Chonburi records most road accidents in Thailand - Route 7 to Pattaya the worst in the country

[webfact]

Chonburi records most road accidents in Thailand - Route 7 to Pattaya the worst in the country

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

The chief of Thailand's highways department has revealed data from the Highway Accident Information Management System (HAIMS) for the month of November. 

 

Thaivisa cautions that accidents on the main highways represent only a fraction of the true figure for death, injury and total accidents in all roads in Thailand, accepted as some of the most dangerous in the world. 

 

Thai Rath said in their headline that Chonburi (that contains Pattaya) was the "champion" province and Route 7 that runs from Bangkok to Pattaya was the worst road in the country for accidents.

 

Sorayuth Songsirilai said that in November there had been 1,335 accidents on his highways.

 

Of these there had been 241 deaths and 1,222 injuries involving 2,219 vehicles. The Highways' Department had suffered losses of 12 million baht as a result.

 

Compared to November 2019 accidents were 10% up, deaths 5% down, injuries 9% up and 19% more vehicles had been involved. 

 

Causes of accidents were speeding 69% (927 accidents), cutting in front at close quarters 8% (108), microsleep 6% (74) and defective equipment on vehicles 3% (37).

 

Accidents happened on straight stretches 71% (954 times), bends 11% (144), intersections 6% (78).

 

Vehicles involved in accidents were pick-ups 35% (783 times), cars 28% (621) and motorcycles 16% (366).

 

Worst region was the north with 25% of accidents followed by the North East 17% and the South 16%. 

 

The top three worst provinces for accidents were Chonburi followed by Suphanburi and Bangkok metropolitan area. 

 

The worst road was Route 7 with 51 accidents in November. 

 

Other information for total accidents reported by Thaivisa recently indicates that nearly a million people have been injured on the roads this year. The death at the scene of accidents is likely to exceed 15,000 making it worse than 2019.

 

But the real death toll when all accidents are correlated is well in excess of 20,000 per year a figure that has been admitted in the past by DPM Prawit Wongsuwan. 

 

Accident activists regularly put the figure between 24,000 and 26,000 per annum. 

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-12-18

 

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[sungod]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

Causes of accidents were speeding 69% (927 accidents), cutting in front at close quarters 8% (108), microsleep 6% (74) and defective equipment on vehicles 3% (37).

 

That's sad, much of this preventable.

26 minutes ago, webfact said:

and Route 7 that runs from Bangkok to Pattaya was the worst road in the country for accidents.

 

 

Thats my theory out the window, I would have bet the motorway was safer due to the fact there are no U turns on it, quite surprising I thought.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, sungod said:

 

That's sad, much of this preventable.

 

Thats my theory out the window, I would have bet the motorway was safer due to the fact there are no U turns on it, quite surprising I thought.

There are perpetual roadworks where traffic is channeled, many many HGVs and impatient drivers speeding or trying to. The standard is very bad on that road and i am not surprised in the least. I wonder how far Hwy 36 is behind which certainly does have the dangerous U-Turns. 

[toofarnorth]

Worst region was the north and most accidents/crashes were caused by speeding pickups. Oh well Walking Street should be ok tonight.

[Phuketshrew]

Route 7 is looking very scenic these days ....

[shady86]

Route 7 are pretty safe on most part until Chonburi where lanes are reduced to 2-3 per channel. Some exits are not designed to handle high volume of vehicles so congestions happens regularly. Accidents happen because small cars, pickups and trucks underestimate their vehicles' capability.

[NCC1701A]

Just build more spirit houses. 

[mikebell]

'Causes of accidents were speeding 69% ' So the Government raises the speed limit. 

Speeding is easily deterred with cameras and draconian punishments, oh, and a police force.  Pattaya's police are the most inept in the country; they don't work after dark/weekends (long ones)/holidays/ when it's raining/ when it's hot, in fact ...

[Pilotman]

4 minutes ago, mikebell said:

'Causes of accidents were speeding 69% ' So the Government raises the speed limit. 

Speeding is easily deterred with cameras and draconian punishments, oh, and a police force.  Pattaya's police are the most inept in the country; they don't work after dark/weekends (long ones)/holidays/ when it's raining/ when it's hot, in fact ...

sounds pretty much like every Police Force I have ever seen or heard of.  UK Police are no better in that regard.  Try to find one when you need one, or a burglary has happened.  Can't be seen for dust. US Police only come out at those times to shoot you in the back, then go back to the Station. 

[VocalNeal]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Route 7 that runs from Bangkok to Pattaya was the worst road in the country for accidents.

 

Well that throws out the window all the nay sayers who complain about no policing as the Motorway is policed by patrol cars and police on motorbikes.   

[tyga]

5 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Route 7 is looking very scenic these days ....

I was thinking the same. ironic as they pulled out the last tree in the median strip about a month ago all in the interests of 'improvements'. Took them 20 years to make a pleasant tarmac surfaced road with rural scenery into a nasty glaring concrete and galvanized fence eyesore with the usual shambolic buildings lining its entire length. Only the recently opened final stretch remains scenic. Wonder how long it will take them to mess that up too?

[RichardColeman]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Of these there had been 241 deaths and 1,222 injuries involving 2,219 vehicles. The Highways' Department had suffered losses of 12 million baht as a result.

Bit morbid if that is based on unpaid future tolls of dead people !

[lesmac]

And 99 percent are caused by clueless idiots that cant drive

[sungod]

5 hours ago, shady86 said:

Accidents happen because small cars, pickups and trucks underestimate their vehicles' capability.

And drivers overestimating their own capabilities!

[sammieuk1]

Looks like that forrest has been grown to be knocked down ????

[Cake Monster]

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

There are perpetual roadworks where traffic is channeled, many many HGVs and impatient drivers speeding or trying to. The standard is very bad on that road and i am not surprised in the least. I wonder how far Hwy 36 is behind which certainly does have the dangerous U-Turns. 

It would be good to see figures for Highway 36 ( Nicknamed - The Road of death ), its an absolute Nightmare,  and Route 331 isnt much better.

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

Just build more spirit houses. 

And beer gardens......

[Kerryd]

Amazed to see that motorcycles are only accounting for 16% of the total accidents, despite there being more (registered) motorcycles on the roads than cars/pick ups combined (yes, I looked up the official stats in the past for another topic). Something weird there as before motorcycles accounted for up to 70% of all accidents.

And no, the photo isn't a part of highway 7 (obviously).

Also, one has to watch how they label the highways. For example, the piece of Highway 7 that goes from Highway 7 to Laem Chabang is still called Highway 7, but once past the toll booths (or before them, depending which way you go) motorcycles can use that strip.

On that same strip, the portion from Highway 7 to Highway 331 is called 331 as well. So you have a north-south highway 331 and an east-west highway 331.

The Bang Na-Trat frontage road which runs beside the Debarantana Road, which runs under the Bang Na-Chon Buri Expressway. One is highway 3 (Sukhumvit), one is highway 34. I wonder if they differentiate between the 5 names when an accident happens on one of those roads, some of which allow motorcycles and some that don't.

And it appears that "microsleep" is the new excuse for "I was texting on my phone and not paying any attention at all to the road while travelling in heavy traffic at 30-40 kms/hr above the speed limit".
"Microsleep" is much easier to type.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Kerryd

[thailand49]

Not surprise one bit!  I've driven all over Thailand majority of the time up north just came back 3 weeks ago like always once I get to Hwy 9 close to Bang Pa-in / Bangkok it all changes. Once on Hwy near the airport you grab your toll card it is off to the races.

 

Even if you are on the right going 120 KM, no where to go you look at the rear mirror and you can see vehicles swing left / right to gain a CM on another driver it is as they are racing to see who can get to their grave first as if it was free?

 

No real enforcement no changes each year it pretty simple!  If they don't die today they will tomorrow Thais are top of the class year in year out and that includes the excuses.????

[topt]

6 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

as the Motorway is policed by patrol cars and police on motorbikes.   

I have never seen police on motorbikes on the motorway (apart from the stretch after the toll booths going into Pattaya) - and I thought bikes were banned completely from the toll paid stretches?

[Kerryd]

OK, I think I've found where they got their numbers from. I also think they used the pic below (that I screened and cropped from the original .pdf) as well as the 2019 Accident report, where they actually list the worst highways.
 

From the Department of Highways website (stats for the 1st half of the year). 

http://bhs.doh.go.th/files/infographic/accident/2563/accinfo63_p1.pdf

In the OP it notes:
Vehicles involved in accidents were pick-ups 35% (783 times), cars 28% (621) and motorcycles 16% (366).

While the 2019 Accident Report notes:
1 รถปิคอัพบรรทุก 4 ล้อ ( Light truck (Pickup truck) ) 9,331 34.26
2 รถยนต์นั่ง ( Passenger car ) 7,772 28.53
3 รถจักรยานยนต์ ( Motorcycle ) 4,305 15.81

https://bhs.doh.go.th/files/accident/62/report_accident_2562.pdf (No worries, there's only 98 pages in the report !)

Seems a bit unlikely that the November stats (percentage-wise) would be almost exactly the same as for the entirety of last year. I can't find stats on that site for just November, or anything other than the first half the year.

Page 11 has the breakdown of accidents by vehicle type.

As for the highways. Yeesh - they couldn't make it simple, could they ? 
Pages 16-22 list the different highways. Or the parts of the different highways. Or the parts of the different highways that have different "control numbers". Or the parts of the different highways that have different control numbers and are in different provinces.

I give up. "Spoiler Alert" - Highways 36 and 331 don't make the top "111 worst highways or parts of highways" list ! "/spoiler"

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Kerryd

[Benmart]

7 hours ago, Pilotman said:

sounds pretty much like every Police Force I have ever seen or heard of.  UK Police are no better in that regard.  Try to find one when you need one, or a burglary has happened.  Can't be seen for dust. US Police only come out at those times to shoot you in the back, then go back to the Station. 

Your statements paint a self-portrait best turned around to face the wall.

[Scott Tracy]

8 hours ago, mikebell said:

Causes of accidents were speeding 69% ' So the Government raises the speed limit. 

 

They raise the speed limit so that the percentage will decrease. 

[Kerryd]

Here's something interesting I came across while looking up those accident stats:

http://highwaytraffic.go.th/DOHWeb/Home.aspx?lang=en-US

 

Most of you probably never even notice that at certain spots on certain highways, there's a bar running above the lanes that has what look like are some lights on it - and CCTV cameras.

I usually wave at them as I go by, half expecting that they aren't working. But it seems that a lot of them are !

When you look at the map on that link, there are little blue stars dotted around. Click on one and it shows the live traffic cam. Some let you select which direction (i.e. Inbound or Outbound). You can cast them to another device as well (if you have the device and know how to do it of course).
 

[PAV123]

13 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

Just build more spirit houses. 

More and more spirits gathering on that road, so yes, build more spirit houses...

[a977]

20 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Well that throws out the window all the nay sayers who complain about no policing as the Motorway is policed by patrol cars and police on motorbikes.   

I thought motorbikes were not allowed on freeways and motorways

[Kerryd]

24 minutes ago, a977 said:

I thought motorbikes were not allowed on freeways and motorways

Civilian motorcycles.

Though I don't think the police use motorcycles on the freeways for anything more than getting to/from work though. Most of the bikes they have are too small to be used as patrol vehicles on the toll highways. 

I was just discussing with my (RTP traffic cop neighbour) the issue of the new "big bike" license law coming into effect in Feb 2021 and about big bikes on the toll highways. They aren't going to allow motorcycles (of any size) on the tollways any time soon for a couple reasons, one of which is, no matter what "CC" level they determine qualifies as a "big bike", there will be hundreds (10s of thousands more likely) that will try to get around the limit either by lying or putting false stickers on their bikes (so that their 150cc Honda Phantom looks like it's a 750cc bike).

Then every Tom, Dick and Somchai on a 90cc scooter will decide that if "those" motorcycles can go on the toll roads, so can they. Then all the food cart vendors will be trying to get on as well so they can set up at every Emergency pull out and rest area.

Easier to just ban all motorcycles than deal with the headaches that would come if they tried to allow some bikes but not others.

Not to mention that you see how a lot of "big bike" riders ride on the highways as it is now. Speed limit is 90, they're doing 140-160 (or more). Imagine if they were on the toll highways. Especially in places where they have those "ski mogul" jumps over assorted canals and underpasses. 
Sheesh, I've almost gone airborne over a couple of those when I was doing the speed limit (especially on the Bang Na-Trat road underneath the Bang Na-Chon Buri expressway) ! 

One would like to think that the number of "responsible" big bike riders outnumbers the number of nut jobs, but, This is Thailand and I've seen a lot of big bikes on the roads over the years and it seems the nut jobs vastly outnumber the responsible riders by a wide margin.

[KannikaP]

21 hours ago, shady86 said:

Accidents happen because small cars, pickups and trucks underestimate their vehicles' capability.

Don't you mean OVERestimate?

[mikebell]

21 hours ago, Pilotman said:

sounds pretty much like every Police Force I have ever seen or heard of.  UK Police are no better in that regard.  Try to find one when you need one, or a burglary has happened.  Can't be seen for dust. US Police only come out at those times to shoot you in the back, then go back to the Station. 

Utter drivel.  UK police are conspicuous; you can't travel a couple of miles without seeing one.  (I can't speak for US.)  In Thailand it's possible to go weeks without seeing one.  If an emergency phone call is made, no one answers.  Thai police only emerge from the woodwork when they sniff baht.

[Almer]

22 hours ago, shady86 said:

Route 7 are pretty safe on most part until Chonburi where lanes are reduced to 2-3 per channel. Some exits are not designed to handle high volume of vehicles so congestions happens regularly. Accidents happen because small cars, pickups and trucks underestimate their vehicles' capability.

shady86 i don't think it is fair to blame the vehicles, they do what they are told by there masters.