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Songkran accidents cost Thailand 5 billion baht


webfact

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You want to educate Thai regarding road safety? Here is an easy solution, enforce the law with stiff penalties and, for repeat offenders, jail time. You would be surprised at how fast Thai drivers would learn the law when they have been appropriately fined for ignoring the law. Let's face it, there is nothing more important or more dear to a Thai than money!

Of course this means that the police have to do their jobs. Yeah, I guess it is a stupid idea after all! hit-the-fan.gif

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it is nice to see thgat someone has the guts to put a bill on the amount of accidents over such a short period of time, one then wondes what the actual bill is per year of the senseless and often easily stopped accidents do actually cost. We have had poor brakes, drivers drunk, badly maintained vehicles, overloaded vehicles and of course un-licensed and un-insured drivers/riders.

If the costs were made public the outcry would make the Government realise this is a really serious problem that needs really serious action not just sound bites to placate but action to stop and cure.

Divide 5 billion by the number of casualties for the period, then multiply that by the figure for annual casualties. All that worked out by a personally appointed committee of x1.

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The quoted figure is a small fraction of what the drought is really going to cost after pouring billions of gallons of water down the drain. Songkran should be a one day festival for adolescent farangs in three or four big Thai cities. The biggest cause of death is millions of Thais go home for a drunken orgy & drive there & back.

Yep and that could be easily stopped if the existing LAWS would be #@$%^&! enforced!

No need to be condescending towards Thais, who want to celebrate Songkran the way they want!

Thailand is wasting water with no plan every damn day of the year!

But on the one, two or three days of Songkran it suddenly becomes a big problem?

Give me a break!

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The MOPH is analyzing the root causes of accidents that occur during the Songkran festival. The study should be completed within May.

The real causes are rooted very deep within the society and are not likely to be easily changeable.

Sure there are a lot of drunk, careless and incompetent drivers whizzing around at high speed, but what is it about Thai society that makes this possible, even acceptable?

For instance;

I observed two teenage boys, about 14 sitting in a sala today, after a while a girl of about 13 in a "bar girl" costume drove up on a newish motorbike with an 8 year old. She handed the bike over to one of the boys, all 4 of them piled on and they drove off at high speed, none of them with helmets.

These are possibly part of the demographic of the majority of fatalities over Songkran.

None of the group either owned the motorbike or presumably had ever been taught how to ride it. They were all too young to have licences. The parents or older siblings who presumably bought and were still paying for the bike were either unaware of it being used in this way or had condoned it.

This kind of thing is repeated every day in every village in Thailand. What are the chances of any of these kids reaching maturity? If they do survive what are the chances of any of them becoming responsible users of motor vehicles in the future and passing those attitudes on to their own children?

To say the root cause is alcohol, or speeding, or anything else is mistaking the symptoms for the disease. The root cases are to do with parenting, education, religious attitudes to some extent though I doubt these kids spend much time in temples, and attitudes to responsibility, accountability and death. Not easily changed IMHO.

I had a conversation with a CFO of a company in Myanmar when he turned up with some accountants to carry out an audit.

One girl looked barely 12 years old.

She had a degree in economics.

She was 23 years old.

His comment to me is this is why so many non Asians talk about child exploitation etc etc.

Different place Asia, and people and appearances to what you may have been used to.

Deal with it.

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The MOPH is analyzing the root causes of accidents that occur during the Songkran festival.

These causes are known.

Been published .

Year after year the causes are the same.

Intoxication + excessive speed.

And the causes will be re-analysed cheesy.gif

Goldfish syndrom....dementia and brainless behaviour.......This year brings only curses!!!! Blessings for what to get drunk again?

Works for me!!!

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The MOPH is analyzing the root causes of accidents that occur during the Songkran festival. The study should be completed within May.

The real causes are rooted very deep within the society and are not likely to be easily changeable.

Sure there are a lot of drunk, careless and incompetent drivers whizzing around at high speed, but what is it about Thai society that makes this possible, even acceptable?

For instance;

I observed two teenage boys, about 14 sitting in a sala today, after a while a girl of about 13 in a "bar girl" costume drove up on a newish motorbike with an 8 year old. She handed the bike over to one of the boys, all 4 of them piled on and they drove off at high speed, none of them with helmets.

These are possibly part of the demographic of the majority of fatalities over Songkran.

None of the group either owned the motorbike or presumably had ever been taught how to ride it. They were all too young to have licences. The parents or older siblings who presumably bought and were still paying for the bike were either unaware of it being used in this way or had condoned it.

This kind of thing is repeated every day in every village in Thailand. What are the chances of any of these kids reaching maturity? If they do survive what are the chances of any of them becoming responsible users of motor vehicles in the future and passing those attitudes on to their own children?

To say the root cause is alcohol, or speeding, or anything else is mistaking the symptoms for the disease. The root cases are to do with parenting, education, religious attitudes to some extent though I doubt these kids spend much time in temples, and attitudes to responsibility, accountability and death. Not easily changed IMHO.

I had a conversation with a CFO of a company in Myanmar when he turned up with some accountants to carry out an audit.

One girl looked barely 12 years old.

She had a degree in economics.

She was 23 years old.

His comment to me is this is why so many non Asians talk about child exploitation etc etc.

Different place Asia, and people and appearances to what you may have been used to.

Deal with it.

I promise you I can tell the difference between a young looking adult and a child, besides these are local kids I see playing in the street every day, unless you think your 23 year old accountant also puts on school uniform and plays with her similarly attired friends in the afternoons. One of the boys is actually a son of a policeman and is known locally to be somewhat "out of control" even among the other Thai parents.

Mine was a serious contribution to the topic under discussion, yours wasn't......Deal with that.

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