Thailand road carnage: NINETY reported dead on Monday - year total surpasses 3,000

[webfact]

Thailand road carnage: NINETY reported dead on Monday - year total surpasses 3,000

 

Picture: Daily News

 

A staggering 90 people were reported dead at the scene on Thailand's roads on Monday. 

 

This brought the total for the first nine days of March to 460. 

 

So far in 2020 there have been 3,110 fatalities at the scene of accidents, said Daily News in their ongoing campaign to keep the damning issue in the public eye. 

 

They said that the total would doubtless be higher when all deaths on the way to and later in hospital were recorded. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

And they mentioned that some jurisdictions do not report deaths at the weekends until later, possibly Tuesday. 

 

They said in their headline, that always offers a driving tip, that drivers should slow down when entering bends. 

 

One that didn't was a Toyota Revo pick-up in Chumphon in the south of Thailand that collided head on with a double decker tour bus. 

 

Three were killed and one injured in the accident on the government complex new road when the pick-up crossed lanes into the path of the bus. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Thaivisa notes that Thailand has some of the worst accident statistics anywhere in the world. While official deaths at the scene per month are usually between 1,200 and 1,500 the real death toll is much higher. 

 

DPM Prawit Wongsuwan admitted last year that the annual fatalities topped 20,000 each year and road safety groups have put the toll at between 24,000 and 26,000. 

 

Source: Daily News

[ezzra]

Who needs to be afraid of a virus when you have this killing your people 24/7 364 days...

[Canuck1966]

Nobody gives a flying <deleted>

[petedk]

And Thai people are <deleted> scared of the corona virus.

 

Cough on the BTS and you will see people move away quickly. Do they run away when they see a car or a motorcycle?

 

I know I am exaggerating a little, but it is strange that the government make no real effort to publicize these figures or do anything about these terrible figures.  

[Henryford]

It amuses me to see Thais riding around wearing masks but are happy not to wear helmets. Road accidents kill far more than Corona but no one cares.

[Assurancetourix]

" Super Elegance " written on the bus ( first photo ) ....

 

It must also be said that under a more or less thick layer of beautiful paintings, we have coaches dating from the stone age;
no relay gearbox;
no electromagnetic retarder,
no tachograph, compulsory in Germany since the 1950s and in France since 1969 ....
no visit to the mines every 6 months;
and above all, drivers who obtain their license to kill drive PL and coaches in 3 days! all-in .
Yesterday I left my stepson, he is 30 years old, to drive my pickup from Udon Thani to our home, not far from Sawang Daen Din.
He has all driving licenses in Thailand from motorcycles to maxi trucks and coaches.
On 70 km of four lanes, there were 60 in the right lane while there was no one in the normal traffic lane which is on the left.
It rolls in low beam when there is no one very far ahead of it; he is dazzled without reacting ..
Low beam = visibility of max 50 meters;
if you drive at 90 km / h, you need 80 meters to stop on a dry road; (and double if it rains)
so he has 30 meters of non visibility in front of him and it does not bother him at all. except if he has to brake in an emergency and in this case : ???? boom.

[worgeordie]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

that drivers should slow down when entering bends. 

That should be common sense, but......,

The Government are very active about controlling the Corona

virus, but do very little to reduce the carnage on the roads and

the pollution in the air, then there's going to be the problems

of water shortages.

"This brought the total for the first nine days of March to 460.",

that's like an airliner crashing in Thailand every Month,same sort

of numbers......

regards Worgeordie

 

[Dmaxdan]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

They said in their headline, that always offers a driving tip, that drivers should slow down when entering bends. 

Anyone who needs to be told this should never have had a driving license issued in the first place. 

[Bangkok Barry]

9 minutes ago, petedk said:

it is strange that the government make no real effort to publicize these figures or do anything about these terrible figures. 

Not so strange, as there is nothing they can do. This should have been tackled decades ago when people began driving in numbers, with proper instruction and a proper driving test. Now the situation is out of control, with few knowing the complexities of driving safely. Add to that the Me First culture and a total inability to see that if you do A then the consequences might be B, and the results are inevitable. Thais will do whatever they want to do, regardless of the consequences to them or anyone else. It's deeply ingrained into the culture and will take generations to remedy, even if there was a will. Which there isn't.

The only way to cure the problem is to take everyone off the road until they pass a western-style test. That isn't going to happen because 1 - it isn't possible 2 - there are few competent instructors 3 - corruption would make the entire exercise pointless. They also need to have police patrolling the roads, which also isn't going to happen. And if they did, back to point 3 above. Meanwhile, people can drive however dangerously they like with total impunity. Until they are injured or die and/or injure or kill others.

 

Grim, isn't it.

[JCP108]

20 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

 

The Government are very active about controlling the Corona

 

 

Jing jing?

[NCC1701A]

this is the nature of corruption.

it is in everything here.

[Odysseus123]

34 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Meanwhile, people can drive however dangerously they like with total impunity. Until they are injured or die and/or injure or kill others.

 

Grim, isn't it.

One of the best posts of the year to date..and no,there is nothing that can be done about it because the Thai are addicted to the craziness of it all.

 

Just as much as they are addicted to the wholesale corruption.

Edited March 11, 2020 by Odysseus123

[CNXexpat]

If they would have they same energy to fight the the many accidents as they fight the virus, the number of deaths would fall very quick. But nobody cares.

[cooked]

<deleted>? It's at least 24 000 deaths a year, that's 2000 a month. "Only" 3110 up to now is good news... they'll be doing this again at Songkran, official figures will be way lower than the 24 000 divided by 365.

 

[Assurancetourix]

43 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

Anyone who needs to be told this should never have had a driving license issued in the first place. 

How can you actually learn the rules of the road AND learn to drive a coach AND a truck in 3 days?

My stepson passed these driver's licenses in Nong Han, Udon Thani province a few weeks ago .
He went there 3 days;
classes start at 9 am, end at 4 pm and of course a few breaks including lunch ...

If I ask him how many meters it will take him to stop if he drives 60 km / h on a wet road;
he is unable to give me the right answer.

[PJPom]

I have only been here five years and sadly find myself skipping over reports of road deaths. The story is always the same, inattentive, selfish, incompetent or just plain stupid with slight variations in the excuses and the same sad results. We all have valid suggestions as to how it could improve but we know nothing will change and we can’t do anything about it. 

 

[Dellboy218]

You dont necessarily need to slow down on bends just stay on your own side of the road and away from the centre line. 

[Tropicalevo]

18 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

One of the best posts of the year to date..and no,there is nothing that can be done about it because the Thai are addicted to the craziness of it all.

 

Just as much as they are addicted to the wholesale corruption.

It is a bit unfair to say that Thais are addicted to corruption. Most Thais that I know are definitely against it and are fed up with it. They just do not know how to stop it.

Traffic deaths are due to ignorance (on the part of Thais). What amazes me is that foreigners, who know better, lower their driving standards when they get here.

 

[toofarnorth]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

It amuses me to see Thais riding around wearing masks but are happy not to wear helmets. Road accidents kill far more than Corona but no one cares.

Said exactly the same . Go to Lotus and just about everyone wears a mask ,they come out and ride away , no crash hat but wearing a ( useless ) mask. Imagine the horror to read 90 dead in one day from this virus.

[Pravda]

Thai p**** still hot, farang come

[bangkokbonecollector]

I really do not want to be that foreigner who complains about Thai drivers and this obviously doesn't go for all Thai drivers...some are actually very good and skilled BUT this is a problem with the society and specifically unaccountablity. Thai's are very wary of ever doing something in public which would result in loss of face. However, the concept of being within a car and usually a tinted windowed car, gives them a sort of escape from their normal social norm. It allows them to make face losing actions without having to suffer the consequences of actually losing face. I cannot tell you how many times I have singled out drivers driving badly using my horn, only for said car to yield back into the corner of the road/ lanes and hide or quickly speed away as if they are a naughty child who has just been caught. I feel that Thai's use driving as a sort of escape from the restricted norms of Thai culture/ society. When they get into their cars, they suddenly have this anonymous unaccountable freedom they just don't have outside the tinted windowed car, within Thai society. 

 

I have been driving in Bangkok and throughout Thailand for 2 years now and it is very dangerous but you learn from experience very quickly and there are many things you can do to help you survive the roads.

 

1. Traffic will suddenly come to a halt in any lane at any time and you may not see it happening until very late (tall cars/ poor distance between cars traffic). Thais seem to be very late breakers. If you are ever in the fast lane and you are in this situation, pull slightly to the right whilst breaking and put your emergency lights on. I say this because you will very often not be left a lot of time to brake and react and therefore neither will the driver behind you and they are most likely not keeping a two car distance even if you are. So break, pull slightly to the right and put those emergency lights on to warn the car behind you the trail of traffic has stopped or is slowing. I have had to do this many times and sometimes at speeds of 100km...needless to say I was rear ended as a result because I didn't pull to the right and didn't put my emergency lights on. Obviously this is easier said than done in a split second but with practise you will get good at it. I have actually be thanked by a driver later at a petrol station for warning him as he couldn't see just like me.

 

2. Blind corners, single lane with single lane traffic coming the other way...stick to the left shoulder. Two lanes each way winding roads for some KM, stay in the left lane. 

 

3. When approaching a U-turn area and you are in the middle lane of 3 lane road or left lane of 2 lane road, DO NOT THINK THE CAR WILL ALWAYS U-TURN INTO THE FAST LANE. Some drivers seem incapable of creating an angle before commencing the u-turn and thus cannot u-turn into the fast lane. Thankfully many u-turns now have actual u-turn lanes but even still, be very careful of this. 

 

4. Always assume a car is going to come into your lane. I estimate that 50% of drivers do not indicate in this country. 

 

5. With regards to point 1, people will tailgate you endlessly. Once going South a Black Fortuner tail gated me for a KM with headlights fully on route 4. I told my daughter to turn around and clearly show him she was in the back seat and to no avail. We got his plate number, reported him to the police, they didn't do a thing. Putting your emergency lights on to ward off tailgaters works 50% of the time. This should only ever be done if you cannot get out of the lane you are in. People will say that I am wrong in doing this because it could distract or confuse other drivers but in Thailand everyone will understand what you are doing if you do this. Don't listen to the PC brigade if they try and tell me I am wrong in doing this because it will safe your life. A Fortuna coming into the back of you at 100km + will probably kill whoever is in the back seat. 

 

I think I will leave it at 5 for now. One more thing though, use your horn to alert other cars you are there...they really just don't look half of the time. 

 

Be wary of Toyota Fortuna and Honda CRV drivers, they are the <deleted> worst!! 

[mercman24]

thai have got inbuilt impatience, never ceases to amaze me, at the traffic light for example, why do they jump light with 5 seconds to go,  yesterday on second road a moto taxi with a customer, jumped at 5, a pick up from the left came blazing across the junction, how the hell he missed them i do not know, a little extra i was in a contra flow, we was behind a car taking up all the room ,old biddy with a side saddle mate on the back, tried to overtake me,? (cant go anywhere,) she crashed against my mirror, lucky my mirror is loose so i can swivel for the blind spot on dual carriageways, if it had been fixed, she would have taken my steering, i would have fallen into the 4 metere trench alongside. dam impatient duh !!

[Ventenio]

too many farangs on roads

farangs not buy thais safe cars

farangs on motorbikes scare everyone

farangs make crazy driving movies

bad farang, bad

[NoBrainer]

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

That should be common sense, but......,

The Government are very active about controlling the Corona

virus, but do very little to reduce the carnage on the roads and

the pollution in the air, then there's going to be the problems

of water shortages.

"This brought the total for the first nine days of March to 460.",

that's like an airliner crashing in Thailand every Month,same sort

of numbers......

regards Worgeordie

 

 

Maybe the Government should concentrate on teaching common sense. Most Thai's I have spoken with don't really understand the concept.

[atyclb]

4 hours ago, Canuck1966 said:

Nobody gives a flying <deleted>

 

like hockey puck ??

[fred110]

This is what people should be worried about, not some virus/cold.

[Kulex]

Nothing displays the stupidity of the world better than these numbers. How many people died by Coronavirus on Monday in Thailand? None? But every day they come up with new restrictions instead of fighting  the real killer which is lack of education. Note this not limited to Thailand. Vietnam is not better, Germany is totally nuts and so on. Crazy world. 

[yellowboat]

16 minutes ago, NoBrainer said:

Maybe the Government should concentrate on teaching common sense. Most Thai's I have spoken with don't really understand the concept.

How about a video game that teaches proper driving educate?   If you get a high score, you get a token for a claw machine. 

 

There are ways to do it, but doubt things will get better under cha cha.  Malaysia has some nice PSA's with Michelle Yeoh.   She looks hot and distinguished.  The fact that it does not an outrage is the main contributing factor.

[RichardColeman]

Thai drivers make the corona virus look like an amateur

[outsider]

It is interesting to note that Thai road-users, especially motorcyclists, bother to put on masks, which DO NOT protect them from anything, but refuse to put on helmets that DO offer some form of protection in an accident. In the worst case, at least the body-snatchers can pick up the head whole, instead of having to scrape matters off the asphalt. Similarly with drivers - they put on a mask while INSIDE their own vehicles (really weird behaviour that) but do not fasten the seat-belts and/or continue to have their faces buried in their mobile phones while driving. Thai road-users' logic is simply inexplicable, to put it mildly.