Thai Govt Hopes To Find Lessons In Road Toll Drop

[webfact]

Govt hopes to find lessons in road toll drop

Wattana Khamchoo

The Nation

The seven dangerous day period of this New Year Festival has seen a decrease in road casualties and accidents compared to last year, with 335 deaths and 3,375 injuries in 3,093 accidents, the Road Safety Centre reported yesterday. Most accidents resulted from drunk driving and Nakhon Sawan and Buri Ram had the highest number of victims killed at 18 persons each.

Saying that on January 4 alone, 237 accidents killed 21 people and injured 259 others, Deputy PM and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit told a press conference that the centre would study road accidentrelated issues during this sevenday period to suggest measures to the Cabinet for the upcoming Songkran Festival.

Ten provinces had no road accident deaths: Sukhothai, Tak, Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Si Sa Ket, Nonthaburi, Trat, Satun, Yala and Pattani.

From December 29, 2011 to January 4, 2012, there were 3,093 accidents (404 cases or 11.55 per cent fewer than last year), killing 335 persons (a drop of 23 persons or 6.42 per cent on last year), and injuring 3,375 persons (375 persons or 10 per cent fewer than last year). Chiang Rai had the most cumulative injuries at 121 and the most accidents at 115 cases.

Most accidents resulted from drunk driving (37.28 per cent) and speeding beyond legal limit (20.63 per cent). Most accidents involved motorcycles at 81.47 per cent followed by pickup trucks at 9.34 per cent. Over half (62.30 per cent) of the accidents took place on straight stretches of road and the period from 4pm to 8pm saw the most accidents occurring at 28.87 per cent.

About 54 per cent of road casualty victims were of working age. The nationwide checkpoints stopped 4,797,164 vehicles and punished 643,445 lawbreaking motorists, mostly for not wearing helmets (200,909 cases) and not carrying a driver's licence (185,856 cases).

Although the accidents were lower than last year, the rate of major accidents causing the death of many remained high, Yongyuth said. Four risk factors were involved: drivers speeding beyond legal limit, drivers dozing off behind the wheel, bikers failing to wear helmets, and truck passengers failing to fasten seatbelts or riding in the truck's open part in the back.

In related news, Metropolitan Police deputy chief Pol Maj General Worasak Noppasitthiporn reported on the city traffic situation from December 29, 2011 to January 4, 2012, saying that Bangkok City had witnessed 34 accidents (15 per cent down from last year), killing 12 people (five people more than last year) and injuring 31 others (17 persons fewer than last year). Most accidents involved motorcycles and resulted from drunk driving, failure to wear helmets, speeding beyond legal limit and sudden overtaking of other vehicles. City police also arrested 5,133 lawviolating motorists during the period, higher than last year by 2,300 cases.

-- The Nation 2012-01-06

[slapout]

The suggestions to be made to the Cabinet are going to accomplish what??? The high risk groups have been documented for years, the numbers of deaths are massaged by those appointed to positions of authority (responsibility does not seem to be included). I have yet to see a nation wide effort to cut accidents on the roads or anywhere for that matter, cut the accident numbers and your death/injuries will follow.

[Pib]

Most accidents involved motorcycles at 81.47 per cent...

Thai's, with or without licenses, drive their motorcycles like crazy people...and motorcycles and alcohol definitely don't mix. It would be interesting to know how many of these motorcycle accidents was just "one each" motorcycle having an accident which did not involve any other vehicle. I expect a lot were just a single motorcycle going off the road or skidding down the road, with the road, wall, dirt, etc., the rider impacted winning the immovable object contest.

[sungod]

Properly enforcing the road laws all year round may be a start,

[thaieagle67]

I wish the BiB would pull their heads out their backsides and get real. Speeding alone does not always constitute a cause for an accident, take Germany as a good argument to this. You can drive sensibly at speed and be no threat to anyone but jump lanes without signalling, tailgate, undertake, etc, at speed will of course raise significantly the risk of an accident.

The same goes for blaming not wearing a helmet as a cause of an accident.....eh! Since when can not wearing a helmet become a cause? Wearing a helmet is a preventative measure to stop head injuries, Wearing a helmet does not improve the standard of motorcycle riding or sober someone up, infact with many Thai kids it makes them think they are even more bullet proof and ride worse and faster than normal.

I have traveled Thai roads & motorways for many years and have never seen the BiB pull up anyone for driving like a complete prat, driving in the wrong direction, entering a motorway from an exit road, the list can go on for pages. The BiB in my eyes are the major underlying cause for the high death rates on Thai roads, they do nothing to improve the very poor Thai driving culture and show a very poor respect to the law they should be enforcing (wearing no helmets, driving drunk, etc).

Before it is is mentioned I also acknowledge that unfortunately this poor policing seems to have given quite a few farangs an excuse to drive as daft as the locals!

Edited January 6, 2012 by thaieagle67

[Tanaka]

I wish the BiB would pull their heads out their backsides and get real. Speeding alone does not always constitute a cause for an accident, take Germany as a good argument to this. You can drive sensibly at speed and be no threat to anyone but jump lanes without signalling, tailgate, undertake, etc, at speed will of course raise significantly the risk of an accident.

The same goes for blaming not wearing a helmet as a cause of an accident.....eh! Since when can not wearing a helmet become a cause? Wearing a helmet is a preventative measure to stop head injuries, Wearing a helmet does not improve the standard of motorcycle riding or sober someone up, infact with many Thai kids it makes them think they are even more bullet proof and ride worse and faster than normal.

I have traveled Thai roads & motorways for many years and have never seen the BiB pull up anyone for driving like a complete prat, driving in the wrong direction, entering a motorway from an exit road, the list can go on for pages. The BiB in my eyes are the major underlying cause for the high death rates on Thai roads, they do nothing to improve the very poor Thai driving culture and show a very poor respect to the law they should be enforcing (wearing no helmets, driving drunk, etc).

Before it is is mentioned I also acknowledge that unfortunately this poor policing seems to have given quite a few farangs an excuse to drive as daft as the locals!

One of the reasons for this not happening may be that the BiB do not know the laws themselves!

[normac44]

Could the stas not be broken down to age, sex etc. is the figure for Thai people only or other nationalities?As a motorcyclist I study all fatal accidents here in my country of Australia and it is only when one has all of the relevant stats that any conclusions can be made.More information needs to be released.

[Thaihog]

What a joke... govt. officials trying to give themselves a pat on the back because the stats are down this year! The numbers are manipulated every year so are pretty meaningless...

If the BiB had more check points for drinking and driving that would help, but crime prevention isn't exactly one of their strong suits...

Come Songkran in another couple of months there will be another 500+ lives lost over the so called critical period...

Nothing will ever change in Thailand as the Hi-So's and Govt. don't really give a shit about the working class...