"..60 Tourists Die Per Month, On Motorbikes In Koh Samui."

[LaoPo]

Why is there 4 private International Hospitals in the Chaweng area? Supply and Demand! So who has the will to make the roads safe? It's just not profitable!

With around 1 million tourists, 4 small hospitals are probably needed.

Not every bed is necessary for accidents though.

A lot of other nasty things can happen to human beings, other than accidents.

In my own western country, in an area with around 9 villages and towns with less than (total) 250,000 people there are 2 huge hospitals and some smaller ones and next to that a lot of caring homes.

[stiggy]

Hospitals private anyway dislike dead people they do not pay bills. Same goes for seriously injured always a gamble if they are insured or not.

The 4 hospitals cater for all of the Gulf islands, and generally do not have beds full of bike accident victims.

Most are in there with dehydration due to illness such as Dysentry or other regional based upsets, and presently Dengue is a big money spinner. Add the odd expat having routine surgery, and not forgetting the midwifes who are busy delivering kids it all adds up.

Don't forget also most insurances only cover inpatient treatment, and beds are busy as stay and don't pay kicks in.

So yes there is a demand for the hospitals, its also very profitable but Motorbike crashes are only part of the picture.Unless something is broken most end up in a local clinic.

[Tropicalevo]

Hospitals private anyway dislike dead people they do not pay bills. Same goes for seriously injured always a gamble if they are insured or not.

The 4 hospitals cater for all of the Gulf islands, and generally do not have beds full of bike accident victims.

Most are in there with dehydration due to illness such as Dysentry or other regional based upsets, and presently Dengue is a big money spinner. Add the odd expat having routine surgery, and not forgetting the midwifes who are busy delivering kids it all adds up.

Don't forget also most insurances only cover inpatient treatment, and beds are busy as stay and don't pay kicks in.

So yes there is a demand for the hospitals, its also very profitable but Motorbike crashes are only part of the picture.Unless something is broken most end up in a local clinic.

In my visits to the hospitals - bike accidents are the majority of patients by far. Mostly outpatients, but quite a few in-patients.

Dog related out-patients were becoming a high number - nowhere near as high as mb accidents though.

Dengue is seasonal. Now - a big money spinner but these outbreaks tend to happen only 2 - 3 times a year. this info is from the nurses in the A & E unit - mostly at Thai international. I do not go to BKK Samui hospital.

[hopdafru]

Maybe because of the economic crisis the said tourists would share a rental and ride together... then sure... a couple deadly accidents a week and there you go... 60 corpses sent back a month via dongmeuane (spelling?) and bkk ;-)

[Neilly]

The Chief of police should be to blame for the death toll on samui for not enforcing the helmet law... He should be sued and have criminal charges brought up agents him.

When Thailand adopts a standard of helmet that will actually do some good it will be worth enforcing...the ones you see the tourists wearing can cause just as much damage because they are ill-fitting and made out of recycled paint pots.

[hopdafru]

"Between 2000 and 2010, 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Thailand, meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period."

http://www.brentwoodweeklynews.co.uk/news/basildon/10151030.Grieving_families_urge_travellers_venturing_to_southeast_Asia_to_take_greater_care/

[LaoPo]

"Between 2000 and 2010, 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Thailand, meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period."

http://www.brentwood...e_greater_care/

The total is actually more or less 134,474 but that aside, we better follow the official statistics from the WHO (World Health Organisation) in this link* and not a weekly from the UK although the parents are 100% correct if they say that travellers should take better care, but what does one do when a (Thai or Lao) driver is insane and drives like a total maniac :

* http://www.thaiwebsites.com/caraccidents.asp

Although the AVERAGE is high, the actual death number in Thailand is declining according to the statistics.

However, if one reads that 10 people are killed in ONE accident between 2 cars, one wonders if that's true...

[Boater]

"Between 2000 and 2010, 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Thailand, meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period."

http://www.brentwood...e_greater_care/

The total is actually more or less 134,474 but that aside, we better follow the official statistics from the WHO (World Health Organisation) in this link* and not a weekly from the UK although the parents are 100% correct if they say that travellers should take better care, but what does one do when a (Thai or Lao) driver is insane and drives like a total maniac :

* http://www.thaiwebsites.com/caraccidents.asp

Although the AVERAGE is high, the actual death number in Thailand is declining according to the statistics.

However, if one reads that 10 people are killed in ONE accident between 2 cars, one wonders if that's true...

You spoke to soon laopo , 10 dead , 2 cars today -

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[LaoPo]

"Between 2000 and 2010, 124,855 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Thailand, meaning that on average there were over 12,000 deaths a year from road traffic accidents during this period."

http://www.brentwood...e_greater_care/

The total is actually more or less 134,474 but that aside, we better follow the official statistics from the WHO (World Health Organisation) in this link* and not a weekly from the UK although the parents are 100% correct if they say that travellers should take better care, but what does one do when a (Thai or Lao) driver is insane and drives like a total maniac :

* http://www.thaiwebsi...araccidents.asp

Although the AVERAGE is high, the actual death number in Thailand is declining according to the statistics.

However, if one reads that 10 people are killed in ONE accident between 2 cars, one wonders if that's true...

You spoke to soon laopo , 10 dead , 2 cars today - http://www.thaivisa....-on-road-crash/

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

That's what I mentioned in my very last sentence

I wish I didn't have to do so though

[dwezzel]

Total BS! Unbelievable story! Maybe 60 injured, but I seriously doubt that many die every month! 

[wilcopops]

I'd really to believe this story, but it ignores several basic facts about road safety in Thailand - the most salient point in this case is Thailand's collection of road safety data.

There are about 6 sources used for supplying data and several bodies that use and collate it - the problem is though that the data is very incomplete and in reality almost useless.

The one statistic that the pundits repeat ad nauseam is the "Deaths per 100k" as if that is the be all and end all of road safe - -IT IS NOT - firstly international road say figures are gathered in 3 injury categories - fatal, serious and minor - Thailand does not do this.

They also have no established long-running stats for foreigners. Why? Probably because of the general under provision of people who can actually gather these kind of stats - there is also a conspiracy theory that would suggest that if the world became aware of how many foreigners died on Samui, no-one would come here.

 

So even if a statistic source was produced this figure could still probably be regarded as fake news - however one thing is certain - too many people die on Samui's roads and given the demographics of the place a lot must be foreigners - it would be great if Thailand got their poop together and started actually moving into the 21st century when it comes to road safety.

 

PS - I note that the rural roads authority have recently sent a delegation to the UK to see how they handle road safety on smaller roads like on Samui - par for the course would be politely listing and then quietly ignoring everything they've been told.

 

[wilcopops]

On 1/16/2013 at 2:40 PM, LaoPo said:

That's what I mentioned in my very last sentence

I wish I didn't have to do so though

there are lies, damn lies and statistics - unfortunately even the WHO has problems reading stats from countries like Thailand and of course road deaths do not give the whole or even and accurate picture.

"Statistics refers to both quantitative data, and the classification of such data in accordance with probability theory and the application to them of methods such as hypothesis testing." WHO.

 

[wilcopops]

1 hour ago, wilcopops said:

there are lies, damn lies and statistics - unfortunately even the WHO has problems reading stats from countries like Thailand and of course road deaths do not give the whole or even and accurate picture.

"Statistics refers to both quantitative data, and the classification of such data in accordance with probability theory and the application to them of methods such as hypothesis testing." WHO.

 

Here are the WHO's own comments. on their statistics and the problems they incur with countries like Thailand....

" ....... the report [GLOBAL STATUS REPORT ON ROAD SAFETY - 2018] shows that huge gaps remain in the quality and coverage of the data that countries collect and report on road traffic injuries. Reliable data on fatalities and non-fatal injuries are needed by countries to assess the scope of the road traffic injury problem, to target responses to it, and to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention measures. 

Underreporting of road traffic fatalities remains a big problem in many countries, and the situation is even worse with regard to non-fatal injuries. Furthermore, the lack of harmonization of terminology between countries, and even between sectors within them, limits comparability of data. For instance, varying time periods between the crash and death are used to define a road traffic death, and the definition of a severe non-fatal injury also varies. 

[PoorSucker]

Someone has been digging and resurrected a six year old topic. 

 

Closed.