Road Safety in Thailand – a summary of Perceptions and Reality

[kwilco]

I've studied road safety world over and over 20 years in Thailand. I'm amazed by the ignorance and rubbish written in the social madia about driving in Thailand

 

Just because you can drive doesn't make you an "expert" on road safety..........

Thailand has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world, with around 25,000 deaths annually. The public and government responses to road safety issues are often misguided, focusing on blaming "bad drivers" rather than addressing systemic failures.

 

Road Safety and Media Reporting

The media often reports crashes as isolated incidents rather than as part of a larger public health crisis.

Comprehensive road safety strategies, including better data collection and analysis, are lacking in Thailand.

International organizations have provided recommendations, but these are often ignored.

 

Common Misconceptions and Cognitive Biases

Confirmation Bias: People tend to focus on evidence that supports their existing beliefs about Thai drivers being reckless.

Cognitive Dissonance: Many fail to accept new information that contradicts their assumptions about road safety.

Many foreigners perceive Thai drivers as incompetent, but the real issue is inadequate enforcement of laws and poor road infrastructure.

 

Key Causes of Road Accidents

Speeding: Higher speeds significantly increase crash severity.

Drink-Driving: A major contributor, with Thailand’s rate among the highest in the world.

Lack of Helmet Use: Over 75% of road deaths involve motorcyclists, often due to non-compliance with helmet laws.

Distracted Driving: e.g - The rise of mobile phone use has worsened the problem.

Unsafe Infrastructure: Poor road design and lack of pedestrian safety measures.

Inadequate Law Enforcement: Existing traffic laws are weakly enforced, often due to corruption.

 

Statistical Issues

Thai crash statistics are inconsistent and unreliable.

The Thai police primarily record deaths at the scene but fail to track later fatalities and injuries.

WHO data suggests Thailand has a road fatality rate of 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people, one of the worst globally.

 

Driving Culture in Thailand

Traffic norms in Thailand differ from Western countries.

Drivers often don’t use indicators and have an unusual codes and styles of driving, making defensive driving crucial for newcomers.

Road social hierarchies exist, with wealthier individuals facing fewer consequences in traffic incidents.

Don't overlook the historical influence of river traffic either!

 

Legal and Enforcement Challenges

Corruption among law enforcement makes proper road policing ineffective.

Many traffic stops are aimed at collecting bribes rather than enforcing safety.

Legal fines are often negotiable on the spot.

 

Potential Solutions: The Safe System Approach

Education: Public awareness campaigns on safe driving.

Enforcement: Stricter implementation of traffic laws.

Engineering: Improved road and vehicle safety standards.

Emergency Response: Faster and more efficient post-crash care.

Evaluation: Data-driven policy-making.

 

 

 

Thailand needs a systemic shift in road safety management. Road safety is a public Health issue. Instead of blaming individual drivers, authorities must focus on structural changes, stricter law enforcement, and improved road design. Implementing proven international strategies like Sweden’s “Vision Zero” could significantly reduce fatalities. Until such reforms take place, Thailand’s roads will remain among the deadliest in the world.

[scubascuba3]

7 hours ago, kwilco said:

People tend to focus on evidence that supports their existing beliefs about Thai drivers being reckless.

They are reckless:

 

Drunk driving

No helmet

Pulling out without looking

Not indicating

Not proper training

Too fast

Too slow

On the phone

Not using mirrors

Motorbikes overloaded

etc

[kwilco]

40 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

They are reckless:

 

Drunk driving

No helmet

Pulling out without looking

Not indicating

Not proper training

Too fast

Too slow

On the phone

Not using mirrors

Motorbikes overloaded

etc

"they" -???

 

 that's exactly the racist rubbish that impedes any progress in understanding road safety in Thailand

When you make a sweeping generalizations like “they are all reckless” or list complaints using "they", you need to define  Who ”they” is - Are you saying every single Thai driver does this?”
Do you think all Thai drivers fit this stereotype. - Road safety issues exist everywhere, and different factors contribute to them, like infrastructure, enforcement, and driving culture. But saying ‘all Thai drivers’ ignores responsible drivers and improvements being made.

“Driving habits vary across countries due to road conditions, enforcement, and training. Instead of blaming all Thai drivers, maybe we should look at the driving education system or road safety laws.”

When you see one bad driver in Thailand, do you assume all Thais drive that way? Would you say the same if you saw a reckless driver in your own country?” You seem unaware of the reality of statistics of driving a car in Thailand compared to other countries

 “If road safety is a concern, what do you think would help improve it? Playing the blame game clearly doesn’t.

What do you suggest – I expect you have a single issue tht you b;eive will provide the answer?

“Yes, road safety is a major public health issue in Thailand like in many other places. But generalizing all Thai drivers as reckless isn’t accurate or fair.

  

[hotsun]

If thai people think something is wrong then maybe things could change. I dont think many of them think theres anything wrong with the way things are. Since vehicles were introduced here its always been like this 

[kwilco]

10 minutes ago, hotsun said:

If thai people think something is wrong then maybe things could change. I dont think many of them think theres anything wrong with the way things are. Since vehicles were introduced here its always been like this 

Actually I think they do - but road safety doesn't work like that - it requires the authorities to take the right kind of action - if you look at countries with good road Safety stats, you realise that the populations have no idea what has been done - they all labour under the misapprehension that they are superb drivers, when in fact it is the road safety system that has protected them against themselves.

[scubascuba3]

24 minutes ago, kwilco said:

"they" -???

 

 that's exactly the racist rubbish that impedes any progress in understanding road safety in Thailand

When you make a sweeping generalizations like “they are all reckless” or list complaints using "they", you need to define  Who ”they” is - Are you saying every single Thai driver does this?”
Do you think all Thai drivers fit this stereotype. - Road safety issues exist everywhere, and different factors contribute to them, like infrastructure, enforcement, and driving culture. But saying ‘all Thai drivers’ ignores responsible drivers and improvements being made.

“Driving habits vary across countries due to road conditions, enforcement, and training. Instead of blaming all Thai drivers, maybe we should look at the driving education system or road safety laws.”

When you see one bad driver in Thailand, do you assume all Thais drive that way? Would you say the same if you saw a reckless driver in your own country?” You seem unaware of the reality of statistics of driving a car in Thailand compared to other countries

 “If road safety is a concern, what do you think would help improve it? Playing the blame game clearly doesn’t.

What do you suggest – I expect you have a single issue tht you b;eive will provide the answer?

“Yes, road safety is a major public health issue in Thailand like in many other places. But generalizing all Thai drivers as reckless isn’t accurate or fair.

  

Ignorance is bliss with you, everyone knows people see the list above day in day out.

 

How many km a year do you drive or ride here? i do about 25k km so i see a lot

[kwilco]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

Ignorance is bliss with you, everyone knows people see the list above day in day out.

 

How many km a year do you drive or ride here? i do about 25k km so i see a lot

over 20 years I've averaged between 30 and 40 km per annum - but more importantly I have a knowledge of road safety and am able to critically analyse what I see. 

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

They are reckless:

 

Drunk driving

No helmet

Pulling out without looking

Not indicating

Not proper training

Too fast

Too slow

On the phone

Not using mirrors

Motorbikes overloaded

etc

 

6 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Ignorance is bliss with you, everyone knows people see the list above day in day out.

 

How many km a year do you drive or ride here? i do about 25k km so i see a lot

 

The blame game you use is an archaic, racist way of looking at road safety and an obstacle to both understanding and progress….and you list is just a litany of prejudices that are not even confined to Thailand.

Expats in particular are prone to racist stereotyping of Thai people when it comes to road safety and driving abilities.

 

They frequently use  “they” in racist diatribes as  a simplistic linguistic tool to reinforce “othering”, generalization, and stereotyping. By employing they as a third-person plural pronoun, you  create a psychological and rhetorical distance between yourself or your in-group and the group you are targeting. I.e – the native inhabitants of the country they have settled in.

Basically you are using “they” to refer to a racial or ethnic group can strip individuals of their unique identities, reducing them to a monolithic, faceless collective. This makes it easier to promote stereotypes and justify discriminatory attitudes.

Example: "They are  all reckless drivers”
 

 This falsely implies a homogeneous group acting with a singular intent, ignoring individual agency and complexities of road safety.

 

Using broad generalizations & stereotyping is used to make sweeping, unfounded claims about an entire racial or ethnic group, reinforcing stereotypes and biases.

Example: "it’s THEIR culture”

When it comes to road safety, people can’t resist falling into a baseless and pointless blame game…blaming and scapegoating hides their own ignorance and diverts from the real issues.

 

Road safety is a public health issue, but those who don’t understand this  love to use the pronoun they to attribute societal issues (crime, unemployment, cultural change) to a specific racial group, shifting blame and avoiding systemic analysis from themselves.

Example: "They have no manners."
 

Because expats find driving in Thailand difficult to acclimatise to there is a tendency amongst some to resort to fear-mongering and cynicism to hide their ignorance and distress…… they is used in an accusatory way to create a sense of us-vs-them, heightening fear and tension between groups.

“We are superb drivers, they are all bad”
 

This is a core narrative in many opinions expressed on road safety in these threads  to stoke fear and resentment and promulgate the impression that the person expressing this is superior to Thai people.

 

Some speakers may avoid explicitly racist language but still use they to imply racialized meanings that their audience understands.

E.g - :"They don’t drive as well as we do."
 

Road users in Thailand consist of diverse individuals with different behaviours, beliefs, and experiences.

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

They are reckless:

 

Drunk driving

No helmet

Pulling out without looking

Not indicating

Not proper training

Too fast

Too slow

On the phone

Not using mirrors

Motorbikes overloaded

etc

basically this is the rubbish I was referring to - “Blaming ‘reckless Thai drivers’ is just a lazy stereotype. Road safety is a complex issue tied to infrastructure, enforcement, and education—not some national character flaw. If you actually care about solutions, look at the Safe System approach instead of making sweeping, unhelpful generalizations.”

[gargamon]

19 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Ignorance is bliss with you, everyone knows people see the list above day in day out.

 

How many km a year do you drive or ride here? i do about 25k km so i see a lot

Your ignorance is bliss (for you anyway). I've driven extensively in Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam. They are all about the same in driving quality. People who say Thais are the worst in the world generally have only driven in their home country and Thailand.

[MangoKorat]

There is no need for long explanations of what makes Thailand's roads so dangerous. The country does have quite stringent rules about driving standards.  5 words are all that's needed to identify the biggest danger by far - a complete lack of enforcement.

[impulse]

It's difficult to do an actual analysis of Thai road safety without a breakdown of fatalities per km driven, broken out by 4 wheel and 2 wheel fatalities.  Not fatalities per capita.  That's meaningless in some countries that have a lot of people and virtually no motorized vehicles.  It's also meaningless comparing Thailand's numbers to countries where 99% of the vehicles have a ton of steel and seat belts. I shudder to think of what the USA's number would be if the vast majority of Americans were on scooters.  Or Brits, or Aussies, or Kiwis, or...

 

I think a lot of Thailand's bad numbers are because of the economics that put so many Thai drivers on scooters, which are 20-40x as dangerous per km driven.  A little poorer, and they'd be on foot.  A little richer, and they'd be in cars.  Both of them are safer than scooters.

 

[kwilco]

11 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

There is no need for long explanations of what makes Thailand's roads so dangerous. The country does have quite stringent rules about driving standards.  5 words are all that's needed to identify the biggest danger by far - a complete lack of enforcement.

"Reducing Thailand’s road safety issues to just 'lack of enforcement' is an oversimplification that ignores the complexity of the problem. Road safety is influenced by infrastructure, vehicle standards, education, emergency response, and public awareness. A real solution requires a comprehensive approach—not just one fix."

[kwilco]

41 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Your ignorance is bliss (for you anyway). I've driven extensively in Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam. They are all about the same in driving quality. People who say Thais are the worst in the world generally have only driven in their home country and Thailand.

I've driven in Laos Malaysia in my own vehicle and in Cambodia on a motorbike...I've also driven in North Africa, Australia, North Africa and in Europe, but I think that conversations about "bad driving" just show that people don't understand what road safety is about.

[fredwiggy]

There are a lot of things that go into making things safer here, and you touched on them, as have others. I was a driver, professionally, for many years with many jobs in a few locations. Professional drivers put in a lot more miles than the average driver and see  a lot more accidents and unsafe driving habits.

 

What has been listed about Thai drivers is correct, both by you and others in many other posts besides this one. Lack of education, inability to use mirrors and not looking behind and to the sides, speeding, drunk driving, poor testing, all adds up to incompetency. Not all drivers here are incompetent, as I've seen some , daily, that are safe and aware, but the large majority falls into one or another unsafe practices, which I and many others have also seen, daily. I drove in the US for 62 years, daily, and many miles, and I still have never seen such blatant bad driving as I have here. I also have seen others doing the same types of inadequate driving in the US, but again, not like here.

 

Bad enforcement of rules already on the books here, as rules here are like rules in the US, is one reason so many die here and have accidents, so it's part of the problem. If you stop more people who are blatantly breaking the road laws, and fine them, they might think twice before doing it again. That's might, as there are a lot of speeders and drunk drivers in the US. Mandatory helmet laws, which are strictly enforced, will undoubtedly save many lives, as you can break every bone in your body and live, but if you hit your head hard, you're usually gone.

 

What there isn't more of is people who don't use their mirrors and drive recklessly on motorbikes. That's something SE Asia and India have much more of. Also, cutting people off while driving a scooter is one main way accidents happen. You can't compete with a car or truck. You always lose. Staying on the shoulder would stop many accidents, unless you're in a motorcycle, and stay in the lane like a car does without weaving.There are poor roads throughout the world, like here, so road maintenance would help because potholes and uneven roads are dangerous for motorbikes. Having more than one person on a scooter is illegal, so that's also on the driver. Pulling them over every time and ticketing them is on the police.

 

It isn't their culture to drive bad. It's a lack of training, skill and care of themselves and others. Yes, if the police did their jobs, more would be saved, because taking a persons money is a good teacher, but it doesn't always work, so it's still on the driver to drive safely.I can only comment on what I've seen driving in almost all of the US states and a few countries, so other countries aren't on my list, but stats don't lie. And if they listed all the accidents that have fatal endings after the initial road one, meaning at hospitals, the stats would look much worse. I'm not prejudiced against Thais at all but just see things as they are.

[kwilco]

21 minutes ago, impulse said:

It's difficult to do an actual analysis of Thai road safety without a breakdown of fatalities per km driven, broken out by 4 wheel and 2 wheel fatalities.  Not fatalities per capita.  That's meaningless in some countries that have a lot of people and virtually no motorized vehicles.  It's also meaningless comparing Thailand's numbers to countries where 99% of the vehicles have a ton of steel and seat belts. I shudder to think of what the USA's number would be if the vast majority of Americans were on scooters.  Or Brits, or Aussies, or Kiwis, or...

 

I think a lot of Thailand's bad numbers are because of the economics that put so many Thai drivers on scooters, which are 20-40x as dangerous per km driven.  A little poorer, and they'd be on foot.  A little richer, and they'd be in cars.  Both of them are safer than scooters.

 

I totally agree that for years Thailand's gathering of stats has been unreliable and incomplete. THe main problem is how the general public iand th media interpret what is available - the WHO is actually quite good at drawing reasonable conclusions from poor stats from countries with similar problems all over the world.

you'd expect stats to cover such things as

Deaths per 1 million inhabitants

Serious Injuries per 1 million inhabitants

Minor injuries per 1 million inhabitants

Deaths per 10 billion vehicle-KM

Deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles

Registered vehicles per 1000 inhabitants

 

we can be pretty sure that 50% of all registered vehicles on Thai roads are 32- wheelers this is a dangerous mix giver road design and the average size and character of private 4-wheelers.

We can also arue quite strongly that you are statistically less likely to die in a 4-wheeler in Thailand than you are in the USA - yet people consistently cite drivers of 4-wheelers as examples of the dangers on Thai raods when it isn't actually the case

 

They also fail to divide injuries into the 3 internationally recognised categories minor, serious and fatal. It is impossible to get a good idea of the number of collisions.

but - as no-one on this site ever seems to even consider any of this it enables people to run wild with totally irrelevant and wildly prejudiced assumptions about road safety in Thailand..

 

To make changes in road safety in Thailand there need to be fundamental changes in many areas. but to even start, you need a good database of stats to analyse and thai doesn't have that - they don't even gave people trained to make proper crash reports., the base-line for road safety is knowing what you're up against.

[kwilco]

 

13 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Professional drivers put in a lot more miles than the average driver and see  a lot more accidents and unsafe driving habits.

Aasdly drinving mileage doesn't improve your ability to analyse what your see.

[kwilco]

18 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

There are a lot of things that go into making things safer here, and you touched on them, as have others. I was a driver, professionally, for many years with many jobs in a few locations. Professional drivers put in a lot more miles than the average driver and see  a lot more accidents and unsafe driving habits.

 

What has been listed about Thai drivers is correct, both by you and others in many other posts besides this one. Lack of education, inability to use mirrors and not looking behind and to the sides, speeding, drunk driving, poor testing, all adds up to incompetency. Not all drivers here are incompetent, as I've seen some , daily, that are safe and aware, but the large majority falls into one or another unsafe practices, which I and many others have also seen, daily. I drove in the US for 62 years, daily, and many miles, and I still have never seen such blatant bad driving as I have here. I also have seen others doing the same types of inadequate driving in the US, but again, not like here.

 

Bad enforcement of rules already on the books here, as rules here are like rules in the US, is one reason so many die here and have accidents, so it's part of the problem. If you stop more people who are blatantly breaking the road laws, and fine them, they might think twice before doing it again. That's might, as there are a lot of speeders and drunk drivers in the US. Mandatory helmet laws, which are strictly enforced, will undoubtedly save many lives, as you can break every bone in your body and live, but if you hit your head hard, you're usually gone.

 

What there isn't more of is people who don't use their mirrors and drive recklessly on motorbikes. That's something SE Asia and India have much more of. Also, cutting people off while driving a scooter is one main way accidents happen. You can't compete with a car or truck. You always lose. Staying on the shoulder would stop many accidents, unless you're in a motorcycle, and stay in the lane like a car does without weaving.There are poor roads throughout the world, like here, so road maintenance would help because potholes and uneven roads are dangerous for motorbikes. Having more than one person on a scooter is illegal, so that's also on the driver. Pulling them over every time and ticketing them is on the police.

 

It isn't their culture to drive bad. It's a lack of training, skill and care of themselves and others. Yes, if the police did their jobs, more would be saved, because taking a persons money is a good teacher, but it doesn't always work, so it's still on the driver to drive safely.I can only comment on what I've seen driving in almost all of the US states and a few countries, so other countries aren't on my list, but stats don't lie. And if they listed all the accidents that have fatal endings after the initial road one, meaning at hospitals, the stats would look much worse. I'm not prejudiced against Thais at all but just see things as they are.

 

"Your argument is based entirely on personal anecdotes and subjective observations, rather than a proper understanding of road safety systems. Simply driving a lot of miles doesn’t make someone an expert in analyzing the root causes of crashes.

Yes, unsafe driving behaviors exist in Thailand, just as they do everywhere. But blaming 'bad drivers' and 'bad enforcement' oversimplifies a much deeper issue. Road safety is about systems, not just individuals. Infrastructure, vehicle safety standards, emergency response, education, and cultural attitudes toward risk all play a role.

Thailand's road safety problem won’t be solved just by ‘pulling people over’ more often. A Safe System approach recognizes that people make mistakes, so roads and policies must be designed to reduce the risk of those mistakes turning fatal. Focusing only on enforcement while ignoring these systemic factors misses the point entirely.

Anecdotal evidence and personal frustration don’t equal proper analysis. If we actually want to reduce deaths, we need data-driven solutions—not just more complaints about how ‘bad’ Thai drivers are."

[fredwiggy]

5 minutes ago, kwilco said:

 

Aasdly drinving mileage doesn't improve your ability to analyse what your see.

The more you drive, the more you see. Common sense. If you put in half the time on the roads than another does, that other person sees a lot more that goes on than you do. What you see, you analyze subconsciously, based on what you've seen before, what you know about laws and your brain processes things automatically.

[kwilco]

Just now, fredwiggy said:

The more you drive, the more you see. Common sense. If you put in half the time on the roads than another does, that other person sees a lot more that goes on than you do. What you see, you analyze subconsciously, based on what you've seen before, what you know about laws and your brain processes things automatically.

You re continuing to fail to see the flaws in your posts which actually are off topic  as I said driving more miles doesn’t automatically make someone an expert in road safety—just like watching more surgeries doesn’t make you a doctor. Observation alone isn’t analysis. Real road safety research is based on data, crash investigations, infrastructure design, and human factors—not just 'common sense' and personal impressions.

The idea that 'the more you drive, the more you understand' ignores your own cognitive biases—people tend to see what confirms their beliefs and overlook broader systemic factors. That’s why experts rely on data-driven analysis, not just personal experience. If road safety were as simple as just ‘seeing more,’ we wouldn’t need engineers, policymakers, and researchers working to design safer systems."*

[OneMoreFarang]

9 hours ago, kwilco said:

Many foreigners perceive Thai drivers as incompetent, but the real issue is inadequate enforcement of laws and poor road infrastructure.

Many drivers and riders are incompetent. 

And they don't get any better in part because of the non-existing law enforcement.

 

Poor road infrastructure in itself is no reason for deadly accidents. In many countries there are a lot worse roads than in Thailand. People have to adjust their speed to the conditions, that should be common sense. But in Thailand many riders and drivers ignore this simple fact. Which brings us back to my first line: Many drivers and riders are incompetent. 

[fredwiggy]

1 minute ago, kwilco said:

 

"Your argument is based entirely on personal anecdotes and subjective observations, rather than a proper understanding of road safety systems. Simply driving a lot of miles doesn’t make someone an expert in analyzing the root causes of crashes.

Yes, unsafe driving behaviors exist in Thailand, just as they do everywhere. But blaming 'bad drivers' and 'bad enforcement' oversimplifies a much deeper issue. Road safety is about systems, not just individuals. Infrastructure, vehicle safety standards, emergency response, education, and cultural attitudes toward risk all play a role.

Thailand's road safety problem won’t be solved just by ‘pulling people over’ more often. A Safe System approach recognizes that people make mistakes, so roads and policies must be designed to reduce the risk of those mistakes turning fatal. Focusing only on enforcement while ignoring these systemic factors misses the point entirely.

Anecdotal evidence and personal frustration don’t equal proper analysis. If we actually want to reduce deaths, we need data-driven solutions—not just more complaints about how ‘bad’ Thai drivers are."

I've been driving over 50 years, and many more miles than the average person. Do you think I don't have a proper understanding of road safety systems? That's another of the many assumptions I see here daily. Thinking you know more about this is also an assumption on your part.

 

Road safety is about all things I mentioned. It's not just one factor, but it still boils down to one main thing. It's the driver who is responsible for their own driving, and not anyone else. If they know how to drive safe, from training, education and care, there is one less incompetent person on the road causing problems, and one less for the police to worry about.

 

Accidents happen because people take risks, meaning driving without enough skills to be a safe driver, drinking or doing drugs before driving, not driving a road safe vehicle, not being aware of other drivers around them, or caring if they are, If the road is unsafe, it means you go slower until the road is repaired. There is no need for emergency response if an accident didn't happen, which again, is still on the drivers. Cultural attitudes mean nothing. Road laws are much the same all over. If you follow the laws, there are less accidents. If all followed the laws, there are no accidents. No fatalities or injuries, no court dates or fines. It all goes back to the responsibility of the driver.

 

There are again, bad drivers in all countries, which is obvious. Thailand doesn't have all the world's bad drivers. They just have a lot more than most. If you drive Thailand every day, like you say, you will see what goes on here, just as I and others do. I see foreigners driving carelessly, mostly on motorcycles, but I see a much higher percentage of locals making bad decisions and erratic driving than foreigners. Most are on scooters but many in cars and trucks.

 

I don't see people in the US going around someone in the fast lane, into oncoming traffic, to pass someone who's doing the speed limit, to get around them, instead of taking the safer route in the next lane to pass. I see this all the time here. That's arrogance and or ignorance. I do see motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic sometimes in the US. Here you see it all the time, at all speeds. Again, it's not just one thing that makes the ending results here in accidents, but it's still the driver who's responsible. You can put 10 good drivers on a very bad road and they can drive without accidents. You can also put 2 bad drivers out of 10 on a excellent road and you will have accidents. Driver responsibility, first and foremost.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

They are reckless:

 

2 hours ago, kwilco said:

Actually I think they do

 

2 hours ago, kwilco said:

"they" -???

 

 that's exactly the racist rubbish that impedes any progress in understanding road safety in Thailand

You have to make up your mind if it is ok or not so ok to use "they".

If others use the word, you call it "racist rubbish".

But when you use the same word then it seems you think that is perfectly ok.

 

Why should anybody listen to you? 

[kwilco]

6 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Many drivers and riders are incompetent. 

And they don't get any better in part because of the non-existing law enforcement.

 

Poor road infrastructure in itself is no reason for deadly accidents. In many countries there are a lot worse roads than in Thailand. People have to adjust their speed to the conditions, that should be common sense. But in Thailand many riders and drivers ignore this simple fact. Which brings us back to my first line: Many drivers and riders are incompetent. 

 

 

"Blaming 'incompetent Thai drivers' is just another variation of racial stereotyping. Thai drivers are no more or less competent than drivers anywhere else—the difference lies in the road safety system they operate within.

The claim that poor infrastructure isn’t a reason for deadly accidents is simply wrong. Road design plays a massive role in crash risk—lack of proper signage, poor lighting, unsafe intersections, and road maintenance issues all contribute to fatalities. That’s why countries with strong road safety policies focus on systemic improvements, not just blaming individuals.

Expecting drivers to just 'adjust their speed' without proper enforcement, road design, and public awareness campaigns ignores how road safety actually works. A Safe System approach recognizes that people make mistakes, so roads, vehicles, and policies must be designed to reduce the consequences of those mistakes.

Generalizing Thai drivers as ‘incompetent’ is lazy and unhelpful. If we want real change, we need to focus on data-driven solutions, not stereotypes."

[kwilco]

3 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

I've been driving over 50 years, and many more miles than the average person. Do you think I don't have a proper understanding of road safety systems? That's another of the many assumptions I see here daily. Thinking you know more about this is also an assumption on your part.

 

Road safety is about all things I mentioned. It's not just one factor, but it still boils down to one main thing. It's the driver who is responsible for their own driving, and not anyone else. If they know how to drive safe, from training, education and care, there is one less incompetent person on the road causing problems, and one less for the police to worry about.

 

Accidents happen because people take risks, meaning driving without enough skills to be a safe driver, drinking or doing drugs before driving, not driving a road safe vehicle, not being aware of other drivers around them, or caring if they are, If the road is unsafe, it means you go slower until the road is repaired. There is no need for emergency response if an accident didn't happen, which again, is still on the drivers. Cultural attitudes mean nothing. Road laws are much the same all over. If you follow the laws, there are less accidents. If all followed the laws, there are no accidents. No fatalities or injuries, no court dates or fines. It all goes back to the responsibility of the driver.

 

There are again, bad drivers in all countries, which is obvious. Thailand doesn't have all the world's bad drivers. They just have a lot more than most. If you drive Thailand every day, like you say, you will see what goes on here, just as I and others do. I see foreigners driving carelessly, mostly on motorcycles, but I see a much higher percentage of locals making bad decisions and erratic driving than foreigners. Most are on scooters but many in cars and trucks.

 

I don't see people in the US going around someone in the fast lane, into oncoming traffic, to pass someone who's doing the speed limit, to get around them, instead of taking the safer route in the next lane to pass. I see this all the time here. That's arrogance and or ignorance. I do see motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic sometimes in the US. Here you see it all the time, at all speeds. Again, it's not just one thing that makes the ending results here in accidents, but it's still the driver who's responsible. You can put 10 good drivers on a very bad road and they can drive without accidents. You can also put 2 bad drivers out of 10 on a excellent road and you will have accidents. Driver responsibility, first and foremost.

Driving for 50 years doesn’t automatically mean you understand road safety systems—just like being a passenger on thousands of flights doesn’t make you an aviation expert. Road safety isn’t just about ‘bad drivers’—it’s about how systems are designed to prevent mistakes from turning fatal.

Blaming drivers alone ignores decades of research showing that accidents are multi-factorial. Infrastructure, vehicle safety, enforcement, emergency response, and cultural attitudes all play a role. The idea that ‘if everyone just drove responsibly, there would be no accidents’ is naive—it ignores human error, which is inevitable. That’s why developed nations focus on designing forgiving roads and safer transport systems, not just demanding ‘better drivers.’

Claiming Thailand simply has ‘more bad drivers’ is a stereotype, not an analysis. If Thai drivers were inherently worse, why do Thai people drive safely when in countries with stronger road safety policies? The difference isn’t in the drivers—it’s in the system they are driving in.

If you actually want to reduce road deaths, focus on real solutions: better infrastructure, enforcement, and public awareness, not tired generalizations about Thai drivers.

[kwilco]

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

 

You have to make up your mind if it is ok or not so ok to use "they".

I others use the word you call it "racist rubbish".

But when you use the same word then it seems you think that is perfectly ok.

 

Why should anybody listen to you? 

don't bother  you clearly don't understand

[fredwiggy]

14 minutes ago, kwilco said:

You re continuing to fail to see the flaws in your posts which actually are off topic  as I said driving more miles doesn’t automatically make someone an expert in road safety—just like watching more surgeries doesn’t make you a doctor. Observation alone isn’t analysis. Real road safety research is based on data, crash investigations, infrastructure design, and human factors—not just 'common sense' and personal impressions.

The idea that 'the more you drive, the more you understand' ignores your own cognitive biases—people tend to see what confirms their beliefs and overlook broader systemic factors. That’s why experts rely on data-driven analysis, not just personal experience. If road safety were as simple as just ‘seeing more,’ we wouldn’t need engineers, policymakers, and researchers working to design safer systems."*

I have no flaws in my posts. You're missing the point. I'm agreeing with you that it's a number of factors involved. What you seem to not understand is that it's still the drivers responsibility first that ensures safe driving, and not the police, roads, infrastructure, crash investigations, stats, data or anything else. I'm not saying all Thai drivers are bad. I'm saying many more are than in other countries which have the same laws and road conditions and policing. What am I overlooking? I listed everything you did, and added personal observations which many farangs here have also. We see how they drive here. We come from countries where others drive, some bad also. Stats show how bad things are here. Are you thinking the people aren't more at fault here than the police, infrastructure or crash investigations? I never said road safety was as simple as seeing more. Again, don't assume that you know more than others here.

[fredwiggy]

3 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Driving for 50 years doesn’t automatically mean you understand road safety systems—just like being a passenger on thousands of flights doesn’t make you an aviation expert. Road safety isn’t just about ‘bad drivers’—it’s about how systems are designed to prevent mistakes from turning fatal.

Blaming drivers alone ignores decades of research showing that accidents are multi-factorial. Infrastructure, vehicle safety, enforcement, emergency response, and cultural attitudes all play a role. The idea that ‘if everyone just drove responsibly, there would be no accidents’ is naive—it ignores human error, which is inevitable. That’s why developed nations focus on designing forgiving roads and safer transport systems, not just demanding ‘better drivers.’

Claiming Thailand simply has ‘more bad drivers’ is a stereotype, not an analysis. If Thai drivers were inherently worse, why do Thai people drive safely when in countries with stronger road safety policies? The difference isn’t in the drivers—it’s in the system they are driving in.

If you actually want to reduce road deaths, focus on real solutions: better infrastructure, enforcement, and public awareness, not tired generalizations about Thai drivers.

READ what I write before commenting. I did not say road safety was just about bad drivers. I AGAIN, agreed with things you listed. What you are MISSING, is that I said it's still the DRIVERS responsibility first regarding road safety.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, kwilco said:

don't bother  you clearly don't understand

 

Obviously, I can't be even half as smart as you are - at least that is what you think.

 

You are clearly on a mission that you want to criticize everybody who doesn't follow your ignorant article.

Maybe just relax, take a break, and stay away from the keyboard. It will improve your health and lower your blood pressure. 

[OneMoreFarang]

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

READ what I write before commenting. I did not say road safety was just about bad drivers. I AGAIN, agreed with things you listed. What you are MISSING, is that I said it's still the DRIVERS responsibility first regarding road safety.

 

There is no point in arguing with the guy who started this thread. He just knows he is right and anybody else is ignorant. And he doesn't want to listen because he knows it all.