73 people dead, 574 injured in Thailand’s national road carnage on New Year’s Day

[webfact]

 

73 people were killed and 574 others were injured in 574 road accidents across Thailand on New Year’s Day, as drunk driving was blamed for most of the carnage, according to the latest update from the Centre for the Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents.

 

Since the start of the long New Year holidays on December 29th, 1,906 road accidents have been recorded, resulting in 226 deaths and 1,894 people injured.

 

Speeding accounts for 35.15% of all the accidents, followed by drunk driving at 32.06% and poor visibility at 16.47%. Motorcycles account for 86.62% of the accidents, pickup trucks 5.8% and private sedans 3.71%. 19.51% of the accidents occurred between 9pm and midnight, 18.15% between 6pm and 9pm and 15.43% between 3am until 6am.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/73-people-dead-574-injured-in-thailands-national-road-carnage-on-new-years-day/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-01-03

 

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[RichardColeman]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

Since the start of the long New Year holidays on December 29th, 1,906 road accidents have been recorded, resulting in 226 deaths

So, basically Thailand has managed wipe out the equivalent of every starting 11 players of every team in the English Premiership in a handful of days. Insane.

[bkk6060]

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

Motorcycles account for 86.62% of the accidents,

That is horrible.

[2009]

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

That is horrible.

Why?

 

What difference does it make if it's motorcycles or cars?

[blazes]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

So, basically Thailand has managed wipe out the equivalent of every starting 11 players of every team in the English Premiership in a handful of days. Insane.

As an Arsenal supporter, I am sorry to see that you do not include in your  calculations all the unfit-for-purpose referees in the  EPL.

[wensiensheng]

17 minutes ago, 2009 said:

Why?

 

What difference does it make if it's motorcycles or cars?

Perhaps horrible is the wrong word. Stunning is maybe better. The danger of riding a motorbike is all too evident whether because riders tend to be younger, there is more of them or whatever. It’s still a stunning stat 

[arick]

Imagine there was vehicles on the roads this year! This year up country there were no vehicles and nobody visiting relatives dead as my pet turtle. 

[Nicholas Paul KNIGHT]

 may lament the appalling accident statistics, I smile to myself as this mgovernment here in Thailand spend more time getting angry and very upset over the breaking of Pandemic Rules which MAY KILL a couple while doing absolutely nothing to address the mounting problem of Rad Accident Deaths which they say is caused by a high percentage of Drunk Drivers. 

 

Shows just how remote this Government has always been from the situation and its inability to instruct the Enforcement agency ie: The ROYAL THAI POLICE to do their job correctly without fear or favour and bribes`. 

[arick]

This country you can drive with no tax no insurance and drunk and the most that will happen is up to a 10,000 baht fine. However if you cheat somebody out of a buffalo you could be looking at 10 years in jail same with snatching something from a shop. 

[findlay13]

But I thought they asked everyone not to speed or drink and drive?

[kingstonkid]

29 minutes ago, Nicholas Paul KNIGHT said:

 may lament the appalling accident statistics, I smile to myself as this mgovernment here in Thailand spend more time getting angry and very upset over the breaking of Pandemic Rules which MAY KILL a couple while doing absolutely nothing to address the mounting problem of Rad Accident Deaths which they say is caused by a high percentage of Drunk Drivers. 

 

Shows just how remote this Government has always been from the situation and its inability to instruct the Enforcement agency ie: The ROYAL THAI POLICE to do their job correctly without fear or favour and bribes`. 

A pandemic is easy to solve or control.  People's stupidity is something else.  Thai's scream  if you try to make things safer.  It is their right to do stupid things.  Remember when for safety reasons they tried to outlaw riding in the back of pick ups.

 

While this country may be in the 21st century in 2022 they have the knowledge of and thoughts of Canada in 1960.

[apetryxx]

My guess is that a very, very high percentage of the motorcycle fatalities and injuries involved persons not wearing helmets. I would further suggest that the same percentage of those riders were wearing a useless face mask. 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

73 people were killed and 574 others were injured in 574 road accidents across Thailand on New Year’s Day, as drunk driving was blamed for most of the carnage, according to the latest update from the Centre for the Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents

Time to get hard on DUI's, not just ask for co-operation... that's futile.

[Matthew2027]

Only death at the accident scene are calculated... not those that die later from related injuries..

[Almer]

Quite surprising 2 days running the same amount injured as there are collisions, 574 injured 574 collisions!!!

[Panadadad]

So the most deadly virus in the world is still safer than being on the road in this country! Who would have thought ????

[Stargeezer]

Same same

Year after year

[herfiehandbag]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Motorcycles account for 86.62% of the accidents,

What would, as ever, be interesting and significant to know is what proportion of these terrible statistics are the result of "innocent" motorcyclists being hit by speeding or drunk car and pick up drivers.

 

Given personal experiences of cars, trucks and lorries overtaking " blind", swerving in front and passing too close at speed quite a lot I suspect.

 

As for the idiots who just pull out in front of you, often when the road behind you is clear...

[Paul Henry]

 Drunk driving being the cause of most of the fatalities is incorrect. The figures supplied show speeding was the highest factor in the fatality stakes. Once again its the system that is failing the country not the drivers. Poor policing, poor accountability and small penalties when you do get caught breaking the road rules. The problem is at the feet of the Government which has no interest in action just empty statements and platitudes. The ultimate negative effect on the economy must be high forgetting the emotional cost.

[Tracyb]

1 hour ago, arick said:

This country you can drive with no tax no insurance and drunk and the most that will happen is up to a 10,000 baht fine. However if you cheat somebody out of a buffalo you could be looking at 10 years in jail same with snatching something from a shop. 

….or you could drag a cop to his death on Sukhumvit with your “Supercar” and dodge prosecution by waiting out the clock but……..

[Asquith Production]

One of the main factors with Thai drivers and particularly motorcyclists is that they always have to take the shortest route. They will come out out of places that require a left turn but instead will try to cross 4 lanes of traffic using tracks that many before them have used. Even turning right they cut the corner without sometimes being able to see any oncoming traffic in the road they are turning into.. Couple that with a drunk rider and you have a recipe for an accident..

 

One of the first things I would do is make sure that their are keep left bollards at a Give Way/stop sign or road  markings

[Moonlover]

Very disturbing to note that despite all the publicity and threats of severe penalties, 'drunk driving cases this year have increased by 75% compared to the same period last year'.

 

It's clear that the authorities are not getting the message out there very well, if at all.

 

 

[PEE TEE]

No surprise there .i wonder how it compares to other countries 

[Orinoco]

They care not.

That's the people, the government, the police.

Some of the dead will be children.

Shameful Thailand.

 

[Tropposurfer]

Alcohol and other drugs, cars, bikes, and speed never mix well.

It's a real worry for sure and brings such tragedy to so many.

Like so many OP's have said today and before the road attitudes and culture is one of 'survivalist, fatalist, expediency and accepted indifference to consequences perhaps born out of necessity further enabled by poverty' whereby driving has to be done regardless of the consequences.

The necessity of survival e.g. driving vehicles with hideously unsafe loads so as to maximise profits save fuel etc etc, vehicles dangerously modified, and mechanically unsound all over the place, few if any radar cameras and big warning indicator signs to encourage slowing down, police presence both impotent, poorly funded i.e. mobile radar - training - breathalyser units, and lackadaisical (product of the same cultural norms),  

I hail from a land where "women glow and men chunder" as the song goes and we used to have a terrible yearly toll from drunk driving before years of targeted media campaigning (social education), the introduction of breathalysers and random 'booze-bus' stations all over the place across the nation and in all the states and territories has had a marked positive impact. Now our main issues at home seem to be centred around speed.

We still have deaths directly related to drink driving but by comparison these deaths nowadays are small numbers.

To have any opportunity to change this carnage would require a multi-pronged effort of a government program spanning many years with refresher campaigns rolled out accordingly, massive driver ed, school education, random booze buses, television, temple education by the monks, challenging by family and friends to not drive after drinking (part of the civil awareness campaigns we had), and legislation that provided for serious fines and even jail if recidivist offending.

The issues of helmets protecting in event of accident is a safety issue too but one that would require additional massive fund injections to provide tax or other breaks so that poor/er families could provide the half a dozen helmets each child would need to reach adulthood.

The enforcement of laws and punishment under these can be entrained quickly but the social attitudinal changes to rid the culture of the ever present 'she'll be right mate' about not wearing them will take many many years, if indeed these new awarenesses can be converted into concretised social change at all.

[Bobydog]

5 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

That is horrible.

Unfortunately neither the Police or the Riders themselves for the most part, care. From the governments perspective these numbers translate to less vaccines to distribute.... TIT

[Stargeezr]

Another year, and not much change. After all this is Thailand, and I would be surprised if

a big change occurred.  No Helmet, No license, No experience, but I have a cheap mask, so it is

time to ride my big bike, what possibly could go wrong.  Is that the mind set of these

drunk drivers. Good Luck in 2022 Thailand

[Mr Meeseeks]

34 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

I hail from a land where "women glow and men chunder" as the song goes and we used to have a terrible yearly toll from drunk driving before years of targeted media campaigning (social education), the introduction of breathalysers and random 'booze-bus' stations all over the place across the nation and in all the states and territories has had a marked positive impact. Now our main issues at home seem to be centred around speed

Same for the UK, we've also made drink driving culturally unacceptable.

 

Imagine if Thailand had powerful cars as we get in the West? You could double that road accident tally easily.

[cardinalblue]

Actually much better than cyclists go to Buddha than car drivers….car accidents would have much higher injury/death rates based on sheer number of people in a car…

 

motorcyclists are faceless nameless people which the Thai culture accepts as no big deal to shed from the living…

[Dmaxdan]

1 hour ago, Panadadad said:

So the most deadly virus in the world is still safer than being on the road in this country! Who would have thought ????

It's because, for the most part Thais are completely terrified of Covid.

However, there is no concern or fearfulness when they take to the roads 

This is due to a combination of arrogance, overblown self belief and a mindset that "accidents only ever happen to other people".