Road accidents claim 67 lives during long weekend

By THE NATION

 

(File Photo)

 

Sixty-seven people were killed and 388 injured in road accidents over the December 10-13 long holiday weekend, according to the Transport Ministry on Monday.

 

A total of 401 accidents were recorded over the three-day holiday, when roads were busy with people returning to their hometowns.

 

“The most common cause was speeding, with Bangkok seeing the largest number of accidents at 42,” the ministry announced.

 

As usual, most of the fatalities were motorcycle riders.

 

“The vehicle involved in the largest number of accidents was motorcycles, with 128 crashes, resulting in 41 deaths and 126 injured.”

 

Meanwhile, over 14 million vehicles travelled in and out of Bangkok during the long weekend, 36.63 per cent higher than the ministry’s estimate.

 

As for public transport, 9.84 million people used the services, 5.16 per cent lower than the ministry’s estimate.

 

There were no reports of accidents involving public buses, boats or aircraft on December 10-13.

 

“Responsible agencies enforced Covid-19 preventive measures on public transport to ensure the safety of all passengers,” it added.

 

The long holiday was in compensation for King Bhumibol’s December 5 birthday anniversary, which fell on a Saturday.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30399576

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-14

 

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Wow have to give it to the Thai's, the reduction to only 16.75 Deaths per day over the Holiday weekend sounds to me like a major decrease.  Wait, how many actually traveled again?  Yes sarcasm. The fact that anyone died on the roads is a tragedy that could be averted by actual High Impact enforcement and stopping stupid drivers when a violation is observed, but that means the checkpoints would need to be cut back and the officers need to get out of the booths and drive or ride around to find those driving irresponsibly.  I truly wonder what the MDR, Mileage Death Rate for Thailand is. 

The government should start to feel guilty and compensate the dead people’s family. For there incompetence to make the roads safe by enforcement of driving rules and convictions.  As some of these deaths are not necessary the person who died his fault. And not just keep bragging about the death rates...as if they are acceptable  

47 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

I truly wonder what the MDR, Mileage Death Rate for Thailand is

I don't believe anyone knows as they only appear to record deaths at the scene of the accidents and not subsequent hospital/en route deaths.

Was almost 68 thanks to 2 guys on a motorcycle that couldn't quite decide if going 15 km/h was fast enough to cut across the front of my car that was doing 90.

My wife said they were confused which direction I was going to go.

It was a straight road. 

For some reason I don't believe this number!

Judging by the norm for Thailand, this figure is actually quite low. There probably lower than usual because there was less commuting taking place on crowded roads.

 

As usual, the large majority of deaths were the results motorcycle accidents. These accidents usually occur close to home and are probably unrelated to the fact that it was a holiday weekend. It's just another normal weekend on Thailand's roads.

 

The government here LoS  does so very little except increase the speed limit so more people will get killed,

brilliant. 

 

 

 

 

A total of 1,752 people were killed in reported road trafc accidents in Great Britain in 2019, 

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

The fact that anyone died on the roads is a tragedy that could be averted by actual High Impact enforcement and stopping stupid drivers when a violation is observed, but that means the checkpoints would need to be cut back and the officers need to get out of the booths and drive or ride around to find those driving irresponsibly.

So, I guess some need to make up their mind.

There is another thread of several that have been posted over time, people whining that the cops are stopping people, writing citations, and enforcing the law.  

Those that get a ticket complain.

Blaming the cops on these accidents is small mind/small box thinking.

Engineering of the roads, education, training of drivers at a young age is a good start.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 20205 yr by bkk6060

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“The most common cause was speeding

caused by people driving too slow

2 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

The government should start to feel guilty and compensate the dead people’s family.

I think the rule of thumb here is , no matter who is at fault the living have to pay compensation to the dead person's family.

47 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Blaming the cops on these accidents is small mind/small box thinking.

Engineering of the roads, education, training of drivers at a young age is a good start.

I agree with the engineering and upkeep of the roads being an issue, but the Police also need to enforce the laws on the books and stop people from driving like idiots so yes education is important.  Traffic stops are educational, unless the person stopped just does not give a fleck.  31 years as a Traffic Officer, Supervisor, and Administrator, gives me a different perspective on how enforcement can be done and be educational at the same time and reduce the deaths.

A total of 60 people died of Covid-19 over the past year in Thailand, 7 less than died this past long weekend in traffic accidents.  Thailand's borders are shut down, but not it's highways.

 

Worldwide about 1.5 million have died from Covid 19.  Annually, about the same number die in vehicle accidents worldwide.

 

The reaction to Covid-19?  Shut the world down, quarantine all populations, economic catastrophe be damned.

The reaction to an equal number of vehicular deaths:  "Ho-Hum"   

Edited December 14, 20205 yr by dddave

4 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I truly wonder what the MDR, Mileage Death Rate for Thailand is. 

 

You do? How strange. I'm wondering what's for dinner?

2 hours ago, akampa said:

The government here LoS  does so very little except increase the speed limit so more people will get killed,

brilliant. 

 

 

 

 

A total of 1,752 people were killed in reported road trafc accidents in Great Britain in 2019, 

 

Off you go then.

42 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

...31 years as a Traffic Officer, Supervisor, and Administrator, gives me a different perspective on how enforcement can be done and be educational at the same time and reduce the deaths.

 

Ah, that explains the morbid fascination.

 

Aren't you enjoying your retirement here then?

2 hours ago, heist said:

Was almost 68 thanks to 2 guys on a motorcycle that couldn't quite decide if going 15 km/h was fast enough to cut across the front of my car that was doing 90.

My wife said they were confused which direction I was going to go.

It was a straight road. 

It's always someone else's fault. My tgf was the same. 

 

Even in the face of such obvious and abject stupidity they always try to shift the blame.

19 minutes ago, dddave said:

A total of 60 people died of Covid-19 over the past year in Thailand, 7 less than died this past long weekend in traffic accidents.  Thailand's borders are shut down, but not it's highways.

 

Worldwide about 1.5 million have died from Covid 19.  Annually, about the same number die in vehicle accidents worldwide.

 

The reaction to Covid-19?  Shut the world down, quarantine all populations, economic catastrophe be damned.

The reaction to an equal number of vehicular deaths:  "Ho-Hum"   

Ah, Covid rears its ugly head.

C ollisions

O f

V ehicles

I diotically

D riven.

Is that what you mean?

32 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

Ah, that explains the morbid fascination.

 

Aren't you enjoying your retirement here then?

Enjoying it blissfully, glad that the third eye I grew in the back of my head still functions....

Population control of the masses continues

14 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

The government should start to feel guilty and compensate the dead people’s family. For there incompetence to make the roads safe by enforcement of driving rules and convictions.  As some of these deaths are not necessary the person who died his fault. And not just keep bragging about the death rates...as if they are acceptable  

Yeah I agree 100% but good luck with that happening.

My personal view - Asian collectivity strikes again; they only act when the problem strikes at social cohesiveness. Each of those 67 was a personal tragedy for someone, and their pain is not lessened by being part of a collective society. Plenty more where they came from. Getting wrapped up in this Asian collectivity thing is part of the price we pay for living here. Thais' attitude towards death is really weird, I suppose it's to do with the Buddhist reincarnation thing, though I consider reincarnation an afterthought, added on to Buddhist thought to make it more acceptable to the masses.Still, like doing the lottery, or the pools as it used to be in the UK, hope is everything.

12 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

So, I guess some need to make up their mind.

There is another thread of several that have been posted over time, people whining that the cops are stopping people, writing citations, and enforcing the law.  

Those that get a ticket complain.

Blaming the cops on these accidents is small mind/small box thinking.

Engineering of the roads, education, training of drivers at a young age is a good start.

'There is another thread of several that have been posted over time, people whining that the cops are stopping people, writing citations, and enforcing the law.'

 

Not necessarily. I too have read posts over time regarding Thais living abroad who stick to the rules because they know the police enforce the law and they will suffer if they don't comply.

doesn't matter........they aren't scared.

 

 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Road accidents claim 67 lives during long weekend

By THE NATION

 

(File Photo)

 

Sixty-seven people were killed and 388 injured in road accidents over the December 10-13 long holiday weekend, according to the Transport Ministry on Monday.

 

A total of 401 accidents were recorded over the three-day holiday, when roads were busy with people returning to their hometowns.

 

“The most common cause was speeding, with Bangkok seeing the largest number of accidents at 42,” the ministry announced.

 

As usual, most of the fatalities were motorcycle riders.

 

“The vehicle involved in the largest number of accidents was motorcycles, with 128 crashes, resulting in 41 deaths and 126 injured.”

 

Meanwhile, over 14 million vehicles travelled in and out of Bangkok during the long weekend, 36.63 per cent higher than the ministry’s estimate.

 

As for public transport, 9.84 million people used the services, 5.16 per cent lower than the ministry’s estimate.

 

There were no reports of accidents involving public buses, boats or aircraft on December 10-13.

 

“Responsible agencies enforced Covid-19 preventive measures on public transport to ensure the safety of all passengers,” it added.

 

The long holiday was in compensation for King Bhumibol’s December 5 birthday anniversary, which fell on a Saturday.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30399576

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-14

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

I have noticed that while driving my small car the bigger cars are like bullies as they drive to close. While driving my big car (a big Nissan Frontier) they do not get too close in case they may come off worse in the event of contact.

Only 67??? 

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by tonysilly

13 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I agree with the engineering and upkeep of the roads being an issue, but the Police also need to enforce the laws on the books and stop people from driving like idiots so yes education is important.  Traffic stops are educational, unless the person stopped just does not give a fleck.  31 years as a Traffic Officer, Supervisor, and Administrator, gives me a different perspective on how enforcement can be done and be educational at the same time and reduce the deaths.

Being in the transportation industry I think we are on the same pages top to bottom, living here my past education and training has kept me alive on the roads here but what I've concluded the fix is really simple when I watch the films and look at the Thai education booklet the rules are pretty much international but through generation decades of neglect the rules of driving today the best I can say they aren't executed the way it was intended written.  I've driven half the country and yes the road designs are bad at times tough to fix since the places are a <deleted> hold like Pattaya.

 

In the end, change comes only if the education teacher knows what they are teaching here I seriously doubt there is one person in charge that has the power to actually teach what needs to be taught or to tell others this is the way or the highway.

Thais are terrible drivers that do not understand simple concepts of road safety such as right of way.

 

A proper competence and assessment process would eliminate most of the issues and improve safety overall.

 

Unfortunately this appears to be utterly beyond their ability to implement. 

 

If this was done, they could then focus on proper enforcement, but that isn't going to happen when 70% of the traffic cops themselves don't even know (or care) about the rules.

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

'There is another thread of several that have been posted over time, people whining that the cops are stopping people, writing citations, and enforcing the law.'

 

Not necessarily. I too have read posts over time regarding Thais living abroad who stick to the rules because they know the police enforce the law and they will suffer if they don't comply.

 

I have actually heard the words

'I don't want to drive in UK because the police are too strict and I can't zig-zag on the motorway'.

13 hours ago, dddave said:

A total of 60 people died of Covid-19 over the past year in Thailand, 7 less than died this past long weekend in traffic accidents.  Thailand's borders are shut down, but not it's highways.

 

Worldwide about 1.5 million have died from Covid 19.  Annually, about the same number die in vehicle accidents worldwide.

 

The reaction to Covid-19?  Shut the world down, quarantine all populations, economic catastrophe be damned.

The reaction to an equal number of vehicular deaths:  "Ho-Hum"   

I will never understand the disregard for the road statistics in Thailand set against the complete paranoia of covid-19.