Thailand Road Carnage: Targets announced for the reduction in road death toll

[jaiyen]

they did have a good idea a few years ago where drunk drivers were taken to the morgue to see what they could have caused.  What they need now, that will work, is to show everyone who has been ticketed for any driving offence, some first on the scene road crash videos. I can guarantee they will have a huge impact. This was done in America many years ago and it worked. I have seen some of them in a past job and they do stick in your memory.  Not sure how Thais would react though.

[malt25]

I wonder what would happen if current, existing road rules were ever enforced ?

[vandeventer]

All these rules, are only words. Some learn to drive the right way than take their test. Pass their test than drive they way their mother and father drive. It's gonna take a long time to get them to follow any rules. Most of us will be dead and gone by than.

[Asquith Production]

16 hours ago, HaoleBoy said:

Just start collecting data to know where/what to target and stop with all the hot air.

1)  Count all deaths, not just at the scene, but any death due to an accident.

 

All deaths to people without a license

All deaths to underage drivers 

All deaths due to people involve not having lights on or wrong lights (no red lights in rear)

All deaths due to people driving the wrong way 

All deaths due to small bikes (less than 400 cc) and all big bikes

All deaths due to no helmets

All deaths with > 2 people on motorbike

All deaths involving u-turns

Just a start but add more categories ... 

Accidents due to the road layout and infrastructure.

[ChipButty]

I think the police do a great job.

[PatOngo]

1 minute ago, Asquith Production said:

Accidents due to the road layout and infrastructure.

Take a drive around Thailand, the roads are not bad, they just don't know how to use them!

[PatOngo]

Just now, ChipButty said:

I think the police do a great job.

So do they!

[Asquith Production]

Just now, PatOngo said:

Take a drive around Thailand, the roads are not bad, they just don't know how to use them!

I have. I live in Issan where potholes are the norm and traffic signs are non existence. Plus every U-turn is a potential accident.

[iamariva1957]

If anyone thinks that any of this will change unless the population goes back to the Ox cart.... remember you can buy the BMW and Mercedes badges online to show off... one is out if their mind. No one cares at the end of the day. They take their collective hands off the wheel give a Wai  passing a 'temple'. Their Highway and other police forces sit and play games on their phones or hope that some VIP needs an escort. The politicians.... well they lead the let's talk but do nothing  crowd. Fix the problem... lower the carnage on these roads ... buy the show off badge and stick it to the Ox cart!

[mikebell]

Speed kills.  CCTV cameras capture speedsters. If Thailand had a police force, vehicles would be confiscated for varying lengths of time. 

Job done.  If Thailand had a police force … oh.

[iamariva1957]

21 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

they did have a good idea a few years ago where drunk drivers were taken to the morgue to see what they could have caused.  What they need now, that will work, is to show everyone who has been ticketed for any driving offence, some first on the scene road crash videos. I can guarantee they will have a huge impact. This was done in America many years ago and it worked. I have seen some of them in a past job and they do stick in your memory.  Not sure how Thais would react though.

Remember the seatbelts as on UK television years ago? They worked by bring in  visual horrors if people in hospitals with facial injuries and footage of crashes and the afternath. These were aired throughout primetime. Do that Thailand TV?! At least do something!

[iamariva1957]

12 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I think the police do a great job.

When exactly ?

[thailand49]

Yes that time of the year again when the W.H.O. is going to hand out millions to help Thailand in fixing the problem.

 

Start by using the emergency decree to close all these departments and put it into the control of a outside body from the Thais with full authority. 

 

You want to fix it the sooner you do the better.  ????

[cardinalblue]

Does this also mean this is the time of year to convene another task force to deal with the northern air pollution?

 

“coming together of minds and authorities...” that’s funny

[trainman34014]

15 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

First a proper education in driving.. not only 5 hrs watching movies, but 30 hrs active driving with an instructor.

Secondly enforcement of the traffic law.. traffic police AND normal police have to check everytime driverslicense, alcohol, black smoke, lights in front and back and brakes.. and of course helmets.. Not ok confiscate the car till the problems are solved. ( buy new lamps, new filter, helmet  and or be sober.) Speeding confiscate the car and stupid <deleted> revoke their license and even jailtime. Fine at least 10% of the value of the car   (showroomprice)..  See what will happen.....you don't need to wait till 2027. Start tomorrow!! 

First four words say enough !

[trainman34014]

'Careless talk costs Lives'.  An old saying from WW2 but still relevent at these times when 'Authorities' here just sit down and spew useless talk about things they have no intention of changing ,so more lives will be lost as they continue to sit of their hands and do nothing useful !

[joloit]

13 hours ago, kimamey said:

'Almost no concrete measures were reported by 77kaoded in a flimsy report.'

 

I can solve that for them.

1. Proper driving test.

2. Proper policing.

 

A quick look at YouTube should provide examples of both from countries where life is important. They don't even need to get out of bed to do that.

... a very efficient way would be to replace regular tires with solid tires instead of fines, which the majority can not pay anyway.

[Laza 45]

..increasing the speed limit to 120 k  should help...

[Tony M]

I think they just needed to ask the collective minds at this meeting a couple of very simple questions :

 

When Thais drive in other countries, US, UK, Europe, etc, do they drive the same way that they do in Thailand ?  Assuming that the "brains" answer this question correctly, then the second question is :

 

Why not ?    If they are able to answer this question correctly, then they have most of the solution to their problem. 

[farangroby]

They started well by increasing the speed limit to 120 km...

 

[herfiehandbag]

16 hours ago, mr mr said:

it's the mindset of thai people that's the problem. make all the laws and announcements you want. it means nothing. 

That mindset is the result of years (generations) of the police being allowed to only enforce those laws which will allow them to make money.

 

Foreigner on a motorbike, oh dear, your pillion rider footrests have not been folded away - that is an offence, perhaps you would like to pay an on the spot fine to save on paperwork?

 

Three teen-agers on a motorcycle, no helmet, numberplate or helmets, they won't have any money so ignore them.

 

Everybody knows how it operates, that is why they have contempt for the law.

 

Many will remember the spot checks which were only carried out outside a certain large factory on payday- when the workforce had cash on them? It was down Chonburi way, and one of those rare occasions on which the police were publicly shamed into backing off, at least for a while.

 

Contempt for the law because of the corrupt way in which it is administered.

 

How can you not have contempt for a police force whose management is so venal that they have even stealing their own men's bonus payments for carrying out (?) extra duties associated with Covid 19? 

 

[Presnock]

Well I have been driving for more than 57 years in about 35 different countries, and while the traffic may

be worse in several other places, the most obvious problem to me is the local driver.  Apparently, most if

the faults that I notice every trip out on the road is that the car/truck drivers seem to think they are still on

a motorcycle, cutting around vehicles without signals, turning without signaling until inside the turn vs 100 meters prior to the turn, cutting in just like they did on a motorcycle.  The problem with motorcycle drivers, 70+ percent of vehicle deaths EVERY year seems like that is the place they need to start.  Force them to have accident insurance to start with.  Enforce helmet laws with HUGE fines.  I read that Vietnam used to have the same problem with lack of wearing helmets...they increased the fine to just over the cheapest safe helmet there and the problem was solved.  Every driver, motor car or vehicle or truck must have a proper license issued only after they have finished a proper training course.  Has anyone every watched a local try to parallel park?  it is fairly obvious that they never try that or just reverse their vehicle...almost laughable to me.   The police need to be beefed up so that enough can be on the roads to catch violators of the traffic laws.  To me there are very few negatives about this country and its people...I love the place, retired here happily with the traffic situation the only real negative on life here.  I hear many stories about visas etc. but having to go to immigration once a year to me is too minor to even think about it.

 

[kiteman9]

       This is the problem I see with people and there driving habits, they are Always in a Hurry to be Elsewhere

This used to be me. I was Monster Truck Man. A Dodge 1 ton turbo diesel. I spent considerable resources and emotional energy speeding up my life, trying to get ahead. I was always racing to get somewhere other than where I was. Where I was, was not good enough, even if it was nearly the same. Now to be fair, Mr. Monster Truck Man could have had a legitimate reason to get to where he was going. Maybe his wife was in labor in the passenger seat (although he was going in the opposite direction from the closest hospital). Maybe some life or death matter needed attention. I can’t know, and I’m not judging him, but I imagine this was just a normal day for him. He was hurrying up to wait.He was not satisfied where he was. Is this not the root of all human suffering?

 The Cost of Hurrying.When I pondered the marginal gains of his limited progress down the road in comparison to me, I made a quick mental tally of the cost of his action.

 Rapid acceleration of two tons of metal and plastic used much more gasoline than he would have by maintaining his speed behind me. He has to work a few more seconds/minutes to pay for this.His actions were not riskless (to him or me). Passing people on two lane roads at 50 mph is one of the most dangerous activities we do in our cars. He may have misjudged oncoming traffic and caused himself or another car to run in to me and my daughter who was in the back seat.It likely released a bit of stress hormones into his blood stream, which probably is not all that great for the body.Wear and tear on his car from rapid acceleration and braking will cost him money down the road (no pun intended), just like the additional fuel.Many tiny costs, but costs none the less. When I added up all these factors, I figure he actually lost time from a vague meta actuarial sense; having to work a few more minutes in the future for the gas and maintenance money, the theoretical loss of time due to potential injury or death, the guilt from causing someone else harm in the instance he caused another accident. In other words, in the future world of infinite possibilities he is worse off if we consider all possible outcomes.

   Death by a Thousand Cuts

In isolation this one event probably didn’t really affect his life much. It didn’t move the needle. It’s imperceptible. But what happens when we do this all the time, every day, multiple times a day?

 One tick bite is annoying. 1000 tick bites and you might need a transfusion.

 Instead of hurrying up to wait, Plan ahead and leave early and just stop every now and then. Slow down to the present moment. Be where you are. You will get to where you need to be soon enough. Sometimes going slower is faster in the long run.

 

[Stoker58]

Set up a completely new highway police force and staff it only with foreign police from countries with good driving habits.

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Almost no concrete measures were reported by 77kaoded in a flimsy report.

Must be the cushiest job going after the "inactive posts"

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

Recycle Last year's paper...

I already did....

[johnny49r]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

A meeting was held

Announcing goals with no idea how to make it happen is the way of the Thai government. 

A good start might be to create a police force that enforces traffic laws. Sadly it ain't happening.

 

[mickyr55]

16 hours ago, mr mr said:

why even bother. most police from back home would have an aneurysm within 5 minutes of being on the roads here from the horrors they saw. they wouldn't even know where to begin. 

 

it's the mindset of thai people that's the problem. make all the laws and announcements you want. it means nothing. 

Agree 100% they are spectacularly unaware of other road users, I have had bikes particularly just pull in front of my car either from a side road or from different lane of road I am on ,give em a toot on the horn they are totally shocked when they realise you are there .

[DUNROAMIN]

Never change, no policing of road rules, the carnage will continue no matter what BS they come up with. The truth is Thailand lives in a place far, far, away from reality.

[ThaiFelix]

16 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

I would put the ' Road Safety Operation Center ' in the same category as the so called ' Pollution Control, Prevention & Mitigation Department ' They are both totally bloody useless and do not do what it says on the tin. ???????????? 

Actually I think they have taken a leaf out of TAT's book.  Come up with endless but baseless figures and get them in the press each day to make it look like they're busy working on the problem but in fact have no concrete plans to actually achieve them.   And if they do in fact announce any plans, make them totally ludicrous like putting up the speed limit.