THAILAND'S DEADLY ROADS: Tragically, these stats speak for themselves

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, Briggsy said:

It is not for the white man to impose white man culture and mentality on South East Asians. The South East Asian society prefers to eschew all manner of rules and regulations including safety regulations for a freer, less regulated, more laid-back way of life. One of the consequences of this is they die in droves on the roads. This is a part of their culture.

Never mind, there's always the next life! (chart na)

[Justfine]

4 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Never mind, there's always the next life! (chart na)

Attitude for sure. Most accidents are due to poor attitude.

[Jonmarleesco]

18 hours ago, darksidedog said:

The most tragic thing about the awful toll on the roads here is that nothing constructive ever seems to get done to improve it. One shudders to think how many more lives will be lost and people maimed before there is an improvement. This should be the Nations number one concern.

'This should be the Nations number one concern.'

 

It is. And they are. Number one for road carnage. Took a while to reach the goal; the government isn't going to want to give it up without a fight. Or by doing anything to reverse such an achievement. 

[toofarnorth]

14 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Has anyone contacted Toon ?  He seems to be the most effective, non political Thai in Thailand.

Yes I agree to a point. He can go on another run and get millions of Baht but that alone won't make the roads safer. Ah , but if he had power of authority he might be able to do something , he is not just a fit geezer nor does he play guitar a bit he has brains , he would make a better PM than someone I can think of .

[welovethailand]

The real reason these laws are not enforced is to promote "depopulation". If they really wanted to stop the deaths, it would be so easy: Set up road checks for helmets, liecens, age , insurance. In about a week, all this nonsense would be done. Yeah, no one respects "laws" but when they are enforced, that thing called "word of mouth" starts to kick in.

[MrJohnson]

16 hours ago, Nasrullah said:

I was being facetious...but one could be forgiven thinking this is the attitude of the thai people and authorities

Well, apologies. I didn't realize you were being facetious. I've quite a few friends who recognize the problem. As with may things, it is the silent majority that suffer and, lets face it, this is not a culture that encourages or even allows its citizens to speak out. It will take generations to change.

[NoshowJones]

Of the 40 odd people killed every day on Thailands roads, how many on average are underage motorcyclists?

 

I don't suppose that there will be public statistics for that, but does anyone have an opinion?

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, Justfine said:

Attitude for sure. Most accidents are due to poor attitude.

No, IMO, most RTCs ( Road Traffic Collisions) not accidents, are caused by the lack of common sense of the majority of Thai people.

[kannot]

2 hours ago, lvr181 said:

We westerners have the answers that may help reduce (dramatically I would think) the road trauma.

Unfortunately the 'authorities' would rather re-invent their own wheel (if they knew how) than learn from those who have already dealt with these problems.

Secondly no one in authority here reads Thai Visa forums.

Lastly but not least, where there is no will there is no way! 

Making "silly" announcements from time to time does not pass the 'pub test'.

Heres an announcement

 

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

A couple of years ago my maintenance guy was in an accident in which he killed a motorcyclist and pillion. Both were under 15 years of age if memory serves. He claimed it wasn't his fault but the police insisted it was. I don't know how that turned out in court because we fired him a short time later for stealing from us.

 

In my experience most adult motorcyclists drive like teenage wnakers anyway so I suspect you'd have difficult extrapolating an age trend.

[MrJohnson]

31 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

No, IMO, most RTCs ( Road Traffic Collisions) not accidents, are caused by the lack of common sense of the majority of Thai people.

Well you must know what they say about common sense?

 

[Brayka]

Don’t forget a 2 way Road , driving 4 side by side....and the scooters??

[NoshowJones]

6 minutes ago, MrJohnson said:

Well you must know what they say about common sense?

 

What who says about common sense?

[MrJohnson]

6 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

What who says about common sense?

It's not that common.

[lvr181]

2 hours ago, Justfine said:

What are the stats on passengers sitting in the back seat of a car?

Who would know. In the event of a RTC they will probably all end up in the front seat or further forward or thrown out through a door! 

[Justfine]

11 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

What who says about common sense?

Uncommon sense.

[Justfine]

Just now, lvr181 said:

Who would know. In the event of a RTC they will probably all end up in the front seat or further forward or thrown out through a door! 

That's why you wear a seatbelt and the front seat cushion softens the impact.

 

A collapseable portable helmet would be a good invention.

[midas]

3 hours ago, Briggsy said:

It is not for the white man to impose white man culture and mentality on South East Asians. The South East Asian society prefers to eschew all manner of rules and regulations including safety regulations for a freer, less regulated, more laid-back way of life. One of the consequences of this is they die in droves on the roads. This is a part of their culture.

 

But do you think the government of a country that puts less emphasis on enforcing laws and regulations in the interests of safety (for the benefit  of its own citizens and international tourists) should equally stop pretending to be anywhere near being able to qualify as a developed nation?

 

[Cranky]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

No, IMO, most RTCs ( Road Traffic Collisions) not accidents, are caused by the lack of common sense of the majority of Thai people.

Allow me to translate:  Most crashes are caused by idiots.

 

Thanks for stating the bleedin' obvious.

[PETERTHEEATER]

A couple of days ago I was driving a rural road and was faced with a oncoming motorcycle combination, Dad riding, Mum on the pillion and four year old boy in the sidecar ALL wearing safety helmets! I zipped down my window, tapped my head and gave them a 'thumbs up' Big smiles all round.....

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, Cranky said:

Allow me to translate:  Most crashes are caused by idiots.

 

Thanks for stating the bleedin' obvious.

There was no need to translate, the majority of these people as I said lack common sense, imo, it is in their genes, but they are mostly decent and honest, and it is disrespectful to class them as idiots.

[Justfine]

3 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

There was no need to translate, the majority of these people as I said lack common sense, imo, it is in their genes, but they are mostly decent and honest, and it is disrespectful to class them as idiots.

Most accidents are caused by idiots in every country. Sensible people drive/ride defensively.

[rott]

6 hours ago, lvr181 said:

We westerners have the answers that may help reduce (dramatically I would think) the road trauma.

Unfortunately the 'authorities' would rather re-invent their own wheel (if they knew how) than learn from those who have already dealt with these problems.

Secondly no one in authority here reads Thai Visa forums.

Lastly but not least, where there is no will there is no way! 

Making "silly" announcements from time to time does not pass the 'pub test'.

No it apparently never occurs to the lawmakers (whoever they may be at any particular time) to check on the countries with good road safety records to see if there is anything they could learn. You can not begin to solve a problem until you acknowledge that it exists.

[NoshowJones]

38 minutes ago, Justfine said:

Most accidents are caused by idiots in every country. Sensible people drive/ride defensively.

"Sensible people drive/ride defensively." That's exactly what I mean, but sensible people in this country are in a minority.

[Briggsy]

3 hours ago, midas said:

 

But do you think the government of a country that puts less emphasis on enforcing laws and regulations in the interests of safety (for the benefit  of its own citizens and international tourists) should equally stop pretending to be anywhere near being able to qualify as a developed nation?

 

Excellent point. You have extrapolated my post to its logical consequence.

 

Your post concerns transparency, truthfulness and access to information that allows the public including international tourists to make informed decisions.

 

My response to your question is that from a white man's view, of course the authorities should place far greater emphasis on enforcing traffic laws to reduce the death toll and yes, they should stop pretending to qualify as a developed nation.

 

However, from a South East Asian view, both the view from those in power and the view from the average citizen, they fully expect

- government to be opaque,

- the police to be incompetent and focussed on rent-seeking,

- those in authority to paint a highly inaccurate picture along the lines of 'all form and no substance'.

 

So place these two different views in the same location and you get

 

1. Those in authority genuinely believing negative stories about the level of traffic injuries and fatalities are planted articles to try to undermine them by their enemies in order to gain access to their power and wealth whilst also genuinely believing that going on the tv and ordering the police to crackdown on driving offences is sufficient.

2. International tourists genuinely believing the police and courts will actually prosecute, convict and imprison the drunk civil servant that just ran down their child whilst also genuinely believing the local populace will be shocked by a road death.

 

Nothing will change. Where is the will? Not from those in power, not from the public (who like driving the wrong way up a dual carriageway). Road traffic accidents are a logical extension of the culture as is the pretence of being a first world nation.

[midas]

29 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

Excellent point. You have extrapolated my post to its logical consequence.

 

Your post concerns transparency, truthfulness and access to information that allows the public including international tourists to make informed decisions.

 

My response to your question is that from a white man's view, of course the authorities should place far greater emphasis on enforcing traffic laws to reduce the death toll and yes, they should stop pretending to qualify as a developed nation.

 

However, from a South East Asian view, both the view from those in power and the view from the average citizen, they fully expect

- government to be opaque,

- the police to be incompetent and focussed on rent-seeking,

- those in authority to paint a highly inaccurate picture along the lines of 'all form and no substance'.

 

So place these two different views in the same location and you get

 

1. Those in authority genuinely believing negative stories about the level of traffic injuries and fatalities are planted articles to try to undermine them by their enemies in order to gain access to their power and wealth whilst also genuinely believing that going on the tv and ordering the police to crackdown on driving offences is sufficient.

2. International tourists genuinely believing the police and courts will actually prosecute, convict and imprison the drunk civil servant that just ran down their child whilst also genuinely believing the local populace will be shocked by a road death.

 

Nothing will change. Where is the will? Not from those in power, not from the public (who like driving the wrong way up a dual carriageway). Road traffic accidents are a logical extension of the culture as is the pretence of being a first world nation.

"Your post concerns transparency, truthfulness and access to information that allows the public including international tourists to make informed decisions."

 

I have no faith in this whatsoever when they don't  even make the slightest effort to pre-warn tourists not to vape in Thailand or not to wear a chunky gold chain when walking down Pattaya Beach Road  

[Cranky]

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

There was no need to translate, the majority of these people as I said lack common sense, imo, it is in their genes, but they are mostly decent and honest, and it is disrespectful to class them as idiots.

Of course it is not in the genes, that is ridiculous.  I know many very intelligent Thais that have been educated overseas and are perfectly decent drivers.  They too are dismayed by the carnage on the roads here. 

 

The issue is the fact that the haves will always have (overseas educations etc.) and the have-nots never will have as long as the haves have anything to do with it.

[lvr181]

12 minutes ago, Cranky said:

They too are dismayed by the carnage on the roads here. 

Their silence is deafening! 

[Cranky]

Just now, lvr181 said:

Their silence is deafening! 

Because they couldn't care less about the great unwashed getting wiped out on the roads, vast majority of accidents and deaths far enough from Bangkok to go unnoticed.

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, Cranky said:

Of course it is not in the genes, that is ridiculous.  I know many very intelligent Thais that have been educated overseas and are perfectly decent drivers.  They too are dismayed by the carnage on the roads here. 

 

The issue is the fact that the haves will always have (overseas educations etc.) and the have-nots never will have as long as the haves have anything to do with it.

Of course there is a lot of intelligent Thais, but the carnage on the roads tells you everything, and the majority of Thais who drive and ride are not intelligent, and what about the many Thai parents who give their motorbike keys to their underage children? Maybe you are right and it is not in the genes, me saying that was just my way of trying to understand it.