Death Toll Reaches 94 On Second Of Seven New Year's Dangerous Days: Thailand

[tompinlee]

Just yesterday I renewed my Thai driver's license in Chiang Mai for another 5 years. Unlike the last time I renewed, I had to re-do the traffic light colour recognition test, as well as the accelerator & then brake pedal reaction test.

I was amazed at how many Thai people in my test group actually failed the brake reaction test & really had no idea!

I was then made to sit through a 1 hour English language video presentation on Thai road safety & road rules, before they'd issue me with my renewed drivers license. I remember clearly watching this video and dreaming of what a pleasant place Thai roads would be to use, if they only enforced all these road rules & regulations and actually practiced what they preached in this road safety video!

All very sad - tragic actually, that so many lives are lost and lives destroyed as a result of road mayhem - especially over the New Year & Songkran holiday periods.....

i wonder how many Thai motor bike drivers even have a license?

the bike rider who came from behind at the speed of light, clipped my tailgate on overtaking, and crashed into a bike rider and caused serious injury and two bikes in pieces did not have a license, nor reg. for the bike. Nor a helmet. And this on a quiet country lane!!

The police let me go...but later.. guess who paid for hospital bills and bike repairs!

[tompinlee]

Every year we have the same forum discussion, nothing changes.

Indeed!

In perspective we all 'know' that the traffic laws are way too lax, hence all the accidents/injuries/deaths etc etc ..... BUT, in reality, those same lax laws are one of many reasons why so many westerners/farangs etc like this nation. It's just an escape from your home country's laws/regulations, is it not? I'm sure that when most of you go to/visit your homeland and one of the things you 'brag' about to your friends IS the lax traffic laws.

Having said that, all these injuries/deaths are not nice to hear/read about but they do happen and we, as 'allowed visitors' will never be able to make a difference to the ingenious way of thinking. If you think you can change things, I wish you the very best of luck.

Which traffic laws are too lax??

[scotinsiam]

Thailand has a population slightly higher then the UK but close enough for comparison, I think in 2010 the UK death figure was under 1900 deaths on the road and sadly Thailand about 12,000 - It is time that Thai people were given some education about safety - that is a lot of grieving families.

[GentlemanJim]

Just yesterday I renewed my Thai driver's license in Chiang Mai for another 5 years. Unlike the last time I renewed, I had to re-do the traffic light colour recognition test, as well as the accelerator & then brake pedal reaction test.

I was amazed at how many Thai people in my test group actually failed the brake reaction test & really had no idea!

I was then made to sit through a 1 hour English language video presentation on Thai road safety & road rules, before they'd issue me with my renewed drivers license. I remember clearly watching this video and dreaming of what a pleasant place Thai roads would be to use, if they only enforced all these road rules & regulations and actually practiced what they preached in this road safety video!

All very sad - tragic actually, that so many lives are lost and lives destroyed as a result of road mayhem - especially over the New Year & Songkran holiday periods.....

i wonder how many Thai motor bike drivers even have a license?

the bike rider who came from behind at the speed of light, clipped my tailgate on overtaking, and crashed into a bike rider and caused serious injury and two bikes in pieces did not have a license, nor reg. for the bike. Nor a helmet. And this on a quiet country lane!!

The police let me go...but later.. guess who paid for hospital bills and bike repairs!

But why did you pay?? I would have gone all the way up the court system and made sure that the idiot responsible paid in full.

[Brewsta]

yingluck... tut tut tut

This is not a Yingluck problem.

This is a problem that has existed in Thai culture forever.

No Government has seriously tackled the issue starting with real license tests, real police, real fines and real punishment.

Until they get serious, every New Year we will lament the sorry loss of life and injury.

You are absolutely correct that this is Thai culture.

Since first living in Thailand in 1992 and then from 2000-2012 with my Thai wife, my business and personal experiences have shown (IMHO, this is) that khon Thai accept Life as a series of 'unconnected and non-controlled events......their Buddhist philosophy....literally mai b'pen rai....."Whatever will be, will be".

Whilst Westerners develop a need for some control of their lives, Thais are naturally fatalistic and past/future incarnations will pre-ordain their Future(s).

So I doubt from my experience that Thais will ever get 'serious' and thus will just accept whatever is around the corner, predictable, controllable or otherwise.

I find this attitude, esp. from my wife, very sad, but maybe liberating in a strange way. I am just doing my damndest to educate our 2 kids - a 5 year old lad and 8 yr old lass - at English schools and at our Yorkshire home- to lean more towards the perceived Western philosophy and culture of Action & Consequence.

Time will tell.

Stay safe and Happy 2012 to you All.

Brewsta & Family

(currently on long break in North Yorkshire, England)

Edited January 1, 2012 by Brewsta

[Nisa]

About 30+ people die in road accidents on any given day in Thailand. This jump doesn't seem all that out of line with many other countries during the holidays .. though the holidays seems extended in Thailand beyond just the actual day.

Thailand no doubt needs to continue to improve areas around road safety, enforcement and education but the number of deaths is not as bad as people may think comparably considering more than 60% of vehicles on the road in Thailand are motorcycles.

Road Deaths in Thailand per 100,000 people ... 19.6

Road Deaths in Thailand per 100,000 vehicles ... 118.8

Road Deaths in World per 100,000 people ... 20.8

Road Deaths in World per 100,000 vehicles ... 93.3

The total number of fatalities in Thailand per year has also seemed to be trending down, at least from 1997 though mid 2006, even with more vehicles on the road (more 7 million more registered vehicles from 97 compared to 06).

Total Road Deaths in Thailand 1997 ... 13,836 (7.83 per 10,000 vehicles)

Total Road Deaths in Thailand 2006 ... 12,069 (4.87 per 10,000 vehicles)

http://en.wikipedia....ated_death_rate

http://www.grsproads...an/Thailand.pdf

Edit: found this additional stat

Total Road Deaths in Thailand 2009 ... 11,048 (4.10 per 10,000 vehicles)

http://www.unescap.o...21.Thailand.pdf

The only thing wrong with this is that the numbers used for Thailand are only those which are actually reported by the police and government, which is notorously known for "downplaying" figures. Also, they do NOT count those who died on the way to the hospital, or after arriving at the hospital in the death stats, and ONLY count those who are dead at the scene. I know this for a FACT, as the husband of my wife's cousin is a Senior Sgt with the Royal Thai Police, and he has told me how they come up with their numbers.

Your listening to (and worse believe and repeat) too much nonsense.

If you even bothered to do just a tiny bit of research, such as clicking a link, you would see the deaths are DEATHS WITHIN 30-DAYS of an accident. The information is also compiled from numerous sources with only 1 of them being the police.

And you also fail to even see the actual point which is deaths are going down while number of vehicles are going up.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Nisa

[jimbeam1]

Does anyone know yet what are the convictions for drink driving so far this year?

jb1

[mahtin]

Does anyone know yet what are the convictions for drink driving so far this year?

jb1

Do they actually go to court?

[jimbeam1]

Does anyone know yet what are the convictions for drink driving so far this year?

jb1

Do they actually go to court?

I think some do? But what I actually meant to say was. How many arrests? Because if it is ridiculously low, then heads should roll, starting from the top.

jb1