Thai Roads: The carnage continues with 3,145 dead 'at scene' so far this year

[sirineou]

9 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

Surely you know this?

About 73% of DEATHS (not including injuries as they aren't calculated in Thailand) are motorcyclists and their passengers.

About 80% of deaths are "vulnerable" road users - this means 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles pedestrians and a few others.

private 4-wheeled vehicles - cars and pickups are mourned 10 to 13%. - This means per 100k of population you are LESS likely to die in a 4-wheeled vehicle in Thailand than in the USA.other vehicles, trucks buses etc make up about 5%.

The stats gathered in Thailand are not gathered properly especially those gather by the police, but they are consistent over 3 decades so give a good overview.

The final figures are gathered from multiple organisations including hospitals and insurance companies. They are then analysed by such people as WHO which makes them more accurate and relevant.

 

If such a large percentage of the deaths are scooter related then is it possible that Thais are not worst drivers than , for example, Vietnam , but rather that there are so many more scooters here than there are in . again for example, in Vietnam. Thailand has a population of 70 million and has according to google 100 million scooters, and Vietnam has 98 million. but only has 2 million scooters  . 

Put 50x more scooters on the road and it is not unreasonable to conclude that you might have 50X the scooter accidents

Am I making any sense? 

[Stargeezr]

The Thai road carnage will continue as long as the drivers of motorcycles, and scooter

continue to have their present attitudes. I do not expect to see any changes for at least another

10 or 20 years, except the price of petrol to keep being more expensive.  

[Thunglom]

3 hours ago, sirineou said:

If such a large percentage of the deaths are scooter related then is it possible that Thais are not worst drivers than , for example, Vietnam , but rather that there are so many more scooters here than there are in . again for example, in Vietnam. Thailand has a population of 70 million and has according to google 100 million scooters, and Vietnam has 98 million. but only has 2 million scooters  . 

Put 50x more scooters on the road and it is not unreasonable to conclude that you might have 50X the scooter accidents

Am I making any sense? 

Don't where you gt your figures from but the ones I use suggest that there are about 22 million motorcycles on Thai roads about a 50/50 ratio with cars. There are about 50 million motorcycles in Vietnam.

 Vietnam has much lower car ownership and a less overbuilt road system.

 

Focussing on "bad drivers" is an outdated archaic approach which has for nearly 30 years had no significant effect on road deaths. BTW there are many other road safety statistics that are completely ignored by the media who prefer sensation rather than getting a realistic picture of what is actually happening and more importantly WHY.

 

The combination of 4-wheeled and 2-wheeled traffic in Thailand is without a doubt one of the many contributing factors.

 

BTW - the USA doesn't usually just use the "deaths per 100k" statistic when they collate stats about road safety. like many other countries they look at deaths, serious injuries and minor injuries. The look at per 100,00 vehicle, per billion miles travelled, cars per 100,000 population and several other stats. Unfortunately Thai has not consistently collated any of this information, many of the figures are very hard to come by.

[Thunglom]

12 minutes ago, Stargeezr said:

The Thai road carnage will continue as long as the drivers of motorcycles, and scooter

continue to have their present attitudes. I do not expect to see any changes for at least another

10 or 20 years, except the price of petrol to keep being more expensive.  

you're barking up the wrong tree - human error is universal - it's having the system to deal with it that is so important. People have been going on about "attitude" bad driving" and racist remarks about Thai people for years - but nothing has changed, has it. About time they realised they have got it wrong.

[Thunglom]

4 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

The death rate from the virus hasn’t been remotely near enough to cause any effect such as that. Also, like it or not, the death of an old, retired person such as myself is enormously less disruptive to the community than the death of a young person with family responsibilities.

covid has collapsed the tourist industry and it may take years to fully recovered.

Elderly people are more likely to get severe symptoms with Covid and therefore take up hospital beds and finance.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Thunglom

[impulse]

6 hours ago, sirineou said:

If such a large percentage of the deaths are scooter related then is it possible that Thais are not worst drivers than , for example, Vietnam , but rather that there are so many more scooters here than there are in . again for example, in Vietnam. Thailand has a population of 70 million and has according to google 100 million scooters, and Vietnam has 98 million. but only has 2 million scooters  . 

Put 50x more scooters on the road and it is not unreasonable to conclude that you might have 50X the scooter accidents

Am I making any sense? 

Given that the majority of the vehicles on Thai roads have 2 wheels, and studies (Oz and USA) show that a scooter is 20-40x as dangerous per km driven, I don't think they're doing bad. 

 

In the USA, about 4% of the vehicles are 2 wheelers.  And most of them are weekend, fair weather hobbies as opposed to everyday transport in all weather.  If economics suddenly forced 75% of Americans onto vehicles that are 20-40x as dangerous as what they drive now, the results would be catastrophic.  You'd have 18 times as many scooters at 20-40x as dangerous.  The math is pretty simple.

 

The question is, on a per km basis, how dangerous is driving a car with doors, a roof, seat belts and lots of steel compared to "back home".  I doubt it's that much worse than the UK or especially the USA.  Throwing in scooter fatalities skews it though.

Edited March 19, 2022 by impulse

[CygnusX1]

4 hours ago, Thunglom said:

covid has collapsed the tourist industry and it may take years to fully recovered.

Continued overreaction to the virus will likely keep tourism at low levels for years, whereas far less economically destructive measures to reduce the road toll would save far more lives, and way more years of life lost.

[Ralf001]

Average of 40 a day, decent number.

 

If they average is kept to the end of the year that will total 14,716.

 

Fantastic reduction in deaths compared to previous years.

[Thunglom]

1 hour ago, CygnusX1 said:

Continued overreaction to the virus will likely keep tourism at low levels for years, whereas far less economically destructive measures to reduce the road toll would save far more lives, and way more years of life lost.

I think comparison of the two is simply not productive they are very different issues .

The cost of road safety to the Thai economy is meant to be over 500 billion baht per annum or between 6 and 8 % of GDP.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Thunglom

[Thunglom]

51 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Average of 40 a day, decent number.

 

If they average is kept to the end of the year that will total 14,716.

 

Fantastic reduction in deaths compared to previous years.

As said stats gathered by the Thai police are only part of the picture and a poorly painted part at that.

Th extent to which Covid has affected road safety stats is still unclear, but it is safe to assume that the underlying trend in deaths and injuries on Thai roads has not changed significantly and a figure of nearer 20k will be returned to as tourism and trade are revived and population movement restrictions are returned to normal ..

[jacko45k]

Is this the start of the official build up to the Songkran carnage?

[Ralf001]

30 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

As said stats gathered by the Thai police are only part of the picture and a poorly painted part at that.

Th extent to which Covid has affected road safety stats is still unclear, but it is safe to assume that the underlying trend in deaths and injuries on Thai roads has not changed significantly and a figure of nearer 20k will be returned to as tourism and trade are revived and population movement restrictions are returned to normal ..

 

Covid has little to no impact on road stats in 2022.

 

 

[Ralf001]

29 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Is this the start of the official build up to the Songkran carnage?

Ahhh songkran, the yearly event when average daily road deaths reduce.

[Chongalulu]

23 hours ago, FinChin67 said:

Everyone seems to wear a mask but not a helmet… I guess there would be a way to enforce helmet rule but it will never happen. Same as with other offences…

There’s a saying " A cheap helmet for a cheap head " . I guess a mask and no helmet denotes the cheapest head of all .. 

[Chongalulu]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

Given that the majority of the vehicles on Thai roads have 2 wheels, and studies (Oz and USA) show that a scooter is 20-40x as dangerous per km driven, I don't think they're doing bad. 

 

In the USA, about 4% of the vehicles are 2 wheelers.  And most of them are weekend, fair weather hobbies as opposed to everyday transport in all weather.  If economics suddenly forced 75% of Americans onto vehicles that are 20-40x as dangerous as what they drive now, the results would be catastrophic.  You'd have 18 times as many scooters at 20-40x as dangerous.  The math is pretty simple.

 

The question is, on a per km basis, how dangerous is driving a car with doors, a roof, seat belts and lots of steel compared to "back home".  I doubt it's that much worse than the UK or especially the USA.  Throwing in scooter fatalities skews it though.

While the  point about 2 wheel transport being more dangerous is valid your simple maths argument is very reductive. In thailand those riding scooters are the least capable and the most unlikely to be qualified (licence). Compared to say UK,the 2 wheeled test to obtain a licence is extremely rigorous and not wearing a helmet is extremely rare (unlike commonplace in thailand) nor would it include any 200 baht plastic 'eggshells' from Tesco (cheap helmet for a cheap head). Not having a licence,and especially not wearing a helmet, would get you stopped and prosecuted very quickly. UK statistics that i last found indicated that motorcycle chance of fatality  was under 10x the rate vs car (not the 40x you quote)  and which is very low in itself (around 1700 fatalities per annum) for a similar sized population. So yes,it is orders of magnitude  more dangerous due to driver/rider attitude / behaviour here in Thailand .

[Thunglom]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Is this the start of the official build up to the Songkran carnage?

This is a myth - the road deaths at Songkhran are actually same or lower than the average daily norm

Edited March 20, 2022 by Thunglom

[Thunglom]

8 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Covid has little to no impact on road stats in 2022.

 

 

I've seen figures stating a 13% reduction - remember covid has lasted for nearly 3 years .

One would have some pretty complex analysis to go through to make sense of any changes though.

in some cases death rates might have gone up when collision went down

It may highlight the elephant in the room - the problem with emergency services .

Remember too that the death rate is only one set of relevant statistics. The reason it is so "popular" is that the media have clung to this one aspect.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Thunglom

[Mr Meeseeks]

13 hours ago, impulse said:

I doubt it's that much worse than the UK or especially the USA. 

I see far worse driving here and far more accidents involving four wheel vehicles here than I have ever seen in the UK or Australia.

 

My own experience doesn't lie.

[Ralf001]

9 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

I've seen figures stating a 13% reduction - remember covid has lasted for nearly 3 years .

One would have some pretty complex analysis to go through to make sense of any changes though.

in some cases death rates might have gone up when collision went down

It may highlight the elephant in the room - the problem with emergency services .

Remember too that the death rate is only one set of relevant statistics. The reason it is so "popular" is that the media have clung to this one aspect.

2020 and 2021 when there was inter provincial travel restrictions, sure I can see a reduction.

2022 though life is basically back to normal so no, for 2022 road deaths a reduction cannot be attributed to to covid.

[Thunglom]

3 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

2020 and 2021 when there was inter provincial travel restrictions, sure I can see a reduction.

2022 though life is basically back to normal so no, for 2022 road deaths a reduction cannot be attributed to to covid.

don't know where you are getting your information from but that

sounds like a rather subjective assessment - I'd suggest things are not back to normal by any means yet. For instance there are nearly 40 million visitors missing. Huge drops in workers in tourism and immigrant workers. However to understand any changes in figures one has to look at the figures and distinguish between correlation and causation. This is the main problem I see with people's understanding of road safety as a science in general.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Thunglom

[impulse]

6 hours ago, nchuckle said:

UK statistics that i last found indicated that motorcycle chance of fatality  was under 10x the rate vs car (not the 40x you quote)  and which is very low in itself (around 1700 fatalities per annum) for a similar sized population. So yes,it is orders of magnitude  more dangerous due to driver/rider attitude / behaviour here in Thailand .

Looks more like 50:1 in the UK, which doesn't speak highly of all that extra training and testing of UK scooter riders.  That's on the basis of passenger km driven, not on population, nor on vehicles registered.  Looks like those Brit scooter riders have a very poor attitude/ behaviour to be killed at a rate 50x higher than those with seat belts, a roof and lots of steel. 

 

Maybe they should take some lessons from Thai scooter guys, where appx 75% of the vehicles are scooters and appx 75% of the deaths are scooter related.  That seems pretty close to 1:1, if they both drive the same number of km.

 

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk-2020-data

 

 

 

Edit:  Of course, I'm being flippant about it, and way oversimplifying.  But my point is, what do you figure would happen to the UK traffic fatality rate if economic conditions forced 75% of the drivers onto scooters like in Thailand?  It would be catastrophic.  And not because of driver skill.  But because scooters are crazy dangerous just on statistics.

Edited March 20, 2022 by impulse

[impulse]

4 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I see far worse driving here and far more accidents involving four wheel vehicles here than I have ever seen in the UK or Australia.

 

My own experience doesn't lie.

Understood...  But your own experience would have to be added to the experience of millions of others to be a meaningful statistic.  Typically, deaths in developed nations are recorded per billion km.  That's a lot of driving.

 

I, too, have seen some absolutely crazy driving in Thailand.  But I also noticed that Thai drivers take it in stride and are much better at defensive driving to avoid getting killed by the crazies.  They have to be good at dodging crazies.   Or they don't last long.

 

But I contend that's due to lack of enforcement, not a paucity of skills.  My evidence for that is all the falang I've seen going native and driving like wild men, because they can get away with it.  Lack of enforcement, not lack of skill.

[impulse]

11 hours ago, nchuckle said:

While the  point about 2 wheel transport being more dangerous is valid your simple maths argument is very reductive.

Here’s the simple math, using UK gub’ment figures for 2020

 

UK had a total of 985 deaths, between cars and scooters in 2020.  I’m neglecting bicyclists, pedestrians, etc.

 

618 of those deaths were in cars, at a rate of 2 per billion miles, meaning there were 309 billion passenger miles by car. (618 / 2)

 

285 of those deaths were on scooters at a rate of 106 per billion miles, meaning there were 2.7 billion passenger miles by scooter.  (285 / 106)

 

Total passenger miles in the UK were 312 billion (309 + 2.7) , with less than 1% of them being by scooter.

 

If 75% of the UK were forced by economics to ride scooters (as in Thailand), 234 billion of those miles would be by scooter (312 x .75) and 78 billion miles would be by car (312 x .25)

 

At a fatality rate of 106 per billion miles, that would be 24,804 scooter deaths (234 x 106).  Add in 156 car deaths (78 x 2), for a total of 24,960 deaths if 75% of the UK miles were ridden on scooters instead of safely ensconced in a car.  That's a lot.

 

The linked article by the UK gub’ment goes into reasons those numbers are, as you indicated, “reductive”  But given the preponderance of scooters, Thailand really doesn’t do that bad per mile compared to the UK.  Which is about half as dangerous (per mile) as driving in the USA.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk-2020-data

 

 

BTW, I stand to be corrected on the simple math...

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by impulse

[Thunglom]

Thai roads are about 50/50 4-wheels to 2-wheels.

The highest percentage m/c ownership in Europe are Italy, Greece and Germany, nearly twice that of the USA.

 – all of which have much lower road death rates than the USA. For instance Germany’s death rates are 3.7 as opposed to 12.5 in the USA

In S.E. Asia Thailand and Vietnam have comparable m/c ownership but V/N has a lower death rate and notably lower car ownership. Malaysia and Indonesia have similar m/c ownership and lower death rates than Thailand.

 

The USA does not have a very good road safety record.

Just looking at the death rate alone it is 4 times that of UK and other EU countries. (6 times that of Sweden) and only a third of the death rate of Thailand.

 

What many of these posts ignore are the copious quantities of other statistics that are available in differing amounts from various sources. Mileage covered, vehicle ownership per 100k (this changes the perspective dramatically), traffic density etc. etc.

 

Picking out single anecdotal examples isn’t helpful either.

People love to cite single issues as if they have just discovered the “key” to solving the road safety problem in Thailand – in fact it is a public health problem that only a holistic approach can resolve. 

You hear people citing the same things over and over as if they are the solution and nobody had ever thought of it until now.

 

“Thais are bad drivers”

“police should do their job”

“wear a crash helmet”

“Don’t drive the wrong direction”

“Thai drivers don’t take a test or have a driving licence”

“drunk drivers”

 

These are not causes – they are symptoms.

 

 

“Thai drivers don’t take a test or have a driving licence”

Don’t over estimate the value of a test - Most foreign drivers over 50 had very mediocre tests themselves. Then after a test they build up their egos and claim “experience” has made them “superb” drivers – the truth is they’ve learned very little but have developed really bad driving habits. Making a big issue out of tests is failing to understand the big picture.

Testing is just part of one of the 5 pillars of road safety – that pillar is EDUCATION. This is an ongoing process – unfortunately most foreign critics of road safety in Thailand have neglected their own education preferring instead to rely on a self-satisfied smugness and belief in their own superiority. Thais receive very little ongoing education too. 

 

“wear a crash helmet”

Helmet laws: - without a doubt the wearing of a helmet would make a big difference, but one still has to look at WHY crashes in Thailand result in such a high death rate.

In the USA, it has been compulsory to wear a helmet since 1967 but now of all things, some states are thinking of repealing that law – how stupid can you get - Without a doubt the wearing of helmets would save lives – so long s you know what a helmet is designed to do. It is estimated helmets are about 37 percent effective in preventing fatalities. This then comes under the heading of enforcement (and Engineering)

 

 

Why so many motorbikes in Thailand?  - the history of the step-trough motorcycle.

The Honda cub- the original “step-through” motorcycle is the best-selling motor vehicle in history. (well over 100million bikes!)

It’s design formed the basis for virtually ALL motorcycles in South-Est Asia as well as many around the world.

Interestingly, it was designed to be driven one handed – having no hand operated clutch. It also has big wheels to handle poor roads.

In Thailand that design is still the mainstay of all motorcycles regardless of manufacturer. They are fully automatic and now about 100 to 125 cc. They are STILL designed to be driven one-handed. This is so the rider can carry loads etc in the free hand – and boy do they do that! Far from being “the least capable”, they are in general highly skilled at operating these bikes, but still very vulnerable. 

 

“Thais are bad drivers”

The big mistake when commenting on road safety is to blame “bad drivers” – Most Thai drivers are quite skilled – they are used to driving on Thai roads which is more than the average foreigner who feels they are in a position to criticise.

-  Foreign drivers in particular in Thailand often get overwhelmed by the unfamiliar traffic environment. This transmutes itself into criticism of other (native) drivers who seem far more comfortable on the roads. This quite often takes on a very aggressive and condescending nature.  Comments by foreigners on road safety in Thailand are mostly just derogatory. Rather than any critical thinking or research, people simply use either anecdotal evidence or personal observation e.g. false (or politician’s) syllogisms[1] that don’t make for a well thought out, sound argument

“The survey by Michelin North America found that the majority of Americans don’t trust other drivers and say they witness unsafe driving behaviour regularly. At the same time, an overwhelming majority - 81 percent - remain supremely confident in their own abilities behind the wheel.”

 

 

“police should do their job”

People say this without thinking it through. WHY don’t they “do their job”? – Well they do and they can’t! This comes under the pillar of ENFORCEMENT - They just don’t have the job most westerners envisage. For the police to “do their job”, you first need a complete reform of the police – a fully trained traffic division, eliminate corruption and setting up of court and legal system to deal with, penalise and chase up offenders. You would also have to redesign the roads themselves including markings and signage so that there is clear demarcation of where offences take place.

 

“drunk drivers”

This is a problem in all countries and it normally ranges from 20 to 40% of incidents involve alcohol. Thai is at the upper end of the scale but are by no means alone USA has 40% of deaths attributed to alcohol. This is alcohol  not people completely out of their mind – many foreign drivers think they are OK after driving with a “couple of pints” inside them – they are totally unaware of how little alcohol it takes to erode both reaction times and inhibitions

 

“Don’t drive the wrong direction”

This is the sort of thing cited by many foreigners and really shows a lack of understanding of the underlying culture of driving on Thai roads. A lot of is explained by the rules of the RIVER - next time you’re out driving, just keep repeating to yourself “I’m in a boat, I’m in a boat, I’m in a boat” and you may be pleasantly surprised to see how it all comes together!

The proposition that the Thai national psyche is orientated towards river transport is to me particularly appealing. It could indeed account for a lot of road traffic behaviour that seems to show an abundance of those characteristics. In towns it flows much more as if on water than on asphalt. Even out on the open road you can see behaviour that fits more with navigating a boat on a river than the western idea of driving a car. The sweeping lines taken around bend across the lanes of traffic, no sudden halts just gentle drifting out into mainstreams. Swinging into the current from a tributary (side road) - The contraflow traffic moving slowly alongside the bank (i.e. - hard shoulder or central reservation) sheltering from the oncoming current… moving off so slowly so as not to upset the load…and of course parking nose first - putting in the bow and hoping the stern will drift in round behind...all are perfect examples of how to handle a boat on a river. The Thai driver - anthropologically speaking at least - seems to be in a boat. 

 

If road safety is to be addressed in Thailand, the first thing needed is to understand what you are seeing, what is REALLY happening … only then can progress be made. Many safety organisations both Thai and international know what the problems are and have laid out ways to address them, but the Thai authorities are deaf to them all. 

Instead we hear the same ol’ same ol’ archaic blame games that are repeatedly rolled out on threads like this

 

 

 

[1]Politician’s syllogism: - All cats have four legs. My dog has four legs. Therefore, my dog is a cat.

 

[Thunglom]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

Here’s the simple math, using UK gub’ment figures for 2020

 

UK had a total of 985 deaths, between cars and scooters in 2020.  I’m neglecting bicyclists, pedestrians, etc.

 

618 of those deaths were in cars, at a rate of 2 per billion miles, meaning there were 309 billion passenger miles by car. (618 / 2)

 

285 of those deaths were on scooters at a rate of 106 per billion miles, meaning there were 2.7 billion passenger miles by scooter.  (285 / 106)

 

Total passenger miles in the UK were 312 billion (309 + 2.7) , with less than 1% of them being by scooter.

 

If 75% of the UK were forced by economics to ride scooters (as in Thailand), 234 billion of those miles would be by scooter (312 x .75) and 78 billion miles would be by car (312 x .25)

 

At a fatality rate of 106 per billion miles, that would be 24,804 scooter deaths (234 x 106).  Add in 156 car deaths (78 x 2), for a total of 24,960 deaths if 75% of the UK miles were ridden on scooters instead of safely ensconced in a car.  That's a lot.

 

The linked article by the UK gub’ment goes into reasons those numbers are, as you indicated, “reductive”  But given the preponderance of scooters, Thailand really doesn’t do that bad per mile compared to the UK.  Which is about half as dangerous (per mile) as driving in the USA.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-road-user-risk-2020-data

 

 

BTW, I stand to be corrected on the simple math...

 

I note you are not using deaths per 100k but per billion passenger miles travelled - these figures are not readily available for Thailand.

What I think this most importantly shows is the huge mass of information available in countries like UK and in the EU. In the UK every reported crash is calibrated to the last detail - speed, distances travleeled type of injury - fatal, serious or minor, road conditions, age of those involved etc etc....Thailand does nothing near this so are in a very poor position to act accordingly.

the data the above tables are compiled from is downloaded  HERE -  RAS40004

Edited March 20, 2022 by Thunglom

[Stygge]

In my home country of 10,5 m people we had 192 traffic related deaths last year.
Extract it a bit generously to Thailand and it would mean 1 400 deaths a year.
No matter how many wheels you count. The difference is significant.

[Thunglom]

3 hours ago, Stygge said:

In my home country of 10,5 m people we had 192 traffic related deaths last year.
Extract it a bit generously to Thailand and it would mean 1 400 deaths a year.
No matter how many wheels you count. The difference is significant.

so .... what do you think is the cause?

..and which country is that?

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Thunglom

[impulse]

5 hours ago, Thunglom said:

What I think this most importantly shows is the huge mass of information available in countries like UK and in the EU. In the UK every reported crash is calibrated to the last detail - speed, distances travleeled type of injury - fatal, serious or minor, road conditions, age of those involved etc etc....Thailand does nothing near this so are in a very poor position to act accordingly.

I agree with that.

 

But I think the most important takeaway is that throwing your leg over a scooter is 50x as dangerous (per mile) as fastening a seatbelt.  And though helmets are a good idea, you cross the safety Rubicon when you choose a 2 wheeler, not when you decide whether to put on a helmet or not.  Even with a helmet reducing your risk by 40%, it's still about 30x as dangerous as a car.

 

So I chuckle when I read scooter drivers bashing anyone for not wearing a helmet.

 

That's my recurring PSA, and if one rider reads that and decides to buy a car instead of a scooter, or even takes a taxi instead of a motosai, I chalk it up as a win.

Edited March 20, 2022 by impulse

[actonion]

On 3/19/2022 at 2:32 PM, Road Warrior said:

don't believe its a health problems  !!  the thai drivers  are  the problems 

I  believe its Mental health problems

[Stygge]

1 hour ago, Thunglom said:

so .... what do you think is the cause?

..and which country is that?

 

Sweden
Really about 20 factors that makes the difference. Non of them involving lucky amulets as sole protection.
But mostly because the government has a zero death vision. And because no one think destiny or a higher power decide these things. Our own behavior in traffic make the difference.