Why are Thailand's roads so deadly? - Sky News UK

[DaLa]

47 minutes ago, stouricks said:

Turn your BOLD off please DaLa.

Apologies, I create my responses in a word document and then cut and paste into TV. Sometimes the font size changes and as you have pointed out other transformations take place. I'll work on it.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, SteveK said:

This is exactly why I don't think it'll ever change.

Not going to happen overnight, but the seeds are being sown.

It was a bit of a nightmare to be in the vehicle with my brother in law, thought he was invincible and the laws were for other people, with mates in the police has never paid a fine in his life.

Some time back he got caught on camera, think it was 150 in a 90 limit, fine came through the post and he couldn't get out of it, that hurt. He has improved a bit, not a lot but a move in the right direction.

A few months back we went down to Ao Yang and within a couple of hundred yards of where we were going my wife got caught in a mobile speed trap. There was no discussion the policeman showed her a picture of the vehicle with the speed superimposed and said that had been forwarded to head office, and just wrote out a ticket. The fine came through the post and again her brother was unable to make it disappear.

Change will only come when it is out of the pocket and automatically enforced.

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, SteveK said:

To be honest, I can count on one hand the times I've seen a Thai wearing a Shoei or Arai helmet around here. They use the 200 baht ones from Big C which are about as much use an an ice cream tub on your head. Last helmet I bought in the UK cost me £350.

If a Thai does wear a Shoei or Arai helmet, it will be a 400 Baht knock off one.

 

[SteveK]

3 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

If a Thai does wear a Shoei or Arai helmet, it will be a 400 Baht knock off one.

 

Or they just buy the stickers for 10 baht. There's a big difference between being able to get a taxi home after an accident and leaking your brains over the road, but with Thais money seems to be more important than safety and I suspect that they will never learn.  

[Kwasaki]

Another western view of Thailand's roads dramatized by a media.

 

Considering there's no proper driver training in place maybe accident's should be in higher numbers. 

[sammieuk1]

They are just wasting everyone on the road not in corona ICU instead ????

[mr mr]

7 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

Before coming to Thailand, I wandered into the Shoei headquarters in Tustin, CA, hit it off what a guy to turned out to be the West Coast district manager, and walked out with 2 ST Cruz half helmets for $150!

 

do you have any other stories from 1971 ? 

[Saraburi121]

10 hours ago, 2long said:

Actually some roads are to blame. Poor surfaces, holes, and often huge colourful warnings for a slight bend, and then no warning for a tight bend.

Outdated engineering and planning specifically U turns on major highways. My heart rate goes up every time I approach one. 

[impulse]

3 hours ago, SteveK said:

7 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

If a Thai does wear a Shoei or Arai helmet, it will be a 400 Baht knock off one.

Or they just buy the stickers for 10 baht. There's a big difference between being able to get a taxi home after an accident and leaking your brains over the road, but with Thais money seems to be more important than safety and I suspect that they will never learn.  

 

Try buying a 15,000 baht helmet on a 300 baht daily wage...

 

[torturedsole]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Today in Richmond, VA, USA, I drove across town and back.  Not tons of traffic and not rush hour - late morning.  About a 45 km round trip.  I noticed two motorcycles among hundreds of cars.

That does look suspiciously like a crash helmet in the front basket.  If so, why is it there?  And the Dulux paint pot is on his head.  WTH.  

 

I hope you survive life.  Jeez.  

[quake]

15 hours ago, CGW said:

I feel the same, over 30 years riding and driving here, gave up the riding bit about ten years ago, my old bones would take too much healing now.

 

IMO! - The roads here range from very good to poor in a few places, we are should drive to suit the conditions and roads, the problem I constantly see with Thai drivers is they are incapable of doing that, they live in a me, me, me society, the only person they care about is themselves and their ego's, until they lose the selfish streak which is inherent don't look for any improvement in driving standards, they think they are doing just fine!

Best post 2020 

[JRG23]

The answer to this question is simple: Thai men.

 

It is a generalization, but it is true: Most Thai males are selfish, arrogant, and inconsiderate.

Put these males in control of a weapon, whether it's a gun or a car, and it's deadly.

 

The answer is, as I said, simple.

[metisdead]

Some off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Teenie]

Where I live there were a lot of police road checks early A couple of months back and I’m guessing to monitor travel during the early days of Covid 19.  
 

I was astounded that given the amount of police around that they didn’t take the opportunity to pull in motorcyclists not wearing helmets.......mind you most were either eating or snoozing

[JusticeGB]

When unofficial police checks were allowed about 70% of people in Pattaya wore helmets now that ratio is 30%. However over 90% are wearing face masks on motorbikes. I don't see how you could contact covid19 on the back of a motorbike but without a crash helmet you certainly will come the worse off in a traffic accident. 

[Presnock]

I am not sure his holds true anymore, but previously I spent many years driving in Bangkok until just couldn't take the crowded conditions.  That problem was explained many times in the local newspapers, in that the number of roads in Bangkok was sufficient to handle 9 million vehicles but, at the time I was there the reported registration of vehicles was over 13 million, just too many cars.  The deaths on the road can be attributed in my mind (55+ years of driving in over 35 countries) to both the lack of proper training for drivers many as mentioned by others, learn by riding motorcycles and use the same techniques when driving cars, ignorance of driving laws especially "yield to right of way", obviously here is just an unknown concept, and as for roads one just has to look at the U-turns which are death traps unless one is in a very remote area with no traffic at all!  Red lights - amber warning is about 3 seconds long - just plain stupid since it is a warning light - then a 5-sec wait until the green light for the next lane to move - I notice anywhere from 2 to 10 vehicles are still going through the red light  even after my light is green!  In addition, when the BIB are directing traffic, they are in communications with the light managers during rush hours yet they seem to think that all cars are just like motorcycles and thus they cannot even begin to keep traffic moving.  Having to wait sometimes up to 20-30 minutes to get through a light is ridiculous.  I found that driving half the distance to my destination longer than the short route saves me up to 25 minutes plus gas expenditure drops drastically!  I most hate drivers who cut in while I and numerous others wait in a queue going anywhere.  If one doesn't let them cut in illegally as they also do it crossing solid lines, they get <deleted>.  Drive on any mountain road and one has to really be awake at every curve as the people here cut the corners  with the offending vehicle coming entirely within my lane.  Passing when there is a solid line down between the lanes and ignoring flashing lights of oncoming vehicles.  Just plain IDIOTS.  Enough said.  Venting for over a decade thus the length.  Sorry!  But I do still love living here!

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

agree, no or low consequences

 

had to laugh with the police not taking a bribe

[Bangkok Barry]

20 hours ago, Sundown said:

Simply because there are a lot of motorcycles. Looking around I might say that on 100 vehicles, 70 are motorbikes. While in other places like Europe USA etc on 100 vehicles maybe just 5 are motorbikes. 

Most of the people who drive in Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, to name but three, also use motorcycles. But we don't see 20,000 people dead each year in those countries. Why? Because most, almost all, wear a helmet because it's the law and it's enforced, and most don't drive as if they're playing a video game.

[4MyEgo]

At 9.29 minutes into the video she said: All this will fail unless all drivers change their habits, OMG, she is a bright spark, how about getting in a car with me sweetheart, in the beginning of the month and the end of the month, when the cops set up a roadblock and check rego labels as they wave you along, no breath tests, no show me your driver's license, just interested in making the monthly budgets for the guys up top, and some under the table money for themselves.

 

I have been coming to Thailand for 14 years, living here 5, yes I speed on the main two lane carriageways, medium strip in the middle two lane carriageways on the opposite side, it might be 100km in an 80km zone, so nothing over the top and do slow as I approach cars or see those doing 140km-160km flying down my right side, so I move over for them, you know the ones that brake hard at the last minute.

 

I was nearly booked for speeding once, however I argued with the cop and told him that he would need to produce evidence in court as my cruise control was set at 80km, in an 80km zone which it was, he then said, oh, cruise control, very safe, ok then you travel in wrong lane, should be in the left lane instead of the right lane unless overtaking another vehicle, pull over and pay 400 baht to man in tent, got me, couldn't argue with that, and for the chump change I had to pay, wasn't worth getting worked up, that said, apart from the usual rego checks at road blocks, never been stopped for speeding and have never seen anyone pulled over for speeding.

 

The deaths on Thai roads if you really want to know sweetie are the fault of the police all the way to the top because they do not enforce the law, my pen rai, up to you, just yesterday leaving the village a motorbike with sidecar, don't know what you call them a salling or something like that was being ridden by a kid no older than 8 with 3 of his mates in the saide car/salling, I said to my Mrs <deleted>.

 

Would have been interesting to see the ages of those passed in the statistics for curiosity sake, Thai's don't value their lives, let alone anyone else's so I fail to see why the UK is raising something that other external organisations have raised for years to no avail. 

 

Buddha has it all under control.  

Edited August 22, 2020 by 4MyEgo

[Kurtf]

22 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

High motorcycle count .....Untrained mc riders that graduate to untrained drivers, using the same judgements, maneuvers, and skill set....

 

Narrow roads with minimal maintenance & few guard rails and poor lighting....Open range.... No mobile law enforcement .....Children riding mc's early - like 9 - coupled with free range parenting.....Alcohol.....

To mame a few....

Damn you stole my thunder and covered everything I was going to say. But I think the most important thing is zero training. Thais have no concept of what a lane is and why it is important to stay between the lines and not straddling the line.

[toofarnorth]

20 hours ago, jvs said:

I see more big bike riders with good helmets these days.I saw some accidents where a helmet or not would not make any difference.

The last go helmet i had here was stolen in a day.

Mine was stolen too.  I brought a helmet from England , I bought a Phantom , went to a Calabou do in a place in Hua Hin , came out and the hat had been nicked. I now have a better hat and a Forza which is better than a Honda Phantom.

[NoshowJones]

20 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Lack of law enforcement.  I guarantee that most Western countries would have the same high road toll if traffic policing were reduced to the near non existent level it is here.

I don't agree with this, people in western countries have a lot more common sense than most Thais, and common sense is much more important than any road rules. So there you have it.

[berrec]

You can quote all the statistics, infrastructure shortfalls and road safety reform legislation you like!

 

But it comes done to one single issue " You can't put brains in statues"

 

[sead]

CAR

A 3h theoretical test where the answers can be found on internet. 

And a 5 min driving test in the same car you drove with to the site (without a drivingslicense) 

 

MOTORBIKE

A 2h theoretical test where the answers can be found on Internet and a 3min practical test, in the same motorbike that you arrived on driving yourself without a driving license... 

No requirements of any prior driving with an driving school or anything. 

In Europe 1+1 we figured out that it's 2

Somehow in Thailand they still haven't figured it out

 

[digger70]

Why are Thailand's roads so deadly?

 

 It's Not the roads that are the Problem .

It' the Thai people :

Total Disregard For Traffic and any Laws. Total Useless Policing/If Any of laws by Police. Incompetent Police Force .Total Disregards for Other Road users/People .Thais think they are invincible.

[Peterphuket]

I stop looking after 5 minutes, nothing new.

Have Skynews a solution?

Or is it only sensational.

Next year they will the accidents go down with 45%?

We will yes, but that's not going happen, as we know.

[TGIR]

If they would only use a Highway Patrol like in the U.S. they would knock that 20,000 a year down to at least 15,000, maybe more.  With all the police we have to usher the Royal Family and important people around there should already be a good number of people to do highway traffic control.....even a minimum number of officers would help a lot in my opinion

 

[SteveK]

It's the way they drive. Impatient, inconsiderate and reckless. Whack the fines up by 10x, because the only thing they care about is money, and things might change. 

 

If they start fining the hell out of drivers with an incentive of 100-200 baht going to the policeman, things could change PDQ.  

Edited August 22, 2020 by SteveK

[brewsterbudgen]

1. High car ownership, thanks to government subsidies.
2. High motorcycle ownership and motorcycle culture in the provinces.
3. Lack of helmet awareness and enforcement.
4. Belief that Buddha will protect them, and if he doesn't it's karma.

 

[Curt1591]

18 hours ago, mr mr said:

do you have any other stories from 1971 ? 

Actually, it was early 2007, just before I moved here. I think they were selling, mail-order, for about $150 at the time. After shooting the bull for a couple hours, the guy basically handed me a twofer. 

I'm actually a likeable guy. I once talked a CHP down from 100MPH in a 55, to correcting the address on my dated license, basically a fixit ticket. I think it cost $10 for the new license.  

Hot Tip #1: Don't start any police encounter with a hostile 

"I WASN"T DOIN' NOTHIN' !!!"