Thailand keen on reducing road fatalities

[Mudcrab]

Anyone rideing on a motorcycle without a helmet gets fined. Speed traps set up, with heavy fines. Anyone weaving around in traffic at high speed gets fined. Run a red light, or take off before the light turns green, get fined. Anyone parked along the road out in a lane gets fined. Don't pay your fine within 90 days, your vehicle is impounded by police and you have to pay a high storage bill. Just for starters.

ahh just like back home

[Mudcrab]

Stopping underage motorbike riding would be a good start. And how about a novel idea of motorcyclists being required to hold a licence.....

Can't agree old mate. I have been riding a motorbike since a very young age, many years before licensing age. By the time I turned 17 I reckon I could ride/drive pretty damn well, license or not. The kids in the village 3 and 4 up going to school will be the same. My missus grew up the same way. Came to OZ last year and jumped straight on my old Harley and took off no worries. Never ridden anything over 125cc in her life. But she can ride a motorbike.

Gotta be careful applying our own experiences to our current environment. Check the Op....says the deaths per 100,000 are a third on motorbikes compared to other vehicles.

[pistachios]

I have never seen a TV advertisment promoting driving safety in this country, I find it very surprising. I remember having seen as a kid an ad showing a kid in the backseat smashing his head on the front seat, after his mum had to do an emergency stop. It was very effective, I always put my seatbelt afterwards, and told my parents to wear them as well.

A few well done ads, with nice special effect and lots of blood, the results of many retarded thai driving habits, would have a much better result than the fear of getting a ticket, should the road police start to do its job.

I suspect the kamikaze drivers who overtake on blind corners, enter in a T junction at full speed, without looking for oncoming vehicules, or drive a motorbike without lighst or helmet, just don't even realize something could go very wrong.

We could see for example a short clip showing a dash cam-like footage of an head on collision after a suicidal overtaking in a blind spot, followed by a slogan "do not overtake when you should not" or a mother crying over her dead child, its brain splattered on the road after a small accident with the slogan "always wear a helmet". It would work great especially if a few stars get involved.

[Mudcrab]

I have never seen a TV advertisment promoting driving safety in this country, I find it very surprising. I remember having seen as a kid an ad showing a kid in the backseat smashing his head on the front seat, after his mum had to do an emergency stop. It was very effective, I always put my seatbelt afterwards, and told my parents to wear them as well.

A few well done ads, with nice special effect and lots of blood, the results of many retarded thai driving habits, would have a much better result than the fear of getting a ticket, should the road police start to do its job.

I suspect the kamikaze drivers who overtake on blind corners, enter in a T junction at full speed, without looking for oncoming vehicules, or drive a motorbike without lighst or helmet, just don't even realize something could go very wrong.

We could see for example a short clip showing a dash cam-like footage of an head on collision after a suicidal overtaking in a blind spot, followed by a slogan "do not overtake when you should not" or a mother crying over her dead child, its brain splattered on the road after a small accident with the slogan "always wear a helmet". It would work great especially if a few stars get involved.

or even a simple ad showing "buckle up". God knows the number of times I have had to say this..but given up on the back seat passengers totally.

[masuk]

Three suggestions

1. Police should carry accurate blood alcohol measurement equipment and the results admissiable in court. (I am not sure that there are established levels, but if there are none, they need to be there)

2. The first conviction carries a fine of 30,000 THB or 30 days in prision. Second conviction carries a fine of 50,000 THB and 30 days in prison and loss of driving license for 3 months.

3. Third conviction, permanant loss of driving privilege.

4 Liability should be clearly established for bus and van company owners (not the corporations or companies) and a bond posted to pay damages if their driver or defective equipment or overweight vehicles are found at fault.

5. Each District should have an independent accident inspection team who will establish the cause of the accident using modern accident scene technology and techniques.

Exactly! But I can't see any of it happening. A mate of mine is a bus driver in Australia, and accidentally went through a turning arrow as it turned red. Camera got him, and he had to pay the fine of $430.00 and 2 demerit points. It's the drivers who pay, not the company.

If the police started random breath testing, the roads would be cleared in a few weeks!

[maanoi]

Proper enforcment on current laws and fines that actually hurt would be a good start. Then work on driver training. The whole process to get a licence is a joke atm.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[RPCVguy]

I wish Thailand well, and read all the comments knowing that experience is otherwise.

For a few suggestions at relatively low cost...
1) Traffic signage posters distributed to each school (or social studies teacher for students in Bo 4 and up.) These need show and explain the meaning of each traffic sign, as well as road line markings. Added option is to explain stopping distances in dry as well as wet pavement conditions. Lastly, explain how to estimate needed viewing range before passing, including the problems of hills and curves in the road.

2) Make a version of the poster that is also sent home to parents.

3) Have police announce a plan to impound vehicles of unlicensed drivers - awaiting documents and some regionally scaled to daily wage fee for release of impounded vehicles to the legal owners.

4) Have police start their search for driving credentials at the gates of local schools... though unannounced processing of same elsewhere would help.

5) Change the process of license testing so the morning is not just a cram session for the afternoon test. The poster described earlier COULD be nearly comprehensive enough to cover the drivers ed manuals that are now lacking in the regional centers - meaning that currently the only training any driver has is the cram session of the morning of their test. Thus the posters can become an ongoing reference for rules of the road.

6 and beyond... probably most of the former won't happen, and items that come to mind beyond this require more expenditures and policing to enforce... so I'll stop while only partially behind.
... though I would expect the cost benefits of these 5 would help lower Thailand's high ranking in per capita highway mortality.

Will anything change or is the entire topic just talk?

[ricardofel]

What a bunch of BS. Thailand is not concerned about reducing deaths, pollution, train accidents or anything to make Thailand a better country. When pigs fly I will believe it.

[hawker9000]

Funny how minimum standards for licensing all drivers, with higher & recurrent standards for commercial drivers, along with simple points systems, etc., never even enters their heads. Instead all they care about is checkpoints & stops to generate "income" opportunities. Road safety? Thailand? Good luck.

[planetdweller]

Yes, and I'm keen on living forever and discovering a long lost uncle who just died and left me a 5 Billion dollar fortune.

[wicketkeeper]

It is possible to change attitudes and behaviour with a relevant and effective advertising campaign across all media.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

30 years ago going over the mountain between Phuket and Patong beach in the white & blue 5 BHT local bus, sitting next to the driver in the front seat, the driver suddenly moved away from the driving position to a position next to me and said: don't worry Buddha is driving the bus now, this was going downhill full speed. This life is just a test for next life he told me so don't worry. So maybe it's just karma? who knows.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

http://roadskillmap.com/

Thailand is #2 highest in the world for per capital (100K) road fatalities.

#1 is Dominican Republic. DR is small country and I think small sample distortion.

Thailand is perhaps best at something.

No idea what they can do to improve it.

[cardinalblue]

The media can even get accurate what the plan is. The Minister of Public Health has already changed the goals for this 10 year plan. Why? because they are already two years into the 10 year plan and the first two years have shown an increas ein road fatalities. So what does the PH minister do? he says the revised goal nowe is to reduce fatalities by 7% per year. What's the problem with this? If that goal is met each year, they will achieve a 52% reduction which is greater than the original 50% reduction...

Behavioral modification is needed and they (gov and whomever else responsible) don't have the ability to understand what is needed to do to meet these reductions....

Their whole plan is based on hope, prayer and some promotional/marketing tools like billboards. Until they learn how to do DMV properly, hold drivers accountable for their driving and put an effective enforcement program and training for those traffic officers. etc etc and etc...so much much is needed to bring about change (attitude and behavior)

They will continue to do these stupid checkpoints where the officers socialize and write a few tickets for lack of helmets, DLs and registration...

The authorities are not serious about behavioral change b/c the culture is not a serious one....

For now, flip a coin whether fatalities go up or down each year since there is no effective program in place and statistics will bear this out...

In my 15 years living in LOS, never seen a moving violator pulled over which is an amazing stat compared to a western country....

Start with eliminating driving with parking lights in the dawn and dusk hours. One of the most assinine observations I witness daily...Total lack of critical thinking ability vs driven by cultural/custom mentality...

CB

[singa-traz]

Thailand was recognised as having one of the most successfull campaign prevention against AIDS ... I think they can figure out how to change driving habits, if they want to.

[Halion]

What an IDIOT ! We are going to talk to the driving public to improve their bad habits. Try having the RTP do their dam job rather than just extracting money and sitting around in coffee shops.

[catweazle]

Keep on dreaming!!!!

I just arrived home after passing the scene of a high speed impact accident here on our highway No4 with a motorcyclist being killed instantly. The debris was nicely distributed over a stretch of approximately 40 metres length... Then I sit down, switch on the computer, and read this headline:

"Thailand keen on reducing road fatalities"

Do I need to say more?

Edited December 12, 2013 by catweazle

[hawker9000]

It is possible to change attitudes and behaviour with a relevant and effective advertising campaign across all media.

Oh yes. Why some billboards, TV spots with Pol. Col. So&So making an official public statement, some full-page newspaper ads. etc. will make that famous thai me-first attitude entirely a thing of the past! Maybe at the checkpoints they could start handing out flyers. Yeah. Advertising. That's the ticket!

[livingthedream]

You can't teach an old dog new tricks - get a new puppy Thailand !

[mogo51]

This site has no rating

Are they serious? I have had a Thai license for 5 years and the 'test' is a joke. I was treated more rigorously than the Thais of course, but most of them could barely start the bloody car let alone drive it - yet they still passed and they are on the roads! It was a comedy show waatching them all trying to reverse park, did not have a clue.

We have not even mentioned the fact hat Police are too busy ripping of farangs to worry about real traffic violations. Wearing helmets has been mandatory for years but does anyone care, except the 400 bht on the spot for the 'benevolent' fund. We dont want to see Thailand end up a nanny state like Oz and others, but at least make sure they can drive before they let them on the roads!!!!

[Bkungbank]

Sleeping over night in friends house or inside car will reduce road accidents, even we are not drunk a nap will help us alert on the road and the main reasons were drunk driving and tired driving. If we loved our friend don't let him drive back home call taxi or take a rest before alcohol level drops.

[tetleythedog]

Good luck ..... you need more than words for that ..a complete change in mentality of the Thais will be needed if you want to succeed ...

So ! Every Thai driver is to be issued with a Farang brain !

[darren84310]

So, does that mean the traffic laws will be enforced? Maybe the statistics will just be hidden a bit better.

The statistics are already hidden very well.

World Health Organisation..... "Road fatality means any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of a road injury accident. Suicides involving the use of a road motor vehicle are excluded."

Thailand..... "police record a death only if it occurs at the scene of the crash – rather than within 30 days as is accepted practice in most other countries."

UK road deaths per 100,000 motor vehicles in 2012 was 5.1

Thailand road deaths per 100,000 motor vehicles in 2012 was 118.8

Of course it's never going to be as low as the UK because of the significant use of motorbikes compared to the UK. However it's estimated that up to 80% of the deaths in Thailand are involving motorbikes, so if you take those away you still have a figure of about 23 deaths per 100,000

What would the real figure be if they calculated the figures according to the WHO rules?

[dighambara]

With approximately 1.5 million new cars and trucks coming on the road each year with the same amount of people that have no driving skills and have no intention of improving their driving., Not to mention all the under age kids driving motorbikes. Thailand is not going to be a safe place on the road any time soon.

Then you have to contend with the Kamikaze mini bus drivers.

When I see driver improvement centres opening up over Thailand then I would say they are serious about safety on the roads plus getting the kids off motorbikes.

Education is the key and I haven't seen any increase in good driving commercials (ads) on Television, or signs around town.

However, signs have been posted forbidding double parking and I have seen police locking up tires of cars double parked.

A drastic increase in finse would get people to think twice - no seatbelt fine of 10,000 Baht would get attention. Likewise for littering. Get the police to actually earn their salaries.

[petertucker48]

Never mind the usual rhetoric what IS needed is some money spent on TV advertising on Channels 3/5/7 and show the people good/bad examples of driving/riding and the Results !!!

It will take a bit or organising and money but it will save lives and damaged for life families.

[mok199]

speed and under the influence is ok if you are connected ....ie ''REDBULL''....

[johnlandy]

Quote from OP

Measures to tackle road accidents include requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets while riding and discouraging all motorists from speeding and driving when under the influence, according to the Road Safety Directing Center.

All a load of old <deleted>. Nothing here about education, training, enforcement.

Reduction of 50 % "it will never happen"

[Pormax]

Not only is the physical driving test rounda 'go-cart' trake a farce but it seems so is the 2 hour compulsory talk on driving laws useless.

Both my wife and a friend of hers both recently did the test, but on different dates. When I asked them what they were told about driving in the right hand lanes, their answer was, the left lane is for slow vehicles and the right lanes(s) is/are for fast vehicles. Nothing was said about only to be used for overtaking then when the road on the left is clear, move back in.

My wife spent many hours with me having instruction before taking her test and passed (yes, I know it is not that hard). I am confident now to let her drive by herself.

Her friend who lives in Bangkok but would not attempt the test there, as she says it is much harder than in the small towns and she had heard that you can't bribe the officials, had not driven a car for a few years and had only driven a few hours in her life, gave a backhander to a man the day she went for the talk and computer test, which was the day before the practical test. She did not 'pass' the reversing in a straight line, hitting the cones, or manage the reverse parking,(even though the guy was walking beside the car telling her what to do, she still hit three of the cones crushing two of them) but of course she still passed.

When I read the headline I did check the calendar to make sure it was not April Fool's day.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Pormax

[kirk0233]

Ban motorbikes in Bangkok like they do in Yangon and it can be done. It was wonderful to walk and ride about the city in Myanmar without worrying about the dam_n bikes cutting me down as I walked or whizzing around the car without regard for anyone's safety.

So do you want them to walk to their jobs or wait 3 hours for the next bus or Skytrain they can squeeze themselves into?

They can do what they do in Yangon.

[mojorison]

Offer tax incentives for Nissan GTR's and WRX's, cheap price booze and total lack of drug enforcement. Should do the job pretty quickly I'd reckon. Get Piggy Yongchaiyudh to run the program and Bob's your uncle. Oh and burn all the buses.