How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

[webfact]

How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

"In all, 426 people died on Thailand’s road between Dec 29 and Jan 3, up from 340 in the same period a year earlier."

By Tim Newton

 

It’s a question asked by an article nearly a year ago. Tim Newton ponders if much has changed in the last 12 months….

 

 

“In the worst of the incidents, 25 people died on Monday in Chonburi province after a pick-up truck and a minivan collided and burst into flames.

 

In all, 426 people died on Thailand’s road between Dec 29 and Jan 3, up from 340 in the same period a year earlier.

 

These words were written nearly a year ago, after the 2016/2017 ‘Seven Days of Danger’. It’s a question one should ask as we’re poised to enter the next set of very dangerous days – days which I’m sure we’ll report and reflect upon with horror and dismay.

 

Full story: https://www.phuketgazette.net/news/can-thailand-curb-appalling-road-fatality-rate

 

-- © Copyright Phuket Gazette 2017-12-20

[Misterwhisper]

2 minutes ago, webfact said:

How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Reverting back to ox carts might be a good start...

[PatOngo]

Making merit has had mixed results, amulets seem to work some of the time but it's just fate that is the deciding factor.

[jvs]

Enforce the many traffic laws that already exist!!

[Thaiwrath]

Stop police from taking bribes, instead of enforcing the proper penalties.

However, if you fired every one caught, the force would be depleted within months.

[canuckamuck]

If they could just start penalizing people for unsafe passing it would probably effect half of the fatalities right there

[Just1Voice]

It's simple - They can't.

 

[PatOngo]

14 minutes ago, jvs said:

Enforce the many traffic laws that already exist!!

Like making the sun rise in the west and set in the east.

[CGW]

21 minutes ago, jvs said:

Enforce the many traffic laws that already exist!!

That would work, dam - forgot - no functioning police force, that might be a hindrance?

[Jeremy50]

Endemic police corruption, complete indifference to anything except the self, and the immediate needs of the moment, and not even a modicum of self-discipline, will all result in not only no change , but the likelihood, that the road death toll will steadily climb.

[ChrisY1]

Bring in people that know what to do......because nobody in Thailand knows!

[Formaleins]

Ban vehicles and go back to oxen might be the best bet, but they would still end up dying pissed when they fell off the animals backs. Better just shackle them to a wall immediately after they are born might prevent a few deaths.

[bluesofa]

5 hours ago, jvs said:

Enforce the many traffic laws that already exist!!

I agree with that one hundred percent. Unfortunately the phrase "when hell freezes over" springs to mind.

[bluesofa]

3 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Bring in people that know what to do......because nobody in Thailand knows!

The government know what to do - enforce traffic regulations by getting the police to do some work. However, the government aren't interested in doing this one iota.

[Ceruhe]

5 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Stop police from taking bribes, instead of enforcing the proper penalties.

However, if you fired every one caught, the force would be depleted within months.

You misspelled "weeks". Just like I misspelled "days" for others hehe

 

Also, if there has ever been a rhetorical question asked...this must be it.

[jaywalker]

5 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Reverting back to ox carts might be a good start...

That's half the problem, in that half the junk on the roads operates at the speed of an ox cart. 

 

Trying to go from BKK to Surin, I get to do the speed limit for 2 km, then slow to a snail's pace behind some over loaded piece of junk, eventually pass him, go 2 km & repeat.

 

If they had a "Flow Of Traffic" where everybody is going 80 - 100 KPH, things could & probably would improve.

 

As it is now, folks are going hell bent for leather to try & make up for the time stuck behind ox carts, and aggressively passing them when the slightest, no matter how dangerous chance presents itself.

 

Lots of other areas to improve upon, but that's the one I always notice the most.

[wicketkeeper]

The bottom line is education. Import existing road safety tv commercials from ROSPA, the Royal Society for prevention of accidents, in the UK. Overdub the soundtrack in the Thai language and broadcast ad infinitum. Pick your topic: turning right; signalling; cutting corners; traffic lights; pedestrian crossings; courtesy; speed limits; riding a motorcycle; motorways; box junctions; seat belts, and so on. They all exist. They are all free. They are all shot driving on the left side of the road. They are ready to go. Sponsor? Probably Shell or Esso or an astute car manufacturer. 

 

[watcharacters]

1 hour ago, Formaleins said:

Ban vehicles and go back to oxen might be the best bet, but they would still end up dying pissed when they fell off the animals backs. Better just shackle them to a wall immediately after they are born might prevent a few deaths.

 

 

 

 

 

Russian cops??

[connda]

"How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?"

By doing what the Thai government refuses to do: Adopt Western Road Traffic Policing Standard that have been in force in Western countries since I started driving in the 1960s.

[SupermarineS6B]

Stop Thais driving anything that's not pulled by a buffalo.......If you've ever seen two cars meet each other on a small road with the resulting road block and utter confusion you'll understand that some nationalities are not ready for certain technology....... But i tell you what, let's blame it on alcohol and ban that instead......

[Ulic]

Actually, it is quite simple, just enforce the laws that are already on the books. 

[Jonmarleesco]

By action instead of talk. But it'll never happen.

[Jonah Tenner]

3 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I agree with that one hundred percent. Unfortunately the phrase "when hell freezes over" springs to mind.

Hell freezes over every year. Think of another one.

[HHTel]

The figures are interesting.  The crackdown during the '7 dangerous days' results in no difference to the average daily death rate for the rest of the year!!  So why bother?

[berybert]

How can they stop it ? That's easy. 

Do they have any wish to stop it. That's the hard bit. People make money out of death, its a big money spinner.

If you fine a guy who is way over the DD limit 5000 or 10.000 baht  then allow him to carry on riding or driving home you really don't care if he kills anyone or not.  The chances are you might well get another 5k fine out of him the next day or the day after. Life doesn't matter when there is money to be made. 

[farcanell]

9 hours ago, jaywalker said:

That's half the problem, in that half the junk on the roads operates at the speed of an ox cart. 

 

Trying to go from BKK to Surin, I get to do the speed limit for 2 km, then slow to a snail's pace behind some over loaded piece of junk, eventually pass him, go 2 km & repeat.

 

If they had a "Flow Of Traffic" where everybody is going 80 - 100 KPH, things could & probably would improve.

 

As it is now, folks are going hell bent for leather to try & make up for the time stuck behind ox carts, and aggressively passing them when the slightest, no matter how dangerous chance presents itself.

 

Lots of other areas to improve upon, but that's the one I always notice the most.

I suggested this in a thread last week, and got slapped around by the “this is Thailand... like it or leave” crowd.

 

a thailand locked into the 1980’s way of doing things, seems preferable to a lot of posters, yet like it or not, you can’t stop progress, even in thailand

 

the shame of it is that the solution is rather easy, and the apparatus is in place... all that’s missing is a “givea<deleted>”

[Khun Paul]

How to stop the amount of fatalities, well enforcement, education PLUS STOP bowing down to public pressure and do the job correctly with ZERO bribes.

[Happyman58]

How about this for a radical idea Now its just an idea ok  Sack 40,000 cops  Go to America, England, Germany and Australia and hire 10,000 cops from each country Bring them over here and let them patrol the roads for 1 years Be interesting to see what happens I know one thing there wont be to many Thai smiles around fro a while and maybe not so many drivers around either lol

[superal]

12 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Bring in people that know what to do......because nobody in Thailand knows!

I have said similar things in the past but why is it that the present traffic laws are not complied with or enforced ? Is it apathy ,laziness , ignorance or a conscious decision to stick with the Thai way and not the Western world way ?  I am sure that the solution and needed actions could be delivered by most of this forums readers so in reality it is mystery to why nothing is ever done by the authorities , only lip service .

[DavisH]

When a Thai was quoted in the media as saying riding in the back of a pickup is "our way of life", I'm afraid there is not much hope. Combining "fate" and an ineffective police force has made Thailand the hub of road deaths. I don't think anything will change until there is a change in the mindset of Thais.