I am Speachless................I think You All have covered it...........................

The Thai government---???   or Dubai  ???? same but not same... declaring WHAT..thick so and so's, what comes out of the woodwork is far worse than Bul####t

As George Orwell's 1984 (where War was Peace) would put it, this statement was Double Plus Ungood.

An off topic post has been removed.

But at the end of the day, this soft-headed lie is not as sinister (is it?) as the blatant lies told by the American government to its own people regarding the unemployment rate, which is "officially" 8.3%, but everyone knows this is the height of BS, since the real rate is nearer 20%.

And I still loathe the face of Blair, the British PM, who lied blatantly to the British people about "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (and I still wonder at the sheep-like MPs who supported that ruinous intervention in another country's business.

These lies are, IMO, far more sinister than this Thai claptrap.

Miracle Thailand

the only definition of success would be one Thai politician standing up and admitting that they got something wrong and accepting that "loss of face" is totally unimportant.

Someone needs to find a way to make this unique and fun festival safer - my suggestion is revert it to something that takes place on the ground and not from vehicles. Then police and penalise anyone who breaks the "no vehicles" rule. The way it is currently going will eventually lead to this being banned which would be a shame. We had a similar problem with November 5th in the UK with what were once family firework displays turning into dangerous events. The controls we have on this now are not perfect but there are far fewer injuries and fatalities which proves it can be achieved.

Posted Today, 07:58

555... yes, a great success. And it was just one of many government success stories this holiday season! The Thai Anti-Space Alien Program (TASAP) was a complete success as not one space alien was reported in Thailand during the entire holiday! And the Save Thailand's Dams and Bridges group proudly announced that no bridge or dams collapsed during this Songkran! For more unbelievably good new, check out the TAT website!

Still a few Alien’s in Thailand who survived the roads carnage during the Songkran

the only definition of success would be one Thai politician standing up and admitting that they got something wrong and accepting that "loss of face" is totally unimportant.

Someone needs to find a way to make this unique and fun festival safer - my suggestion is revert it to something that takes place on the ground and not from vehicles. Then police and penalise anyone who breaks the "no vehicles" rule. The way it is currently going will eventually lead to this being banned which would be a shame. We had a similar problem with November 5th in the UK with what were once family firework displays turning into dangerous events. The controls we have on this now are not perfect but there are far fewer injuries and fatalities which proves it can be achieved.

There are many ''traditional'' events all over the globe and the participants fully understand the risks, like doing stuff with bulls in Spain. If you don't want the risk, then you stay home. .

denial is the first line of defense

<deleted>, this a new math. more than 350 death equal to zero

I'm not sure how many days they counted the deaths over but I'd like to know how this compares to other periods of the year with the same number of days.

For example if it covered a period of 4 days - I wonder what the average death toll is over 4 day periods throughout the year compared to the Songkran fatalities.

I suspect a lot of people die on the roads every week regardless of whether it's Songkran or not.

This many people is the equivalent of a major air disaster.

I often hear politicians say ridiculous and baseless things but this must be the most fantastic ever.

I hope that you are being sarcastic. the most fantastic ever?????

Well you have to hand it to politicians, who else would even dare try and spin a dsmal failure into a success of epic propotrtions? US President Geotge Bush - "Mission accomplished" - may want to rethink that one George. Australian PM Julia Gillard - "We are getting the job done" - the job being enacting legislation that the majority of the population is vehemently opposed to that she promised she would never enact. Yes, the Songkran fantasy is yet another to add your list of favourite quotable sociopaths.

_{Reminiscent of Baghdad Bob and whoever's North Korea's rocket program press secretary.}

Even the North Koreans admitted failure with the rocket launch!

Yeh your right, they said they are not buying anymore from Thailand...

Let's have an amnesty for all drunken drivers to promote reconciliation.

And let's have a "success party" costing millions to celebrate.

Do you think they will have free beer..?

I definitely agree on the success of the campaign - "zero-Songkran holiday" death campaign.

However if he claimed a "zero-death" Songkran holiday campaign... my condolences go out to the families of the 300+ fatalities as it seems that this government does not count their loss as anything of significance.

Here are the Songkran stats for the last several years. In the overall scheme of things, it was not a bad year (in very much a relative sense):

2007: 361 deaths, 4,805 injuries and 4,274 accidents

2008: 368 deaths, 4,801 injuries and 4,243 accidents

2009: 373 deaths, 4,332 injuries and 3,977 accidents

2010: 361 deaths, 3,802 injuries and 3,516 accidents

2011: 271 deaths, 3,476 injuries and 3,215 accidents

2012: 320 deaths, 3,320 injuries and 3,129 accidents

Your stats show the lowest death toll was after the coup under a democrat government

Songkran 2011

271 Deaths

Songkran 2012

320 Deaths

Well done.

Give them a break guys they arent counting anyone with a criminal past..

Nearly speechless......... This is the concept of magical thinking brought to the final absurd level. I am actually truly sorry for the Thai people that are governed by these idiots. For a nation obsessed with " saving face", do these government people have any idea how ridiculous they look in the aftermath of statements like this one??

Edited April 21, 201214 yr by EyesWideOpen

Now I'm ashamed to be pro pheu thai.

Glad to see someone stood up and said that, respect. Too many otherwise vociferous PT supporters notably always fail to comment on obvious PT errors.

Why they had to make any comment to try to spin this is totally beyond belief. It's also somewhat insulting to the families of those who died. What was it in the end, 20-25% increase in dead and a tiny drop in injuries? and even these figures have apparently been cooked. Someone needs to get a grip on this dreadful slaughter, it's not rocket science, force the police to do their job and start imprisoning people for drunk or dangerous driving. Probably not enough room for 10,000's of thousands of drunk drivers, although I reckon if you did it just once then you would see a massive drop in accidents going forward.

Do Thai politicians ever resign when they make crazy statements? If the Transport Minister in the UK made such a claim, they'd almost certainly end up resigning over it. Go on son, do the right thing.

Edited April 21, 201214 yr by BwindiBoy

That is deemed a success?

I would hate to know what would have been considered a failure.

"However, the Deputy PM is pleased that the government-initiated campaign to rid the country of road fatalities during the Songkran holidays ended up with six provinces recording 'zero' death this year. They include Nakhon Phanom, Trat, Trang, Ranong, Pattani and Satun."

Who writes these articles? Scary is that some people might believe this BS.............

That's one way of looking at it. But last year was also a statistical outlier. Year-on-year comparisons are always problematic. Compared to 2007-2010, inclusive, this was a better year.

2007: 361 deaths, 4,805 injuries and 4,274 accidents

2008: 368 deaths, 4,801 injuries and 4,243 accidents

2009: 373 deaths, 4,332 injuries and 3,977 accidents

2010: 361 deaths, 3,802 injuries and 3,516 accidents

2011: 271 deaths, 3,476 injuries and 3,215 accidents

2012: 320 deaths, 3,320 injuries and 3,129 accidents

I have, as a professional, looked at their stats for road accidents and fatalities and spoken to the people collecting them.

To be polite, they are politically affected.

The political requirement from local and national politicians is that they get better – so they do.

This is interesting (and quite believable). Do you have any insights into the mysteriously massive drop in fatalities last year?

quite normal behavior for a people who put salt on strawberry's and pineapple i find

So why do you stay there if you feel this way about the people?

u can choose to stay anywhere you want... it doesn't mean you have to like what people do...

Of course you can... but I don't understand the psychology of one who chooses to stay in a place where he seems to think all the people are idiots (as inferred by his comments on their eating preferences). I suspect a lot of people here, when back in their own countries, wouldn't be happy to hear an immigrant bad-mouthing fellow citizens as idiots...

I believe that most accidents happen because of the fact that almost everybody's traveling over Songkran to see relatives.

It's not just necessarily alcohol that causes the accidents.

Considering their driving skills, it's pretty easy to understand that so many accidents occur, sadly with deadly outcome....

Would Thais have to make a driver's license, undergoing theoretical and practical training, plus some basic mechanical understanding, there wouldn't be that many accidents.

Always wearing a seat-belt in a car, and real helmets on motorcycles would be a good start for this country.

Technical checks for cars and motorcycles every year and heavy fines for doing red lights etc would decrease their dangerous behavior when driving a vehicle.

Again it comes back to their education, common sense is also based on education.

Many Thais don't even know that they're doing something wrong. Sad is that even people in the government don't know it better...

I believe that most accidents happen because of the fact that almost everybody's traveling over Songkran to see relatives.

It's not just necessarily alcohol that causes the accidents.

Considering their driving skills, it's pretty easy to understand that so many accidents occur, sadly with deadly outcome....

Would Thais have to make a driver's license, undergoing theoretical and practical training, plus some basic mechanical understanding, there wouldn't be that many accidents.

Always wearing a seat-belt in a car, and real helmets on motorcycles would be a good start for this country.

Technical checks for cars and motorcycles every year and heavy fines for doing red lights etc would decrease their dangerous behavior when driving a vehicle.

Again it comes back to their education, common sense is also based on education.

Many Thais don't even know that they're doing something wrong. Sad is that even people in the government don't know it better...

Now I'm ashamed to be pro pheu thai.

Glad to see someone stood up and said that, respect. Too many otherwise vociferous PT supporters notably always fail to comment on obvious PT errors.

Why they had to make any comment to try to spin this is totally beyond belief. It's also somewhat insulting to the families of those who died. What was it in the end, 20-25% increase in dead and a tiny drop in injuries? and even these figures have apparently been cooked. Someone needs to get a grip on this dreadful slaughter, it's not rocket science, force the police to do their job and start imprisoning people for drunk or dangerous driving. Probably not enough room for 10,000's of thousands of drunk drivers, although I reckon if you did it just once then you would see a massive drop in accidents going forward.

+1

As if they ever really tried to do anything about road traffic fatalities in Songklarn. Just as they fail to do anything the other 360 days of the year