Study reveals shocking extent of dangerous driving in Thailand

[MrJohnson]

The miracle is that there are not more road deaths than there already are. This will take more than a generation to change and will require a multi-pronged strategy.

Laws that exist must be enforced -speeding, dangerous driving, drink driving - this just to mention a few.

Stronger penalties more breaking the law - including incarceration.

More visible policing on the roads - virtually non-existent at present.

Better driver education.More stringent licensing requirements - make it harder to get a license.

And on and on. Hard to see it happening though.

[hobz]

3 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Thai are not going to change their driving habits on their own, so the only solution is to install tamper proof speed limiters on all forms of public transportation, i.e. trucks & busses.  Inhibitors that will totally disable the vehicle's engine if anyone tries to disable it, along with a 50,000 baht fine and at least one year in jail for anyone attempting to disable one.  Plus, anyone caught using drugs while operating these vehicles face a mandatory 5 years in prison and 50,000 baht fine.  If the children won't behave on their own, then they have to be forced to.

And who is going to enforce that these things get installed? 

You can make up as many rules, laws and regulations as you want. But as long as there is nobody to enforce anything nothing will work... 

You gotta go to the root of the problem... It seems like the RTP is the root of the problem... But I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a general attitude / education problem and the RTP being useless is just a symptom...

[ThailandGuy]

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shocking extent of dangerous

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Shocking? Really? It is shocking that they now call it shocking. Policians use ostritch politics. Driving in Thailand has been dangerous since day one. Average driving skils are below any acceptable level because of the insane easyness to obtain a drivers license. It is said that one can get a driving permit while being drunk. They can not have enough policemen out there to grab all the drunken idiots who still believe they can drive. But even the ones that are not drunk have poor driving skills.

[Hupaponics]

3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

Thailand loses 5% of GDP to road casualties but they still refuse to address the problem in a scientific, rationalised and consistent manner.

How can road casualties reduce GDP? It's om the contrary, that every accident raises the GDP in car repairs, new cars, all the work in public health...

[GarryP]

2 minutes ago, Hupaponics said:

How can road casualties reduce GDP? It's om the contrary, that every accident raises the GDP in car repairs, new cars, all the work in public health...

Removing people from the workforce. Probably most of the victims do not have private healthcare.

[Phil Here]

So they have the data of when/where the buses and trucks were speeding. Now go to those companies and get the drivers details and fine them. If the company can't verify the drivers, then fine the company. As said in another comment, put speed limiters on ALL buses & trucks. Although the driving standards here are worse than no good, a persons life here in Thailand means nothing to them. It'll be swept under the carpet like many other things. Nothing will change.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Thai are not going to change their driving habits on their own, so the only solution is to install tamper proof speed limiters on all forms of public transportation, i.e. trucks & busses.  Inhibitors that will totally disable the vehicle's engine if anyone tries to disable it, along with a 50,000 baht fine and at least one year in jail for anyone attempting to disable one.  Plus, anyone caught using drugs while operating these vehicles face a mandatory 5 years in prison and 50,000 baht fine.  If the children won't behave on their own, then they have to be forced to.

That would only fix part of the problem. The biggest problems are the Me First attitude and the fact that many Thais do not know how to drive properly. And they will never be made to go through a western-style learning process because that is quite hard and Thais do not do hard. They always look for the easy way out and have a 'near enough is good enough' attitude. On the roads nearly knowing how to drive, able to start the engine and turn the wheel, isn't good enough. Most have zero concept of the 'technicalities' involved.

[Bangkok Barry]

35 minutes ago, jvs said:

I have started to use mini busses again,they have slowed down a lot,

they do not go over 90kph anymore.Feel a lot safer compared to two years ago.

I rode one Kohn Kaen to Somdet last week as there was a two hour wait for the bus, and he drove at a reasonable pace. But it's a lottery. There are so many stories of speeding cowboys still.

[Hupaponics]

11 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Removing people from the workforce. Probably most of the victims do not have private healthcare.

Workforce Will be replaced and even goverment hospitals ad upp to the GDP. 

Do you know what GDP is?

[Bangkok Barry]

31 minutes ago, hobz said:

And who is going to enforce that these things get installed? 

You can make up as many rules, laws and regulations as you want. But as long as there is nobody to enforce anything nothing will work... 

You gotta go to the root of the problem... It seems like the RTP is the root of the problem... But I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a general attitude / education problem and the RTP being useless is just a symptom...

 

It isn't just the RTP. No-one enforces anything and/or can be bought off. Look at the buildings that go up illegally and somehow no-one notices. Bars that are open until dawn and/or without licenses and no-one notices. Taxi drivers that refuse to use the meter. It's endless.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Bangkok Barry

[Somchai Logic]

4 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Thai are not going to change their driving habits on their own, so the only solution is to install tamper proof speed limiters on all forms of public transportation, i.e. trucks & busses.  Inhibitors that will totally disable the vehicle's engine if anyone tries to disable it, along with a 50,000 baht fine and at least one year in jail for anyone attempting to disable one.  Plus, anyone caught using drugs while operating these vehicles face a mandatory 5 years in prison and 50,000 baht fine.  If the children won't behave on their own, then they have to be forced to.

And even then, they will NEVER learn 

[evadgib]

I rarely bother uploading my dashcam clips as there are frankly too many but from memory these stick out from the last 24hrs:

- A bike ridden by a helmetless foreigner & spouse undertook me as I was turning left yesterday,

- Another bike ridden by a helmeted foreigner came out of a fuel station today across both lanes of traffic before very nearly colliding with a tourist couple on a bike that were undertaking in the lane I was in,

- 5 mins/ a few kms later that same couple came close to T Boning a car that had exited left,

- A father allowed a toddler of around 4 years/20kgs to climb into the front seat of his 4x4 with no means of restraint this afternoon. Dad didn't bother with his seat belt either.

 

I cringed. I have dashcams front and rear & there's no way am I paying if one of these idiots hits me and it ain't my fault! 

[Lingba]

They needed a study to come up with this?....well I guess they are closer to admitting they have a problem

[HLover]

Just now, Somchai Logic said:

And even then, they will NEVER learn 

Learn what?  I was updating my FB status...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

If they had added in the public transit vans into the survey, it would have added at least another 17 million speeding episodes alone!

 

[ToddinChonburi]

Well let's start another study to study the study.

[dave moir]

4 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Thai are not going to change their driving habits on their own, so the only solution is to install tamper proof speed limiters on all forms of public transportation, i.e. trucks & busses.  Inhibitors that will totally disable the vehicle's engine if anyone tries to disable it, along with a 50,000 baht fine and at least one year in jail for anyone attempting to disable one.  Plus, anyone caught using drugs while operating these vehicles face a mandatory 5 years in prison and 50,000 baht fine.  If the children won't behave on their own, then they have to be forced to.

Exactly how difficult would it be! Much better than fitting a tracker which only tells you a person is speeding instead of doing something about it. Fitting a limiter stops them speeding full stop!

[Sonhia]

Why bother with a study!

 

It is evident how bad Thai drivers are.

 

The authorities can do much more to curb the shameful driving by Thais, but they don't exercise the law.

 

Foreigners are not perfect drivers, but they tend to be more aware of their surroundings and of the dangers of the roads etc..

[GarryP]

29 minutes ago, Hupaponics said:

Workforce Will be replaced and even goverment hospitals ad upp to the GDP. 

Do you know what GDP is?

But surely, cost-wise public healthcare has much less of an impression on GDP than private healthcare. 

[Chongalulu]

3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

In Europe they have addressed this problem over the last 40 years or so.

 

You can't change human behaviour or reduce the number of stupids.....they just made it difficult for the stupids to do what STILL comes naturally.

 

Companies that want/force drivers to drive overlong hours are put outside the law.

Speeding, drugs and hours are all regulated.

At the heart of the regulation of commercial drivers has been the tachograph and commercial licencing systems.  This together with a Euro-wide net work of expertly run testing stations have curbed the excesses of a cut-throat transport industry.

 

Thailand does nothing more than a nod and a wink to this.....thinking that blaming the drivers is the answer.

 

In Europe the drivers are still the same, they just can't be so stupid anymore.

 

As this process is a long one, it requires a consistent approach and as it involves reforms of law, police, road design tc etc it costs...... Thailand loses 5% of GDP to road casualties but they still refuse to address the problem in a scientific, rationalised and consistent manner.

Whilst a good synopsis,before any of that can become a potential reality you need to address how to increase the average IQ so that comprehension can be achieved. 

[Black arab]

Pm....results of the study are in, terrible just terrible.Ok where were we somtam , whiskey soda everyone.

[jenny2017]

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by jenny2017
Cops do exist

[bimmerbob]

4 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Not sure which is more shocking here: the results of the study, or the fact they needed one at all to discover what epxats here have known for years?

 

Ah, but expats do not know:

1. Highway No. 1 between the 708th-726th kilometre markers; 

2. Highway No. 2 between the 20th-36th kilometre markers;

3. Highway No. 4 between the 126th-130th kilometre markers;

4. Highway No. 9 between the 30th-38th kilometre markers;

5. Highway No. 32 between the 132nd-137th kilometre markers;

6. Highway No. 41 between the 366th-379th kilometre markers;

7. Highway No. 304 between the 165th-176th kilometre markers and between the 190th-250th markers (cutting through the national forest).

lol.

[atyclb]

Big wave tow in surfing and base jumping are likely safer than traveling on Thai roads.

[chainarong]

Just wait till they get that new divice that picks up mobile phone use, takes a photo and records the number of the vehicle , that will be interesting, they tried it in perth West Au 33 every second caught on the mobile.......................................

[Happyman58]

Bad drivers. No clue about road rules .Weak police force. No patience. Let the killing begin. Its fun to die  

[hotchilli]

The researchers nalysed the 2017 data from the Highway Accident Information Management System (HAIMS), identifying the seven most dangerous spots for crashes and fatalities.

 

They were: 

 

1. Highway No. 1 between the 708th-726th kilometre markers; 

2. Highway No. 2 between the 20th-36th kilometre markers;

3. Highway No. 4 between the 126th-130th kilometre markers;

4. Highway No. 9 between the 30th-38th kilometre markers;

5. Highway No. 32 between the 132nd-137th kilometre markers;

6. Highway No. 41 between the 366th-379th kilometre markers;

7. Highway No. 304 between the 165th-176th kilometre markers and between the 190th-250th markers (cutting through the national forest).

 

They seem to have the technology to identify the "dangerous spots" but lack the incentive to put a stop to it !!!

[Thian]

3 hours ago, British Bulldog said:

I also remember when Singapore coupled flashing lights to trucks and alike that flashed or signaled when the driver was going over the speed limit ... these flashing lights where placed on the roofs of the trucks .... ????

Cellphones and Garmins can also do that, just give a sound if the driver exceeds the max speedlimit on that road.

[stanleycoin]

Ah one more Hub.

 

The world Hub of Dangerous, Imbeciles on the roads.  

 

You are truly shameful Thailand. 

 

[natway09]

Unbelievable,,,,,,,, they needed a survey to tell them that ???