40 Killed On 1st Day Of '7 Dangerous New Year Holidays'

[CelticBhoy]

168 in 3 days. That's good going.

Around 250 a year in Scotland.

Looks like Thailand will beat that

figure in just one week! Sad.

How about a more meaningful comparison such as the number of road deaths in the United Kingdom. With a population of 61 millions it is quite close to Thailand's 66 million.

You sound like my old maths teacher .

[apetley]

168 in 3 days. That's good going.

Around 250 a year in Scotland.

Looks like Thailand will beat that

figure in just one week! Sad.

How about a more meaningful comparison such as the number of road deaths in the United Kingdom. With a population of 61 millions it is quite close to Thailand's 66 million.

The annual death toll from road traffic accidents in the UK is about 3000 per year. A recent UN report suggested that the annual death toll in Thailand was in the region of 24000.

[webfact]

UPDATE

New Year's Day road deaths 37% higher than last year

By Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai

The Nation on Sunday

Published on January 3, 2010

New Year's Day saw 686 road accidents killing 70 people and injuring 737, bringing the cumulative casualty count for the long holiday to 238 deaths and 2,725 injuries from 2,510 accidents.

Uthairat Chaiprasert, assistant to the justice minister, said yesterday that Friday's road casualties had surpassed the carnage for the first day of last year by 37 per cent for deaths and 50 per cent for injuries.

Half of the traffic accidents on the fourth of the "seven dangerous days" were blamed on drunk driving, followed by speeding at 20.7 per cent, he said.

Most accidents involved motorcycles at 84.9 per cent and occurred between 4pm-8pm. Checkpoints stopped 715,516 vehicles and arrested 69,515 motorists, with the main offence being not carrying a driver's licence at 23,006 cases, followed by bikers not wearing a helmet at 21,195 cases.

Cumulative casualties had reached 238 deaths, 2,725 injured in 2,510 accidents, Uthairat said.

While Yasothon was the only province still to report no accidents, Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most at 83 followed by Phetchabun at 82 and Chiang Mai at 80.

Chanthaburi and Ayutthaya were the most deadly at 10 deaths each, while Phetchabun had the most injuries at 99 followed by Nakhon Si Thammarat at 98.

The government began the seven-day safe driving campaign on Tuesday to reduce road casualties by 5 per cent from the last New Year break, which had logged 367 deaths and 4,107 injuries in road accidents nationwide.

Uthairat also said the Excise Department had arrested 277 roadside shops for selling alcoholic drinks without permission and had revoked 26 liquor licences for selling booze during times and at venues that were prohibited.

-- The Nation 2010-01-03

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[Brunus]

Checkpoints stopped 715,516 vehicles and arrested 69,515 motorists, with the main offence being not carrying a driver's licence at 23,006 cases, followed by bikers not wearing a helmet at 21,195 cases.

I asked this before. Is this a new rule? I thought not carrying a driver's licence or not wearing a helmet was punished with a 400 baht fine. Does anybody know?

[Donnyboy]

sadly, this isnt breaking news as most of us know it will be carnage out there during the holidays on the roads RIP

[webfact]

UPDATE

New Year road deaths rise to 279

The fifth day of the seven dangerous New Year holidays saw 41 people killed and 460 others injured, bringing the cumulative casualty count for the long holiday to 279 and 3,185.

Deputy Permanent Secretary for Interior Ministry Wibul Sanguanpong told a press conference at the road accident monitoring centre that 421 accidents were reported on Saturday, the fifth day of the monitoring period.

The cumulative road accidents reached 2,931, he said.

Drunk driving remained the main cause of the accidents, he said.

-- The Nation 2010-01-03

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[featography]

Looks like Kuhn Manit's insistance at staying on to supervise the

Health Minsitry's war on traffic accidents is pretty much meaningless blather...

Oh wait he just wanted one day on the job in 2010

to lock in his pension before resigning in disgrace.

Yes how many traffic deaths in Thailand on a normal day?

Answer: too many preventable ones.

In 2008 I stumbled on to a UN stat sheet. Thailand was listed with a traffic fatality every 15 minutes.

China had one traffic fatality every 10 minutes, most were while walking or bicycle riding.

So, 4 per hour X 24=96/day, X352 days= 33,792/yr.

[webfact]

Thai interior minister satisfied at reduced holiday death toll BANGKOK, Jan 3 (TNA) – Thailand’s Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said Sunday he is satisfied at the sharp decline in the number of casualties from road accidents during the New Year holiday.

Accompanied by several senior officials, Mr Chavarat flew by helicopter to visit police and local officials in five provinces as New Year travelers started returning to Bangkok in large numbers from their home towns.

Most employees return to work on Monday.

Mr Chavarat told journalists before his departure that he is gratified to see a decline in casualties during the past five days.

Cumulative casualties on Saturday, the fifth day of the ‘seven high risk travel days’, stood at 279 killed and 3,185 injured. This year the government launched a campaign to lower casualties by five per cent from last year when 367 persons were killed 4,107 injured.

However, the campaign outperformed official expectations. The number of casualties had fallen seven per cent, he said, adding that the ministry originally wanted the number to be lowered 10 per cent.

Mr Chavarat said that most road accidents during this New Year were resulted from drunken driving. Consequently, he said the government may intensify its PR campaigns to reach a larger portion of the public on the result of consuming alcohol. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-01-03

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[brahmburgers]

I stayed at home from Thursday thru most of Saturday, but ventured forth on the hwy yesterday evening and today afternoon. 90 minutes each day, all on a 4 lane hwy going up and back to Mae Sai, northernmost Thailand.

Thai drivers are driving as bad as they always do, just more of 'em these past two days. We've heard the term 'bumper to bumper' but that's usually while going slow. Thais drive bumper to bumper at 80 Km/hr. And lane lines on curves mean absolutely nothing.

Same same. Sorry to hear of so many deaths and injuries.

When I was a teenager, my mom once commented about the Vietnamese (during the war) by saying, "those people just don't value life as much as we (farang) do." I was immediately indignant at her callous remark. Now, 40 years later, I still don't fully agree with that statement, but am leaning that direction.

Incidentally, at that time, my mom was working at the S.Vietnamese embassy in Wash D.C. - purportedly doing desk work, but actually doing undercover work for Uncle Sam. Many of her friends were CIA agents, but the Vietnamese embassy didn't know it - but that's besides the point.

[webfact]

New Year holidaymakers continue return trek to Bangkok

BANGKOK, Jan 3 (TNA) -- The New Year holidaymakers who had returned to their hometowns upcountry to celebrate with their families and travellers who visited the provinces during the long holiday weekend continued returning to the Thai capital for work and onward engagements on Monday.

Despite the first work day of 2010 starting on Monday, the revelers still were returning to Bangkok, crowding Morchit bus terminal with passengers mainly from the long northern and northeastern province routes.

Many carried rice and dried food supplies from home as provisions for their stay in Bangkok, both to reduce their cost of living as the economy is not fully recovered and also to bring the comforts of home to their homes in the city.

Traffic around Morchit was heavily jammed and the passengers faced delays due to a shortage of taxis, with many taxi drivers themselves being on holiday.

The state-owned Transport Company expected that more than 200,000 passengers to use the bus service to return to Bangkok on Monday and provided over 5,000 bus trips to respond the high holiday demand.

As for train services at Hat Yai Junction in the southern province of Songkhla, many passengers from nearby provinces rushed to catch their trains in order to return to Bangkok in time for work on Monday.

There were reports of counterfeit tickets, leading to both confusion, disappointment and delays for some, along with overpriced ‘scalper’ tickets being sold.

The northern line was delayed for more than five hours partly because some engines were being serviced and not ready for the long run.

Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said Sunday he was satisfied at the sharp decline in the number of casualties from road accidents during the New Year holiday.

Cumulative casualties on Saturday, the fifth day of the ‘seven high risk travel days’, stood at 279 killed and 3,185 injured. This year the government launched a campaign to lower casualties by five per cent from last year when 367 persons were killed 4,107 injured.

However, the campaign outperformed official expectations. The number of casualties had fallen seven per cent, he said, adding that the ministry originally wanted the number to be lowered 10 per cent.

Mr Chavarat said that most road accidents during this New Year resulted from drunken driving. Consequently, he said the government may intensify its public education campaigns to reach a larger portion of the public on the results of consuming alcohol. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-01-04

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[MikeyIdea]

I remember reading the figure 24,000 dead in traffic accidents in Thailand in Bangkok Post 1992 and then 37,000 in the same newspaper in 1997 (neither of the claims had any source information).

Back in 1998, I drove from Bangkok to Pattaya to Jomtien and then to Chonburi on New Years Eve. Totally some 200 km. I saw quite a few horrible motorcycle and car accidents. I counted the dead, what I considered confirmed dead - 4 motor cyclists: one with sheet over, one whose leg was laying a bit away, another one in a telling position and one with at least a square meter blood around him and I counted two from a car that was almost cut in two. That makes 6+.

I cannot remember the official figure that I heard a couple of days after New Year but I remember that I thought "No Way… I don't believe it. I'm supposed to have seen 3-4% of all the dead in the whole of Thailand" – by driving 200 km in 3 hours during New Years Eve. Sounds rather unlikely…

Do we believe the figures now a days?

Edited January 4, 2010 by MikeyIdea

[Samuian]

Don;t make so much noise about nothin', a " highly civilised, sophisticated country like Germany" tops these figures with ease!

[tingtongfarang]

Don;t make so much noise about nothin', a " highly civilised, sophisticated country like Germany" tops these figures with ease!

A sophisticated country like germany actualy reports the true figures...not only the ones who die at the scene but also on the way to or at the hospital, After living in germany for 8 years if there was one thing i could say about the people...they are able to control motor vehicles very well and have a very high level of driver education, I suspect the average thai would loose his licence ( if he/she had one) within a day.

Just some days ago while in the lane to turn right into the super market ...seen a motorcycle coming and it was obvious i had to wait till he passed but the guy behind me had a dream he was too important to wait and came around and turned into the market without even checking, The result was the the bike t-boned him right infront of my eyes, what a mess!

The first reaction of the guy who caused the accident as he got out his truck was to look around quickly trying to work out if fleeing the scene was an option with no concern for the 2 people leying in the blood and broken plastic, This incident has been flashing through my head since.

Edited January 4, 2010 by tingtongfarang

[apetley]

Don;t make so much noise about nothin', a " highly civilised, sophisticated country like Germany" tops these figures with ease!

Germany's federal statistics office Destatis reported that a total of 4,477 persons were killed in traffic accidents on Germany’s roads in 2008

[webfact]

UPDATE

New Year road death toll drops by 8 per cent

By Wattana Khamchoo,

Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai

The Nation

Published on January 5, 2010

The road death toll for six of the seven dangerous days of the New Year is down by nearly eight per cent over previous years - which means the Interior Ministry will achieve its goal of reducing overall road deaths by five per cent. But Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul is still not happy.

"I want to reduce the death toll by at least 10 per cent, " Chaovarat said yesterday. "Therefore, I'll have a meeting with a committee to find flaws (of measures implemented to reduce road accidents)."

The road safety centre yesterday reported that over the New Year holiday there were 309 deaths in the six days compared to 335 deaths in the same period last year - a drop of 26 fatalities, which is equivalent to 7.76 per cent.

Road injuries totalled 3,563 in 3,289 road accidents - down by 247 injuries from the same period last year. The road accident figures this year are 260 lower than last.

On Sunday, 30 people died on the roads, 378 were injured and there were 358 accidents, Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam said.

Bangkok and Nakhon Si Thammarat had the highest number of deaths with 3 each on Sunday, whereas Trang and Surat Thani had highest number of road accidents with 13, and Suphan Buri and Surat Thani the most injuries, at 14.

Chiang Mai was the worst place for road accidents, with 110.

No accidents occurred in the northeastern province of Yasothon.

Officials at checkpoints nationwide managed to check 704,012 vehicles and arrested 67,703 traffic law violators, most for failing to show driver's licences - 21,288 - and failing to wear helmets while riding motorcycles, 20,704.

A fatal accident was reported when a truck containing rice crashed into a truck loaded with asphalt late on Sunday night on highway 348, causing a traffic jam 20 kilometres long between Buri Ram and Sakaeo provinces. The accident killed two people and injured three.

Reports said stranded motorists slept in their vehicles waiting for authorities to move away the heavy wreckage from the highway. Traffic lanes were reopened by morning.

-- The Nation 2010-01-05

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[scotbeve]

IMHO I would think that if (I say IF...) the "authorities actually reported the people who died (RIP folks...) in the hospital instead of AT THE SCENE of the accident then that 8% would be a negative integer of the same amount or -8%. It was on one of the Thai news stations this morning that people are rather suspect in the govt numbers being put forward. I'll see if I can find it online (rather busy at the moment though...)