ?

before responding why not provide the statistics of road fatalities by age in Western countries. You will find the largest number of deaths by age group will be younger drivers, not older.

The post that claims you are not required to take a Q&A on road rules in Thailand before receiving a license is incorrect. It is correct that the actual driving test is a nonsense. It may be different in some locations i.e. tea money, but legally you have to pass a minimum of 23 multiple questions out of 30. Here in Pattaya it is enforced. At the Land Transport Office, the computer based test is provided in English, as are the road rules.

Edited January 4, 2013 by simple1

[cheeryble]

Utter dross. If you never teach people to do something then they're going to be totally incompetent at it. .

Agree.....except

.......don't you find something very strange here, that makes learning and rules irrelevant.

I'm talking about the amazing way Thais will just pull out in front of someone heading in a straight line, almost like a death wish with their head down to make sure they can't see. Who with a functioning brain would pull out across the path of a moving vehicle, either sometime it seems actually seeing it, but often it seems with head down. Things like you know when there's a u turn in a divided dual carriageway, and they will push out into the fast lane of the other side before they have a clear way to go, so they stop stuck out into it and they're right in the path of cars coming along....sometimes for a minute or two....at 70 miles an hour. It makes me want to tear my hair out but worse makes me think I surrounded by a different race who I can never understand.

These things require not learning. It the most unsophisticated intelligence needed, the basic intelligence not to pull out in front of fast moving objects.

It makes me feel like a stranger in a strange land, and what's more amazing is it's undoubtedly a common meme,

Has anyone got a handle on this?

ps happened right behind me yesterday, not in a village, in CMU with mature well dressed occupants of a car which simply pulled out right in the path of a Honda Dream. Luckily despite a nasty head wound he could stand up. I made sure it was clear who was at fault and asked a man snapping a camera at the scene to photograph the scrape on the road which showed the fault.

Please explain it to me.....

Edited January 5, 2013 by cheeryble

[cloghead]

I saw yesterday that Trat hadn't recorded any fatalities - that's a surprise considering the number of accidents that there have been on Koh Chang over the last week.

Right on, mrtoad. I know the administrator at Bangkok Koh Chang hospital and she told me this morning that she knows of at least two fatalities and countless injuries on Koh Chang during Dec 27--Jan 2. Maybe the authorities don't consider KC as part of Trat province.

The following article appeared on TV on Dec 31st:

BANGKOK, Dec 31 - Thailand's Road Safety Centre reports that the death toll so far during the first four days of the New Year's holidays has reached 202, with Nakhon Pathom province seeing the highest number at 11 persons.

Deputy Prime Minister/Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana said the number of road accidents has reached 1,827, while 1,898 have been injured, with Chiang Mai province seeing the most road accidents at 89 and the most injured at 91, followed by Chiang Rai at 59 with also 59 injured, and Nakhon Sawan at 54 with 58 injured.

Following Nakhon Pathom's highest death toll, Chiang Mai was second with 10, and Petchabun third at eight dead.

So far, 15 provinces have not recorded casualties -- 3 provinces in the north, 4 in the northeast, 4 in the central region, and 4 in the south.

Trat province in Thailand's east has not recorded any road accident in the past days.

According to Road Safety Directing Center, Mr Phongthep said drunken-driving is the main cause of death at 35 per cent.

During the past 24 hours as of December 30, the fourth day of the safe driving campaign, there were 505 road accidents nationwide with Chiang Mai still the province seeing the highest number of accidents at 28, followed by Buri Ram at 21, and Petchabun at 19. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-12-31

What a load of total bullshit...

[pop nita]

wow , raise to 365 already , really ?. I was thought that the road accidents of this year is decreased because I've seen on some TV program they says road accidents of this year is decrease from the same period of last years.

I think it's not just "seven dangerous days" but here in Thailand there are many of accident , everyday. 5555

[shakya]

Death toll is up but we are going to reward officials for doing their job... Go figure.

incorrect ... only in provinces where there are no fatalities.

I live in Nongkhai i hadn't noticed any difference, the same madness on the road with folk driving vehicles that they just can't handle still applies regardless of season

An incentive scheme would be helpful

[wilcopops]

In places like the UK the death rate over the Christmas holiday used to actually be LOWER than at other times of the year, such was the effectiveness of the anti drink drive campaigns.

[wilcopops]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Sounds like youv'e been stuck in Pattaya too long.

If you have ever driven a car in Isaan you would not be talking like this.

I love Thai people but they couldn't drive a greasy stick up a dogs @#$%

i drive all over the country as part of my job, I cover usually about 1000 to 1500 km per week this increases on longer trips of course. I avergage about 25 to 30,000 km per annum. I drive in all areas of Thailand north of Phuket and Suratthani from the Myanmar border to Cambodia, I have driven throughout Issan I also drive extensively in Laos. This week I've driven from Trat to Prachuap KiriKhan and up towards the Myanmar border, I don't live in Pattaya, I have also driven on every continent except South America. something about grandmothers sucking eggs comes to mind?

Edited January 5, 2013 by wilcopops

[wilcopops]

It seems that this thread is largely a chance for people to air their prejudices about Thai driving or just reinforce their own superioroity complexes.

the fact is that drivers all over the world havethe same abilities, it's just how this is handled. essentially it's road design and law enforcement that will curb the carnage, not unfopupnded criticisms of drivers based on the fact they are Thai.

If you want to see how other nationalities candrive like idiots too, just spend an afternoon driving around Pattaya and watch the expats join in the fun.

Sorry my friend, Australia, a country with a third of the population has at most 1500 dead a year...Thailand has 16,000! You obviously don't drive, if you did you would soon see the horrifying way in which the locals operate their vehicles! Where in the world would you find a car overtaking a bus which is overtaking a truck on a blind corner which is topped by a unsighted crest!! Vietnam perhaps, Cambodia maybe Thailand all of the time! These guys see every overtaking maneuver as a test of manhood...and real men don't back down to oncoming vehicles!

THere are two problems with your assertions, firstly statistics - these can be interpreted in more ways than you seem to realise.

Secondly and you seem to have taken a massively uncritical approach to interpreting these statistics. you don't really seem to be deducting from the stats but merely using them to reinforce your pre-conceived ideas on Thai drivers formed without any really concrete evidence.

Oz has 5.71 deaths per 100k, Thailand has 16.6, UK has 3.59, which is one of the lowest for any densely populated country.

To take these figures as a reflection of driving skill is largely without foundation, one needs to look at other factors.

In Oz and Thailand the standard of road and traffic engineering is way below that of the UK which is much more significant that some ill thought out theory of driving capabilities based on nationality or ethnicity. In fact given the appalling state of the roads and llaw enforcement in Thailand you might conceivably come to the conclusion that Thais are ion fact better drivers than most foreigners.

you confirm my suspicions by the way you also make totally unfounded judgments about my driving. (see above)....and it would appear my nationality, which BTW seems to cloud all your perspectives on this subject

Edited January 5, 2013 by wilcopops