Thailand road carnage continues: 12,000 dead this year so far

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

The disgraceful death toll on Thailand's roads continues. 

 

While politicians bang on about Covid their compatriots are lying dead in the road in their thousands. 

The latest was a young man called Pornphairot on a motorcycle in Bang Poo, Samut Prakan.

 

An eighteen wheel truck did a turn into the industrial estate and that was the end of him.

 

Another "sop" ( the Thai word for corpse) that needed to be scraped off the road along with his Honda Wave. 

 

The number of "sops" on the road - dead at the scene - is officially 12,209 this year up to 9th December when a fresh load of 47 were added.

 

Daily News gave the figures; they have a new graphic for their "safety campaign" - but it's just more of "same old, same old" on the Thai roads.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

2019 saw 14,907 dead at the scene, 2020 14,825.

 

Up to this point last year it was 13,357.

 

That crumb of comfort has to be seen in the light of most of the country having been locked down for more of this year.

 

DPM Prawit admitted the real death toll was 20,000 plus a couple of years ago.

 

Him and the government don't seem to have done much about the death of Thais and visitors to the country since - a million of his "phee nong" will die in the next few decades. 

 

Accident experts put it at 25,000 annually - 80% of them on two wheels. 

 

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[ThailandRyan]

We have not even gotten to the next 7 deadly days from before Christmas to New Years.  Looking sad as always.  No enforcement of any kind and even drinking and driving not a concern.  If they wanted to save the population they would ensure everyone understood the laws, obeyed them or where punished appropriately.  This is Thailand and people can not afford to be fined, miss work, and could care less if they drive the wrong way or even on sidewalks.  There is and has never been a culture where Drivers Education is enforced for all types of vehicles.

[Willy Wombat]

The only true hub in Thailand.

[Chivas]

Until Thailand introduces a "proper" driving test for 2 and 4 wheels (and introduces in addition punitive jail sentences for drink dring) the insane death toll with continue indefinatly

[Kadilo]

“While politicians bang on about Covid their compatriots are lying dead in the road in their thousands. “

So much focus on something that predominately kills the very old while with pre existing conditions while over 12,000 perish on the roads. 

[trainman34014]

So; all is normal in Thailand then; including the falsified figures for Death on the Roads; even Little Fatty admitted the true figure is around 25,000 per annum and rising.

[Matthew2027]

People that die from the accident in hospital are NOT counted in these numbers.. only DEATHS AT SCENE..

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Kadilo said:

“While politicians bang on about Covid their compatriots are lying dead in the road in their thousands. “

So much focus on something that predominately kills the very old while with pre existing conditions while over 12,000 perish on the roads. 

No comparison between the lives lost so far to the number dead in road accidents. 21,149 deaths since covid started but the majority of deaths from Covid are from just March of this year to now.  12k in road deaths is 43% of the Covid deaths.

[kingstonkid]

how many of these are due to

 

a. lack of helmet

b. lack of skill

c. too many on bike

d. I am motorcycle you move big truck

[wombat]

curious asks how does that compare to the deaths from covid?

[ThailandRyan]

Just now, wombat said:

curious asks how does that compare to the deaths from covid?

As I said in my post more than 21000 dead from Covid just this year and that's since March.  12k road deaths is from the start of the year.  Unknown the number that died from accidents at the hospital but one can venture to say that it would be when combined with the dead on scene that it would be less over all then Covid so far.

[CANSIAM]

1000 dead per month on Thai roads ? other matters to work on besides Delta and Omicron........

[worgeordie]

To put in context  15,000 +- dead on the roads of Thailand ,

that's like  75 Boeing 737 aircraft crashing in Thailand ,every

year, to result in the same death carnage, but its the same

every year, because the powers that be ,don't seem to care,

an example is the new points system , a 100 points to start with,

DUI , you could have 3 of them a year and still not loose your

driving license...... that's for those with a license .

 

Driving tests do not have the drivers actually driving on the roads

with  a driving tester, that's something that needs to happen. 

regards Worgeordie

[RichardColeman]

A junta based government is not going to do anything to address the deaths of people that would most likely vote against them in any election. If 40 generals died on the roads a day, ot would be addressed tomorrow

[tonysilly]

Well said everyone.  Well said ...

[VenturaAce]

Thai driving and road sense or lack of it, is one thing that has always baffled me. Generally Thai people are very polite, caring, good manners. But as soon as they are on the roads they change into racing drivers who need to be first place at all times. No kindness is given, no right of way considered. Suddenly they become the most selfish people on the planet, hence the horrific death toll. The only thing I would do is start educating them at school, road sense classes from a young age and maybe the next generation won't be so reckless. 

[ChrisKC]

1 hour ago, Matthew2027 said:

People that die from the accident in hospital are NOT counted in these numbers.. only DEATHS AT SCENE..

I have never understood this because it sure does not reflect the real death rate.  In UK for example, statistics about death on the roads is calculated from the notion that anyone dying directly from the roads come from the Police and the hospitals that have to record as an RTA, (Road Traffic Accident) whether death occurs at scene or later in hospital.

 

Life is seemingly very cheap to drivers in Thailand, matched closely by those in Transport Institutions who should be to some extent held responsible and accountable for little or no differences (let's call it "indifference) to greater law enforcement and some level of education in so many years, one wonders what they do all day!

[Khun Roberto]

But most almost all of the people who die in motorcycle accidents are wearing masks. Helmets? Not so much....

[itsari]

37 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

A junta based government is not going to do anything to address the deaths of people that would most likely vote against them in any election. If 40 generals died on the roads a day, ot would be addressed tomorrow

How on earth do you arrive at the people that die on the roads in Thailand would not vote for the present government ?

I appreciate that 80 percent of the road deaths are motorcycle users . 

So all motorcycle users would not vote for the present government in your opinion?

[henry213]

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

how many of these are due to

 

a. lack of helmet

b. lack of skill

c. too many on bike

d. I am motorcycle you move big truck

It's only one thing really : Lack of brain cells.

[SuwadeeS]

1. Fact is, the police does not enforce the traffic laws.

2. Nobody cares about road safety.

3. They said, they want to bann motorbikes from sidewalks and reward people who report with pictures. This never happened.

4. When people enter a vehicle, they switch off their brain and turn on arroganz and decadence.

 

I could continue forever...

 

[sambum]

And looking at the farce they call a "Driving Test" they will be pumping out similar figures for years to come. 

[itsari]

Just now, henry213 said:

It's only one thing really : Lack of brain cells.

Lack of brain cells with a dose of alcohol or drugs is a contributing factor in the deaths on Thai roads

[RichardColeman]

4 minutes ago, itsari said:

How on earth do you arrive at the people that die on the roads in Thailand would not vote for the present government ?

I appreciate that 80 percent of the road deaths are motorcycle users . 

So all motorcycle users would not vote for the present government in your opinion?

well the fact 80% are on motorbikes is an indication of poverty based deaths in my opinion, the poor are not voting for hiso generals are they ? least not the sane ones outside institutions !

 

[DjSilver]

The truth is that I'm more scared of dying in a traffic accident in Thailand than dying from covid ????????????

[itsari]

5 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

well the fact 80% are on motorbikes is an indication of poverty based deaths in my opinion, the poor are not voting for hiso generals are they ? least not the sane ones outside institutions !

 

I understand  the way you are thinking concerning the motorbike users . However i am a long way from agreeing with you . Your assumptions on wealth are way off .

[TigerandDog]

Now that the country is allegedly open again, and locals are back travelling, the big thing I noticed when driving from Chiang Mai to my home in Fang was the following:

 

#1.  The large increase in Bangkok number plates and the extremely dangerous, crazies driving those vehicles, in particular those in mercs, bmw's and other high end vehicles. They seem to think because they drive a top of the line vehicle that the road is for them and them alone.

#2.  The selfish mini van road bullies are back in force, speeding, overtaking on blind corners and tail gating the cars in front of them to intimidate them to get out of their way, and not giving a rats about the safety of their passengers or other road users.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

We have not even gotten to the next 7 deadly days from before Christmas to New Years.  Looking sad as always.  No enforcement of any kind and even drinking and driving not a concern.  If they wanted to save the population they would ensure everyone understood the laws, obeyed them or where punished appropriately.  This is Thailand and people can not afford to be fined, miss work, and could care less if they drive the wrong way or even on sidewalks.  There is and has never been a culture where Drivers Education is enforced for all types of vehicles.

A country where you can accumulate 3 DUI's and still have 10 points spare.

[soi3eddie]

Went to the cinema a couple of weeks ago and there was a fairly graphic road safety film involving a motorbike urging safe riding etc. Next up was an advert/sponsorship by a vehicle manufactuer of speeding trucks driving insanely. Stark contradiction. Which one will get noticed more?

 

[Dirk Z]

This is a cultural thing. Thais are generally polite, respectful and restrained but turn into some other being as soon as they take control of something with a throttle. Selfish and aggressive without respect for other participants in traffic and just thinking about the quickest way to get somewhere regardless. Unless there is a change of mentality I don't see anything happening in traffic safety. It begins with educating children, so it will take 2-3 generations if anything is to change.