The Undocumented Dangers Of Thailand's Roads

[webfact]

The undocumented dangers of Thailand's roads

John Sparks

Asia Correspondent

It is a top tourist destination - but what the guidebooks don't tell you is that Thailand's roads are lethal. Now a group of mothers whose sons died in a bus crash are campaigning to change that.

With the Christmas holidays winding down and the weather closing in, a winter break in the tropical sun starts to sound pretty good. No wonder January and February mark the high point in our unofficial "escape season".

Among a multitude of tempting destinations, more than 800,000 Britons strap themselves in for the 12 hour flight to Thailand – the majority no doubt, heading for the beach - or the historic, temple-laden cities in the north.

The guidebooks will congratulate you on your choice – the country boasts "international standards" at an "affordable price". In the "general information" section, you will also read about the dangers of sunstroke and malaria and sexual diseases. What you are unlikely to find however, is one critical bit of information: in Thailand, the roads are lethal.

This is something four British women have recently come to realise. Before starting university, their sons grabbed their backpacks and left for a few weeks of fun and adventure – but their holidays in Thailand would cost them their lives.

Tragic deaths

Bruno Melling Firth, Max Boomgaarden-Cook, and Conrad Quashie – all 19 years old – arrived in Thailand for a 9-week holiday in June. They had saved up all year for a final holiday together before starting university. Four days into their trip, they boarded a night bus in Bangkok. There were heading for the ancient city of Chang Mai, which lies 11 hours by road to the north.

After a break at a road-side rest stop, the bus driver exited using the entrance road. He stopped the bus in the middle of a six lane highway as he tried to gain access to the other lane. The three boys, who were sitting at the back of the bus, saw another vehicle – an intercity bus - hurtling towards them. They even made a joke about it before they were hit.

Five people in total lost their lives – a 20-year-old Korean was also killed. The highway was littered with twisted debris and mangled bus parts. A member of a volunteer ambulance crew captured the scene with a video camera – another gruesome crash site uploaded to YouTube.

Video: http://www.channel4.com/news/the-undocumented-dangers-of-thailands-roads

Other than an early morning call – the sort all parents dread – the boys' loved ones were told nothing of how their kids were killed.

Six months later, the mothers of the deceased are still trying to find out why - when they thought bus travel in Thailand was safe.

"You know in many ways, we know very little of the actual accident, we've just be finding out bits and pieces," Gillian Melling - the mother of Bruno Melling-Firth - told Channel 4 News. Gillian, together with Polly Cook, the mother of Max Boomgaarden-Cook, and Amanda Bean, the mother of Conrad Quashie, say the Thai authorities and the UK Foreign Office ignored their requests for information about the crash.

No warnings

We also met a Brighton-based solicitor called Rachel Cooper. She lost her son Felix in Thailand when the driver of the bus he was travelling in lost control and collided with a truck. Felix was thrown across the vehicle when his seat - which wasn't bolted to the floor – came loose.

"We have looked at the guidebooks and we have looked at the Foreign Office website and there are just no warnings," Rachel told Channel 4 News.

"Sometimes they say buses 'may drive fast' but there are no real warning about the level of danger and the numbers of people who are killed," she added.

Finding reliable statistics on the number of fatalities and injuries on the country's roads is a tricky business. On the one hand, academics told us the numbers recorded by the Royal Thai Police were artificially low. On the other hand, the US State Department has ranked Thailand as the world's second most dangerous country (after Honduras) in terms of the number of road fatalities suffered by American tourists.

In the course of our investigations, we met hard working officials from the Thai Ministry of Public Health who gave a startling batch of numbers. Using the accepted WHO definition on fatalities caused by road accidents, they told us 13,766 people were killed last year on the country's roads – more than six times the rate in the UK (which has a similar population to Thailand).

We were told this number could be far higher however, as roughly a third of accidents are thought to go unreported. Incredibly, we were also told that nearly a million people (938,958) were admitted to hospital due to injuries suffered by road accidents last year.

Shocking numbers

The mothers of the four young men were shocked by these numbers – and now want others to know the facts.

"I would have given Max some money to travel by train or plane, if only I had known," said Polly Cook.

They have pledged to honour the memory of their sons by pressuring the Thai government to raise safety standards – and last week they won themselves a meeting in London with senior Thai officials who have pledged to do more.

It is a start – but the problem is immense. Thai drivers routinely flout the rules and the police rarely bother to enforce them – a situation described to me as "part of the culture" by one senior Thai official. That may be the case – but it is also unacceptable, particularly for a country which sells itself as a modern and desirable tourist destination.

The best thing our mothers can do is remind the Thais of this – I know they are determined to do it.

Source: http://www.channel4.com/news/the-undocumented-dangers-of-thailands-roads

-- channel4.com 2011-12-29

[daveb1]

I wonder how many of those deaths are motor cycle related, it’s unfair to compare UK and Thailand for many reasons. Yes the numbers are shocking but I am not surprised the standard of driving in Thailand is shocking treat everybody as an idiot on the road as most of them are!

I am also quite shocked at the number of busses coaches and lorries I see almost every day with completely bald tyres! Doesn’t anyone check them?

[canardo]

Better take a train, if you are short on budget, or fly, what is rather cheap as well! Busses and mini busses is kind of a Russian Roulette...

[laurentbkk]

Well , if people here would have at least a little knowledge in driving , road safety etc ...The problem is those bus companies who give big machine to drivers who know nothing about driving . We see that everyday on roads in Thailand , Buses racing on vipavadee with passengers in , buses changing lanes every 2 minutes ..the list is to long ...not to mention Bangkok city buses which already killed so many people ... and what is done to avoid this ? Nothing of course ....

[canardo]

I wonder how many of those deaths are motor cycle related, it’s unfair to compare UK and Thailand for many reasons. Yes the numbers are shocking but I am not surprised the standard of driving in Thailand is shocking treat everybody as an idiot on the road as most of them are!

I am also quite shocked at the number of busses coaches and lorries I see almost every day with completely bald tyres! Doesn’t anyone check them?

...not to compare cars / trucks without any or at least back lights!

I just did my Thai driving licence. Seeing how easy it is to get one without any proper training or theoretical drill makes me understand the traffic situation in Thailand.

[stevehaigh]

i would steer clear of night time travel on the roads. it would be interesting to see what % or fatalities happen at night, i expect a lot.

[steveyinasia]

In general, from my experience driving in Chiang Mai, most drivers have absolutely no road sense, no common sense and an attitude of "its not my fault" when they drive. To call them brainless idiots would be an insult to brainless idiots.

[thhMan]

It all comes back to education and changing the way people think.

First, would be to get parents stop buying bikes for their school children (some very young)... They learn bad road habits from the start.

Second.. Pay Police wages that they can survive on and would be less inclined to accept a few measly baht to let people get away with things such as roadworthy vehicles, drunk drivers, people not obeying road rules, etc.

This all takes a lot of money to run through the economy, so the Third would be to put in place "checks and balances" so money invested in economy is just that .... and not filtered through officials/companies so the end result is just a small portion to fix a road or install a set of lights or to monitor roadworthy buses/vehicles.

[impulse]

I'd suggest to these ladies that putting pressure on the Thai government to improve road safety is like pushing a rope.

They'd be better off working the other end of the equation and pressure their own governments to post warnings about how dangerous it really is. Then they could work on every travel guide that lures kids to spend their shoestring budget vacation in dangerous areas. If those warnings were available, perhaps these mothers would have (as one mentioned) given their kids some money to travel safer by air, and tragedy would have been averted.

That's not specific to Thailand, as my previous decade (plus) in China makes Bangkok drivers seem like a breath of fresh air. Yes, it's that bad up there.

[eddie61]

I wish the mothers luck and condolences in their personal tragedy.

Easy steps could be taken if the authorities seriously cared, such as:-

- requiring tachographs for HGVs and PSVs, or even governing their speed.

- Holding bus/transport companies responsible for the behaviour of their drivers, and ensuring that schedules realistically allow drivers to get enough sleep.

- having a police force that is not amenable to roadside fines paid on the spot without receipts (not in my lifetime, for sure)

- not allowing convoys of buses escorted by police vehicles to drive in excess of the speed limit!!!!

I am not holding my breath, and always choose seats in the middle of the bus between the wheels, where the chassis is strongest when I have to take the bus.

[challenger99]

not only the roads are dangerous, many negative points as robbery by motorbike, waterbike rental which after ask high amounts for repair for non existing damages! All the robbery un the streets eg Pattaya and many more !!

[BigBikeBKK]

While I feel terrible for these mothers who lost their children they are pitifully naive if they think they will have any impact or influence on the status quo here in Thailand. Only tourists and the poor ride buses in Thailand, and time after time we've seen that tourists and the poor don't count for squat in the Land of Smiles...

While I suppose embassies could do more to warn tourists, when travelling to a third world country (or any country for that matter) isn't it the responsability of the tourists to familiarize themselves with the dangers that await them?

[alexakap]

I just did my Thai driving licence. Seeing how easy it is to get one without any proper training or theoretical drill makes me understand the traffic situation in Thailand.

And how many of Thais not even bother to obtain that at all....

Me myself got my drive licence in 20 minutes from the moment I stepped into the Roads Dept (or how you call that). NO ANY SINGLE QUESTION was sounded (about theory), NO ANY SINGLE MINUTE was spent on test driving....Nothing at all.

I step into the department, provide them photo/fee/passport, they gave me the questionnaire in Thai where correct answers were ALREADY PRE-CHECKED, I passed it to the clerk, waiting for 20min and received my licence. Bingo, I became a driver!

Lucky me, I have background of traffic rules/signs/driving since I was in my homecountry. At least I know DOs and DONT's... Many, MANY, MOST Thais do not.

But they are driving, too.....And sometimes they driving big tourist buses, lorries, passing in front of trains etc.....

[Capealava]

Thailand has many beautiful destinations. However,carelessness and lack of mature driving skills Kill and injury so many people. Thai’s are possibly the worst drivers in the World after China. They are raised in a culture that does not promote following the rules, their police force is unskilled and do not enforces the rules. I have lived in Thai;and for 10 years and I have NEVER seen a car pulled over for a traffic infraction. Traffic laws are constantly broken, from drunk driving to not stopping at a stop sign. When I am a passenger in a car driven by a Thai I never feel comfortable and I try to avoid being in that situation.

In Phuket you get run over by cars, speedboats, jet ski’s and Tuk Tuks. In Bangkok it is everyman for himself. The police do nothing but collect their bribes. I was paid 2000 baht once at a toll station because I was told I had gone over the speed limit, actually I was under the speed limit. He said he had me on Radar. There is know radar there.. I told him I would not pay him and he said ok. We will impound your vehicle and then you will have to make your way to the station across town on foot. I paid of course.

What ever happened to that underage unlicensed girl who killed 8-9 people by forcing a van over the toll way bridge. Her wealthy parent paid everyone off and that is the last we heard of it.

[canardo]

He a snapshot from the theoretical driving licence test, no kiddin...

OK, again, NO KIDDIN, the right answer of the question regarding the BLUE 30 sign, is NOT "minimal speed 30 KMH" as one might think, NO, it is "maximum speed 30 KMH". When I told the officer this obivious mistake, he said, yes he knows...

LOL

TIT

[JRinPDX]

This will take a generation to change; there are so many interlocking problems, starting with accountability, all the way to the top. Perhaps if the mothers' campaign could make this a big enough issue, worldwide to really make a dent in tourist dollars, it might get the attention of the government. I suspect that's the only thing that will get anyone's attention. Even then, there is so much money at stake for the vested interests, it would take a really, really big dent. And I agree with a previous poster, that road safety is just one of MANY issues for tourists and locals alike. This is a country in transition and it will be a bumpy ride for a long time.

[alexakap]

I was paid 2000 baht once at a toll station because I was told I had gone over the speed limit, actually I was under the speed limit. He said he had me on Radar. There is know radar there.. I told him I would not pay him and he said ok. We will impound your vehicle and then you will have to make your way to the station across town on foot. I paid of course.

1. Overspeed fine (legal one) is 400THB, as far as I know.

2. Overspeeding does not require vehicle impounding.

He must just issue you the ticket and let you go. You must pay that prior to the next annual TC of your vehicle otherwice you'll not be able to prolong that and get a new ЕС sticker........

...and of course this is Thailand, and I always get my ЕС stickers even without bringing my vehicle in. Should I care for issued ickets? I don't think so... Of course it is illegal the way of living in LOS, used by majority and thus is legal somehow.

[Oberkommando]

I just did my Thai driving licence. Seeing how easy it is to get one without any proper training or theoretical drill makes me understand the traffic situation in Thailand.

Indeed, I got mine about 23 years ago, and I just paid for the license; no training, test or assessment whatsoever.

In the course of our investigations, we met hard working officials from the Thai Ministry of Public Health who gave a startling batch of numbers. Using the accepted WHO definition on fatalities caused by road accidents, they told us 13,766 people were killed last year on the country's roads – more than six times the rate in the UK (which has a similar population to Thailand).

We were told this number could be far higher however, as roughly a third of accidents are thought to go unreported. Incredibly, we were also told that nearly a million people (938,958) were admitted to hospital due to injuries suffered by road accidents last year.

To reiterate; the statistics only count fatalities at the scene of an accident. Those that die later as a result of their injuries or on their way to hospital are not included.

On the other hand, the US State Department has ranked Thailand as the world's second most dangerous country (after Honduras) in terms of the number of road fatalities suffered by American tourists.

I posted the link on another thread just yesterday but here is it again: http://www.livingthai.org/thailand-now-rated-2nd-most-likely-country-for-tourists-to-die.html

Looks like someone actually pays attention to what I post...

[Oberkommando]

On the one hand, academics told us the numbers recorded by the Royal Thai Police were artificially low.

On another thread we have posters using these statistics to disprove how dangerous Thailand really is.

[Xonax]

Unfortunately the Thai drivers don´t know how to enter a multi laned road. I often see cars blocking traffic several lanes, in order to get to the middle lane immediately.

And after making a U-turn, I often see cars blocking the traffic, trying to get to the furthest lane immedialely. That´s why U-turns are always congested.

And very often I see bus drivers blocking the road, when stopping the bus in the middle lane, in order for passengers to get in and out.

[connda]

You pay your money and you take your chances. Part of an exotic vacation is enjoying the differences in culture and society. Yes, it's very dangerous on the roads in Thailand. Every time I get on my motorcycle, I know I'm taking a risk. I look at the road in front of me, and I'm amazed at how similar it looks to a video arcade game: cars pulling out in front of you; pedestrians crossing the street a different angles; motorcycles pulling onto the main road without even a glance at traffic; trucks pulling out right in front of you; animals crossing the road; cars or motorcycles passing you at 80kph faster than you are traveling; cars, trucks, and motorcycles traveling down one-way streets; oncoming vehicles driving in your lane around blind corners; etc, etc, etc. I feel like I'm in some sort of surreal Super Mario video game. This isn't England, or the US, or Europe. To think that it is prior to traveling here (or any other third-world, developing country) is truly ignorant. I feel for those mothers losses, but to be honest, their efforts to change the Thai driving culture will be at best futile. There energies would best be served by working with travel agencies and governments in their own countries to provide information to prospective travelers.

[nigelnigel]

Here is why nothing will be done: NOBODY CARES!! very simple. there is complete apathy about pretty much anything here. Something as seemingly simple as getting information of how your children died takes forever with no answers at all???!!!

This is what kind of country it is. Love it or leave it? NO! Everyone has a right as citizens or visitors to get basic human rights..you can disagree if you want.

From the simplest things to the most complicated, Thailand does NOT care.

[orosee]

Silly. A glance at any guide book with a dangers section would have informed them of increased risks in long distance travel. Yet uncounted numbers of local and foreign travelers board a bus each day and arrive safely. Someone is having a "duh" moment: road traffic can kill, traffic in southern countries has increased risk, tragedies happen. So they should have taken a plane, aircraft never crash. So they should have gone by train, those never have accidents (ignore the news this week).

And let's lie with statistics for good measure; how many percent of travelers are killed is something we're not being told, as if absolute numbers had any relevance in comparing Honduras with Thailand.

A sad and entirely avoidable loss of life, but not through a lack of information. You can drown in water, freeze in snow and die in traffic. This is news only for people who are not yet prepared for life without a nanny.

[anterian]

One could rant for ever about Thai road users, but what is the point, it will only get worse as time goes on. Embassies may issue warnings but you have to actually experience it to fully grasp the dangers and chaos.

[KhunSteven]

Everyone who drives on the roads regularly knows that minibus and other bus drivers are the worst on the roads.

[khaan]

in the channel for documentary they showed people building " hand built buses "

without diagrams or plans...... and they talked about " pirate buses "

why don't the police check these things when they pass through the numerous police

checkpoints?

there is only one way to travel by bus safely in Thailand and that is this way:-

http://www.nca.co.th/firstclass.php

[lounger]

i would steer clear of night time travel on the roads. it would be interesting to see what % or fatalities happen at night, i expect a lot.

actually my experience suggests otherwise. Most of the lunatics on the road are back in bed by 8:00 lights out. Especially the motorcycles. There is a danger at night and that is the incredible volume of lorries. If I was told these were not allowed to travel in the daytime I would believe it as it explains the phenomenal volume. Anyway the lorries are well behaved as a rule but they are big and scary. Another problem at night is that the road surfaces are a deep black that seems to soak up the headlights. Its like driving in a black hole. Again I cant explain why they reflect nothing but if anyone has tinted windows then they have a serious disadvantage.

[lounger]

Here is why nothing will be done: NOBODY CARES!! very simple. there is complete apathy about pretty much anything here. Something as seemingly simple as getting information of how your children died takes forever with no answers at all???!!!

This is what kind of country it is. Love it or leave it? NO! Everyone has a right as citizens or visitors to get basic human rights..you can disagree if you want.

From the simplest things to the most complicated, Thailand does NOT care.

Everyone has a right to.............

Which planet are you from? No-one is automaticaly entitled to anything. Certain countries claim that human beings or shellfish or animals have rights to protection,food and access but that is hardly an instinct you are born with. Its a trait developed to make peoples lives more comfortable. All idiotic liberalistic views are forfeit when travelling.

[lounger]

in the channel for documentary they showed people building " hand built buses "

without diagrams or plans...... and they talked about " pirate buses "

why don't the police check these things when they pass through the numerous police

checkpoints?

there is only one way to travel by bus safely in Thailand and that is this way:-

http://www.nca.co.th/firstclass.php

Asking for the police to check anything is going against the culture. The hiarachy in Thailand suggests everyone is beholden to someone, whether for a job, for peace of mind etc. The police are a very powerful system designed to extract money legally if possible and without declaring it passing it back up the chain of command. Black buses have just as much power money behind them as legit buses. Which 'family' is going to react kindly to a jumped up policeman ruffling feathers.

On another subject people talk about bad driving etc being a culture thing. This is rubbish. The culture predates modern technology. Culture is about feet, respect, corruption and feudalism not amplifires mobile phones driving skills or yaba.

[lounger]

Everyone who drives on the roads regularly knows that minibus and other bus drivers are the worst on the roads.

'worst' as in equal to the worst. I have been driven by many Thais and I cannot say the saloon cars are safer than the pickups or the motorcycles or even the buses. Touch wood I have never had a bad bus journey but I have had kittens in Mercedes and Toyota fronteras..........