Bangkok Traffic Fatality Statistics

[sbk]

I just read this article about the Por Tek Tung foundation by author Brent Lewin from Maisonneuve citing a statistic

"last year alone a motorist was killed in Bangkok every 36 minutes"

Now, math was not my strong suit, but according to Google there are 525 948.766 minutes in a year. Divide that by 36 and you get 14,609 deaths a year in Bangkok alone.

Seems a bit high to me.

Now the most recent official statistics I can find are from 2002,

40,509 accident cases were reported in Bangkok with 756 fatalities whereas the national figures reported 91,623 accidents with 13,116 deaths

Source: http://www.iatss.or.jp/pdf/research/28/28-1-14.pdf

According to the same document a total of 10,405 men and 2,711 women died nationwide in 2002 of road accidents.

Now this website has these national statistics for 2005

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.

The fatality rate has decreased by 23% over the last decade from 1995 to 2005 (16,727 to 12,858) and by 11% just the last two years from 2003 to 2005 (14,446 to 12,858) showing that the increased effort from all sectors has been proven to work.

So, even if the 20,000 a year unreported is correct, it still seems like this guy's numbers are too high.

But maybe my math is wrong and someone else will get a different number of fatalities per year in Bangkok.

Math people, I await your expertise.

[soundman]

Approx. 60*24*365.25 = approx. 530,000 minutes in a year / 36 = 14610.

Your math is close enough sbk.

[happyjune]

Does anyone have more up to date numbers?

[Tywais]

[planr]

Here's a link to monthly road accident statistics from Royal Thai Police - http://statistic.police.go.th/traff_main.htm