Video: Slowing down on city streets will save lives - but will Thais get the message?

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Video: Slowing down on city streets will save lives - but will Thais get the message?

 

Image: Video screenshot

 

A video demonstration of how slow speeds on narrow residential streets can save lives has been shared 48,000 times on Facebook.

 

But despite the very widespread viewing of the Bloomberg Philanthropies video the question remains: Will it make any difference to Thai driving behavior?

 

The video follows news that the Thai police intend to enforce slower speeds on certain city roads.

 

Initially several residents are asked what they consider to be a safe speed in residential areas. One says forty but others say 40-50, 60 or even 60-80 "if you are in a hurry".

 

It is shown that the safe stopping distance travelling at 50 kmp/hour is 5.4 meters. Mack Sennett style silent film music helps jolly everyone along before the nitty gritty of the video is reached. 

 

A Toyota driving instructor is seen with several Thai women and a man in the driver's seat as a cardboard cut out child rushing out is driven straight into at 50 km per hour.

 

All the drivers are shocked that they could not brake in time and the clear inference is that death is very likely if hitting a pedestrian at that speed.

 

Then a series of grisly accidents are shown with children and a grandmother and child running into traffic on narrow streets.

 

The drivers then go along at 30 km per hour and all is well with plenty of time to brake and avoid even hitting the child. 

 

Many cities around the world have speed limits of around 30 km per hour for these very reasons.

 

As the video says - it will seem slow to the driver, but a life could be saved. 

 

Now will such training help to change Thai driving attitudes and understanding?

 

Or will people - and especially children - continue to die because drivers are in too much of a hurry?

 

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-02-16

[darksidedog]

We can but hope, though given the "got to get there super fast" attitude prevalent among road users, I am not overly hopeful. Any improvement will of course be very welcome though.

[djayz]

I won't hold my breath waiting for it to kick in

[Thian]

12 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The video follows news that the Thai police intend to enforce slower speeds on certain city roads.

 

The police enforcing a rule? That's new for me...

[coulson]

18 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

One says forty but others say 40-50, 60 or even 60-80 "if you are in a hurry

Numptees of the highest order

 

19 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

It is shown that the safe stopping distance travelling at 50 kmp/hour is 5.4 meters

Where do they get this nonsense from? And what about when it rains?

 

 

VID-20180207-WA0006.mp4

[Maverell]

Nice of them to state the stopping distance but as a large number of vehicles here in Thailand have defective tyres that stopping distance will be way out, especially in wet weather ! I never see anything anywhere here to show what can happen with defective tyres. Theres a thing 555555

[PatOngo]

Will it work?.............. Let the road toll be the judge!

[rkidlad]

Big problem is the attitude of many drivers thinking they’re better than pedestrians cos they’re in a car. Why should they slow down to the benefit of lowly pedestrians? 

 

I was at a zebra crossing. The only one around cos they are building BTS. The crossing is in front of a soi where people pull out on to the main road. I saw a pick-up driving at a normal speed towards the end of the soi. I had plenty of time to cross, but the driver seemingly didn’t like that and sped up when he saw me. He then slammed on his breaks as I was nearly across and I froze. He stared at me and I shouted at him. He thought about it and realized he was alone and I was bigger than him and he drove off. 

 

It’s not the first time. It’s very difficult to cross the road at times. I’ve seen plenty of times before that drivers see people about to cross and they speed up as if to say, “how dare you cross before me”. It’s absolutey moronic childishness. 

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

r will people - and especially children - continue to die because drivers are in too much of a hurry?

Or will the people in a hurry look both ways before rushing across the road.

[ben2talk]

1 hour ago, coulson said:

Numptees of the highest order

 

Where do they get this nonsense from? And what about when it rains?

 

 

VID-20180207-WA0006.mp4

Wrong on so many levels - some of the small 'residential' soi's I used last year were suitable for 40-50km/h due to the houses all having walls and recessed gates... but other roads I'd say 30km/h is very reasonable. Then there's greasy concrete - I once dropped a GSX-R750 at 20km/h because the wheels just refused to obey - the grooves/deisel of the bus-stop area where the road had been pushed up into a ridge, but on decent ridged concrete in heavy rain (which gives a good clean surface), I could manage full braking from any speed up to 60-80km/h with little difference to dry roads.

 

Mobile phone use would be a much much higher concern. Maybe if it cannot be managed, laws to control driver-side window film need to be brought in.

 

However, unless you're going through the police officers mobbing the street, there's no need to worry because they're always looking the other way... #1 Thai culture lesson. How to turn a blind eye. Watch the police outside schools waving overloaded scooters out into busy traffic!!! ROFLMAO

Edited February 16, 2018 by ben2talk

[Andrew Dwyer]

“well if you’re in a hurry, 60 - 80 is fine “ has got to be the most ridiculous statement I’ve heard on this subject !!

Just goes to show where their priorities lie !
Their speed should be governed by many factors, width of road, visibility, proximity of pedestrians, condition of road to name a few.
Not by whether they are in a hurry or not !!!
Jeeez ! , they must always be in a hurry then !!

[rebo]

5.4 m at 50 km/h --- What a bullshit!
http://forensicdynamics.com/stopping-braking-distance-calculator

 

[mok199]

thai entitlement allows thais to speed ,even faster down a one way the wrong way..thank god the scooters are so loud now we can hear them coming so we can duck out of their way...

[bluesofa]

I remember years ago in the UK the highway code booklet you had to read when learning to drive, had stopping distances on the rear cover.

 

That was broken down into: 'thinking distance', 'braking distance', followed by 'total distance'.

The point was it made you realise there was reaction time as well as the braking distance once you put your foot on the brakes.

 

In fact, I've just found it online! Here's a screenshot:

 

[Stoker58]

Yeah but.......what if the brakes fail? I've noticed that happens a lot in Thailand.

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, Stoker58 said:

Yeah but.......what if the brakes fail? I've noticed that happens a lot in Thailand.

I'd allowed for that and produced a Thai stopping distance chart with brake failure.

When I tried to upload it, there was an error message, saying it couldn't upload, as the file was the largest file size ever known to man.

[namatjira]

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

 

That was broken down into: 'thinking distance', 'braking distance', followed by 'total distance'.

The point was it made you realise there was reaction time as well as the braking distance once you put your foot on the brakes.

All well and good...however in this instance the stumbling block is

’ thinking distance ‘.....they are not so skilled at ‘ thinking ‘

[sammieuk1]

The quickest way to end  the abysmal Thai driving is through the pocket trial a small area heavy fines impound cars and bikes ban reckless drivers post all over social media roll out nation wide or in other words standard policing.

[Get Real]

10 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Video: Slowing down on city streets will save lives - but will Thais get the message?

No!

 

10 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Or will people - and especially children - continue to die because drivers are in too much of a hurry?

Yes!

[Prairieboy]

The village where I live in Amnat Charoen province has recently erected 30 kph speed limit signs.  I haven't noticed any slowing down of the traffic - I estimate the average speed through the village, on the highway, to be 70 -90 kph.  Of course there is no enforcement of the speed limit.

[metisdead]

A troll post containing gruesome images has been removed. 

[cornishcarlos]

A video on road safety was shared 48,000 times...

A video about a coin counting machine was viewed 4 million !!!

It's all about priorities :)

[ChiangmaiRob]

13 hours ago, Thian said:

The police enforcing a rule? That's new for me...

That's new for the police as well ... law enforcement ... a  completely alien concept for the BIB.

[dinsdale]

[peperobi]

As long the car advertising shows powerful and fast driving will the peoples not understand why is important to slow down the speed.

[nabbie]

Small idea but it does make a big difference!

[hobobo]

16 hours ago, Maverell said:

Nice of them to state the stopping distance but as a large number of vehicles here in Thailand have defective tyres that stopping distance will be way out, especially in wet weather ! I never see anything anywhere here to show what can happen with defective tyres. Theres a thing 555555

And confusion, when it's really important, as to which pedal is for braking! I've driven in over 30 countries in the world and I've never seen so many excuses like "I meant to press the brake pedal...."

[pokerface1]

To help get the message through they need to blitz the TV with videos like this.

Best to show in prime time, dinner time

 

When i'm stuck in a Bangkok traffic jam I have to smile and think of how many lives are being saved.Thank god for the traffic jams they save lives!!

Edited February 17, 2018 by pokerface1
added more

[toofarnorth]

16 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Big problem is the attitude of many drivers thinking they’re better than pedestrians cos they’re in a car. Why should they slow down to the benefit of lowly pedestrians?

 

I was at a zebra crossing. The only one around cos they are building BTS. The crossing is in front of a soi where people pull out on to the main road. I saw a pick-up driving at a normal speed towards the end of the soi. I had plenty of time to cross, but the driver seemingly didn’t like that and sped up when he saw me. He then slammed on his breaks as I was nearly across and I froze. He stared at me and I shouted at him. He thought about it and realized he was alone and I was bigger than him and he drove off.

 

It’s not the first time. It’s very difficult to cross the road at times. I’ve seen plenty of times before that drivers see people about to cross and they speed up as if to say, “how dare you cross before me”. It’s absolutey moronic childishness.

Of course rkidlad your first paragraph applies to cars v bikes .  My wife used to say " It is ok , you can go now " Perhaps doing a U turn. I used to reply  " No I can't there is a scooter coming ". Every day just about I see cars pull out from being parked in front of scooters and the scooter rider does nothing as if they are inferior. Makes me mad ....rant over , go carefully out there.

[bluesofa]

Of course rkidlad your first paragraph applies to cars v bikes .  My wife used to say " It is ok , you can go now " Perhaps doing a U turn. I used to reply  " No I can't there is a scooter coming ". Every day just about I see cars pull out from being parked in front of scooters and the scooter rider does nothing as if they are inferior. Makes me mad ....rant over , go carefully out there.

I had just about the same last week, only it was me on the motorbike.

A tour bus pulled out from a smaller soi onto a main road, right in front of me.
As I overtook it (had no option), I sounded my horn for quite a few seconds.

Yes, pretty pointless, but as the post above says, bikes are seen as inferior.


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