3 minutes ago, Janner1 said:

I understand you completely, but why don’t you install a camera ? At least then you will have the proof of them forcing you to  ram them!

a camera is alright when its filming up front,but when some idiot tango's you to the extent where  it costs your life,

then the blame mongers take over.

1 hour ago, lvr181 said:

Surprise!

 

And yet the PM and his Government DO NOT learn from their "failed" crackdowns, year in and year out!

 

Is this a cultural problem? 

The failure to learn anything? A problem? No, no, they are proud of it.

"In April, when many Thais hit the road......". I think I see what the problem is here.

 Thais have very little concept of past or future. They live almost entirely in the present. When they drive like <deleted> it just never occurs to them that by the next morning they'll be a blurred out picture in the morning papers.

As long as we can limit the Songkran death harvest to around 450 next year, we'll be doing just fine. An increase of about 30 deaths can be considered statistically insignificant.

3 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Oh the irony.

I found the thai driving test ( the theoretical ) demanding given that here are complete different rules than in europe even many signs differ....for a local it should be no problem to pass...no need for tea money or similar...the only thing that puzzled me was that ALL the kids came in for the practical test with their own motorbikes right from the highway....mmmm.. makes me think...same same but different

3 hours ago, YetAnother said:

boil it all down to bad judgment, a thai staple

Thinking much the same YetAnother , They ( whoever they are ) have worked out these wonderful %s.  Which percentage is the drunk , speeding driver in that caused an accident by cutting in front of someone else ?

Thais can't handle holiday driving or even summer vacation of schools dwindling down the traffic. Anything out of the norm the are terrible at. And we can discount the DUI part in this statement. There could be no one on the road and they make the stupidest decision. For why or who knows, maybe out of the box driving. 

so that is about 2 big airplanes that would crash in a week, would any other country do something about that ? here in thailand it seems to be ok ... in fact, every week, on average if you believe statistics, the same amount of death of 2 plane crashes...  population control and nothing else... 418 new job openings

"Most of the road carnage this Songkran stemmed from drunk-driving... "

 

Right, it'll be interesting to find out what caused road carnage in previous Songkrans, and in other festivals and on normal days.

 

What a stupid initiative - reporting all these figures like a corporation would report their year-on-year and year-to-date financial results. Why don't you DO something about the figures - i.e. embark on a proper education and enforcement drive to lower the numbers?

5 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

PM Prayut thanks all sides for ensuring public safety during Songkran

 

Just about sums him up.

A name that suits him is Big Waste. He can eat Big Jokes scraps

An off topic post about statistics in Sweden which has been posted multiple times in multiple topics has been removed.  

1 hour ago, Old Croc said:

You were in fast moving traffic, cars in front started to "brake" just as someone was cutting in front of you. A potentially dangerous situation.

Instead of taking defensive action you flashed your lights at the offender. How very Thai of you. Did you sound the horn as well?

From my observations, all too often accidents here occur because, when things go wrong, many Thai's first instinct is to hit the horn rather than brake or steer out of trouble.

Westerners should be better trained in accident avoidance, also aware of the psychotic nature of many Thai males on the roads and avoid triggering their madness. I learnt that lesson early in my tenure here and my middle finger has remained sheathed ever since.

Personally i just Fart in there general direction, that seems to do the Trick.

6 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

PM Prayut thanks all sides for ensuring public safety during Songkran

 

Just about sums him up.

Just more signs of usless leadership, more worried about water guns and non smoking areas, Police resourses wasted with every swing D**k doing nothing to make the roads safer, less thefts or less murders and fights , Oh no that good leadership my ass

4 hours ago, mok199 said:

thai( mostlymales )who live with this ''maverick'' attitude, and refuse to grow up, are destroying this once amazing kingdom....get serious about enforcing the law or Shut The <deleted> Up,.. call in some outside help ...cause I for one am getting tired of this cycle of pie charts ,period costumes, promises and probes,in order to deflect the truth .Thailand on its own ''cannot change'' ...Na Bura.,buat hua....and fix the beach while your at it...do something right ...sawadee pi mai.

Outside help? Are you suggesting Aliens? Otherwise you should get the <deleted> out! 

With increasing amount of vehicles on the road . next year will be even higher. 

No drastic action will be taken by the police  .Will all be same same but different higher numbers .    

Thailand should recruit more police to train in traffic control not only for checking helmets and licences. but strict laws like the ones in say the UK USA. . Including Mots and exhaust emissions. tyre wear ect ect . and speed cameras . . Not so much fun to drive then but much safer . With all the fines they get would pay the police wages quit nicely      

Ok I have lottery numbers now !

 

An offensive post has been removed. 

They simply feel so proud in the statistics for them to present and followed by a photo taking session. Look boss! these are the people working.

Road Blocks, Road Blocks,,,, what they need to help stop the looneys is to get out among the people in 

mufti cars & witness the stupidity BEFORE it happens.

Immediate approval for 600 cars & crew along with required communications to make this happen NOW

not wait for New Year carnage to add to the misery

Nothing will change because:

 

1 - There is no meaningful driving test, and there never will be because to learn to drive properly is hard and takes patience and common sense. Thais do not do hard, they do 'That's good enough'. And they have no patience - 'Me First'. And there is a total lack of common sense in Thailand. And I mean total.

2 - The police are totally inept. They do nothing at all to prevent bad driving habits and are never seen at night - which is exactly the time they should be on the streets in search of drunk drivers. Drivers know they have no need to act responsibly because the chance of them being caught is close to zero ,and if they are they are punished by fines that probably haven't been updated in decades.

 

3 - Drivers of public and transport vehicles are poorly trained and maintenance is rarely if ever carried out because 'If not broken why do'.

4 - The authorities don't care because those who make decisions about such things are ferried around with police escorts and the carnage doesn't affect them.

5 - The only way anything will change is if Thais are forced to take proper driving lessons (and who will teach them?) and a western-style test is implemented. And that police actually do their job, patrol the roads and arrest people. It also needs a drastic culture change with drivers respecting other road users. None of which will happen.

The Thais can never admit it is impossible to solve though as that would mean they've failed, and Thais never fail at anything. Instead, we have the boss congratulating everyone. It's an Alice Through the Looking Glass world. 

"The NCPO and related authorities, from April 11-17, had identified 490,512 cases of drunk driving"

 

<deleted>!

7 hours ago, BobBKK said:

That's the point the total is far higher unfortunately but Prayut thinks it's a great success!

...and it is still higher!

As we know, people who die  later in the hospital, are not even included in these numbers!

Why have the figures of road death toll been cut short today ?

 

Several regions are still involved in Songkran, including Pattaya, and tomorrow I think in Rayong.

 

These 7 deadly days in no way reflect the true carnage out there, as many people traveled back to the North East and North as early as the 7 th April and have yet to return back 

 

I wonder what the figure would be for 14 days of Songkran ?

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Today is Songkran madness day in Pattaya, no doubt a few will meet their maker today but will not be eligible for the 7 day body count!

No need for that, down here in sin city the focus is more on gang shootings , farangs plunging from balconies, farang/isan 'lovebirds' stabbing, cutting , stomping on each other,kickboxing ladyboys etc than on humdrum road fatalities.

9 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

PM Prayut thanks all sides for ensuring public safety during Songkran

 

Just about sums him up.

120 deaths could come off the road toll alone if Thai drivers learnt not to cut in front, usually during a reckless impatient overtaking manoeuvre, will this ever happen??? Never until a televised road safety campaign shows this madness , and it is condemned , and enforcement starts big time on Thailand's treacherous roads.

The enlightened one has to start heavy penalties and enforcement, lower speed limits , speed cameras etc., this toll is more than the yearly toll in NZ.

A joke and a disgrace to the powers that control road use in the land of maniac drivers.

We as good as knew there was going to be little notice taken of the Songkran 'safety drive'. The Thai driver - drunk or sober - has become too used to having his own free way for mile after mile after mile. How seldom do we see a Highway Police car actually patrolling and looking like its on the lookout for the idiots? . . . hardly ever.

 

So, when's the next drunken chariot race, then? . . . Loi Krathong? I'm laying odds on at least 63 gladiators being sent to see their maker . . . per day, that is!

the difference is probably statistically insignificant.

 

Every year they make a big thing about counting 55the dead.....that's the ones that re dead already, not those who will die later from their injuries, then  publish the stats - which I can't find the sources of.... and various nabobs are wheeled out to impart gems of "advice " to everybody......but they are overlooking one import factor....THERE"S NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE ...  now in any normal circumstances people would look t this and think about taking a differnt apraoch to the problem, but no, tey just keep on doing the same ol', same ol' with the same ol' results.

 

Its reminiscent of the Mad hatter's tea party....or a bit like if you had a flat tyre so you try to re-inflate it but the air just goes straight out again and someone says 

"I've had a great idea! Why don't we try pumping it up again?"

...and then another more important looking person comes along and says

"I've had a great idea! Why don't we try pumping it up again?"

then another person: - hang on I've got a more important job

"I've had a great idea! Why don't we try pumping it up again?"

 

..... and so on and so forth....... get the picture?

Edited April 19, 20188 yr by Airbagwill

Thailand the “Land of Smilies” and “Mad Max Fury Road”

33 minutes ago, berrec said:

Thailand the “Land of Smilies” and “Mad Max Fury Road”

Just another example of a poster without a clue.

Accidents and deaths are to be expected, but stricter control, by the Police, would have had more of positive impact.