Road accidents claim 186 lives in first 3 days of New Year holidays in Thailand

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Road accidents claim 186 lives in first 3 days of New Year holidays

 

 

The first three days of the notorious ‘Seven Dangerous Days’ of the New Year holidays saw 186 deaths and more than 1,600 injured in road accidents, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported on Friday.

 

The road accidents occurred from December 29-31.

 

Thailand tends to see a huge spike in road accidents during long festival holidays because of the large number of people travelling from their places of work or business to their hometowns or to visit relatives.

 

“On December 31, there were 652 accidents with 67 deaths and 642 people injured,” said Chainarong Wasanasomsit, deputy director-general. “Accumulated accidents from December 29-31 are at 1,652 with 186 deaths and 1,654 injured.

 

“The most common cause of accidents is drunk driving (38.04 per cent), followed by speeding (34.36 per cent) and  Chiang Mai reported the most accidents with 63, while Nakhon Ratchasima had the most deaths at 13,” he added.

 

Chainarong added that the department had deployed officials at police checkpoints nationwide to provide roadside assistance as well as safety guidance, especially at mountainous tourist attractions which are mostly covered with fog that could limit visibility and could cause accidents.

 

“Officials have also been instructing travellers to follow Covid-19 preventive measures and maintain social distancing to prevent the outbreak from spreading inter-provincially,” he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30400570?utm_source=category&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

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[IraqRon]

2 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Lets see 3 days and already 3 times as many deaths as from Covid but I guess dying from Covid is a worst fate than dying in a traffic accident since I see no efforts to stem traffic fatalities but draconian measures to "attempt" to control Covid.  

Thailand tried the lockdown, shutdown of businesses, selling only essential items, etc once already.  If that practice was effective, then why are they having to do it again.  If it was not effective, then why try something that has already shown is not effective again? 

 

said a local ..."u r giving me a headache with this question, u tink too mut"

[Thaiophil]

Roads 186, Covid 2.  But still little action on roads. Enforcing motorbike helmet wearing alone would immediately cut the number of fatalities a lot.

 

I guess the attitude to RTA deaths is that it must be the victims’ fault. 

[Artisi]

Keeping up the daily average of 60+, unfortunately. 

So much for the headlines of a day or two back regarding massive % drop. 

[bwpage3]

1 hour ago, Thaiophil said:

Roads 186, Covid 2.  But still little action on roads. Enforcing motorbike helmet wearing alone would immediately cut the number of fatalities a lot.

 

I guess the attitude to RTA deaths is that it must be the victims’ fault. 

No it wouldn't.

[Surelynot]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

especially at mountainous tourist attractions which are mostly covered with fog that could limit visibility and could cause accidents.

More than a third of all accidents caused by drunk drivers and they are deploying resources to where it is foggy......555...you couldn't write this stuff

[Stev Lam]

Happy New Year Greetings. 

Sad to hear these road accidents during the holidays season....the number of road accident casualties are shockingly higher than COVID-19 deaths....:-((

[graemeaylward]

43 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

More than a third of all accidents caused by drunk drivers and they are deploying resources to where it is foggy......555...you couldn't write this stuff

I see the decision taken by the Police to reduce the number of roadside breath tests to reduce the spread of Covid as contributing to this appalling statistic.  They should be sued for dereliction of a duty of care! Instead they are all sat around drinking coffee in

 

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

checkpoints nationwide to provide roadside assistance as well as safety guidance

Perhaps they should think of another strategy as they have tried this one for years with no success.  I have never seen anyone stop at one of these "assistance" points which are often in the most inconvenient places to stop!

[overherebc]

Someone explain to me the thinking behind comparing Covid deaths and road accident deaths.

The deaths are the result of two entirely different reasons.

 

[Moonlover]

3 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thailand tends to see a huge spike in road accidents during long festival holidays because of the large number of people travelling from their places of work or business to their hometowns or to visit relatives.

Actually, this is not true. In general, the number of road deaths shows very little variation whether it's a holiday period or not and as always the highest proportion of deaths relate to motorcycle accidents. 82% on the first day according to the Bangkok Post. Motorcycle accidents have little to do with holiday traffic.

[Bruntoid]

24 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Someone explain to me the thinking behind comparing Covid deaths and road accident deaths.

The deaths are the result of two entirely different reasons.

 

Blame the conspiracy theorists ! 
 

There is no connection whatsoever but it keeps them busy ????

[stereolab]

1 hour ago, graemeaylward said:

I see the decision taken by the Police to reduce the number of roadside breath tests to reduce the spread of Covid as contributing to this appalling statistic.  They should be sued for dereliction of a duty of care! Instead they are all sat around drinking coffee in

 

Perhaps they should think of another strategy as they have tried this one for years with no success.  I have never seen anyone stop at one of these "assistance" points which are often in the most inconvenient places to stop!

Once again, the village has set up a tent complex for volunteers to sit in and watch Facebook. As ever, cars are simply driving through the cones sited on the road, no sign of a policeman with speed camera or breathalyser.

[Thomas J]

1 hour ago, Bruntoid said:

Covid has the potential to wipe out everyone - drink driving doesn’t. 

Bruntoid,

 

You seem to be of the opinion that getting Covid is equivalent to being diagnosed with Stage 5 pancreatic cancer.  If you look at the statistics. 97% of those who contracted the disease recover.  Most who die have comorbidities.  If they had contracted some other illness such as Malaria, TB, the Flu etc. their existing health problems would also have been worsened.  Though the Coronavirus is nothing to ignore.  The idea that it is a death sentence is a gross overstatement.  Most people will recover without even being hospitalized and some who contract the virus will have little to no symptoms and don't even require hospitalization.  Not exactly the wipe out the planet scenario you portrayed.  While it may not be your fault to catch Covid, it is also not the fault of accident victims who have their lives ripped away from them.  Many of them could be alive today if the government took as aggressive a posture on drunk/and under the influence driving as they have with Covid. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/04/health/recovery-coronavirus-tracking-data-explainer/index.html

[impulse]

2 hours ago, stereolab said:

Once again, the village has set up a tent complex for volunteers to sit in and watch Facebook. As ever, cars are simply driving through the cones sited on the road, no sign of a policeman with speed camera or breathalyser.

 

I'm old enough to remember when civic organizations all over the USA would set up tents, tables, chairs and coffee pots along the highways on all the major holidays.  It was coordinated on a massive scale, with many organizations taking part.  The idea wasn't to catch scofflaws.  It was to offer people a chance to stop for a few minutes, stretch their legs, pee, and have a hot coffee before they continued on their journey. 

 

Still goes on in a lot of places- though not as common as before- saving lives every holiday.  One life saved by preventing "micro-sleep" makes it worthwhile.

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by impulse

[Meat Pie 47]

3 hours ago, overherebc said:

Someone explain to me the thinking behind comparing Covid deaths and road accident deaths.

The deaths are the result of two entirely different reasons.

 

Yes we all know road fatalities outnumber covid-19 deaths but 60 plus deaths on the 

road in Thailand does not affect me at all, since I moved away years ago. But just

one infected Thai traveling to my country and infects me that is something different.

[Histavia]

9 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thailand tends to see a huge spike in road accidents during long festival holidays because of the large number of people travelling from their places of work or business to their hometowns or to visit relatives.

 

In reality Thailand has usually seen a DROP in crashes and injuries during the holiday periods.

[mike787]

Normal every day in LOS....same same...

[cyril sneer]

I got pulled over at one of those checkpoints yesterday, when the police officer saw I was farang he said he wouldn’t alcohol test me as he cannot speak to me in English. Was asked to put on a face mask though.

 

I could have been paralytic drunk and still made it through 

[Thaiophil]

11 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

No it wouldn't

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/mc/index.html

[ChrisY1]

This '7 deadly days' thing is almost portrayed as an important annual event.

This year they seem to be celebrating more fatalities than last year......and as for some trying to compare it to Covid...that's just plain dopey!

[bristolgeoff]

I wonder if the 7 days bring up too 1000 in accidents or deaths.usually that high 

[mehrdad]

And government search for new long holidays in new 2021 calendar..... ????

[Ian C HH]

14 hours ago, Thomas J said:

Lets see 3 days and already 3 times as many deaths as from Covid but I guess dying from Covid is a worst fate than dying in a traffic accident since I see no efforts to stem traffic fatalities but draconian measures to "attempt" to control Covid.  

Thailand tried the lockdown, shutdown of businesses, selling only essential items, etc once already.  If that practice was effective, then why are they having to do it again.  If it was not effective, then why try something that has already shown is not effective again? 

 

It WAS effective. Of COURSE it was. At the time the rest of the world and region was inundated with hospital cases ( and deaths) Thailand was extremely lightly affected. IF they had maintained those “draconian measures” for longer than they did, I’m pretty sure THIS forum would have been up in arms. So when they relaxed them the result is what you see now. Surely that would illustrate just HOW effective they are? 

[bwpage3]

1 hour ago, Thaiophil said:

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/mc/index.html

Thailand isn't the US is it?

 

The majority killed in Thailand would not have been saved by a helmet.

 

 

[ChipButty]

I shudder to think what will happen when we start having long weekends every month

[Bender Rodriguez]

16 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thailand tends to see a huge spike in road accidents during long festival holidays because of the large number of people travelling from their places of work or business to their hometowns or to visit relatives

 

with no driving skills or no intention to follow any rule but their own

 

186 DEATH in 3 days vs 61 in 10 months of covid...

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

“The most common cause of accidents is drunk driving (38.04 per cent), followed by speeding (34.36 per cent)

So the answer was reduce the number of drink driving tests

[Darkside Gray]

Read an article last week in 'The Norther Echo" a north east of England news paper where it stated that it had been a terrible year in the north east with 30 deaths on the roads for the whole of the north east.

Makes you wonder what a terrible year for road deaths in Thailand would be?

[Baggy]

1 hour ago, bwpage3 said:

Thailand isn't the US is it?

 

The majority killed in Thailand would not have been saved by a helme

Most helmets available in Thailand are very low quality,  indeed look like a helmet, however would not protect against a tennis ball impact.

 

 

[natway09]

The previous lockdown was effective.

As previously stated had the Government employees done their jobs correctly & not bowed to corruption we would still be one of the countries that had a good record, Covid, I mean not traffic deaths which I have made constructive suggestions many times but deaf ears cannot hear