Report Rising Pedestrian Deaths Highlight Urgent Need for Enhanced Safety Measures

[TroubleandGrumpy]

5 hours ago, madmitch said:

I really don't believe that the number of pedestrian deaths is as low as 500 per year, considering the overall death toll on the roads is close to 20,000.

No - the number is correct. Here in Thailand the people know that cars and bikes dont always stop, so they cross very carefully. In the west they walk out as if they are protected by God - often without even looking. One day I was driving when a bloke on a bicycle flew across a crossing and I stopped just in time. He was screaming and abusing me, so I got out and told him the law is that he must stop and get off the effing bike and walk across the crossing - so take that bike and eff off or I will shove it up your arzzze !! I probably saved him from a serious injury/death because he genuinely though he could ride across. That is why more pedestrians die in the west than Thailand - they feel entitled and just dont have any real sense about the dangers involved. 

[wensiensheng]

5 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

BS - at the top are Thai Trucks Drivers - especially on the highways. 

Can’t speak for other parts of Thailand, but in Phuket minibus drivers think they rule the road and with the way they drive, they do. Everyone is just trying to get out of their way.

 

Their party trick is tailgating one inch from your back bumper while flashing their lights to get past, when it is obvious that you can’t move into the inside lane because there is a car there.

 

But they have support acts too, such as pulling out from a side road as if they have the right of way.

[picctrainop]

Maybe they could spend the budget on something radical like putting up railings along the edge of the footpaths and gate the crossings so that pedestrians could make themselves more aware and Of Course have a Serious and Sustained Crackdown on drivers…

[kwilco]

3 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

WAW.  I have been driving on Thailand highways since 2010 mate - you are the one without a clue. You base your info on road stats??

I've been driving on Thai roads since 1998 and in the 20 odd years I lived here I covered well over half a million km. I have a good knowledge of road stats  for Thailand and more importantly their sources and how to interpret them. No need to teach you grandmother to suck eggs!

[kwilco]

7 hours ago, Humpy said:

Perhaps some more 100+ step foot-bridges would be in order, like these in Mahasarakham !!. I have yet to see anyone using them. Perish the thought of climbing those steps carrying shopping bags on a wet day !  

these are the result of poor road design and conception - and if you have limited mobility they are an insult.

[kwilco]

3 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

WAW.  I have been driving on Thailand highways since 2010 mate - you are the one without a clue. You base your info on road stats??

 

I base my conclusions on scientific evidence and critical thinking - Your kind of comment — trying to rank vehicles in some imagined "road hierarchy" with Thai truck drivers at the top — is really just personal perception dressed up as fact. It's  “fake news”; it’s speculative at best and says more about the poster’s own discomfort on Thai roads than it does about actual road dynamics.
Blaming one type of vehicle, whether it’s trucks, buses, or motorbikes, often reflects the fact that some drivers never fully adapt to Thailand’s road culture — even after years of living here. Thai driving isn’t necessarily wrong — it’s different, and it requires different instincts, expectations, and reactions.
But let’s not lose focus. This thread is about pedestrian safety, not four-wheeled vehicles, not motorcycles, and not truck drivers.
In traffic engineering terms, the global aim — Thailand included — is to separate pedestrians from motor vehicles as much as possible. That means safe sidewalks, proper crossings, barriers, footbridges, and clear signalling. The real failure in Thailand lies not with specific drivers, but with how poorly the road system is designed to protect pedestrians. In many areas, there are no pavements, no working crossings, and no meaningful enforcement of pedestrian rights.
So while people argue about who’s the worst on the road, the bigger issue — and the more fixable one — is road design and urban planning that consistently overlooks pedestrian safety.