Thai road carnage: A motorcyclist is killed every 30 minutes in Thailand

[Freigeist365]

Instead of whining about the bike's specs, it would help immensely if the BIB would do their job and remove and impound any unsafe bike off Thailand's roads for good, check for lights, brakes, tyres, etc. and instead of turning a blind eye, arrest and heavily fine all those morons riding the hard shoulder in opposite direction, cut illegally through U-turns in a 45 degree angle against traffic, do U-turns where it's not allowed, build illegal pathways through road dividers, ride with 4 people on one bike or balance a gas tank behind their backs while riding with one hand, riders without proper helmets, etc. - you name it... Or arrest those opas and grannies who have their 2 year olds sitting on a plastic chair unsecured on their sidecars, etc... There's so much that could be done, but nobody really wants to...

Just now, riding back in the dark from work approx. 5km in a relatively quiet part of southern Thailand, I witnessed: 5 bikes without tail lights, 5 bikes without any lights at all, 3 of them illegal racers with those helmless Wai Loon apes in flipflops going 120km/h on a major highway, zigzagging through traffic like there's no tomorrow (and hopefully there's none for them), one car with lights completely off, one illegal lumberjack car without any lights, any doors windows or hood, 8 bikes riding towards me in wrong direction on the hard shoulder, 2 cars and 3 bikes ignoring the red lights on an intersection and one bike cutting against traffic through the whole intersection completely ignoring any lights and rules while checking his smart phone... 

Sorry, author of the original article, I did not get the exact specs of all those vehicles... So, no need to bother, right???

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Freigeist365

[herfiehandbag]

7 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

I was waiting an intersection in Saphan Kwai a few weeks ago. The lights there stay on red for ages at the traffic gets green from each other direction. At least 30+ motorcycles at the head of traffic. A police bike with 2 cops stopped next to me. On break in the light change cycle, a biker in front saw his chance and jumped the red light before cross traffic started. Amazingly, the cops just commented and shook their heads. I though for sure they would chase the rider down but no, nothing! If that type of riding is allowed and not prosecuted then there's no hope.

 

I was waiting at an intersection in Chiang Rai the other day. There was a policeman sitting in his "high chair" under the giant helmet fiddling with the control panel. A motorcyclist was knocked down (but not injured) by an old school van which cut across in front of him when the lights went green, making a right turn. The copper just glanced at the accident, obviously thought "old van, old bike, no money to be had here" and went back to facebook!

[Confuscious]

"Poor or non-existent law enforcement by an indifferent and lazy police force."

This is the 1st reason for everything that goes wrong in this country.

Abolish the aircon cabins at every crossing and make the "lazy police" monitor the streets and look for road unworthy drivers and road unworthy vehicles.
 

[CALSinCM]

Poor driving skills and suicidal driving like pulling out from a left-hand side road onto the main road without as much as a glance to the driver's right to check for oncoming traffic.  No understanding of "right-of-way" as well as a total disregard for one's own life.  Totally suicidal.  And yet, sit at a corner and watch MCs pull out from side roads without looking?  It's the normal.  Most MC drivers do not look.  There is a reason for the slaughter on the roads.

[polpott]

1 hour ago, Histavia said:

Basically you can go on youtube and see "bad driving" videos from every entry in the world. 

What these posters don't realise is that all their "evidence" is just confirmation bias. If you don't know what that is, that's probably why you think your anecdote has any value.

furthermore ranting about a single issue young drivers, motorcycle, red lights etc etc doesn't make the blindest bit of difference because unless they are part of an holistic approach, there will be no significant change.

Thailand consistently records the second highest number of road deaths in the world, 75% of those involving motorcyclists. Is that "conformation bias"?

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, Histavia said:

people posting anecdotes about "bad driving" they have seen, clearly don't understand the issues surrounding road safety.

 

Basically you can go on youtube and see "bad driving" videos from every entry in the world. 

What these posters don't realise is that all their "evidence" is just confirmation bias. If you don't know what that is, that's probably why you think your anecdote has any value.

furthermore ranting about a single issue young drivers, motorcycle, red lights etc etc doesn't make the blindest bit of difference because unless they are part of an holistic approach, there will be no significant change.

 

Crashes - (not "accidents") are caused 93% of the time by human error - this isn't the "crazies" they cite, it is almost always by perfectly normal drivers who make a slight error. How severe this is depends on the driving environment they are in.....this is dictated governments. If the systems are in place then the ramifications of these errors can be mitigated.

Unfortunately the authorities in Thailand are totally oblivious to the science of road safety preferring to believe in their own prejudices and myths perpetrated by those who are totally unaware of their own ignorance of the subject.

 

We've all seen crashes all over the world  - I've had car fly OVER the roof of mine from the oncoming lane of a motorway..... but I don't draw generalised conclusions about a whole country. 

All well and good, but the numbers speak for and out trump your views, an

average of 70 deaths each day, that's not a generalisation, that's a fact. 

 

[tingtongfarang]

[fishtank]

8 hours ago, polpott said:

Not to worry, there seems to be an endless supply of young Thais with an aversion to helmets and a delusion that they are Valentino Rossi riding unroadworthy junk with skinny bald tyres and no brakes. The carnage will continue.

Post of the day.

[ThaiFelix]

7 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Rightly or wrongly I am now pushing up close behind the car in front to stop them diving between both cars in order to switch lanes.

I do the same.  Since driving in Thailand I have had to forget about the safe distance between cars and I ride on the car in front's tailgate in order to prevent the 'stunt drivers' from trying to squeeze into the gap between us.

 

Likewise I drive as close as possible to the centre line to prevent the oncoming idiots trying to 'invent' an imaginary  third lane up the middle of the road.  Approaching hills and blind corners there is not much you can do apart from holding your breath and praying that your amulet is a good one!

[fishtank]

Other countries have wars.

Thailand puts idiots on the road.

Keeps the population down.

Edited February 4, 2021 by fishtank

[Jorgendk]

8 hours ago, bigupandchill said:

From where I live to where I drive at night is a fast 4 lane road with many bikes with no rear lights. What is it about these riders that they want to endanger themselves and me for the cost of a rear bulb?

An some without any light on ant all, and not even a number plate that could at least reflect your own lights.
Off course none of them have any proper reflector's at all.

[ThaiFelix]

A motorcyclist is killed every 30 minutes in Thailand.

 

Is that based on the real figures or the rigged govt numbers that only record those killed at the scene?

[elliss]

8 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Population control of the unwashed masses by the people in power it seems to me

 

    This population control of the masses , 

     make Covid 19 , look like a mild infection ...

     Two paracetamol ,  cures most Viress ..

 

 

[Artisi]

26 minutes ago, Freigeist365 said:

Instead of whining about the bike's specs, it would help immensely if the BIB would do their job and remove and impound any unsafe bike off Thailand's roads for good, check for lights, brakes, tyres, etc. and instead of turning a blind eye, arrest and heavily fine all those morons riding the hard shoulder in opposite direction, cut illegally through U-turns in a 45 degree angle against traffic, do U-turns where it's not allowed, build illegal pathways through road dividers, ride with 4 people on one bike or balance a gas tank behind their backs while riding with one hand, riders without proper helmets, etc. - you name it... Or arrest those opas and grannies who have their 2 year olds sitting on a plastic chair unsecured on their sidecars, etc... There's so much that could be done, but nobody really wants to...

Just now, riding back in the dark from work approx. 5km in a relatively quiet part of southern Thailand, I witnessed: 5 bikes without tail lights, 5 bikes without any lights at all, 3 of them illegal racers with those helmless Wai Loon apes in flipflops going 120km/h on a major highway, zigzagging through traffic like there's no tomorrow (and hopefully there's none for them), one car with lights completely off, one illegal lumberjack car without any lights, any doors windows or hood, 8 bikes riding towards me in wrong direction on the hard shoulder, 2 cars and 3 bikes ignoring the red lights on an intersection and one bike cutting against traffic through the whole intersection completely ignoring any lights and rules while checking his smart phone... 

Sorry, author of the original article, I did not get the exact specs of all those vehicles... So, no need to bother, right???

 

Welcome to Thailand, sounds like a very normal mundane evening ????

[Freigeist365]

2 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Welcome to Thailand, sounds like a very normal mundane evening ????

 Yupp, experiencing those mundane siamese evenings now for almost 30 years and it still makes me angry...

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Freigeist365

[EricTh]

Thai are notoriously bad drivers. They don't obey traffic rules at all even though there are so many videos during driving test time.

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, EricTh said:

Thai are notoriously bad drivers. They don't obey traffic rules at all even though there are so many videos during driving test time.

Sat in my training video......... room was packed......as soon as the video came on all the Thais got their phones out and started chatting.....paid not attention whatsoever.

[Artisi]

8 minutes ago, Freigeist365 said:

 Yupp, experiencing those mundane siamese evenings now for almost 30 years and it still makes me angry...

 

20 for me, I don't get angry - just shake my head in disbelief. 

[Artisi]

44 minutes ago, Confuscious said:

"Poor or non-existent law enforcement by an indifferent and lazy police force."

This is the 1st reason for everything that goes wrong in this country.

Abolish the aircon cabins at every crossing and make the "lazy police" monitor the streets and look for road unworthy drivers and road unworthy vehicles.
 

Didn't Confuscious say something like, "don't think too much" if he didn't, he should have.... 

 

[quake]

1 hour ago, Confuscious said:

"Poor or non-existent law enforcement by an indifferent and lazy police force."

This is the 1st reason for everything that goes wrong in this country.

Abolish the aircon cabins at every crossing and make the "lazy police" monitor the streets and look for road unworthy drivers and road unworthy vehicles.
 

cops paid money for there jobs.

So working is not required.

 

[impulse]

The flipside is that means 17,500 scooter deaths a year out of maybe 25,000 total?

 

So maybe driving a 4 wheel vehicle with seat belts isn't as crazy dangerous as most TVF'ers would have you believe.

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by impulse

[DJ54]

9 hours ago, JAFO said:

Another one of these annual Rinse and Repeat updates

Agree with you on that... seems the police are underpaid so an article earlier this week stated. Give the officers an incentive to promote change.

 

Not suggesting writing tickets non stop would rather see them teaching especially the younger and underage to be responsible follow laws and 

maybe see improvements but not making changes will never help. 

 

Non licensed drivers and Underage impound their motos until they come of age 

and are properly licensed. Charge a fee per month while moto is impounded. If

litttle to no money let them work it off doing community service..

 

 

[bangon04]

Under the new driving licence points scheme they will introduce - how many points for killing a motorcyclist??

[bangon04]

"

Comparing death per 100,000 motorcycles on the road was also a damning stat for Thailand.

 

In the kingdom it was 81 deaths per 100,000.

 

In Europe it is just ELEVEN."

 

maybe more useful to compare with somewhere like Vietnam -which has lots of bikes on the road and a similar infrastructure..... anyone have this infor?

[Lord Lucan]

It's Thailand's method of birth control.

[cncltd1973]

11 hours ago, JAFO said:

Another one of these annual Rinse and Repeat updates ( Like burning and water management) followed by no action as its an unfavorable stat that occasional makes headlines and someone needs to comment to it so it can go away until next year ????

 

 

Right on, if they wanted to change they would have changed by now

[impulse]

1 hour ago, bangon04 said:

"

Comparing death per 100,000 motorcycles on the road was also a damning stat for Thailand.

 

In the kingdom it was 81 deaths per 100,000.

 

In Europe it is just ELEVEN."

 

maybe more useful to compare with somewhere like Vietnam -which has lots of bikes on the road and a similar infrastructure..... anyone have this infor?

 

In Thailand, they use their scooters every day.  In Europe, they pull them out of the garage on those 3 nice weekends a year, when they can get away from the wife's honeydo list.

 

A better comparison would be fatalities per billion km.

 

[Histavia]

7 hours ago, Artisi said:

All well and good, but the numbers speak for and out trump your views, an

average of 70 deaths each day, that's not a generalisation, that's a fact. 

 

No they dont in any way..I dont know what you think my views are...

You also need to look at all the different kinds of amstats for road safety and how they are used...the meaning of them

You also need to say how anything I've posted is "trumped" by the stats...I suggest you simply dont understand my post. I dont think you can 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Histavia

[Histavia]

I will reiterate that looking at deaths per 100k your are about as likely to be killed in a private 4 wheel vehicle in Thailand as in USA.

[Histavia]

7 hours ago, polpott said:

Thailand consistently records the second highest number of road deaths in the world, 75% of those involving motorcyclists. Is that "conformation bias"?

all that tells me is you dont understand confirmation bias.