Survey suggests deaths of motorcylists in Thailand largely due to poor decision making

[Classic Ray]

Even though enforcement has been much reduced in recent years in the UK, the collision/death rate has not increased. 
 

Among the reasons are good safety education, of both riders and drivers, effective safety marketing and campaigns, high quality road design, and high penalties if you do break the law and are caught, including higher insurance premiums and realistic disqualification for repeat or serious offenders.

 

All of the above are missing in Thailand and will not change as no one in authority gives a fig for the poor, the usual injury or fatality victims.

[prakhonchai nick]

Proper law enforcement and very harsh penalties for all who break the law, whether it be speeding, no helmet, no lights etc. Minimum 10,000 baht fines and confiscation of vehicle (regardless of ownership) for a minimum of 1 month.

 

For those that oppose such high fines, because the Thais cannot afford to pay, my answer is simple. . Don't break the law, then you have nothing to pay!

[Asquith Production]

In the UK these are some of the elements you have to pass before you can even go out on the road as a learner:-

 

Riding in a straight line

Riding in a slow and controlled manner

Using both brakes

Changing gears

Riding a figure of eight

Carrying out emergency braking

Carrying out U-turns

Carrying out rear observation

Riding out bends safely.

 

How can they ever learn if their is no system to teach them?

[BostonRob2]

17 hours ago, In the jungle said:

Often the "poor decision making" was by the guy in the truck that crashes into the bike.

 

 

Indeed. Far more training needs to be done for irresponsible car drivers who think they are King of the Road because they can afford a second hand Japanese motor. 

[AMIA63]

*If accident and you didn't wear a APPROVED Helmet AND Driverslicence...No payment         should be approved from the Insurance/Tax Company.

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by metisdead
Bold font removed.

[Cake Monster]

17 hours ago, Seismic said:

"A survey showed in more than half of deaths an inability to access dangerous situations"

 

I think they actually mean "an inability to ASSESS dangerous situations".

I have always found the Thai Motorcycle Rider more than competent in " Accessing " Dangerous Situations, and exploiting them to the full effect..

Its the main reason so many end up in the Morgue.

[RichardColeman]

I got on a taxi bike one day and the taxi driver was driving one handed the entire way, doing about 60 MPH, cutting through the traffic, whilst chatting on the phone. 

 

Wife and me after that never used that taxi rank again. luckily

[ctxa]

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

 

The police do their job, what they do is how police operate in Thailand, they collect revenue, they don't prevent accidents, have'nt you worked that out yet???

Sure. 
 

My point is that due to the very particular conditions which meet here in Thailand (overall nice roads designed for speed, gazillions of motos and many cars), there’s not much the police could do anyways. 
 

Accidents are gonna happen anyway. Sure, every death counts. But I personally don’t think that the strictest enforcement of traffic laws would see the stats drop dramatically, at best, moderately. 
 

Other countries which have gazillions of motos (Vietnam) have trashy roads  (can’t speed) and very few cars… 

[Keesters]

20 hours ago, rooster59 said:

 

In 53% of these cases the rider was at fault. 

 

In 47% of these cases the rider was NOT at fault.

 

What are they doing about >=4 wheel vehicles. 

[ParkerN]

Poor decision-making…

 

Yes, I'd say it was poor decision-making.

 

Earlier today, the missus and myself went to the local town to do some shopping. On the way back, she pointed out an electricity pole in the village next to ours, which appeared to be leaning at a perilous angle towards the shop it was in front of. I took very little notice, on the basis that fully 30% to 40% of the power poles in this part of the world are not standing up straight. But no matter, as is the way with Thais, she kept right on talking.

 

She recounted that the cause of the severe power cut we experienced two or three days ago, was in fact that a motorcyclist had collided with the power pole, killing himself and the young child who was sitting on his pillion in the process.

 

Apparently the driver of the motorcycle, a resident in the village next to ours, was drunk at the time of the accident. It's not clear where or when he picked up the child, who was under five years old. Neither is it clear whether or not the child was his, but I assume so.

 

Now the rider knew he was drunk and incapable when he mounted the motorcycle, he knew he was drunk and incapable just before he hit the power pole, killing himself and the child on the back. He was not wearing a helmet, though there is considerable doubt that it would've done him very much good if he had been.

 

I have no sympathy whatever for the driver; if you've been drinking then don't drive. I do however have considerable sympathy for his family and for the family of the child wether or not it was his

 

It seems to me there was a whole series of bad quality decisions involved in this sorry tale - all of them made by that one Thai who got on his motorcycle and started it up, knowing full well that he should not have done.

 

On the other hand, I have a supreme contempt and disdain for anyone in the government who is going to glibly assert that the road toll is due mainly to people making bad decisions. Of course it is - I don't imagine many people get killed by making good decisions - even on Thai roads.

 

Bad decisions - yes, I'd say so. And one of them was made by the fool who gave this guy his job.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by ParkerN

[findlay13]

5 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I would say, at a conservative estimate, over 50% of the motorbikes (plus sidecars) in and around our village have one or both lights out......and those that do have lights rarely put them on until it is pitch black.

They think It saves the battery 

[ParkerN]

15 hours ago, AMIA63 said:

*If accident and you didn't wear a APPROVED Helmet AND Driverslicence...No payment         should be approved from the Insurance/Tax Company.

 

 

Insurance?

 

Are these still Thais we're talking about?

 

What Insurance?

 

[KannikaP]

4 hours ago, Artisi said:

No wouldn't want to get you started with that type of mindset, but think just a little further:

no parent deserves to lose a child even if there aren't all that bright. 

The get the efting parents to teach the kids how to ride................oh, they already did.

[biggles45]

Having a lot of motorbikes on the roads is not really an acceptable excuse for the terrible death toll. 

Vietnam has one of the highest motorbike ownership rates worldwide With 45 million registered (Thailand has 21 million) motorbikes on a 92 million population (70 million in Thailand)  yet both have a similar death toll for bikes. 

In my visits there I rarely see a helmet less driver, very young kids driving, and I do see cops doing traffic stops. Just start with the basics.... but thats too hard. 

 

 

[natway09]

Well I never, !! Who would ever have thought of that

[digger70]

21 hours ago, rooster59 said:

poor decision making and "reaction failure"

Isn't that Smart ,Everything in life is made on decisions .

Just one problem here ,Can't fix their thinking and   their follow up decision. ????

[lavender19]

What about pulling out of side roads without looking and using the phone

[ParkerN]

Just now, biggles45 said:

Having a lot of motorbikes on the roads is not really an acceptable excuse for the terrible death toll. 

Vietnam has one of the highest motorbike ownership rates worldwide With 45 million registered (Thailand has 21 million) motorbikes on a 92 million population (70 million in Thailand)  yet both have a similar death toll for bikes. 

In my visits there I rarely see a helmet less driver, very young kids driving, and I do see cops doing traffic stops. Just start with the basics.... but thats too hard. 

 

Agreed. On my trip to the local town this morning I took the time and trouble to count the motorcycles that I encountered (largely as a result of conversations on TV) I counted 60-odd motorcycles and there wasn't a single driver who was wearing a helmet. Not one.

 

 Assuming that the same problem pervades all areas of crime, drastic action must be taken. Until they resolve the law enforcement issue the death toll  and other problems will remain. Instead of thinking "how much can I put in my trouser pocket?" Think "is this person transgressing the law?"  That's the first step and it ought to be a national disgrace that it must be  merely the *first* step.

 

Mr Prayuth  must sack the top three tiers of the police hierarchy and warn the rest that the same train is coming to their station very quickly. Anyone that is known to be corrupt must be sacked without notice, without pension and without compensation. Anything less than this is not going to work.  Not now It won't. I have no doubt whatever the plan  will result in car bombs under his car and  bullets through his window but, hey, if you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined.

Edited March 28, 2021 by ParkerN

[Sujo]

Well thats a pretty easy poll. They cant exactly ask the dead riders who was at fault. So it must be them to blame, especially if you ask those that ran into them and caused the death.

[Sujo]

1 hour ago, findlay13 said:

They think It saves the battery 

Batteries are different in thailand

[Maybole]

When I started on motorbikes over 50 years ago, I was given the old fighter pilot's advice: "Keep your eyeballs uncaged and your neck on a swivel". I notice that many Thai bikers have a totally rigid neck fixed entirely to the front and are unaware of any traffic outside of 45 deg either side of straight ahead.

[Deli]

It's easy putting always the blame on the bikers, very intersting is that only 1% of the bikes has more than 400 cc. However, this 1 % is usually blamed mostly.

What about all the moron car drivers, killing bikers coz of their nön excisting driving skills ?

 

[Yme]

I thought it was going to talk about responsible family planning ???? 

[connda]

On 3/27/2021 at 7:42 PM, rooster59 said:

1. Perception failure - 49% - not properly assessing situations for their potential danger

 

Example:  I can approach a main road or highway from a left-hand side road or soi, and turn left onto the road without as much as a glance to the right or without making any attempt to yield to oncoming traffic. 
I've seen some videos of the aftermath of that "perception failure" which infects about 95% of all Thai motorcycle riders.  They almost all do exactly that.  Pull out onto the road without looking even from completely blind corners where oncoming (primary road) traffic can't see them or have time to react to having some fool pull out right in front to them.  I watched that at my home.  Some old gal from the village pulled out of our soi right in front of a large truck.  Truck hit his horn and brakes and the M/C went into the side ditch.  If she would have been one second later she would have been a hood ornament.  Even my wife was screaming at her - "Why you so stupid???"  Just amazingly suicidal.

[connda]

12 minutes ago, Deli said:

It's easy putting always the blame on the bikers, very intersting is that only 1% of the bikes has more than 400 cc. However, this 1 % is usually blamed mostly.

What about all the moron car drivers, killing bikers coz of their nön excisting driving skills ?

 

I've never seen statistics of Thai road deaths broken down by motorcycle engine size even though the government infers there is a correlational.  It would be interesting to see the complete stats. 

[connda]

My first six years of driving in Thailand was on a motorcycle.  You drive defensively or you die. 
Statistics bear out that a whole lot of Thais have no concept of defensive driving, or any driving skills for that matter.  Something like only 50% of motorcyclists are licensed?  Of those 50% most are poorly trained.  The other 50% don't have a clue.  No wonder the carnage. 

[Andycoops]

Well as there is no training whatsoever in road craft it isn't really surprising, as they have nothing to base any decisions upon.

[Damrongsak]

22 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Well it's not BAD spirits that cause accidents! I think most of us worked that out over 20 years ago!

I have the amulet, I have the monk and a Honda Wave.  Life is good.

[PatOngo]

58 minutes ago, Andycoops said:

Well as there is no training whatsoever in road craft it isn't really surprising, as they have nothing to base any decisions upon.

25,000 road fatalities may be a good start ...................................nah, forget it!

[hotchilli]

On 3/27/2021 at 7:42 PM, rooster59 said:

A survey showed in more than half of deaths an inability to access dangerous situations, poor decision making and "reaction failure" - doing the wrong thing in an emergency - were all to blame. 

So no cure in the near future then?