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

[transam]

2 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

You do not have 'a good brain' if you need to be taught the simple and basic art of self preservation.

Correct....

The problem in LOS is that there is no deterrent to stop daftness on the roads. No active Policing out there. That's why folk take no notice of the rules.

[HHTel]

6 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

On roads lacking a kerb, I always insist on walking against the flow of traffic. "I'd prefer to see the vehicle that kills me,

You may still get hit from behind.  Traffic goes in both directions here, especially m/bikes.

[irwinfc]

6 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

not gonna happen, since the police themselves cross the red light, drive the wrong way, don't wear helmets/seatbelts, drive vehicles with busted tail lights, don't stop at STOP/yield signs, break speed limits, cross solid lines, undertake... name all traffic violations and the police do it, so it's not in their interest to enforce traffic rules and regulations.

[hotchilli]

It's comes down to basically two things:

1) Changing the law to enforce a minimum period of driving tuition by a qualified driving school before allowing a test to be taken by an independent instructor prior to getting a licence.

2)  Road traffic police to stop giving roadside fines, all violators are prosecuted by courts with real points deducted from their licences, automatic mandatory points etc for certain violations rising to bans for serious offences.

That might go part-way to stopping the road carnage.... but there's one problem.

The Thai populous are happy with the way it is now, they do not want the expense of having to learn to drive, they are happy with a roadside tip to allow them to continue on their way after an infringement, and except the consequences after an accident even death ! 

So don't expect any change soon... just more empty campaigns!

[MaxYakov]

2 hours ago, Asquith Production said:

4 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.

I don't think that particular, so-called "Government" was actually not "voted-in" and was not at risk of being "voted-out". The so-called PM at the time declared the ban on pickup bed riding to be enforced after Songkran, 2017. Read about it in a ThaiVisa forum article HERE.

 

Of course the so-called PM relented because the realities of Thailand actually got through his (or the - for want of a better word - the establishment's) megalomania. I believe that the ruling class/elites and others of the upper echelons have made an implicit deal with the Thai people. What do you suppose that "deal" might be?

[cyril sneer]

swap wai 500 bahts for prison sentences and this should help reduce drink driving murders

[mrfill]

23 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Maybe try effective policing.  But pigs do fly here!

 

I've mentioned this before but getting a driving licence in Malaysia, a neighbour, is stricter than even the UK.

1.  Register with a government recognised driving school

2.  Only then can you apply for a 'learner licence'

3.  Only allowed to drive with a driving instructor with 'L' plates.

4.  Take a theory and 'on-road' driving test.

5.  If passed then you'll get your provisional licence and 'P' plates have to be shown.

6.  'P' plates for two years then take a further theory and road test.

7.  When passed, you will get your full licence.

 

During all this, you have penalty points.  If they are reduced to zero, then your licence is taken away and you have to start all over again.

 

 

All very impressive until you see the figures. Using deaths per 100k of population, Thailand scoops the prize at 32.7. Malaysia is 23.6. Other nearby countries - Cambodia 17.4, Lao 14.3, Burma 20.3, Vietnam 24.5.  More distantly, the USA is 12.4, Australia 5.6 and UK 3.1.

It may be more strict to get a licence in Malaysia than the UK, but they still manage to kill at 7 times the rate of UK and are only average compared to other countries in the same region, so perhaps it isn't achieving a great deal.

 

[manhood]

As this government doesn't want to do REAL changes to save life of the people of this country,  nothing will change !

So don't worry. The dead is right on the road waiting for everybody!

[NoshowJones]

7 hours ago, keith101 said:

In Aus you have to get a learners permit and then log 50 hours of supervised driving do a hazard perception test before you can even try to get your license and once you have then there is 2 yrs as a probationary driver before a full license is issued ,could you imagine something like that here will never happen but would result in properly trained drivers .

You will never in a million years train the majority of Thais on anything to do with road behaviour. There is far too much common sense required, and if we are honest, we all know where that leaves  the majority of Thai people.

[Stevemercer]

I see on the Australian news that a motorist just got 17 years jail (non-parole period) for running over and killing a cyclist. He was trailed for murder (hit and run) and pleaded guilty.

 

Thailand just needs to get serious about enforcement.

[HHTel]

9 minutes ago, mrfill said:

All very impressive until you see the figures. Using deaths per 100k of population, Thailand scoops the prize at 32.7. Malaysia is 23.6. Other nearby countries - Cambodia 17.4, Lao 14.3, Burma 20.3, Vietnam 24.5.  More distantly, the USA is 12.4, Australia 5.6 and UK 3.1.

It may be more strict to get a licence in Malaysia than the UK, but they still manage to kill at 7 times the rate of UK and are only average compared to other countries in the same region, so perhaps it isn't achieving a great deal.

 

Agreed.  But when driving around Malaysia, the quality of driving is very noticeable compared with Thailand.  In general, traffic laws are followed much more than here.

[LNKDES1]

7 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

More cops on the road would be a plus. But the number of cars/trucks that drive like ass****s is the real problem.

[Peterphuket]

1 hour ago, sawadee1947 said:

The problem is that there are no properly driver instructors. ????

And what do you thinking about lesson cars with double control.

Recently I saw in the area of Phetchaburi Toyota lessoncars but with single control...what van you do if an intervention is to take place.

They really wouldn't understand, looks like.

[jesimps]

Three things to drastically reduce these numbers, but it'll never happen because of Thai pig-headedness:

1)   Strong deterrent.

2)   Real-time policing especially in moving traffic.

3)   Bring in advisers from countries with good road safety record.

 

 

[Baggy]

7 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

This stats look awfully low as I have always read it was around 20,000 plus dead annually.

Very low figures, if 60 road deaths a day , plus those that die in hospital, , much closer to 25000 per year.

Australia has very strict road / licence laws, whilst population is less , only about 1600 deaths, per year, and the authorities are endeavoring to decrease this number!

[gerry1953]

We as Westerners (Farangs) can't dictate or even suggest to Thai Society how to reduce the ridiculously high number of road deaths (like a war torn African country) and injuries they suffer year after year.  There are some smart Thai people who know what it will take but they know it will never happen until the will of Thailand changes.  If Thai society feels 66 people dying per day (on average) is "acceptable" then they will never have to suffer thru the inconvenience of learning to drive correctly, managing their tempers, their alcohol consumption or losing face?

In the civilized west we went thru years where a drunk driving culture and tolerance killed and injured far too many innocents and it was really only the campaigning of groups like MADD (mothers against drunk driving) that caused politicians to listen and then the majority of the general public to change their attitude. I think that change, better safety equipment, steeper penalties etc. has been successful because people in the west had the will.  So far IMO the Thai's collectively show no desire for change only farangs do and it means nothing.

[Lacessit]

42 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

On roads lacking a kerb, I always insist on walking against the flow of traffic. "I'd prefer to see the vehicle that kills me," I'd jokily tell anyone who asked the reason why.

 

The joke is wearing thin. Twice in the last week alone, have had to shout a warning and take evasive action to avoid being struck by a motorcyclist veering towards me, eyes on his smartphone instead of the road ahead.

 

One can't help wondering how many pedestrians, and cyclists and motorcyclists ended up on the official killed-and-injured list as a result of such hare-brained behavior - and why the B in B do so little to curb it.

Easy to rectify that, if the will is there. The police just take the smartphone and crush it on the spot. Give the offender his/her SIM card.

It has always mystified me how Thais can walk with their backs to the traffic. Walking facing the traffic, I'd be tempted to carry a baseball bat with me.

 

[Mingomania]

8 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'  ?

More traffic police giving out heavy fines might put a damper on some of the infractions and also finance added members to the force. It works in other countries so why not elsewhere?

[4MyEgo]

7 minutes ago, Baggy said:

Very low figures, if 60 road deaths a day , plus those that die in hospital, , much closer to 25000 per year.

Australia has very strict road / licence laws, whilst population is less , only about 1600 deaths, per year, and the authorities are endeavoring to decrease this number!

That's because the Oz government is smart, i.e. they see it as revenue raising to pay for all sorts of things which benefits all Ozzie's, that said in 2017 over a billion $'s was raised from speeding motorist around Australia.

 

Some of us call it a nanny state for a number of reasons, this one of them, but hey, don't tell me others can't learn from it. 

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, Mingomania said:

More traffic police giving out heavy fines might put a damper on some of the infractions and also finance added members to the force. It works in other countries so why not elsewhere?

The problem you have here IMO is that there are only a hand full of cops doing their job, the others are lazy and don't give a rats a$$

[Jim walker]

To many unqualified drivers on the road bound to be many fatal accidents as they have no respect for other drivers on the roads and no idea who to drive courteously.   

[atyclb]

despite being called a thai basher by some me thinks the situation is "hopeless"

[Bangkok Barry]

It is decades too late to solve the problem, which should have begun with making Thais take a realistic driving test as people began to take up the car. Now, it is completely out of control and insoluble.

To solve it would require every car to be taken off the road until the driver had been re-educated by one of thousands of competent instructors and then made to take a proper test. Of course that is impossible as there are no such instructors, and who would teach them to instruct anyway?  So that's not going to happen.

It also needs Thailand to have a police force who do something more than sit in their office, or stand beside the road and ignore the dozens of people that pass by each hour breaking one law or another. That's not going to happen either.

[notasmartassknowitallfarag]

There are ways to reduce the rate dramatically. 

 

Proper tests 

No bribes nor corruption

Enforcement of laws 

Advertising campaign 

Intensive drink driving checks

Strict penalties for abuse of laws ( no 500 baht fine nonsense) 

 

However, this won’t happen as the Thais can’t handle the truth of the above. 

 

 

 

[brianthainess]

Who cares ! ?

[dallen52]

It's like Lemmings rushing to the ocean. 

NO care and NO responsibility. 

Buddha will, Karma..

Its actually all bull <deleted>.

In Buriram last weekend visiting a friend whose son was hit by an 18 wheeler. 

That didn't stop. 

Many months of rehab. 

Still possibly brain damage. 

 

In petchabun last night and not one police man in sight. 

Local youth hooning their lives away in the main street. 

No one had a helmet on. 

Nobody really cares.

Spot the helmet in country towns..

And no night time police. 

At home watching the soapies. 

 

Every thai should be made to visit the ICU and see what they are looking at in the near future.

They just don't care...

[Tchooptip]

8 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

This stats look awfully low as I have always read it was around 20,000 plus dead annually.

It is not awfully low it is absolutely wrong, it shows less people injured than on the French roads and more or less the same number of deaths so it is impossible!

[finnomick1]

3 hours ago, steve187 said:

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

Thanks for that info Steve, I wasn't aware the system had changed. However this brings into question why Buriram city has built a new test circuit which is empty every time you pass by. I think this is the third new test circuit I've seen around the country, and all empty.

[Mingomania]

46 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

The problem you have here IMO is that there are only a hand full of cops doing their job, the others are lazy and don't give a rats a$$

Well, if the number of tickets a cop could write would reflect on his or her pay check it might make a difference... 

[Gandtee]

8 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'  ?

Bring in advisers? Surely you jest. Face is an issue here.????