Save The Children Urges Action on Child Road Deaths in Thailand

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, stix40 said:

Well it's not surprising at all 

As soon as you step from the pavement onto the road 

You are fair game ! 

Thai drivers / riders don't like to stop or wait !

Head protection on motor bikes normally consists of 

Supermarket plastic shopping bags or straw hats

Children are balanced precaresly on the handle bars 

Whilst a case of beer or live animals are securely fastened to rider 

And rear lights are obviously an expensive option so not included in the bike purchase 

 

As general observations - 100% agree with all of them !!...  

 

Many fantastic things here...  but safety is most definitely one of them.

 

 

As you pointed out - Crossing the road. 

Remember the Dr who was killed crossing the road in Jan 2022..  There was lots of talk, lots of announcements, lots of talk of enforcing the rules... they even painted a couple of padestrian crossings with a fresh lick of paint...

... Cross a road today and as you highlighted - as soon as we step onto a road we are 'fair game' *i.e. almost a target !!...

In truth nothing was done to improve pedestrian safety and the reality of that truth is that nothing was don't because not enough important people (people of decision making power) cared enough to make the efforts to effect change. 

 

... Thailand - Apathy here is great...  it means life is chilled but that double edged sword means the same levels of apathy result in carelessness and ultimately needless deaths. 

[Purdey]

Every week while cycling, someone stops dead in front of me or does a U-turn on the one-way track. Last week I just missed banging into the back of a high school girl who just stopped suddenly in the middle. I told her she was an idiot, and her friend said, "Why did you call her an idiot?"

That's why they will die faster than most.

[Iron Tongue]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Save the Children is advocating for immediate and sustained action, urging both public and private sectors to take responsibility for creating a safer environment for Thailand's youth.

Unfortunately, just useless blather as there is never enough traction for real changes, which would require a nation-wide change of attitude and a multi-year campaign of education with actual enforcement of traffic laws.

Save the Children will hopefully get lots of airtime, plenty of donations while this gets swept under the rug when the "next emergency" comes along.

 

I have gotten cynical.

[Dan O]

3 hours ago, SbuxPlease said:

Every now an then (evidently 26,930 times in the past 10 years), regular Thai families get a swift yet life altering punch to the gut to remind them that their regulators aren't regulating. I wonder if someday they will have had enough.

The sad part is the tragic events are not life altering for most of the families only the victims. The families go on after a few days like its no big deal, it was their karma. Never changing their actions or push for changes.  

[Andycoops]

Sadly nothing will be done because it just goes on and on and on and the government, police do absolutely <deleted> all, as with the 50 plus a day deaths on the roads as a whole, that figure doesn't include the sad loss of life after the accident in hospital.

[SbuxPlease]

38 minutes ago, Dan O said:

The sad part is the tragic events are not life altering for most of the families only the victims. The families go on after a few days like its no big deal, it was their karma. Never changing their actions or push for changes.  

 

I guess... c’est la vie. If the average Thai family isn't too worried in the first place, that more than explains the current state of affairs. We do spend a awful amount of resources and emotion in the west trying to preserve life.

 

[eastlight]

4 hours ago, ronster said:

What do you expect when you have kids 6 year old and up going around with friends on the back of scooters . None of who are wearing a helmet or have a licence.

Yet the police will ignore them as if invisible , but no problem pulling a non Thai over for no helmet to extract a monetary on the spot fine which ends up God knows where !!!

Scooters?

[eastlight]

3 hours ago, ukalan said:

Obviously, a touchy subject in this country and has like most most have pointed out.

his heartbreaking and it’s a child that has to die due to the lack of instruction and safety aspects. I’ve been out on the road from riding a scooter to school with no helmet and no tuition in how to handle a road situation. Many times have I seen children riding scooters with a lack of awareness around them. I want some poor soul that kills a child is on their conscience for the rest of their life, even though it wasn’t their fault.
It’s just a shame that they don’t teach the kids from an early age in the schools proper road safety and learning to ride scooters safely

An approval that the children are gonna be riding scooters at an early age, so they catch them at an early age and teach themso they have a longer life. 

Scooters?

[brewsterbudgen]

It won't change over night, but maybe will in 20-30 years. 🤞

[dinsdale]

Not everyone here can afford cars. Chances are that if this lot were involved in a crash the outcome wouldn't be rosy and the chances also are that the crash was caused by an idiot in a car. Makes me cringe when I see this sort of thing. Toddlers standing up between the rider and the pillion. Ah! It's horrifying but it's also daily life in TIT.

[fredwiggy]

5 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Not everyone here can afford cars. Chances are that if this lot were involved in a crash the outcome wouldn't be rosy and the chances also are that the crash was caused by an idiot in a car. Makes me cringe when I see this sort of thing. Toddlers standing up between the rider and the pillion. Ah! It's horrifying but it's also daily life in TIT.

Yes, many cannot afford a car, but doing this shows no consideration for the lives of their children whatsoever. There are usually people who can watch the children when you go shopping or run errands. Many leave their kids with grandma anyway, some up to 100% of the time, so there should be someone available to watch the small kids so they don't have to endure this unsafe scenario.

[johng]

2 hours ago, Purdey said:

"Why did you call her an idiot?"

Because I'm not a mind reader ? 

Unfortunately  you kinda have to be a mind reader  on the roads

at the very least expect the most stupid action you could think of to to happen right in front of you and adjust accordingly...yes its difficult and very tiring constantly trying to compensate for the idiocy.

[NorthernRyland]

25 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Not everyone here can afford cars. Chances are that if this lot were involved in a crash the outcome wouldn't be rosy and the chances also are that the crash was caused by an idiot in a car. Makes me cringe when I see this sort of thing. Toddlers standing up between the rider and the pillion. Ah! It's horrifying but it's also daily life in TIT.

that may look bad but he probably has a really big magic amulet so I wouldn't worry too much.

[dinsdale]

27 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Yes, many cannot afford a car, but doing this shows no consideration for the lives of their children whatsoever. There are usually people who can watch the children when you go shopping or run errands. Many leave their kids with grandma anyway, some up to 100% of the time, so there should be someone available to watch the small kids so they don't have to endure this unsafe scenario.

As I said TIT.

[ronster]

1 hour ago, eastlight said:

Scooters?

Mopeds , motorcycle .

[DogNo1]

People in Thailand drive the same way that they walk - without any regard for others.  

[johng]

12 minutes ago, DogNo1 said:

without any regard for others.

unfortunately mostly true...there are quite a few awake  but not quite enough.

[4MyEgo]

Life's worth nothing in Thailand, it's all about the money, money, money.

[connda]

Save the Children Thailand has issued an urgent plea for action after revealing that one in three child deaths in Thailand are caused by road accidents. Over the past decade, more than 26,930 children have tragically died in road crashes, highlighting the severity of the problem.

 

And ya'll have just figured that out now.  The roads are a horror show primary because most Thais don't have any driving skills that you'd normally find in Western nations.

[lordgrinz]

19 minutes ago, connda said:

Save the Children Thailand has issued an urgent plea for action after revealing that one in three child deaths in Thailand are caused by road accidents. Over the past decade, more than 26,930 children have tragically died in road crashes, highlighting the severity of the problem.

 

And ya'll have just figured that out now.  The roads are a horror show primary because most Thais don't have any driving skills that you'd normally find in Western nations.

 

The fact that there isn't even a proper road test to get a driver's license, says all you need know. 

[BangkokReady]

"Save The Children call on the Thai people to fundamentally change everything about themselves and their culture from top to bottom, for the sake of their children..."

[spidermike007]

Other than the speed traps, when was the last time you've actually seen somebody being pulled over for a moving violation such as illegal lane change or reckless driving?

 

It just never happens. Why? The police are lazy, and the highway patrol are utterly useless. The government talks about safety only after these kind of tragedies happen, but they don't care one iota about the well-being of the common people. 

[connda]

42 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Other than the speed traps, when was the last time you've actually seen somebody being pulled over for a moving violation such as illegal lane change or reckless driving?

In 17+ years driving here?  Never...ever.

[connda]

45 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

the highway patrol are utterly useless.

No no no no no.  They have their place.  They escort Special People in motorcades with their lights flashing and horns blaring if you don't move aside like a good commoner and let the Special People though.  Other than that?  They man road blocks. Big whoop.

 

 

[WHansen]

10 hours ago, eastlight said:

Scooters?

Well done, you managed to spell scooters correctly twice in a row. Gold star for you.

[Freddy42OZ]

When you consider the risks facing Thailand because of low birth rates, to have such large numbers of the children getting killed each year is an even bigger problem. 
I wonder how many pregnant Thai women get injured or killed each year and what number of potential births are lost in that way.

There's not much point trying to solve the low birth rate issue if you can't keep children alive!

 

 

[john donson]

thai people are ok with open corruption

 

this is one of the consequences...

[Jerry777]

So if I donate money to 'save the kids' they will clean up the roads and save all the children? NGO's make me puke

[BadSpottedDog]

There are SO many things to be changed to prevent child road deaths! But I will say that no matter how many rules and regulations you put forth, NONE of it will matter unless the police actively enforce the laws and policies! During the entire decade I've lived here, I have not once seen an officer pull someone over (unless at a checkpoint). I have heard that a few people have seen them pull people over in Pattaya and Phuket, but never seen it myself.

We all see the families on a motorbike with kids, and talking on cell phones at the same time. Or the kids riding motorbikes that can't be older than 10. They can even drive right past police, and the cops do nothing. We see people driving lorries or other vehicles at top speed passing every car. We've also seen vehicles pull out into traffic without even looking. We've also seen vehicles overtaking on blind curves or hills. And let's not forget that (to my knowledge), there is only one training video required to get a license, and the people who are supposed to be watching it are sleeping or on their cell phones.

So, no proper training and no active enforcement spells disaster.

[paulikens]

If you talk to any Thai they all think they're brilliant drivers and everyone else is a terrible driver that's the worrying thing.  I know most drivers will think that to a degree but not to the level of arrogance they do. and also the stats prove their a nation of terrible drivers. If they ever wake up to that fact, Then maybe road safety will approve until that day,  The horrendous death toll on Thai roads will carry on.