Keep me safe! - Why Road safety in Thailand cannot improve.

[lvr181]

10 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

I agree with you that culture is a generalisation and that might lead to predudice but that is not always a bad thing.
“It is part of Thai culture to be very tolerant”. Is a sweeping generalisation but I would make it because I can cite incidents which support my assertion. It isn’t scientific or backed by any statistics that I know of, but no less valid in a discussion about leniency in Thai courts.

Similarly when I say that “It is part of Thai culture to ignore the rules of the road” it would seem to me to support an assertion that “Road safety cannot improve” .
However this is your topic and I understand that since “road safety is not about driving” I have to agree that I am not qualified comment.





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Prejudice: preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

 

Therefore, to say that 'culture' is a generalisation that might lead to to prejudice, is not really correct in this context of bad driver behaviour in Thailand (and elsewhere in the world). The stats claim that drinking/drugs and tiredness are leading causes of Thai road trauma, suggests that a 'cultural' change is needed (no prejudices here because there is 'reason' and 'actual experience').

 

And such cultural change must go, hand in hand and not be confined solely to, other types of improvements e.g. enforcement, road engineering etc.

[tgeezer]

You misunderstand me. Now we are talking semantics. In your example culture refers to the behaviour of a particular group who are guilty of drinking, drug taking or being tired, that is a generalisation. I see an accident and ascribe its cause to drug taking when in fact the driver had been awake too long, that is predudice.

 

 

 

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[lvr181]

1 hour ago, tgeezer said:

You misunderstand me. Now we are talking semantics. In your example culture refers to the behaviour of a particular group who are guilty of drinking, drug taking or being tired, that is a generalisation. I see an accident and ascribe its cause to drug taking when in fact the driver had been awake too long, that is predudice.

 

 

 

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It cannot be 'prejudice' when facts are available.

[1BADDAT]

On 12/30/2017 at 9:55 PM, connda said:

I came home from a trip to Mae Hong Son.  As I rounded blind corners, the sheer number of times that I found myself facing oncoming vehicles driving in my lane in order to 'cut corners' was really staggering.  And most made no attempt to pull back into their own land, but instead expected you to drive off onto the shoulder.  The level of aggressive driving is both amazing and suicidal.  I don't particularly care if drivers like that kill themselves, but unfortunately they put everyone on the road at risk.  The BIB could quadruple the number of road blocks, but they will never address the underlying aggressive and dangerous driving that occurs on the road between those road blocks. 

If you know a lot of people are doing this why wouldn't you just cut to the inside to avoid the possibility?  You know they aren't going to change their behavior, so better to change yours to increase your safety.  Or are you doing it to make a point or to follow the rules (the lines that are faded on the road from everyone cutting the corners.

[1BADDAT]

On 12/30/2017 at 9:55 PM, connda said:

I came home from a trip to Mae Hong Son.  As I rounded blind corners, the sheer number of times that I found myself facing oncoming vehicles driving in my lane in order to 'cut corners' was really staggering.  And most made no attempt to pull back into their own land, but instead expected you to drive off onto the shoulder.  The level of aggressive driving is both amazing and suicidal.  I don't particularly care if drivers like that kill themselves, but unfortunately they put everyone on the road at risk.  The BIB could quadruple the number of road blocks, but they will never address the underlying aggressive and dangerous driving that occurs on the road between those road blocks. 

If you know a lot of people are doing this why wouldn't you just cut to the inside to avoid the possibility?  You know they aren't going to change their behavior, so better to change yours to increase your safety.  Or are you doing it to make a point or to follow the rules (the lines that are faded on the road from everyone cutting the corners.

[lvr181]

2 hours ago, tgeezer said:

You misunderstand me. Now we are talking semantics. In your example culture refers to the behaviour of a particular group who are guilty of drinking, drug taking or being tired, that is a generalisation. I see an accident and ascribe its cause to drug taking when in fact the driver had been awake too long, that is predudice.

 

 

 

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Drinking and to a lesser extent, drug taking, is 'endemic' to Thai society, but not confined only to Thailand, (yes, you could call both a 'disease'). Narrowing it down and applying it to driving behaviour means a cultural (the culture being drinking, drug taking and tiredness) change is called for in order to reduce road trauma. Nothing 'semantic' about it at all. Stop playing word games, driver behaviour (a cultural problem) needs to change!

[tandor]

14 hours ago, thaibry said:

I wonder what the producers of self-driving cars would have to change to enable their cars to work in Thailand?

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...advanced impact sensors.

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

They are as we speak fitting Armco and it ain't that expensive...in fact baht per death it's really good value.

Concrete may seem cheaper at first but it requires heavy moving equipment and isn't so easy to repair and in most circumstances is less effective.

Road deaths in Thailand represent a loss of about 5% of GDP....so any expense by the government will in the end pay for itself.

Road deaths in Thailand represent a loss of about 5% of GDP....so any expense by the government will in the end pay for itself.

 

Unless you can prove that most deaths are caused by veering off the road, and not by collision I do not accept that just putting up Armco is going to reduce deaths significantly.

 

I've seen more than a few vehicles in the central reservation, but IMO collision would be the prime cause of death.

 

IMO the most dangerous roads in Thailand are the two way roads. The road from Lampang to the Uttaradit turnoff is especially dangerous given the many bends and the number of maniacs overtaking on blind corners.

The rural road to the village was far less dangerous in relation to collision risk, as quite straight for the most part, but far more dangerous in relation to people on m'bikes pulling out without checking first. There were no m'bike lanes on the side of the road, so just widening the road to allow m'bikes to not travel in the car lanes would make a big difference in safety, and IMO more so than putting up Armco on central reservations. Obviously, wider country roads AND Armco would be ideal.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, lvr181 said:

Do you not understand 'et al'? "afro-carribean culture" was merely an example of many. DO NOT take it out of context!

 

 

IMO there is no such thing as a "national" or "racial" culture anymore, unless in outer Mongolia or those lost tribes of Amazonia.

When kids in England, as I have seen, are revelling in "gangsta" culture it is apparent, to me, that the internet, movies, tv etc have destroyed any unique "culture", and replaced it with some bastard substitute.

That hold true for LOS as much as anywhere, as the "phone in face" culture has taken over bigly.

[Airbagwill]

On 1/9/2018 at 5:34 AM, lvr181 said:

Do you not understand 'et al'? "afro-carribean culture" was merely an example of many. DO NOT take it out of context!

 

 

please...what is the "context"?

[lvr181]

27 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

please...what is the "context"?

Do I have to lead you by the hand? Are you a 'devils advocate' or intellectually challenged?

 

Your sole use of the words "afro-carribean culture". Accept the word 'culture'  (in it's widest meaning - read again the definition of culture) rather than continuing your denial of the same and therefore erroneously justifying your ongoing specious arguments.

 

But enough of the 'word games' try and have a happy productive day. 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2018 by lvr181
Amended comment