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

[tonysilly]

Culture, attitude, irresponsible and Thai whisky is the reason many people die on the road!!! 

[kensisaket]

17 hours ago, dcnx said:

You know what would help them reach this target? INCREASING the speed limit. Yea, that will fix it.

Anyone who thinks that the speed limit on dual carriage ways is not at least 120 kph already is living in a dream world (even in the backwoods areas of Issan).  There's a difference between what's posted on the side of the road; and, reality. 

[mrfill]

1 hour ago, iamariva1957 said:

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!

The visual horror of seeing Jimmy Savile clunk-clicking was more than enough

[Chongalulu]

17 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Oh dear another long thread. ????

Another Groundhog Day thread. Same old comments.

zzzzzzzzzz ???? 

[dfp]

What are the exact fatalities for 2019 and especially 2020 ?

 

The Covid-19 must have helped to reduce the number of fatalities in 2020

[Robert Tyrrell]

Hello ,

 

talking about road carnage steps for vehicle roadway safety is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!

when your increasing speed limits to

120 Kilomet per Hour !! I CALL THE PEOPLE MAKING THESE DECISIONS ABSOLUTE QUACKERY AND RUBBISH !!

[kingstonkid]

The solution is simple.

 

No helmet you lose the bike. Start walking.

 

Driving while impaired lose the vehicle and your license

[CM Dad]

Explain to me how raising the speed limit to 120 KPH is going to help reduce the accident and death toll.

[Jimbo2014]

Targets, Crackdowns, pollution, road carnage, plastic, da da da da da.... average crackdown lifespan is 5 days before its forgotten.

[shackleton]

Why dont the traffic police  do their job of enforcing the rules 

Heavier fines for minor offences and banned with licenses taken away for serious offences 

Its not that difficult but suspect nothing will change the numbers of injuries and deaths will continue 

[Henryford]

16 hours ago, piewarmer said:

Thais wearing masks is a success, wearing a helmet seems to be getting unpopular again. 

painting lines on the road is futile. 

 

It makes me smile to see Thais on a motorbike wearing a mask (with a million to one chance of dying) but no helmet (with a thousand to one chance of dying).

[Henryford]

4 minutes ago, shackleton said:

Why dont the traffic police  do their job of enforcing the rules 

Heavier fines for minor offences and banned with licenses taken away for serious offences 

Its not that difficult but suspect nothing will change the numbers of injuries and deaths will continue 

What licences?

[johnarth]

yes it is the mind set it needs the police to do what they are paid for, not counting the tea money

[Kwasaki]

2 minutes ago, CM Dad said:

Explain to me how raising the speed limit to 120 KPH is going to help reduce the accident and death toll.

Maybe the areas that allow 120 will ease the bunching up of vehicles. 

 

80 kph on 3 & 4 lane highways send people to sleep. 

 

Thread after thread on this sudject many know it's the lack of initial training that's the problem and bad road habits. 

 

What should be targeted is areas of small motorcycles with death tolls. 

 

It will take a decade or more to put right IMHO. 

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, Stoker58 said:

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

Dream on

[ChipButty]

Maybe they should start at schools when you see the kids 3 or 4 up on a bike no helmets and the police standing there doing nothing about it 

One young guy goes past every day in his school uniform on a Honda CBR 650 no helmet every day.

I don't understand the parents buying the son a bike like that 

[actonion]

The people attending  these road safety meetings and more, are the same people  driving on the roads today , Thoughtless Careless  "Me first" attitude, and Dangerous, so how is road safety ever gonna change...Its not ... until they import a road safety expert to show them how it should be done it will stay the same

[Road Warrior]

where the police when Thais speeding and poor driving standard  such as  changing lanes .no signals .one only to stand by any major road for a examples !!

[SenorCJ]

So easy to reduce deaths - enforce road safety laws. And paint some damn lines on the roads.

[Rookiescot]

Its simple. The rules and laws are already in place.

The problem is they are not enforced.

[multatuli]

18 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 ... 

Oho! Counting!

[Humpy]

I rarely see a police officer in our local area. But I did see one taking a photo of another one standing in front of a shopping mall gold shop.

No traffic stops seen for the last six months. . Cars , some fairly new, have their number plates sprayed over. My car is 23 years old and the number plate still clearly visible. 

A roundabout  sign 2 meters from the roundabout is hardly fair warning. Pickups with damaged rear ends , no number plates and broken rear lights are allowed to use the roads. School kids , 4 to a motorbike , no helmets ,no licence and mainly underage  are welcomed into the school grounds.  Racing youths on bikes with modified exhausts can be heard for 2 kms or more at all hours of the day.... are the police deaf ? Dumper trucks with dustbin sized exhausts emitting black smoke and with windscreens covered in stickers are seen everywhere. I just wonder what the police do all day other than sit in an air-con office playing with their phones. Perhaps the interior minister General Anupong Paojinda and his deputy Nippon Bunyamanee should be shown these comments posted on Thaivisa .

 

 

[Millcx]

19 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

It's that time of year - again

Don’t worry .. All sorted as there was a meeting and a coming together of minds ... Sorted

[Speedo1968]

Locally, and I am sure in all other areas of Thailand too children drive motorbikes as soon as their arms are long enough to reach the controls.     Once they do that they can then take their younger brother or sister for a ride.
Three or more on a bike is not uncommon and with baby seats in front ( if they have a seat ),on their way to school.     They even ride round my local keep fit park, a good place to learn to ride I guess...
Guess if it was OK ( a blind eye by police ) for me as a child why not for my children.

[Bangkok Barry]

Bearing in mind that there are surely those who didn't see my previous post on this, I'll repeat it. Those who did see it, skip to the next post.
 

There are many reasons Thais drive as they do.

1 - I have never detected any sign of common sense in a Thai, and I've been living here for over 25 years. I am not sure how you teach that, but anyway there is no movement to do so.

2 - The Thais have a Me First mentality that is deeply ingrained, and that is the last thing you want to see in a driver.

3 - The education system demands that you do not think for yourself but listen and obey, so Thais do not develop the necessary skills to actually think. That may result in my first point above.

4 - Learning to drive in a proper and responsible manner is quite difficult, and Thais do not do difficult. Thais do 'near enough', but on the roads that isn't 'good enough'. One mistake can cost lives, so being lucky enough to get it right most of the time isn't good enough either.

5 - They have absolutely no concept that the vehicle they are attempting to operate is a potential killer. No concept at all.

6 - Along with inadequate teaching of all things about how to drive properly and safely, there is no test to determine if you have reached a standard where you are not a danger to yourself and others before you take to the road.

7 - Thais do not seem able to join the dots, and realise that if, for example, they drive at 120 kms an hour five metres behind the vehicle in front, or drive at night with no rear light (or front light if they are driving on the wrong side of the road because they have no concept of the danger), then they would have no time to react if the vehicle in front brakes suddenly. Ask any Thai what their safe braking distance is and they would have no idea.

8 - There are zero police patrols to help prevent accidents by pulling aside selfish and stupid drivers. Their only presence is setting up road blocks which seems in my experience to have only one purpose - to check your tax disc is in the window and up to date.

9 - Police have absolutely no interest in enforcing the law even when they are static beside the road, watching kids three or four on a bike go by with no helmet, no license, no ability to properly control the bike they are on. And that goes also for the parents and schools who allow Thailand's future to play Russian Roulette every time they go out. The police know they get paid anyway, so why work?

10 - The government does nothing to resolve the road death/accident toll as nothing practically can be done. The problem began decades ago when Thais first began to drive in numbers. No meaningful test was introduced and enforced, and now it is far, far too late. It would mean retraining every driver (and who would do that - it would be similar to those who teach English not being able to speak the language themselves). And it would mean the drivers having to take a proper western-style test before gaining a license. And it would mean police patrols to catch those who drive as if they are playing a video game. Now, anyone can drive as they like and put themselves and others in danger as they know they have zero chance of being caught. They can drive that way with total impunity. And it would require said (non-existent) police to actually enforce the law. And not one of those things is possible in Thailand.

 

To finish, nothing can or will change and survival on Thai roads will continue to be a lottery. All we can do is remember the words that were used in the 70s police drama Hill Street Blues as the force were sent out on patrol - 'Let's be careful out there'.
 

[dallen52]

You could fix the annual deficit in one month if the police actually knew what their jobs were.

And then did it.

 

Still beats me how bikes can be sold without registration and insurance, or proofof having a licence to drive.

[ian007]

What about Christmas / New Year? The "safer driving" campaign target there failed miserably with more deaths than last year! I saw various checkpoints in Phuket and always about 10 policemen sitting in a tent but no stopping and checking for alcohol or speeding, just sitting there doing nothing. I even saw a few times in Kamala how youngsters were road racing on motorbikes past them doing around 100kmh.. they didn't give a <deleted>! Presence alone without action brings NO RESULTS when will they learn this?

[jvs]

1 hour ago, farangroby said:

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

 

Please tell me more?

[Bobydog]

19 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 ... 

"It was a coming together of Minds and Authorities "  weĺl that just about says it all, so little or no hope of any reductions.

[David T Pike]

Gee! There's to many dying on our roads! Let's increase the speed limit! "Yeah! That's the ticket!"  ????