Road Accidents Disable 5,000 People Per Year

[george]

Road accidents disable 5,000

BANGKOK: -- Road accidents have disabled more than 5,000 people a year, killing one person every 20 minutes and injuring one every two minutes, especially during the New Year holiday break, according to a Thai Health Promotion Foundation (THPF) report released yesterday.

Around 12,000 have been killed and 100,000 disabled since official road-accident records began 20 years ago, said Supreeda Adullayanont, who was reading out the report at the Royal Plaza during a public-awareness campaign prior to the beginning of the five-day holiday break, which begins on Wednesday.

He said disabilities numbered about 5,000 a year and one-third of people who sustained injuries were below 20 years of age. The main reason for accidents is drunken driving. Despite popular belief that accidents mostly take place on curves and at intersections, records last year showed that most took place on straight road sections (54.75 per cent), with fewer on curves (19.64 per cent) and fewest at intersections (12.1 per cent).

The THPF is jointly campaigning to raise awareness of road safety during the holiday break with the Public Health Minister's Accident Prevention Network and the Royal Thai Police.

As part of the campaign, free tuk-tuk and taxi-motorcycle rides are available between Mor Chit BTS station and bus terminal during the five-day period from Tuesday by 200 drivers with campaign stickers on their vehicles.

Free drinking water and cold towels will also be provided.

In Samut Prakan, more than 100 paramedics and 1,000 rescue workers are on stand-by around the clock throughout the week from December 30 to January 5.

They are supported by 30 rescue vehicles and 20 ambulances. Police and provincial public-safety officials said they hoped this would lessen this year's casualties.

-- The Nation 2008-12-28

[Briggsy]

Surprise surprise. Nonsensical stats from the Nation.

One death per 20 minutes = 3 per hour = 72 per day = approx 26,000 per year. (A believable but high-end figure)

Later in the piece, 12,000 killed over 20 years = 600 deaths per year (A clearly incorrect figure)

On a separate point, I don't see how providing free motorcycle taxis will reduce deaths and injuries. They are adding to the statistics.

[dumball]

In regard to your calculations , very simplistic , logical and correct , now please think about this . I have noticed that Thai are very poor on mathmatics , finding it difficult to do even simple addition on a piece of paper , partialy because they fail to aligne numbers vertically , their easy way out of course is to employ the use of a calculator . Ah the calculator !!!! Now bring in the attention span of so many you observe doing practically ANY thing , eyes going left right and centre so as not to miss a move , exchanging comments with a fellow worker or showing them what they think he/she is doing wrong ad finitum .

As an educated person , your mathmatical abilities are or should be far superior , so even IF you use a calculator for simple addition , your brain is still working in the back-ground , should the numbers not correlate , your brain will most likely pick up the error and you 'Delete ' and start over . I have seen this multiple times in the Western world , now if you have a slip of the finger with no sound mathmatical education , you will see statistics that come up Thai style . I never use a calculator and never allowed my children to use one for homework , because math actualy teaches you more than mathmatics , it teaches you to work in an organised manner , another failing of many Thai .

Please THINK, I have purposely exagerated my observations to get you to think , something that many responders fail to do BEFORE responding to a post they have just read , just jump in blindly and hammer away at the keys .

No offense meant , just giving some food for thought , you cannot blame uneducated/misinformed/untrained people for common mistakes , think 'Outside ' of the box .

[Briggsy]

These stats were produced by The Thai Health Promotion Foundation and then re-printed by the Nation.

Both these organisations are packed with graduates from the best universities Thailand has. They were not the work of uneducated people. Yet still the results are nonsensical.

[animatic]

Clearly the Nation just reprinted a press release.

It likely was cobbled together under an 'executive's direction'

using multiple sources, and no one under him dares tell him

if any logic combining is wrong, because you can't make the

boss lose face... THAT is very Thai.

Same same.

it's scary, maybe it will save a life; print it.

[onnut]

dont anyone proof read anything in this country?

[nickynomates]

The figures either way are tragic and tell a whole story of their own.

Small motor cycles and big trucks on the roads are not a good combination.

This does make my blood boil.

Whole families on bikes using the smallest kid at the front of the bike usually.

No formal road safety education.

kids riding motor bikes in the villages.

Piss poor crash hats.

You could go on and on.

These figures will only get worse if Thailand ever lowers the tax on higher powered bikes.

Always at this time of year a lot of talk and no real action to stop these figures growing

[sibeymai]

Yep, it's that time of the year again when a few deaths on the roads captures the attention of the nation. Not only in Thailand but my home country also.

Who cares ?

There will be people killed. It may be more or less than last year. The piece in The Nation won't have any effect on the number killed or injured, not while Thais believe whether or not they die from a road accident has nothing to do with their behaviour but is wholly dependent on how lucky they are.

[animatic]

dont anyone proof read anything in this country?

Doesn't anyone proof read anything in this country?

Some do, but we get slagged by P_D as Grammar Nazis...

[Briggsy]

Clearly the Nation just reprinted a press release.

It likely was cobbled together under an 'executive's direction'

using multiple sources, and no one under him dares tell him

if any logic combining is wrong, because you can't make the

boss lose face... THAT is very Thai.

I can go with this.

[selftaopath]

The figures either way are tragic and tell a whole story of their own.

Small motor cycles and big trucks on the roads are not a good combination.

This does make my blood boil.

Whole families on bikes using the smallest kid at the front of the bike usually.

No formal road safety education.

kids riding motor bikes in the villages.

Piss poor crash hats.

You could go on and on.

These figures will only get worse if Thailand ever lowers the tax on higher powered bikes.

Always at this time of year a lot of talk and no real action to stop these figures growing

Can anyone expect anything different? Laws are not enforced. This allows individuals to drive under the influence of alcohol and other drugs, go as fast as you wish, ignore traffic signals – if/where they exist or are used, go the wrong way on a street, ride vehicles on sidewalks, make illegal turns from any lane, or crash something like a bus and get out and run. Ah but TIT. And the lesson rings true: If there is no punishment then there is no crime. My heart goes out to the innocents who are slaughtered and not protected by anyone.

[dumball]

Clearly the Nation just reprinted a press release.

It likely was cobbled together under an 'executive's direction'

using multiple sources, and no one under him dares tell him

if any logic combining is wrong, because you can't make the

boss lose face... THAT is very Thai.

I can go with this.

So you call that an educated analasys by the best educated in the land ?

See now you can appreciate why they CAN get thier results out of kilter ?

Seems , as usual , it is more about face than fact .

[londonthai]

those statistics are flowed - every year there are around 12 - 15k road deaths.

Disabled must be several times more than that - the 5k/year is probably about the victims, who do receive a compansation from the insurers (see a related thread discussed here recently http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Govt-Urged-R...ms-t229672.html ).

I would think the figure for the disabled might be around 50k/year - ten times more than in the article.

rather poor journalism, than thai mathematics skills or fault of proofreading

Edited December 28, 2008 by londonthai

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Surprise surprise. Nonsensical stats from the Nation.

One death per 20 minutes = 3 per hour = 72 per day = approx 26,000 per year. (A believable but high-end figure)

Later in the piece, 12,000 killed over 20 years = 600 deaths per year (A clearly incorrect figure)

On a separate point, I don't see how providing free motorcycle taxis will reduce deaths and injuries. They are adding to the statistics.

Hi,

I have previously read that it's closer to 30000 death a year, but it seems that Thai don't know or don't want to know.

I wonder how many people die on the road in your countries to compare ? In France, with 65 millions people as in Thailand but more cars, around 5000 people a year die on the road, and we still say that it's too high.

Of course you can't buy your driving license or bribe the police there, so I guess it helps to reduce these figures...

Happy new year 2009 !

[dumball]

those statistics are flowed - every year there are around 12 - 15k road deaths.

Disabled must be several times more than that - the 5k/year is probably about the victims, who do receive a compansation from the insurers (see a related thread discussed here recently http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Govt-Urged-R...ms-t229672.html ).

I would think the figure for the disabled might be around 50k/year - ten times more than in the article.

rather poor journalism, than thai mathematics skills or fault of proofreading

Logic is a participant in mathmatics used to generate statistics , proof reading is a neccessity to ensure the tables/graphs are correctly assembled and proffered , we are told the top academics of the country are used to compile these statistics , yet simple day to day logic tells us with the vast increase in traffic , there has to be an equated amount of deaths/injuries . Insurance reports would obviously represent a portion of injured or deaths , medical establishments would , I feel sure , produce much higher and closer to accurate 'Guestimates '

Just the thoughts of a simple layman , no Thai educational diploma of excellence as to the proffesers teaching ability , sorry about that

[Jimjim]

Well, one death every 20 minutes and 12,000 deaths in 20 years certainly doesn't add up. The two results would be far, far from each other.

[dumball]

You are correct , it would be over 500,000 deaths in 20 years , but then again , please be advised that these were not compiled by stupid westerners , the best graduates from the best Thai universities compiled these numbers for the government . The government obviously found the task beyond thier expertise , so religated the task to the superior end product of the Thai educational establishment . Now when the wanabees read this , could they please explain why a comparatively reasonable mathmatical task could get so screwed up .

The reporter also must have a problem in the same direction , he just passed on the information ad lib without a cursory glance as to its relativity to facts available .

Not a genius nor stupid either , somewhere in the middle .

[warfie]

I wonder if it's a simple translation error... some Thai folk get a little confused with our "ten thousand" and "hundred thousand"...

Thai language has different terms... หมื่น (meun) ten thousand and แสน (san) hundred thousand... in fact I've instructed my dearest to use only Thai terms to avoid confusion...

so perhaps the calculations are correct but the translation is off? just guessing....

[12DrinkMore]

There is a major problem in Thailand.

If the boss says that there x road deaths then it will be published because

a. His boss will not bother to look over the figures because he is on the golf course or bonking the mia noi

b. His underlings will not dare to question the figures because it would cause the boss to loose face

so the nonsense figures are published and a few stupid Farangs notice that it doesn't add up. So what? Does it matter to anybody? 2,000 or 10,000 or 30,000 or 100,000?

And don't forget that in a country the size of Thailand there are some 1,000,000 deaths/year due to, er, dying. That is around 2,700 every day or some 130 every hour or 2 every minute.

Death is much more common than people care to consider.

And somebody said that in France some 5,000 people die on the roads in France. Well, there we go, in a regulated and "responsible" and controlled country there is not a significant difference in percentage of the population killed due to the roads. I wonder how much the "fear factor" reduces accidents in Thailand? A lot of Thais I know refuse to go on the roads after dark and are very cautious during the day.

[Priceless]

There is a major problem in Thailand.

If the boss says that there x road deaths then it will be published because

a. His boss will not bother to look over the figures because he is on the golf course or bonking the mia noi

b. His underlings will not dare to question the figures because it would cause the boss to loose face

so the nonsense figures are published and a few stupid Farangs notice that it doesn't add up. So what? Does it matter to anybody? 2,000 or 10,000 or 30,000 or 100,000?

And don't forget that in a country the size of Thailand there are some 1,000,000 deaths/year due to, er, dying. That is around 2,700 every day or some 130 every hour or 2 every minute.

Death is much more common than people care to consider.

And somebody said that in France some 5,000 people die on the roads in France. Well, there we go, in a regulated and "responsible" and controlled country there is not a significant difference in percentage of the population killed due to the roads. I wonder how much the "fear factor" reduces accidents in Thailand? A lot of Thais I know refuse to go on the roads after dark and are very cautious during the day.

Hrrrm, it seems to be fairly widely accepted that 15,000-18,000 people die on the roads of Thailand every year. That would give a mortality rate about three times that of France.

To take a rather more extreme example: Traffic in Sweden claims about 420-440 lives per year. Thailand has about nine times the population of Sweden. If the mortality rate were the same as in Sweden, about 3,000 people should be killed yearly in the Thai traffic. Compare that to 15,000-18,000 Makes you think, doesn't it? If not, I think it should

/ Priceless

[12DrinkMore]

Hrrrm, it seems to be fairly widely accepted that 15,000-18,000 people die on the roads of Thailand every year. That would give a mortality rate about three times that of France.

To take a rather more extreme example: Traffic in Sweden claims about 420-440 lives per year. Thailand has about nine times the population of Sweden. If the mortality rate were the same as in Sweden, about 3,000 people should be killed yearly in the Thai traffic. Compare that to 15,000-18,000 Makes you think, doesn't it? If not, I think it should

Without real statistics from Thailand any attempt to discuss figures is absolutely pointless. "Widely accepted" presumably means the handful of contributers above making wild guesses, so maybe "wildly guessed" should be applied.

[dumball]

Hrrrm, it seems to be fairly widely accepted that 15,000-18,000 people die on the roads of Thailand every year. That would give a mortality rate about three times that of France.

To take a rather more extreme example: Traffic in Sweden claims about 420-440 lives per year. Thailand has about nine times the population of Sweden. If the mortality rate were the same as in Sweden, about 3,000 people should be killed yearly in the Thai traffic. Compare that to 15,000-18,000 Makes you think, doesn't it? If not, I think it should

Without real statistics from Thailand any attempt to discuss figures is absolutely pointless. "Widely accepted" presumably means the handful of contributers above making wild guesses, so maybe "wildly guessed" should be applied.

" Widely guessed " is your misinterpretation of logical numbers carried out to a conclusion of overall numbers , when you take into consideration the number of vehicles and the miles driven , Thai deaths and injuries on the roads are colossal by comparison . You even said that Thai you know are scared to go on the roads at night . that should lead you to the conclusion that Thai roads are 'Extremely dangerous ' or Thai are very timid .

The

thai scholars seemed unable to do the math to give the overall numbers , take what they give and work it out for yourself , their basic numbers are there .

[Thai at Heart]

I seem to remember calculating that per head UK has twice as many vehicles and four times less deaths as Thailand.

[Priceless]

Hrrrm, it seems to be fairly widely accepted that 15,000-18,000 people die on the roads of Thailand every year. That would give a mortality rate about three times that of France.

To take a rather more extreme example: Traffic in Sweden claims about 420-440 lives per year. Thailand has about nine times the population of Sweden. If the mortality rate were the same as in Sweden, about 3,000 people should be killed yearly in the Thai traffic. Compare that to 15,000-18,000 Makes you think, doesn't it? If not, I think it should

Without real statistics from Thailand any attempt to discuss figures is absolutely pointless. "Widely accepted" presumably means the handful of contributers above making wild guesses, so maybe "wildly guessed" should be applied.

"Widely accepted" is a phrase I sometimes use when I consider a statement as uncontroversial and am too busy/lazy/disinclined to search for and give a reference to a reliable source. In this case, I did not refer to earlier posters on ThaiVisa but rather to numerous statements in newspapers etc.

Since you requested "real statistics" I did a bit of informal research and came up with the number 18,700 traffic deaths in the year 2002 (World Health Organization http://www.who.int/research/en/ 'Causes of death'). Whether you consider this 'real statistics' is up to you, but it satisfies me for now.

On a side note: It never ceases to amaze me how some posters freely criticize others, when it is obvious that they themselves don't have a clue of the subject matter

/ Priceless

[khundon]

I am not surprised that death rates on Thai roads are so high when you consider the appalling "driving skills" employed by many drivers on the roads in Thailand.

I seem to remember, that in 2002 or 2003 (cannot remember which) I read in newspaper, may have been BK Post that "over the 3 day Xmas period, over 900 were killed".

In the UK approx 2600-3000 are killed in a whole year!

I do not quote these figures as fact, so please, to any future posters do not quote me.

Having taken my Thai car drivers test, which was basic in the extreme and mainly involved handing over 200Bht, it comes as no surprise that the deaths on the roads in LOS "could" be so high.

The basic highway, code was designed to set rules and regulations that should help to reduce the number of accidents on roads, anywhere in the World, and most countries use such a system but when most of the Thai population (and others) ignore these rules, and the police fail to enforce them, then high death rates will always be the result.

Wishing all drivers everywhere, a safe and happy new year.

[khundon]

Surprise surprise. Nonsensical stats from the Nation.

One death per 20 minutes = 3 per hour = 72 per day = approx 26,000 per year. (A believable but high-end figure)

Later in the piece, 12,000 killed over 20 years = 600 deaths per year (A clearly incorrect figure)

On a separate point, I don't see how providing free motorcycle taxis will reduce deaths and injuries. They are adding to the statistics.

Briggsy even with my crap math I have to agree with you ! Just how do they come up with such figures?

As to the point on "free motorcycle taxis" I rode on the back of a few and several drivers smelled of drink so I stopped using them.

Putting more drunks on the road, is not going to help is it?

[astral]

5000 a year sounds like a pretty small number.................

Sad to say.

I think the reality is much larger.

[Briggsy]

Well said, Khundon.

[Briggsy]

I now use motorcycle taxis only very sparingly. In the past (years ago) I used them routinely.

I notice in my soi they often start boozing in the early afternoon. Chang is their choice.

Once coming home from work, I took a bike on Sukhumvit Soi 16. After a while I realised he was absolutely trashed. Fortunately it was a very short ride.

I am a lot wiser these days.

[TAWP]

So last week I went home very late from the office. With a fever and hurting throat I jumped into a taxi, as per usual, and I was on my way. It was only a few kilometers left when there was a cue infront a u-turn section and the taxi went to a complete stand-still. After a few seconds very loud screeching of tires could be heard. I instantly leaned forward, as I knew what was to come. And rightfuly so, a SUV plowed straight into the back of my taxi, sending us into (and partly under, with the hood) a truck in front. Kicked up the passenger door on the right side to get out (since the crash had shifted the frame) and got out. The taxi was totaled at the back, the SUV had some but not too bad damages to its front.

Stood with fever, back-pain (some from fever, some from the collision) and neck-strain and waited for insurance people and police for some 30-45 minutes (until all 3 representatives arrived).

The driver of the new SUV was a guy around 25 years of age with a girl of same age. Taxi driver said he thought the guy was drunk, from the smell.

Police directed traffic around us, asked basic questions to all drivers and just monitored the insurance people afterwards. No breath-test was done nor did they dare to ask me anything. One of the seniors was about to until he remembered he wasn't so good at English so he just smiled, nodded and rotated his step some 20 degrees to walk past me instead.

Just an observation from the field.

Edited December 30, 2008 by TAWP