Drunk driving and speeding top road toll of 2,761 accidents in first five “dangerous” days

[poohy]

4 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I would be surprised if that was true, I know the Thai mentality is low, but I cannot see finance companies giving out credit as easy as that. They would soon be out of business.

Got a feeling i worked out a Honda wave on 3 years credit would cost 2.5 times the cash price.

Sadly Thais dont care they just look at monthly payment!

[NoshowJones]

8 minutes ago, poohy said:

Got a feeling i worked out a Honda wave on 3 years credit would cost 2.5 times the cash price.

Sadly Thais dont care they just look at monthly payment!

True, Thais don't care, but I'm sure the finance companies would.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

I've got deja-vu.  I am sure I read this article earlier this week and every year for the last 15.

And will again for the next 15 years.

 

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, dpcjsr said:

Driving from Phayao to Chiang Rai recently we were stopped at a checkpoint and fined 500 baht. Turns out that our red book on our new car was not filled out properly, a mistake by the dealer in Chiang Rai.

 

They were stopping every car with a red plate. Shake down perfected.

 

Thousands of people die on the roads and this is their solution.

 

In six years I have had only two experiences like this. Overall the Thai police I have dealt with have done an excellent job. Cops like these guys are theives and give the rest of the decent police a bad name. 

So someone (the dealer?) made a mistake and you're calling the cops thieves for giving you a fine....

[Lobber]

they are just cr4p drivers no respect for lane discipline or road manner. Oh and if the BKK Post is correct nearly 31000 drivers with no licences - whats going on ??

Watching the TV reports - everyone I have seen has a reporter standing at the road side reporting and every report there are traffic offences being committed by the drivers just shows how endemic poor driving is.

[Pattaya28]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Prapon spoke on behalf of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s Road Safety Centre (Thai RSC), which is tasked with reducing death tolls during the period’s “seven dangerous days”.

"Fit for Purpose" ?

[CanuckThai]

There used to be some eye opening commercials about excessive drug use.  A more popular one showed a goofball actor stoned out of his mind, trying to tie his shoelaces (unsuccessfully).  "This is your brain on drugs" was the message.  We have an actor here, that gives a weekly message (unfortunate he doesn't preach about the deadly roads) .  A perfect representative of survivors of head trauma and the potential devastating result of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

[JulesMad]

4 hours ago, lucifer666 said:

I'm sure I read the same article every year. 10 years now and nothing has changed

Only the numbers go up, year over year...

[Dap]

"47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence"  

Only the tip of the iceberg 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Prapon said that 2,049 checkpoints, staffed by 66,867 officials nationwide, recorded 194,173 traffic violations on Monday. Among them were 47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence and 51,811 motorcyclists who were stopped for riding without helmets. 

 

I notice this latest day's article by The Nation specifically fails to mention the number of drunk driving violations cited for the day. You'd kind of think that ought to deserve some mention/attention, alongside the cited figures on those cited for lacking licenses and helmets.

 

[Kasset Tak]

If they still report road deaths as they have done in the past, then sadly the real numbers are much higher!
At least in the past, Thailand have only been counting those who died at the crash site and not those who later died in the hospital or during transport to the hospital as road fatalities in their road safety reports!!!

[Cake Monster]

Same old - Same old

[gerritkaew]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

total of 3,684 vehicles

where they stash al this cars and bikes??

[findlay13]

2 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Same old - Same old

I'm sure if you offered thais 100 bht to do something the right way and 50 bht to do it the wrong way,they'd take the 50bht and do it the "easy way"

[Henrik Andersen]

Why are Pattaya (Chonburi) never mention in news as this??? 

[dallen52]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

Prapon said the most cited causes for Monday’s road carnage were drunk driving (44.82 per cent) and speeding (29.88 per cent, while most crashes (81.62 per cent) involved motorcycles. 

 

About 39 per cent of the crashes took place on highways, while 36.20 per cent occurred on local roads. Most of the accidents transpired between 4pm and 8pm (31.28 per cent). 

 

Prapon said that 2,049 checkpoints, staffed by 66,867 officials nationwide, recorded 194,173 traffic violations on Monday. Among them were 47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence and 51,811 motorcyclists who were stopped for riding without helmets. 

 

National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong meanwhile reported that a total of 3,684 vehicles (2,677 motorcycles and 1,007 automobiles) had been seized from drunk drivers during December 27-31.

Trial run for Songkran.

 

[dallen52]

9 hours ago, Dap said:

"47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence"  

Only the tip of the iceberg 

Scary.

If we think that possession of a license means they are fit to drive.

Or even attended a DLT testing station.

 

Scary Scary.

Is the possibe extrapolation.

 

"47,150 motorists failed to produce a licence"  

 

If this is say 10% of the driver population, checked.

 

That's 1,043,500 potential unlicensed idiots out there.

[mikebell]

19 hours ago, hotchilli said:

And will again for the next 15 years.

 

I hope so - I'm 76.

[marko kok prong]

My wife got a ticket for no licence,i asked how much and what she was going to do with it, put in the draw with all the others,"my brother,my Uncle in Police,i not pay" well i guess it's true,she has a stack in there and nothing has ever happened.

[marko kok prong]

This is her reasoning behind not getting a licence too she has relatives in the Police!!!

[stanleycoin]

Quote

My wife got a ticket for no licence,i asked how much and what she was going to do with it, put in the draw with all the others,"my brother,my Uncle in Police,i not pay" well i guess it's true,she has a stack in there and nothing has ever happened.

 

7 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

This is her reasoning behind not getting a licence too she has relatives in the Police!!!

 

That all says volumes about you. 

 

[marko kok prong]

3 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

That all says volumes about you. 

 

What volumes would they be old chap?

[stanleycoin]

1 minute ago, marko kok prong said:

What volumes would they be old chap?

She is part of the problem and your happy for that to carry on.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/2/2019 at 4:47 AM, webfact said:

Prapon said that 2,049 checkpoints, staffed by 66,867 officials nationwide, recorded 194,173 traffic violations on Monday. Among them were 47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence and 51,811 motorcyclists who were stopped for riding without helmets. 

 

More than a little curious that in almost every one of these reports, they always list drunken driving as the leading cause of all the crashes.

 

But when it comes to enforcement, they somehow manage to report how many people have been cited for not having DLs or not having helmets. But they seem to consciously avoid making any mention of how many people have been cited or arrested for drunken driving!

 

Why?  It would be a very interesting answer to hear. Not to mention, to see just what the DD arrest/cite stats are.

 

And of course, they rarely if ever explain, when someone is found to be drunk and driving, are they just cited with a "fine" (bribe) and let go (which I suspect happens most of the time). Or are they actually arrested, brought to the police station, tossed into a jail cell, and have to wait for bail and/or a court hearing.

 

I suspect, if the Thai police actually arrested all the drunk drivers they manage to encounter on the roads (while not looking too hard) and actually arrested them and took them to jail (as would happen in a developed country), the lousy, overcrowded Thai jails wouldn't even begin to have enough space to hold all the DD arrestees.

 

 

[USMC RETIRED 2015]

Sounds like there are no accidents in any of your home countries....it's so funny to read so many crazy comments..... I am from California and looky here....50 people dead over the New Year's weekend....every driver WITH A LICENSE....if they were on a motorcycle, they were WEARING A HELMET cause it's 100% law there.  Does it matter that it's California and not Thailand?  This is just 1 state out of 50....so come on Thailand bashers....let's here the excuses as to why this is not as bad as Thailand.....ready go!!

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/50-people-killed-in-dui-crashes-during-new-years-weekend-in-california-officials-say

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 minutes ago, USMC RETIRED 2015 said:

Sounds like there are no accidents in any of your home countries....it's so funny to read so many crazy comments..... I am from California and looky here....50 people dead over the New Year's weekend....every driver WITH A LICENSE....if they were on a motorcycle, they were WEARING A HELMET cause it's 100% law there.  Does it matter that it's California and not Thailand?  This is just 1 state out of 50....so come on Thailand bashers....let's here the excuses as to why this is not as bad as Thailand.....ready go!!

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/50-people-killed-in-dui-crashes-during-new-years-weekend-in-california-officials-say

 

Thailand has about the same population as California and Texas combined of approx 70 million -- leaving aside the entire rest of the U.S.

 

So if you want to make some comparisons based on population, that would be one way to do it. California has about 3600 traffic deaths per year, and Texas about 3700. So that's averaging about 20+ traffic deaths per day throughout the year.

 

https://www.nsc.org/portals/0/documents/newsdocuments/2018/december_2017.pdf

 

In comparison, for Thailand:

 

Quote

Thailand has the second highest road traffic fatality rate in the world at 36.2 per 100 000 with an annual estimate of over 24 000 deaths or 66 deaths every day.

 

http://www.searo.who.int/thailand/areas/roadsafety/en/

 

So by those stats, Thailand has about three times as many road fatalities per year and daily compared with the states of California and Texas that have roughly the same combined population.

 

Further regarding Thailand:

 

Quote

The Third Global Status Report on Road Safety identified legislative and/or enforcement gaps related to all five risk factors (speed, drink-driving, helmets, seatbelts and child restraints). For example, urban speed limit in Thailand is one of the highest in the world at 80 km/h; there is no BAC limit specific for novice or young drivers; seatbelts in the rear seats are not required; and there is no child restraint law. Enforcement also remains a major challenge for Thailand.

 

So your point is?

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Further, from the World Health Organization, most recent 2013 data on road traffic deaths by country:

 

http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A997?lang=en

 

Thailand -- 36.2 road traffic deaths annually per 100,000 population

United States -- 10.6 road traffic deaths annually per 100,000 population

 

Bottom line -- as noted above, Thailand has one of the highest road fatality rates of any country in the world on a per capita basis. So literally, you're taking you life in your hands anytime you venture out onto the roads here, more than almost any other place in the world.

 

Interesting to note that the WHO data comparing Thailand and the U.S. per capita for road deaths (Thailand with more than 3 times as many) is roughly similar to the Thailand vs California and Texas comparison I roughed out above, with Thailand again having more than 3 times as many road fatalities.

 

[Dap]

16 hours ago, dallen52 said:

Scary.

If we think that possession of a license means they are fit to drive.

Or even attended a DLT testing station.

 

Scary Scary.

Is the possibe extrapolation.

 

"47,150 motorists failed to produce a licence"  

 

If this is say 10% of the driver population, checked.

 

That's 1,043,500 potential unlicensed idiots out there.

One can reasonably assume that this number hasn't even seen a written driving test let alone taken the physical driving test, and once again, this

is only the tip of the iceberg. Frightening! as well as ample explanation for a large percentage of the daily carnage.