2 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

As usual, these are only the numbers for people who die at the scene,

 

This gets stated over and over but is untrue. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12467 For example tells us the 66.1% of the recorded road toll is at the scene.

 

The numbers are horrific and indefensible enough without mis-truth clouding them. 

 

This new government (if it can be called one) is making all sorts of improve-Thailand noises but horrors like this are off their collective radar. They simply don’t care because most of those dying are not deemed valuable to this feudal society. 

Perhaps bounties should be introduced and given directly to the policeman who apprehends these drunks driving motorcycles and cars. How about giving a bonus of 10,000 baht cash paid to any officer who arrests and successfully prosecutes a drunk driver.Note that I picked the amount out of the air, but I understand from 'friends' who regularly drive drunk that a 5000 baht 'donation' to the cop who stops you, gets you off the charge. So it would pay cops to prosecute and/or force up the costs to the drunk. Also impound the vehicles. 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Director-General Dr. Thongchai Keeratihatthayakorn said there were 419 accidents, 422 injuries and 62 deaths yesterday, the first day of the New Year.

 

The main cause of accidents was speeding, 39.14%, followed by drink driving, 30.55%.

 

It was motorcycles that were involved in most accidents, totalling 86.51%.

So of the 419 accidents, 86% were motorcyclists (= 360), probably speeding DUE TO excessive alcohol. How many of those accidents were on main highways....people going up t'North to visit their families for N Year?

That leaves 59 accidents involving non-motorcyclists.

21 minutes ago, retarius said:

He doesn't say, they were killed on the roads.....read it more carefully and the stats may refer to drug/alcohol overdoses. 

This is a thread about road deaths. And even including deaths by other means over that period is total nonsense.

 

Roadside stops and fines don't stop the carnage but it would dramatically reduce them if

the police were active between the hours

8pm - 5am, when most abusers flaunt the rules!

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand reports 128 deaths on roads in first 3 days of New Year holiday

By Peter Roche

 

STOCK PHOTO: 77kaoded

What used to be known as the Seven Days of Danger has been “rebranded” to become “Seven Days for Campaigning for Safe Driving”. However, while the word “danger” may have been removed from the name, it’s still very much a factor on Thailand’s roads.

 

The annual Christmas and new year break is second most dangerous time on Thai roads, second only to Songkran, the Thai new year.

 

So far, 3 days in to the end-of-year holiday period, a total of 128 people have died in road traffic accidents. On day 3, there were 51 deaths and 416 people injured, in 424 accidents nationwide.

 

Full story: PhuketGO 2024-01-02

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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a couple of thoughts

 

1.  what is the punishment or what happens when you re stopped is there a breathalyzer asnd if you blow over what do the poice do ( I am not talking about brown envelopes)

 

2.  To me it seems just as the people that lose theirl ives by living in dried river beds during monsoon season in India and Pakistan Songkran and NYE are Darwins way of controlling population and removing those of a lesser IQ.  Drinking and driving, drinking and driving on a motorcycle and of course drinking and driving on a motorcycle at high speed with no helmet.

 

The only way people are going to learn is if there are paddy wagons at the check points and people are actually arrested and taken to jail.  Let's face it taking away a licence is not going to stop people here anymore than it stops people in NA.  

 

Drunks are going to drink and drunks if they have a vehicle are going to drive.  The only deterrent is jail time and monitoring.

8 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

a couple of thoughts

 

1.  what is the punishment or what happens when you re stopped is there a breathalyzer asnd if you blow over what do the poice do ( I am not talking about brown envelopes)

 

2.  To me it seems just as the people that lose theirl ives by living in dried river beds during monsoon season in India and Pakistan Songkran and NYE are Darwins way of controlling population and removing those of a lesser IQ.  Drinking and driving, drinking and driving on a motorcycle and of course drinking and driving on a motorcycle at high speed with no helmet.

 

The only way people are going to learn is if there are paddy wagons at the check points and people are actually arrested and taken to jail.  Let's face it taking away a licence is not going to stop people here anymore than it stops people in NA.  

 

Drunks are going to drink and drunks if they have a vehicle are going to drive.  The only deterrent is jail time and monitoring.

I can only speak for Phuket, people do get arrested and banged up, the police had quite a few check points around, Last year I know a guy (Thai) got stopped one night in Chalong he was over the limit he had a choice pay 40,000 baht at the roadside or go to jail and court in the morning, he said he will go to court in the morning, he got fined 5000 baht, 

When a nation has a highway patrol that adamantly refuses to patrol the highways, and instead hangs out in air conditioned booths playing cards and playing with their phones, this is what happens. There is no such thing as a deterrent in Thailand, everybody knows they can drive however they want to drive without any risk of getting pulled over or losing their license or suffering any consequences. Unless and until this nation gets the highway patrol to actually perform their task at hand, this will continue. The highway patrol here are the deplorables.

4 hours ago, Elkski said:

Great for tourism.   

Won't make any difference to tourism,  mainly because the vast majority don't drive here,  It certainly hasn't stopped anyone posting on here from coming either has it.  I can't believe there are many people who compare road safety statistics when planning a holiday.

I don’t get it the cops here sitting in the tent, playing their phones, watch TV, eating, drink or whatever maybe they should be out patrolling in force and pulling over the people that look like they’re driving erratically or if they’re speeding pull them over and talk to him or give me a ticket and said they just sit at 10 each year after year well, good is sitting in a tent to TIT 

Off topic posts and replies about the road deaths in the UK contravening our Community Standards have been removed as this topic is about:

 

In Total 2,864 Drunk Driving Cases Reported in 3 Days of Thailands New Year 7 Days Road Safety Campaign

Rebranded the way you days to a catchier name won't help. Blocking off many U-turns over the holidays only caused more delays. 

 

Fundamentally many Thai can not drive. They have zero clue about mass x acceleration. They find out when they kill someone. 

 

Police are nearly useless. They rarely punish the guilty. Everyone smiles and waves. It's pathetic 

The mind boggles!  Next to this news was the headline ' Government to cut Alcohol Tax to encourage Tourism etc etc'

On 1/2/2024 at 1:27 PM, KhunBENQ said:

northeastern escape route #2.

Traveling the Mittihap highway during holidays or weekends is always a struggle.  You've got only two lanes with slow trucks and breakdowns.  Exhausting! 

 

 

Mostly drunk motorbike riders.

How big is the chance you will be stopped in or just outside your village?

Practically zero!

There is no way the police can patrol all of the roads in Thailand and people know it!

Plus the fact that numerous people never ever have been stopped will give you the idea of Mai pen rai.

 

6 hours ago, kennw said:

How many of the deaths were motor cyclists, what percentage. And what percentage of the drunks were motor bikes/cars etc

Surely a lot of them are underage school kids, now ask yourself this, why do you hardly ever read of motorbike road deaths involving underage school kids? There has got to

be a reason. Is it the embarrassment and loss of face of the authorities who don't seem to want to do anything about it? Punishing the parents perhaps?

No improvement on the number of deaths or accidents yearly just increases

No preventative measures are enforced police wise

Tougher sentences to deter people 

Ie speeding alcohol influenced accidents usual motives 

 

4 hours ago, dallen52 said:

40 a day.

About same same as every day. 

 

Its just not publicised on other days.

Never sounds that "staggering" to me, especially when considering the number of untrained, unhelmeted motorcyclists on the road. I really would expect it to be a lot higher.   So on the whole I don't think they are doing too  badly  at all. 

13 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Surely a lot of them are underage school kids, now ask yourself this, why do you hardly ever read of motorbike road deaths involving underage school kids? There has got to

be a reason. Is it the embarrassment and loss of face of the authorities who don't seem to want to do anything about it? Punishing the parents perhaps?

 

Won't work , you can never find the parents.

As they just dump,  little Somchai off on grandma and grandpa.

who do absolutely nothing to bring the kids up correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Won't work , you can never find the parents.

As they just dump,  little Somchai off on grandma and grandpa.

who do absolutely nothing to bring the kids up correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do see your point there.

The reason is very simple.

Thailand only strlctly enforces laws against foreigners.

When it come to the own people, they are not really straight.

If they would enforce the traffic laws strictly, then the traffic fatallties would be less.

E g. Look at all the motorcylists. Always counterfloor driving, always on the sidewalk, only a few wear a helmet.

Cars always speeding and cross double lines.

If they would have traffic cameras which automaticly send a ticket, they they would drive more carefully.

The best would be,  if Thailand established a traffic law as in Danmark.

The have an "idiotic driving" law. If the tempo limit if more than the double... 

The car will be confiscated right away.

 

Thailand will never improve.

 

6 minutes ago, quake said:

 

Won't work , you can never find the parents.

As they just dump,  little Somchai off on grandma and grandpa.

who do absolutely nothing to bring the kids up correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underage kids driving motorcycles isn't the real issue, Not out in the sticks   I see it in the villages every day kids as young as 6 or 7 riding to school on  motorcycles, I know its not ideal but the ones I see  ride reasonably slowly and carefully,  That all changes when they  reach adolescence, and that can last for 30 years or more in Thailand 

 The reason the police don't bother the kids, is that  the age of criminal responsibility  is 15, no point looking at the parents as they  will just say the kid stole the bike, and the kid will agree.   

10 minutes ago, SuwadeeS said:

The reason is very simple.

Thailand only strlctly enforces laws against foreigners.

When it come to the own people, they are not really straight.

If they would enforce the traffic laws strictly, then the traffic fatallties would be less.

E g. Look at all the motorcylists. Always counterfloor driving, always on the sidewalk, only a few wear a helmet.

Cars always speeding and cross double lines.

If they would have traffic cameras which automaticly send a ticket, they they would drive more carefully.

The best would be,  if Thailand established a traffic law as in Danmark.

The have an "idiotic driving" law. If the tempo limit if more than the double... 

The car will be confiscated right away.

 

Thailand will never improve.

 

I would rather it stays as it is,  If I want to experience Danish driving  conditions I would move there

5 hours ago, keithkarmann said:

Nothing ever changes, what a wasted post, nobody ever listens.

 

And it's not, primarily, those on here who need to listen.

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

When a nation has a highway patrol that adamantly refuses to patrol the highways, and instead hangs out in air conditioned booths playing cards and playing with their phones, this is what happens

                      Well I'm not sure where you come from but I can assure you the "highway police" ( I'm assuming you mean those in maroon and yellow cars)where I live  are kept very busy, and despite there only being a few of them, they endeavour to  provide a first class service at least during daylight hours, 

                     However the service they seem to provide is mainly  that of a police escort assisting and escorting the motorcades of  the various VIP's to the casino  just over the border,  On the way back they sometimes  provide a similar service to Cambodian VIP's visiting the Private hospital in Surin or "Big C"      Its amazing how they find  the time  

36 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Underage kids driving motorcycles isn't the real issue, Not out in the sticks   I see it in the villages every day kids as young as 6 or 7 riding to school on  motorcycles, I know its not ideal but the ones I see  ride reasonably slowly and carefully, 

 

I never said it was.

Some kids do ride reasonably good and some do not.

 

My father in-law,  is missing one leg, incontinent and brain damaged. a total basket case now.

very hard to look after him, his also violent, just for good measure.

A 14 year old girl on a mother bike and side car rig,  hit him from behind,  when he was stationary in the road waiting to turn into his home.  family helped with hospital costs, but that was the end of it.

She has never been to see him in 8 years, from when it happened.

This was in the sticks.

She has destroyed this family.

Kids on bikes. how sad it all can be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, RcMatts said:

Nothing shocking about it. It's was expected. There is no enforcement at all. 90% of road users are without proper driving and riding licence. They don't even actually know the traffic rules as they never sit for the driving test in the first place! 

"...........they never sit for the driving test in the first place!"

 

Even if they did, the driving "Test" is an absolute farce anyway! 

Hmmm… i suggest what is shocking is the total lack of concern by anyone in Thailand to change this

2 hours ago, quake said:

 

I never said it was.

Some kids do ride reasonably good and some do not.

 

My father in-law,  is missing one leg, incontinent and brain damaged. a total basket case now.

very hard to look after him, his also violent, just for good measure.

A 14 year old girl on a mother bike and side car rig,  hit him from behind,  when he was stationary in the road waiting to turn into his home.  family helped with hospital costs, but that was the end of it.

She has never been to see him in 8 years, from when it happened.

This was in the sticks.

She has destroyed this family.

Kids on bikes. how sad it all can be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't mean to imply that you did, I was commenting based on what I have seen,  and as I said in my comment (  the part you didn't quote)  the problems really begin with the onset of adolescence.  Events like that are always tragic, no matter who is responsible.  

It worked well again the attention or telling everyone be careful for the next 7 days.same total as years before