Seven deadly days - seven vehicle collision - darkness and wet conditions blamed

[alien365]

20 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

The worst possible thing you can say when discussing a topic as big as road safety is "in my experience" - in a situation when we are dealing with millions an untutored comment like that is meaningless.

 

I drive extensively all over Thailand including BKK  (yesterday) and I am very careful how I interpret my personal observations. (words like "lot" are particularly unhelpful. you also need to take into account who why and when lines are drawn on the road - not just by police and not in just fatal accidents. How do they mark the roads in your home country?

It is this kind of observation that leads to grossly misleading perceptions of what the issues surrounding road safety really are, it also lead some people to believe the earth was flat.

 

debating the finer points of driving is not helpful, it is this kind of fixation that in reality has prevented any progress from being made. So long as people confuse driving with road safety, we can't even start to address the problem

 

Road safety is a health and safety issue - with much more in common with factory/work health and safety than of whether or not someone can operate a car.

 

we need to scientifically analyse what is ACTUALLY happening , not what we THINK is happening based on our own preconceptions.

If you are behind the wheel of a car, you are responsible for controlling it. If you don't and you have an accident it's your fault. If there's no light, it's raining, the road is bumpy, the traffic lights aren't working then you slow down, pay more attention. 

 

I agree that road layout, conditions and lack of policing can contribute towards accident rates but at the end of the day it's drivers/riders who cause accidents.

 

6months ago I was waiting at a red light, a kid behind me rode into the back of me on his scooter. Nothing to do with road conditions or safety, all to do with the rider. Anecdotal it may be but it's an accident statistic nonetheless.

Edited December 29, 2017 by alien365

[jenny2017]

I think as someone who drives all over the country that the worst drivers in Thailand tend to be the western expats who drive about with an air of superiority and an expectation that driving here is the same as at home.

 

Says somebody who might not even live here?

 

    Why do I always have to think for other drivers? If you think you can drive, please drive around in Sisaket at rush hour. Once your mission is accomplished you're more than welcome to post your experience here.

 

  

 

  

   

[Happyman58]

2 hours ago, jenny2017 said:

I think as someone who drives all over the country that the worst drivers in Thailand tend to be the western expats who drive about with an air of superiority and an expectation that driving here is the same as at home.

 

Says somebody who might not even live here?

 

    Why do I always have to think for other drivers? If you think you can drive, please drive around in Sisaket at rush hour. Once your mission is accomplished you're more than welcome to post your experience   

   

I drive everyday Jenny and oh boy  some of the things i have seen i cant believe you can do that and get away with it You must be blind an d not see what these people can do on the road I have been and lived in  a few countries but never have i seen people drive like Thais It would be the worst driving i have ever seen  I have driven  in Ubon in rush hour My god its  a night mare Brainless no patience drivers in action Now here else in this world would u give a license to  driver like this  Western ex pats know the rules Thais dont because 50% of them dont even have a licence

[Airbagwill]

4 hours ago, jenny2017 said:

I think as someone who drives all over the country that the worst drivers in Thailand tend to be the western expats who drive about with an air of superiority and an expectation that driving here is the same as at home.

 

Says somebody who might not even live here?

 

    Why do I always have to think for other drivers? If you think you can drive, please drive around in Sisaket at rush hour. Once your mission is accomplished you're more than welcome to post your experience here.

 

  

 

  

   

Yet another person prepared to voice an "opinion" without any reference to the information available.

 

You'll find thinking is a valuable asset in any country you choose to drive in.

however as I've said, most people's understanding of road safety is very poor as indicated by the fact they only talk about "driving" or "other drivers".

 

 

Edited December 29, 2017 by Airbagwill

[nong38]

I am sure that  this headline is wrong, it should read...................."The 365 deadly days."

[jerojero]

Damn darkness. Such an unusual situation that no one could have predicted, therefore idiots driving are absolved from any responsibility in the accident. And wetness! Rain so unexpected too!

 

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

[Airbagwill]

16 hours ago, speedtripler said:

In Thailand, almost everyone driving is Thai

 

It's statistically improbable to suggest that any significant number of accidents are   caused by farangs who "wouldnt be allowed to drive in their home counties" 

 

Your statement just doesn't make sense and most farangs were taught to drive at a much higher level than the Thai joke of a driving test so even if 50% of the drivers were farangs I think they would be responsible for much less than 50% of the accidents.... 

Passing your test doesn't mean your are a "good driver"- (yet again you concentrate on the wrong aspect of road safety).

The truth is that most foreign drivers took driving tests that were actually far more elementary and banal than the current driving tests In Thailand.

Look at the tests that 14 and 16 year olds took in the states. The UK test was a joke, Belgium didn't have a test till the 1970s....most of the foreign drivers learned a highway code that doesn't apply to Thailand and put their "expertise" down to "experience" meaning their driving is largely based on their own misconceptions.

Then they base their views on road safety on a largely false Dunning Kruger style assesment of their own "driving" back home......How many people do you know who are aware of the priority on the left rule in Thailand?

Driving is not road safety....Road safety is the science of keeping people safe. If you start blaming drivers you are barking up the wrong tree. Unfortunately foreign drivers like the Thai authorities understand do little about road safety, all they can do is blame drivers for a situation that is only tangentially connected to this.

[Borzandy]

On 28/12/2017 at 9:13 AM, webfact said:

darkness and wet conditions blamed

The only two things that cannot be changed, so we have to blame....

[Airbagwill]

Just now, Borzandy said:

The only two things that cannot be changed, so we have to blame....

The apprationing of blame is actually counterproductive in road safety. One looks at the whole situation. There is no scientific analysis of crashes in Thailand so the archaic concept of "blame" is given undeserved weight over "cause", the thing that we should really be looking at.

BTW....The fact is that road surfaces and markings on Thai roads are very substandard, particularly in poor light and weather conditions.

[Ossy]

On 12/30/2017 at 6:51 AM, Airbagwill said:

The truth is that most foreign drivers took driving tests that were actually far more elementary and banal than the current driving tests In Thailand.

Just who the hell are you trying to kid? That is the most idiotic remark I've come across during my first 12 months on TVF . . . and you talk about 'banal' . . . have you heard about the pot and the kettle?

[Airbagwill]

1 hour ago, Ossy said:

Just who the hell are you trying to kid? That is the most idiotic remark I've come across during my first 12 months on TVF . . . and you talk about 'banal' . . . have you heard about the pot and the kettle?

Please tell me why you disagree. Are you familiar with the requirements of driving tests around the world or even the test here in Thailand?

Do you consider that passing a test makes you a "good driver"?

Do you still driv e exactly how they told you to on the test?

Do you still use those instructions here in Thailand?

Have you ever read the Thai highway code?

Do you think driving and road safety are one and the same?

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by Airbagwill

[Ossy]

1 hour ago, Airbagwill said:

Please tell me why you disagree. Are you familiar with the requirements of driving tests around the world or even the test here in Thailand?

Do you consider that passing a test makes you a "good driver"?

Do you still driv e exactly how they told you to on the test?

Do you still use those instructions here in Thailand?

Have you ever read the Thai highway code?

Do you think driving and road safety are one and the same?

 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and what an unbelievably banal question, since one only has to make a car's wheels move in order to be 'driving'. If, however, in a cooler frame of mind, you meant to ask if I 'think good driving and road safety are one and the same?', the answer to the slightly different question, as to 'whether good driving contributes, or is a major factor towards road-safety', is another 'yes', a rousing 'yes', in fact.

Now, Airbagwill, why can't you be happy, just to debate the REAL issues raised by the thread, rather than blowing sparks in other directions?
 

[Airbagwill]

15 minutes ago, Ossy said:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and what an unbelievably banal question, since one only has to make a car's wheels move in order to be 'driving'. If, however, in a cooler frame of mind, you meant to ask if I 'think good driving and road safety are one and the same?', the answer to the slightly different question, as to 'whether good driving contributes, or is a major factor towards road-safety', is another 'yes', a rousing 'yes', in fact.

Now, Airbagwill, why can't you be happy, just to debate the REAL issues raised by the thread, rather than blowing sparks in other directions?
 

As your answer would suggest, I don't think you are even close to identifying the "REAL" issues I see little point in playing pigeon chess with you.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Airbagwill

[Jonah Tenner]

15 hours ago, Ossy said:

Now, Airbagwill, why can't you be happy, just to debate the REAL issues raised by the thread, rather than blowing sparks in other directions?
 

Ossy, I think Airbagwill is a specialist Road Safety Engineer, I think he sees things from a different perspective than most other people. In engineering milieus it is beginning to percolate that environment design (road lay-out, lighting, other environmental factors influencing the environment where driving is happening) is a far larger factor in road safety than driver behavior or education.

 

So from his perspective he is discussing the real issues.

[Cake Monster]

Thailand is a developing nation, and there is where the blame lies.

 

Ten years ago, so many Thais dreamt of owning a refrigerator, and the ones that had cars then were considerably less compared with the here and now.

 

Now the dream of a refrigerator is no more, and has been replaced with the dream for a smart phone  and a car.

 

Developed nations have had many decades of drivers and motoring experience, but Thailand has had little of either, with maybe the vast majority of motorists only having a few years of experience, thus producing a massive number of in-experienced drivers

 

IMO, the problem became much worse when the cheap car loans were offered out under the previous Government

 

 

[evadgib]

A useful tool would be to utilize the *UK's public information films and aggressively promote them via social media & during soap breaks.

 

(*Drives on the left and from whence LoS highway code originated)

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by evadgib

[MaxYakov]

What!? They didn't blame the vehicles?

[tinca tinca]

On 12/28/2017 at 12:52 PM, barryofthailand said:

Even though it is against the law to ride in the back of s pickup truck and in the back cargo seat of s small two door pickup the Prime Minister said for new year's it would be OK so when people die in accidents Mr.  Prime Minister I hope you can sleep at night. 

of course he can sleep at night HE IS STILL ALIVE.....unlike all who have died due to stupid driving !!!!!!