Thai road carnage: A MILLION injuries and 24,000 deaths per year, official admits

[Jonah Tenner]

7 hours ago, Artisi said:

this guy has a PhD from a leading UK university - so just proves that knowledge and intelligence are miles apart.

Never mistake education for intelligence - there is no clear correlation between them.

[Airbagwill]

4 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

I agree The police force here is letting down everybody in Thailand  They know the law says Wear a bloody helmet. But they dont Why? Because they know the cops are corrupt and weak

It's not just the police - to enforce road safety legislation, it has to be there in the first place. The roads have to be correctly designed, from construction to making speed limits clearly.....you have to clear trees out of the central reservation and from the edges of roads - they don't even place telegraph poles logically! -  there needs to be a proper separation of police and the courts and they have to be efficient and work fast. All aspects have to be trained properly too.

Once you have done that you need a proper emergency service and then people who will analyse every single reported accident in a scientific manner - once you've done all that then you can begin to to an improvement in road safety.

Repeatedly saying the Thai driving is bad is ignoring the elephants (a herd thereof!) in the room.

[Happyman58]

  Design of roads is something that needs working on badly Those stupid U turns they have here are dangerous because Thais have no patience and drive out in front of you and hello accident. How many times when you have driven a car and you are in the inside lane and you come to these U turns and there is a car stuck halfway across the road holding up traffic Law states where i come from " If making a U turn you must give way to all traffic"  You think that law would be also here? Maybe but i doubt it was brought up or shown when doing driving test

 

[BradWilkins]

23 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

Brad its a great idea ok I agree with you  But who will do the alcohol tests? Ok i know your answer The police How about this for common practice in Thailand  Police man pulls over driver tests him. He is way over the limit  Policeman says to driver License please  Answer from driver What license? Police man says  license to drive Minivan Oh  license not have  Driver and Policeman have big laugh on that one  Driver reaches for his wallet Takes out 500 baht gives to Police man Police waves "On your way driver" That is how corrupt and rotten the whole system is here

Have experienced it myself. Was pulled over while riding a motorbike out in the country. I showed him my Australian motorbike license, he said wheres your international license. I said I have one but its back at the hotel, which was the truth. He said okay I will have to take you to the police station to charge you for riding without a license.After a bit of discussion starting at 500 baht he said he could forget about it, and I ended up negotiating him down to 300 baht. Even though it annoyed me I paid him and he left. Was tempted to take his motorbikes license plate number and report him but figured it might lead to further problems. I also know they do not earn a very good income and the temptation is always there to supplement it, I guess this probably happens with drunk drivers too for the right price.

[Airbagwill]

1 hour ago, BradWilkins said:

Have experienced it myself. Was pulled over while riding a motorbike out in the country. I showed him my Australian motorbike license, he said wheres your international license. I said I have one but its back at the hotel, which was the truth. He said okay I will have to take you to the police station to charge you for riding without a license.After a bit of discussion starting at 500 baht he said he could forget about it, and I ended up negotiating him down to 300 baht. Even though it annoyed me I paid him and he left. Was tempted to take his motorbikes license plate number and report him but figured it might lead to further problems. I also know they do not earn a very good income and the temptation is always there to supplement it, I guess this probably happens with drunk drivers too for the right price.

Depending on the country, you don't need an IDP - you just need an EL licence with photo.

the police mostly don't know or don't care and use it as an excuse to do on the spot fine - which is illegal in Thailand.

however you are only allowed to drive for 3 months in Thailand on a foreign licence - after that you need a Thai licence  - you may well find you are no longer insured.

Edited November 3, 2017 by Airbagwill

[Ron19]

A flame post has been removed.

[Ron19]

Some bickering posts have been removed.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 6:57 AM, 4MyEgo said:

Totally agree that driving in Australia is the pits, i.e. you can't breath, highway patrol up your arsssse, and if your not wearing a seat belt, or helmet, your gone instantly, speed cameras, red light cameras, mobile cameras, radar detectors, etc etc, but it does keep the populations road death down to a bare minimum, i.e. less than 1,000 deaths per annum of a population of 24 million, i.e. around 1/3 of Thailands population and we know they lost 24,000 on the roads last year, you don't have to be Einstein to work out Australia's policy is the way to go, as traumatic as it is to drive on the road in fear of being booked, alone, the fact remains, it works, now one could argue that its all about revenue raising, but hey, what's a life worth and the money gets injected straight back into the economy as opposed to the cops pockets.

 

Choices went out longs ago, but I do remember that I used to love riding my two stroke 1972 Kawasaki h2 750 triple without a helmet years ago, they used to call the bike "The Widow Maker" i.e. until I grew some brains when I got a little older and came back into riding in 1999 after I got divorced and bought myself a Kawasaki ZZR1100 D3, my late brother named it "Battle Star Galactica" and I used to love getting into warp speed on the open roads, although his Sukuzi 1000 couldn't catch me, that is until he purchased his Hyabusa, then it was all over, I retired respectfully. Now days I look at the latest Kawasaki H2 and drool, would be a nice way to go out, that or another heart attack 555 

What I have jet to understand is why the nanny state doesn't require all vehicles to be speed limited. If it is illegal to drive over a certain speed, a modern car with computerisation could easily be modified to not exceed that speed.

OR

could it be that they want people to speed so they can make money from fines?

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

  Design of roads is something that needs working on badly Those stupid U turns they have here are dangerous because Thais have no patience and drive out in front of you and hello accident. How many times when you have driven a car and you are in the inside lane and you come to these U turns and there is a car stuck halfway across the road holding up traffic Law states where i come from " If making a U turn you must give way to all traffic"  You think that law would be also here? Maybe but i doubt it was brought up or shown when doing driving test

 

In a perfect world...................

I don't know how much an overhead/ under road U turn costs, but guarantee too much to put them in on every intercity expressway. They would have to be put in at least every km or the locals just make their own.

[Jonah Tenner]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What I have jet to understand is why the nanny state doesn't require all vehicles to be speed limited. If it is illegal to drive over a certain speed, a modern car with computerisation could easily be modified to not exceed that speed.

OR

could it be that they want people to speed so they can make money from fines?

Cash cow is, I think, the operative concept.

[4MyEgo]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What I have jet to understand is why the nanny state doesn't require all vehicles to be speed limited. If it is illegal to drive over a certain speed, a modern car with computerisation could easily be modified to not exceed that speed.

OR

could it be that they want people to speed so they can make money from fines?

How does that song go; it's all about the money money money...

[tifino]

 

if they can't beat 'em,

then join 'em...

 

 

and make a film of the genre:

 

[oldlakey]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

How does that song go; it's all about the money money money...

As somebody has already pointed out in this thread, I think they were talking about OZ the money goes back into the general kitty not into a pocket

That would be true of all nanny states I should think, and I think that is a win win situation for the people whether they, like it or not or are just indifferent 

The answer is obvious to you whiners and whingers, who have set your face against the nanny state driving situation either behave or if you cant dont get caught

The third option seems to be to come to Thailand, to join in up to a point 

I genuinely wish you well with that

As far as I am concerned the means justifies the end, long live the nanny state

I have just had a look over my shoulder, and I see it was you who said the money goes back into the kitty 55555555

I meant the END justifies the MEANS

Edited November 3, 2017 by oldlakey

[Jonah Tenner]

1 hour ago, oldlakey said:

As somebody has already pointed out in this thread, I think they were talking about OZ the money goes back into the general kitty not into a pocket

That would be true of all nanny states I should think, and I think that is a win win situation for the people whether they, like it or not or are just indifferent 

It is all about confiscation of purchasing power from the middle and lower class people.

[oldlakey]

7 hours ago, Jonah Tenner said:

It is all about confiscation of purchasing power from the middle and lower class people.

I dont think so myself, although I do know one or two people who cant be trusted with more than a couple of quid in their pocket

[4MyEgo]

12 hours ago, oldlakey said:

As somebody has already pointed out in this thread, I think they were talking about OZ the money goes back into the general kitty not into a pocket

That would be true of all nanny states I should think, and I think that is a win win situation for the people whether they, like it or not or are just indifferent 

The answer is obvious to you whiners and whingers, who have set your face against the nanny state driving situation either behave or if you cant dont get caught

The third option seems to be to come to Thailand, to join in up to a point 

I genuinely wish you well with that

As far as I am concerned the means justifies the end, long live the nanny state

I have just had a look over my shoulder, and I see it was you who said the money goes back into the kitty 55555555

I meant the END justifies the MEANS

I cannot disagree with you, and I though that my earlier posts stated just that, "without control, you have no control" as is the case in Thailand.

 

Go to page 1 of this post and scroll down to #9 as I am sure the video which was filmed in Australia for Victoria viewers had an impact, now the government trying to push through 3 month licence disqualification on anyone between 0.5 & 0.7 range, personally if I was in government I would be pushing for ZERO tolerance of any substance while driving.

 

If the Thai's wake up to themselves, which they will, they will follow the western countries to adopt their approaches, money back into the system, but whether Thai's will learn is another thing, i.e. some are thicker than others as the saying goes, in other words, if you give people too much freedom then try to real them in, you have Buckley's, but I have to admit, I am more relaxed here driving than I was back in Oz, must have something to do with being in a rural area, and the lack of police presence, that and the fines are very affordable with no loss of points on my licence 555

Edited November 4, 2017 by 4MyEgo

[MaxYakov]

After venting my frustration on some woman driver of a van who had taken a weird left turn from the #2 Sukhumvit lane onto Soi 19 almost running me down, I turned around and there was standing the RTP traffic control (such as it was - Friday evening rush hour) officer. He noticed my exasperation and smiled and said to me:

 

Thailand!

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2017 by MaxYakov

[oldlakey]

13 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

I cannot disagree with you, and I though that my earlier posts stated just that, "without control, you have no control" as is the case in Thailand.

 

Go to page 1 of this post and scroll down to #9 as I am sure the video which was filmed in Australia for Victoria viewers had an impact, now the government trying to push through 3 month licence disqualification on anyone between 0.5 & 0.7 range, personally if I was in government I would be pushing for ZERO tolerance of any substance while driving.

 

If the Thai's wake up to themselves, which they will, they will follow the western countries to adopt their approaches, money back into the system, but whether Thai's will learn is another thing, i.e. some are thicker than others as the saying goes, in other words, if you give people too much freedom then try to real them in, you have Buckley's, but I have to admit, I am more relaxed here driving than I was back in Oz, must have something to do with being in a rural area, and the lack of police presence, that and the fines are very affordable with no loss of points on my licence 555

 My opinion is no relenting ever with the iron fist approach to achieve a good result where motor vehicles are concerned, not everyone's cup of tea

You seem to have found an answer that suits yourself, the way you talk I would put my shirt on the fact that self preservation is in the forefront of your mind

You can do no more, just enjoy the benefits you have found

Affordable fines are the next best thing to no fines I reckon

I hope you have not got any points on your licence 555

[TheBrain]

Today i saw a scooter speeding and running opposite to traffic with 4 people and no one had helmets. It is ridiculous they just started to overtake a car using opposite site of  road and did not cared about it was occupied with bikes running in opposite direction. They just think bikes can move and give them overtake.

[Airbagwill]

so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world.

 

like many of the posters, the OP sees the problem though single issue blinkers and fails to understand the whole problem.

 

One thing that interests be that as far as I can see no one has questioned his figure for "injuries".

 

As Thailand doesn't compile these figure and they don't even correlate with international methods for classifying injuries, one has to wonder where he/she got them from.

I would be really interested to find a set of figures regarding number of collisions, injuries (serious) and injuries (minor) on an annual basis that is available for Thailand.

 

but.......as far as I'm aware these numbers simply don't exist. so how are they appearing in the OP? Who ghas gathered them and what was their methodology?

 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by Airbagwill

[ChouDoufu]

may have something to do with riding/driving

against traffic 'cause it's convenient, popping

out of alleys without looking, weaving through

heavy traffic at highway speeds, tailgating with

less than one car-length between vehicles at

160 km/h on the freeway.

 

only been here three months, and have seen

more dead bodies on the roadside than in the

prior three decades, which includes several

hundred thousand km of cycling throughout

seasia and china.

[Airbagwill]

the causes of most accidents are not glaring disregard of common sense, they are in fact minor human errors committed by quite "normal" drivers. The problem is only partly the cause of things like death rates - what happens FTER the human error is what kills. This is the road safety environment - I would lay a large part of that on the emergency services - of course trying to get stats is hard but as resoned analysis of the overall picture would suggest that.

[brling]

11 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world.

 

 

 

How many more replies is our resident Thai apologist going to post on this thread ? Look at the traffic deaths stats. for Thailand, ie the second worst in the world. Why are you defending stupid drivers ?

[Jip99]

11 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

No, not anywhere in the world, Thailand is quite unique in some of their driving manoeuvres. 

 

Although generally improving (IMO) Thai driving standards remain poor....we all know the reasons.

 

 

A friend once asked me, “Why is that 6 people (from Chang Mai, Buriram, Korat, Saraburi, Udon Thani and Hua Hin) who have never met, and have not been trained to do so, ALL cut into a right hand turn at 45 degrees”.

 

I think he was being rhetorical.

[isaanbanhou]

A country that puts up Zebras instead of a dangerous curve sign can not expect the death toll to lower

[mommysboy]

On 05/11/2017 at 9:35 AM, Airbagwill said:

so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world.

 

like many of the posters, the OP sees the problem though single issue blinkers and fails to understand the whole problem.

 

One thing that interests be that as far as I can see no one has questioned his figure for "injuries".

 

As Thailand doesn't compile these figure and they don't even correlate with international methods for classifying injuries, one has to wonder where he/she got them from.

I would be really interested to find a set of figures regarding number of collisions, injuries (serious) and injuries (minor) on an annual basis that is available for Thailand.

 

but.......as far as I'm aware these numbers simply don't exist. so how are they appearing in the OP? Who ghas gathered them and what was their methodology?

 

 

"so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world."

 

No, the Thais take the biscuit.  When did you ever see 4 on a bike heading the wrong way along the road in UK?

 

These, and many other dangerous practices, are banned for a very good reason.

 

 

 

 

[Airbagwill]

9 hours ago, mommysboy said:

"so the thread is now just a sreies of personal anecdotes of "bad driving" around Thailand that could have occurred anywhere in the world."

 

No, the Thais take the biscuit.  When did you ever see 4 on a bike heading the wrong way along the road in UK?

 

These, and many other dangerous practices, are banned for a very good reason.

 

 

 

 

Sadly as you dont understand the basics you are still arguing from a false premise...you are confusing association and causation. ...and i might add confusing anecdote with evidence.

In essence you dont realise that driving and road safety are not the same 

The former is a symptom, the latter a science.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Airbagwill

[Blackheart1916]

42 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

Sadly as you dont understand the basics you are still arguing from a false premise...you are confusing association and causation. ...and i might add confusing anecdote with evidence.

In essence you dont realise that driving and road safety are not the same 

The former is a symptom, the latter a science.

Association, causation, anecdote, evidence, call it what you will. 4 kids on a motorbike heading down a road the wrong way and ending up under a truck are still dead.

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, Blackheart1916 said:

Association, causation, anecdote, evidence, call it what you will. 4 kids on a motorbike heading down a road the wrong way and ending up under a truck are still dead.

Don't you just get sick of reading the same one track nonsense over and over. 

[Airbagwill]

As said it is flat earth thinking - "It looks like it's flat, so it must be"