Thailand road carnage: A big problem that is only getting worse

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, dcnx said:

Many of the problems in Thailand can be blamed on the police. They are useless and an embarrassment to real police around the world.

 

True to a point, but police don't teach people to drive, to think, the problem goes much deeper than that. It's cultural, it's educational or lack thereof. I have noticed that people who SHOULD know better are not so different to run of the mill idiots that populate the roads. I don't have an answer, I just limit my road use to what is essential. Up to them!

[Enzian]

It's like the lack of any system of child support regarding deadbeat dads. If anyone who was at fault in an accident without adequate insurance faced the real prospect of losing all they earn for the rest of their lives, things might change. But a simple start would be to inform one and all that pedestrians have the right of way in all cases even if the pedestrian is wrong--this is basically the law in California. But even suggesting such a change would make everyone's heads explode.

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, BobbyL said:

Exactly right. The roads are completely lawless. 

I think it's lack of common sense.

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, Enzian said:

It's like the lack of any system of child support regarding deadbeat dads. If anyone who was at fault in an accident without adequate insurance faced the real prospect of losing all they earn for the rest of their lives, things might change. But a simple start would be to inform one and all that pedestrians have the right of way in all cases even if the pedestrian is wrong--this is basically the law in California. But even suggesting such a change would make everyone's heads explode.

Doesn't an explosion require something to actually cause an explosion. That material seems to be left outside the vehicle by a lot of them.

[Matzzon]

It´s getting worse because nobody seems to have brain enough to deal with it properly. The only thing you hear is policing the streets more.

 

That does not make people drive better. The only thing it does is putting a greater amount of targets on the streets.

[MaxYakov]

It's a long overdue time to get draconian about road safety.

[transam]

Just now, Matzzon said:

It´s getting worse because nobody seems to have brain enough to deal with it properly. The only thing you hear is policing the streets more.

 

That does not make people drive better. The only thing it does is putting a greater amount of targets on the streets.

Daft post..........????

[holy cow cm]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The figures broke down as follows:

 

2015: Injured: 62,773 Dead: 3,509 Cost 1.3 billion baht

2016:   Injured: 63,981 Dead: 3,486 Cost 1.5 billion baht

2017:  Injured: 67,517 Dead: 3,440 Cost 1.5 billion baht

2018:  Injured: 70,972 Dead: 3,426 Cost 1.6 billion baht

Number of deaths are extremely low and don't seem correct. Should be doubled or more. And how do they pay the hospital bills? All by 30 baht health care scheme? Do the insurance companies really want all the foreigners to pay for all the Thai mishaps? Is this is what this immigration long stay insurance is also all about since they funds used on the foreigners will never get all used up?

[zhounan]

Alcohol and drugs. These are the reasons.

[Chang_paarp]

Now the rich and powerful are noticing and complaining, there may be some real action. When insurance companies start to complain, there is something significantly out of whack. All the powers that be have to do is work out how to change things, starting from the police inaction all the way through to community attitudes. It can be done, it just takes the will.

[CharlieBri]

3 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Maybe it is time to devise a more comprehensive campaign, that would address the issue, and, hopefully, save people's lives. Bring in advisers from more advanced countries, where driving is a lot safer, or would asking other people for advice be seen as 'losing face'  ?

I'm a former police officer from the U.S.A.  live here and I have to say, I rarely see a police car patrolling the HW or streets. I see police roadblocks looking for admimistrative - non-moving violations, but little more. A police omnipresence via aggressive patrolling and issuance of moving traffic citations would help. Too many MCs drive in the wrong direction, darting in and out between cars, run red lights, etc. Get the police on the streets in mass in cars and at fixed points with speed radar devices and issue tickets. Until this is done these flagrant traffic violations, injuries, and deaths will continue to occur.

[trainman34014]

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Doesn't an explosion require something to actually cause an explosion. That material seems to be left outside the vehicle by a lot of them.

Errrrr; most of them didn't get any 'fitted' at birth !

[Vacuum]

54 minutes ago, zhounan said:

Alcohol and drugs. These are the reasons.

No, it's the lack of common sense. Most Thais are ok, until they get in their cars.

[trainman34014]

3 minutes ago, CharlieBri said:

I'm a former police officer from the U.S.A.  live here and I have to say, I rarely see a police car patrolling the HW or streets. I see police roadblocks looking for admimistrative - non-moving violations, but little more. A police omnipresence via aggressive patrolling and issuance of moving traffic citations would help. Too many MCs drive in the wrong direction, darting in and out between cars, run red lights, etc. Get the police on the streets in mass in cars and at fixed points with speed radar devices and issue tickets. Until this is done these flagrant traffic violations, injuries, and deaths will continue to occur.

If you talk to any Senior Policeman he will tell you they don't have the money or the resources to carry our proper traffic patrols.  Open to speculation of course but when you have Government only interested in buying Military Hardwear and Rolex Watches for the few, then 'Policing' comes way down the list of things to do !

[dinsdale]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the carnage on Thailand's roads is a "big problem for Thai society"

Maybe this should read "Thai society is a big problem for the carnage on Thailand's roads".

[Colabamumbai]

You can't change stupid. 

 

[ICELANDMAN]

33 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

If you talk to any Senior Policeman he will tell you they don't have the money or the resources to carry our proper traffic patrols.  Open to speculation of course but when you have Government only interested in buying Military Hardwear and Rolex Watches for the few, then 'Policing' comes way down the list of things to do !

Unfortunately, this is the reality, this is why the government hides the real figures, it is the clear sign that it knows the problem but due to organizational incompetence, it will do nothing to stop this planned mass suicide of Thailand.
I can't talk about resources when most cops prefer to stay in the office with the air conditioning and go out only sometimes at night to show that they work, the offices filled with cops are there to prove it.
As many have written the comments, the most responsibility is of the policy that does not do the job for which it is paid.

[jlwilliamsjr18]

The problem can be found in boxes.

[legend49]

Instead of hassling Aliens over medical insurance they dont need, start making every Thai who has the balls to sit a licence pay a insurance premium in the test fee for the period of the licence. That may switch on some brains about being responsible on the roads..

[Assurancetourix]

20 minutes ago, ICELANDMAN said:

the most responsibility is of the policy that does not do the job for which it is paid.

I do not agree and I write why.
Road police do not exist in Thailand;
here, the police work much more than you think;
but do not take care of the road because she is not trained for it.
the police in Thailand do not know more or better the Highway Code than the average driver.
Here in Thailand, the work of the police
it is to run after thieves, and Buddha knows that they are numerous;
run after the rapists too,
run after the mules that carry yaba and other <deleted>,
etc ...

This has also been written a little higher, the budget of the Thai police is ridiculous next to that of the army;
the policemen must pay for everything, uniform, vehicle, with at the beginning a salary bordering the ridiculous, very inferior to 10.000 baht monthly.

The day a road police will be created .... things will change;
but what day will it exist?

[dcnx]

2 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

the policemen must pay for everything, uniform, vehicle, with at the beginning a salary bordering the ridiculous

If only they had some sort of daily scheme where they fleeced tourists for 400b+ per pop for not having a stamp in their IDP or not wearing a helmet.

 

The last time I was stopped my bike wouldn’t start again and I had to call Yamaha to have them come service it. I counted 104 stopped and ticketed in the brief time I was there. I don’t know what the total ticket amount was for each stop, but at the minimum they made a killing during those two hours and they sit there almost every day for an average of 6 hours per day. It’s a cash machine.

 

This doesn’t even count the side hustles and other corruption they are involved in. 
 

So I don’t feel too sorry for them.

 

The real problem is they are uneducated, lazy, incompetent, and are too busy playing the small game to ever rise out of their poverty mentality. They deserve to stay poor and to live amongst the roaches and rats. Peasants and savages until their last breath.

[British Bulldog]

4 hours ago, steve187 said:

i think you will find the figures are only for people using Thai social security

 

4 hours ago, pokerface1 said:

Yes your right it’s always around 20,000 pa. I think they go the categories around the wrong way. Perhaps it’s a lot worse if you include those that die in hospital not just at the scene. 

According to the figs below, (somebody on this forum gave the website), in 2016 it was over 22,000 for Thailand, so its likely to be a lot more than that in 2019

 

That 32.7% indicates how many people die per 100,000 inhabitants per year, making Thailand about 3rd in the world

[finnomick1]

You cannot teach those who do not wish to learn, or in this case those who think they know everything. Recently a friend of mine paid a driving school 5000 baht to teach his ( Thai ) wife to drive. At the end of the 5000 baht she was taken to the local licensing office and given her driving license. No test, nothing. Scary isn't it.

[Assurancetourix]

2 minutes ago, dcnx said:

The real problem is they are uneducated, lazy, incompetent, and are too busy playing the small game to ever rise out of their poverty mentality. They deserve to stay poor and to live amongst the roaches and rats. Peasants and savages until their last breath.

 

Who are you talking about?

police trying to do their job
or imbeciles who circulate without a helmet and / or three on the motorcycle .. without insurance and whose lights do not work ...

 

We have the same in every country;
in France, there are "turret" radars that take road delights in several lanes and in both directions; rain or snow, the radar does not care, it works; and is able to see if "we" use a mobile phone  while driving;

and yes, we do not stop the progress ...
and who gets caught?
those who do not care about the Highway Code and therefore other users ..

[steve187]

4 minutes ago, finnomick1 said:

You cannot teach those who do not wish to learn, or in this case those who think they know everything. Recently a friend of mine paid a driving school 5000 baht to teach his ( Thai ) wife to drive. At the end of the 5000 baht she was taken to the local licensing office and given her driving license. No test, nothing. Scary isn't it.

that's the new system here, before it was a short test within the land office.

[Asquith Production]

2 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

It's a long overdue time to get draconian about road safety.

No Government will get heavy handed they dont want to lose votes. Remember when they tried to stop Thais riding in the back of pickups. Their was a big backlash from the public so the Government relented.

[zyphodb]

5 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

the only thing they haven't tried is to get the police to enforce the laws. Need more cop cars and bikes on the road pulling people over rather than sitting on their ar-ses at checkpoints. Even at the checkpoints it wold be a simple task for the cops to walk around each car/bike and quickly see if it street legal

But to do that you'd have to start paying the police properly, ain't never gonna happen...

[thaibook]

It is not a problem or the Thai police or the Thai government.  The government is stuffed with police generals and colonels.  The police is there to make money not to look after people.  The way to make money is from procurement, buying more toys whether they work or not.  The higher the commission the better which is why more and more procurement comes from Communist China and other highly corrupt countries.   

 

There was a recent article about the police collecting 100m in fines or driving on pavements - but how long did it take and how much is actually paid?  How does it compare to the amount on offer a device that allows police to tell if a driver has a licence without stopping them which o course would need to be issued to every policeman ?

 

I the police were interested in traffic safety they would start by enforcing red lights, driving on one side of the road and signs such as no motorcycles.

 

[jak2002003]

13 minutes ago, finnomick1 said:

You cannot teach those who do not wish to learn, or in this case those who think they know everything. Recently a friend of mine paid a driving school 5000 baht to teach his ( Thai ) wife to drive. At the end of the 5000 baht she was taken to the local licensing office and given her driving license. No test, nothing. Scary isn't it.

I know a few Thai people who could not pass their tests, after many times trying, and they just passed over a brown envelope to someone in the office and they got their driving license, even though they are totally incompetent and dangerous drivers.  I know at least 3 people who have done this, so it must be a very common thing.  

2 minutes ago, Asquith Production said:

No Government will get heavy handed they dont want to lose votes. Remember when they tried to stop Thais riding in the back of pickups. Their was a big backlash from the public so the Government relented.

I don't think the people in charge now care about votes.. now they are where they want to be.  

[727Sky]

It has been 5 years so I went and renewed my motorcycle and car license. Doctors visit: "You O.K."? "Yes." Pay 400 Baht and get the paper after blood pressure check that says I am still breathing.

 

Sat through a one hour animated video about defensive driving that could have been covered in 15 minutes as there were many repeat segments. None of the 10 videos covered how to make a proper turn without blocking two lanes. None showed how to pull as far over as possible when parking nor did any video mention on a two lane road do not park abeam an opposite direction vehicle blocking the entire road for everyone but motorcycles.  

A one minute video covering different subjects on how to drive safely broadcast during the T.V. news segments would go along way to saving people's lives IMO..

 

Some people just do not have a clue on safe efficient driving skills when they are driving a car and it ain't much better on a bike.