Irish Tourist Killed In Thailand Crash

[george]

Irish tourist killed in Thailand crash

BANGKOK: -- Plans are being made to bring home the body of a young Irish teacher killed in Thailand this week.

Jennifer Whiriskey (27), from Galway, died in a motorcycle crash while on a year-long round-the-world trip with her boyfriend.

The Irish Consulate in Bangkok is giving assistance to Ms Whiriskey's family, three of whom are travelling to Thailand to arrange the return of her body.

-- Irish Times 2007-10-13

[makescents]

RIP

[lazeeboy]

RIP

motor bikes ,motorbikes ,motorbikes, rip

[Scott]

My condolences to the friends and family. Does anyone have more information about what exactly happened? Was her boyfriend involved in the crash and is he OK?

[Tony Clifton]

I was recently talking with my wife about seeing numbers about motorcycle deaths in Thailand. I thought it was an average of 53 deaths or so per day. She mentioned it's well over 100 per day if not over 200. From what I've observed in the last 4 years, her high numbers wouldn't surprise me at all with both motorcycles and vehicles driving so chaotically.

[WaiWai]

I was recently talking with my wife about seeing numbers about motorcycle deaths in Thailand. I thought it was an average of 53 deaths or so per day. She mentioned it's well over 100 per day if not over 200. From what I've observed in the last 4 years, her high numbers wouldn't surprise me at all with both motorcycles and vehicles driving so chaotically.

Road Safety Situation

According to official statistics (police), 12,858 people were killed in road crashes in 2005. However the real number might even be higher. According to documentation from the health sector, the real death toll could be 20,000 or more if victims who die after being removed from the crash scene are included.

The primary causes of road crashes are the dangerous mix of motorcyclists and larger vehicles, alcohol impaired driving, and excessive speed. Many road deaths happen during the two national holidays: New Year (6 days) December/January and Songkran (9 days) in April.

In 2005 the road fatality rate were 20.6/105 population and 5.09/104 vehicles.

According to Thailand’s crash records, the main features of the country’s road crash and injury problem are:

The working adult age group (25-59 years) represents the majority of those dying in road crashes (over 50%) followed by young people aged 15-24 years who account for 29% of the total fatalities.

Many deaths occur during 2 holiday periods, New Year and Songkran.

45% of deaths in 2004 occurred on the national highways, half of them involving motorcycles

44% of the total number of road crash injuries in Thailand occur in Bangkok compared with only 6% of the country’s fatalities

In average less than 17% of all injured used seat belts and less than 15% used crash helmets. Numbers are higher in Bangkok where enforcement is stricter

Of all injured: 75% are male

The Police identified excessive speed as the most common cause of crashes followed by unsafe passing and illegal overtaking

In Khon Kaen Province (Northern Thailand), 81 % of total injured patients admitted to hospitals in 2002 were motorcycle injury victims. It is believed that this is likely to reflect the situation in other provinces too

Hospital data indicates that over half of injured drivers and riders had been drinking alcohol

While the actual statistics should be treated with some caution due to possible under-reporting, analyses indicate the primary causes of road crashes: excessive speed involving mixed traffic (also vulnerable road users), drinking and driving, dangerous overtaking and the poor use of helmets.

In 2007, the Road Safety on 4 Continents conference will be held in Bangkok.

grsproadsafety.org/?pageid=28

[sbk]

This is an excerpt from a TIME magazine article from 2004:

With just 16% of the world's cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles, Asia accounts for more than half of the roughly 1.2 million traffic fatalities that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates occur globally every year. More than 600,000 Asians are killed and another 9.4 million are severely injured in traffic accidents annually.

Those statistics make Asia's highways the meanest streets in the world. In Thailand, for example, road accidents are now the third leading cause of death after aids and heart attacks, according to the country's Ministry of Public Health............

Thailand's road safety Operations Center (unofficially known as the "war room") is where the country's authorities are trying to bring the national accident rates down to the level of many Western countries. (With an average of 36 deaths a day, Thailand ranks sixth in the world in road fatalities, according to the WHO.)..........

Yordphol Tanaboriboon, a transportation-engineering professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, says one of the few generalizations that can be made is that the high proportion of motorcycles on Thailand's roads (of the country's 26 million registered vehicles, 12 million are two-wheelers; according to Nikorn, there are another 6 million unregistered motorcycles) is linked to a higher death rate. As many as 80% of all fatal accidents in Thailand involve motorcycles,.......

With reporting by Simon Elegant/Kuala Lumpur, Robert Horn/Bangkok, Huang Yong, Kaiser Kuo and Jodi Xu/Beijing, Sara Rajan/New Delhi and Phil Zabriskie/Hanoi

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,674826,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

[Mossfinn]

Condolences to the Family.

Rest in Peace

Moss

[themuse1969]

I was recently talking with my wife about seeing numbers about motorcycle deaths in Thailand. I thought it was an average of 53 deaths or so per day. She mentioned it's well over 100 per day if not over 200. From what I've observed in the last 4 years, her high numbers wouldn't surprise me at all with both motorcycles and vehicles driving so chaotically.

Good point. I've traveled in many countries. I bought an BMW to tour part of Europe and had no close encounters with other drivers. But, I did have a small crash--by myself--during a thunderstorm near Toledo, Espana. I then seld the bike, and returned to trains, buses and my thumb---and had a safe journey thereafter.

The more wheels under one, the better I say......or no wheels at all. I know a South African chap who walked the entire perimeter of South Africa along the coastline. Sounds idyllic, I say.....and doable.

[shaggs2004]

My Deepest Condolances##

200 baht

No Helmet

Poor girl My heart goes to her Family

She died in the land of smiles sweet dreams

God Bless

[fredcyber]

God knows what but something has to be done!! The advertised rate of road deaths in Korat during a road safety poster campaign was 70 per month. Let's be generous and say the average across the 76 provinces is 35 per month. That is near 32000 a year, absolute carnage.