Thailand's Roads: The carnage continues as drunk piles into parked cars; "700 dead in June"

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Daily News - who have been running a campaign to raise awareness about the perils of the Thai roads for several years - reported 27 fatalities "at the scene" on Saturday. 

 

This brought the total to 700 deaths so far this month (June 1st to 18th) according to Dr Thaejing Siriphanich of the Thai Anti-Drink Driving Foundation. 

 

The number did not tally with Daily News' monthly figures. The media cautioned that the number was low due to multiple agencies not reporting the numbers at the weekend until Tuesday. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

The media reported that so far this year there have been 6,877 deaths. This compares to 6,909 in the same period last year.

 

To highlight awareness Daily News chose to mention a pick-up driven by a drunk driver that plowed into around half a dozen vehicles parked by the side of the road in Bang Plee, Samut Prakan, reported elsewhere on ASEAN NOW.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

ASEAN NOW notes that the country is once again heading for about 14,000 annual at the scene deaths.

 

The reality when fatalities on the way to and at hospitals are added the figure is well in excess of 20,000 per year.

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-06-20

 

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[Excel]

Is it me or is it just a misleading headline ? The way I read that is as if a drunk driver killed 700 people. 

[mikebell]

Meanwhile I spotted ONE policeman whilst driving round all weekend.

[harada]

I think they’ll blow 20000 deaths out of the water this year when the whacked out of their heads on ganga whilst driving numbers are added to the tally, I can feel a new hub coming on. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

The drunks are always killing behind the wheel. The meth heads pop their yaba and flip out with knives, slicing up half the village, their parents, and burning down their house.

 

But legalize weed? Whoa, whoa, WHOA! That's a dangerous drug there! We gotta think about this! What about the schools? THE CHILDREN?

[mrfill]

7 hours ago, Excel said:

Is it me or is it just a misleading headline ? The way I read that is as if a drunk driver killed 700 people. 

It's you. There's a semi-colon after 'cars' delimiting the phrases.

[RichardColeman]

Jeez, 700 ! So  far ? That's like 2 full planes crashing. If 2-3 jumbos were crashing on arrival here every month Thailand would become - and rightly so - a tourism pariah !

[Bangkok Barry]

16 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Jeez, 700 ! So  far ? That's like 2 full planes crashing. If 2-3 jumbos were crashing on arrival here every month Thailand would become - and rightly so - a tourism pariah !

Fortunately, Thais mostly kill only themselves. Mostly. And for that we should feel grateful and very, very lucky.

[bkk6060]

Very sad seems such a disregard for doing the right thing, obeying the rules and being respectful and careful on the roadways.    Just wait until the craziness and stupidity of the weed kicks in.  Very sad..  

[Excel]

3 hours ago, mrfill said:

It's you. There's a semi-colon after 'cars' delimiting the phrases.

Err, I said it as a joke

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The number did not tally with Daily News' monthly figures. The media cautioned that the number was low due to multiple agencies not reporting the numbers at the weekend until Tuesday.

The true numbers would shame the government for not caring a damn about the public.

[Excel]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The true numbers would shame the government for not caring a damn about the public.

You can not shame this crowd

[freedomnow]

13 hours ago, mikebell said:

Meanwhile I spotted ONE policeman whilst driving round all weekend.

They know it's safer off the roads....is why.

[BangkokReady]

14 hours ago, Excel said:

Is it me or is it just a misleading headline ? The way I read that is as if a drunk driver killed 700 people. 

What did it say before?  They appear to have updated it.  (Although there is now a semicolon where a colon should be.)

Edited June 20, 2022 by BangkokReady

[chalawaan]

11 hours ago, harada said:

I think they’ll blow 20000 deaths out of the water this year when the whacked out of their heads on ganga whilst driving numbers are added to the tally, I can feel a new hub coming on. 

A Netherlands study showed THC users to be more cautious (stoned paranoia many will recognise ????) on the roads than sober drivers. 

I avoid stoned driving because it "harshes the mellow" -and it is illegal! Alcohol creates unwarranted confidence, weed does the opposite.

Another reason why it is a better choice of altered state to be in recreationally.

As a further fun fact: On THC food tastes better, music is richer, and orgasms deeper too! 

Can't comment on the morons who will use multiple drugs and drive, but legal or not, these types do all that dumb stuff anyway. 

Don't they?

[cardinalblue]

Got a Canadian bicyclist the other day….

[worgeordie]

It's not just the 700 people dead , it affects their family's ,the places

where they worked , there's so much more to it , it's devastating ,and

nothing is really getting done about it , 

regards worgeordie

 

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmm, oh dear that is terrible, maybe someone should do something to stop the carnage?

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, Excel said:

Err, I said it as a joke

I think it is commendable you know little about colons!

[Excel]

45 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I think it is commendable you know little about colons!

No need to know too much as mine is working ok, just took a dump  ????

[chalawaan]

8 hours ago, worgeordie said:

It's not just the 700 people dead , it affects their family's ,the places

where they worked , there's so much more to it , it's devastating ,and

nothing is really getting done about it , 

regards worgeordie

 

It rarely impacts the elites.

When it does, it's usually when they, or one of their coked-up kids, cocooned in luxurious safety, wipes out some hapless yokel, but that's all sorted out in the usual "whatever it takes" way, and that is why nothing is done.

[peter zwart]

Guess its going to be a record year now we have the cannabis hype.

[Ralf001]

A reduction on past history daily average.

 

Keep up the good work Royal Thai Police, you are making a difference despite what the naysayers claim.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Ralf001

[HaoleBoy]

The reality when fatalities on the way to and at hospitals are added the figure is well in excess of 20,000 per year.

 

This sentence tells the real truth.

[piewarmer]

Spatial awareness is lacking in Thailand

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, Excel said:

No need to know too much as mine is working ok, just took a dump  ????

Too much information......

[Pattaya Spotter]

Be interested to know how many are driving motos vs. cars...I'd bet a large majority of deaths are from moto drivers/passengers.

[fulhamster]

On 6/20/2022 at 7:41 AM, mikebell said:

Meanwhile I spotted ONE policeman whilst driving round all weekend.

The rest were undercover????

[arithai12]

On 6/20/2022 at 4:49 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

Fortunately, Thais mostly kill only themselves. Mostly. And for that we should feel grateful and very, very lucky.

I am not sure. Only too often we read of deadly accidents involving foreigners, such as the unfortunate canadian cyclist yesterday.

 

e.g., if I read today's numbers:

 Road accident report 20/6/2022  55 deaths and 3,222 injuries  85% of deaths were motorcyclists  1 child died  2 foreigners died  1 pedestrian died

 

We have to scale things by the number foreigners/Thais, which is of course not 50/50.

2 foreigners out of 55 is ~4%, which compared to the number of foreigners on the road is not just "mostly Thais". But of course this is just one day, someone more perseverant than me might dig out more solid statistics.

[Artisi]

On 6/20/2022 at 10:41 AM, mikebell said:

Meanwhile I spotted ONE policeman whilst driving round all weekend.

Think you can count yourself lucky, most people didn't see any ????????????