Thailand ranks the world’s third in highest road fatalities

[Misab]

The big problems are:

1. no Thai learn traffic rules
2. if they know any they don’t care
3. corrupt police
4. poor maintained roads
5. no one seems to care

[keemapoot]

I spend a lot of time driving, and have driven all over the country for many years. I'm sure others will compile extensive lists of all the wrong things Thai drivers do, and I've seen them all.

However, worst of all that I see is that Thai drivers emulate or copy what they see from other Thai drivers. In other words, bad habits and practices seem to multiply at an alarming rate. Untrained or improperly trained drivers then become the models for new drivers - all learned extemporaneously on the roads. One example is the horrid U-turn practice up country, where 2-4 rows of cars will attempt to U-turn, with each car infringing farther into the fast lane of the approaching highway traffic. None of the first rows have visibility to see oncoming cars, so everyone is at the mercy of the judgment of the only driver with visibility. The infringement is so severe, that I've had to swerve badly to avoid hitting cars from the fast lane and see others do it too. Worse, it just seems to be deemed to be accepted practice by all. Astounding.

[meand]

They can't even fail right and get first place.

How many Thais does it take to attempt to stop road fatalities?

I don't have a punchline, but I do believe we should start superimposing the politically and technically incorrect polish jokes onto the Thais.

[Nibbles48]

Get rid of the u-turns and you will save 20% of lives.

[olaska]

Yeah, third or second is not that bad, maybe fighting to get a 1st?

My clever Thai wife say:

- No problem, we are close to 80 million people, enough

- When everybody dead in a car crash, no problem, nobody left to be sorry

- No, today I don't need a helmet, to hot / it's raining / too early / too late / lunch time..... No police out in police control!

Nae the question is, why do Thailand have a police force at all? "Hey ain't I'm good lookin, gimme 800 Baht to a cup of cooffe"

[tingtongfarang]

 

Roundabouts really don't work well with people who can't/won't stay in their lane.

 

The problem with roundabouts in Thailand is the number of car drivers who enter the roundabout going the wrong way, just to save driving an extra 50 meters if they drove around correctly. I see this every single day where I live.

For a while i lived in an area with 4 roundabouts, yes the thais do take the shortest distance but i came to the conclusion they had no idea they were doing it wrong.

[RobFord]

1. No license necessary for anyone riding scooters. Even elementary students can ride them

2. No traffic violation enforcement. Poor police enforcement = bad driving habits.

Hmmm….."in Dec the Thai car market increased sales 206% from Dec 2011".

More cars more death is nothing new. Wonder what the figures are for China. Don't blame scooters and cyclist for being killed by cars.

Your Mayor,

Rob Ford

[mok199]

thai drivers never think about the damage ''behind them;;as they weave and swerve and race....they usually never see the collisions they cause...the key is leave lots of room in front of you and never take your eyes off the road...never be in a hurry,and aviod driving at night if possible...

[bbbbooboo]

Confirming what we have all suspected for a long time. Thai roads and drivers are blardy dangerous

[jacko45k]

All those police that seem to turn up unlimited when a VIP needs to whiz through town could well be put to some use along the lines.

As I drove into town last night, I just thought the guy double parked right opposite a junction (hence all traffic stopped when someone wants to turn right) and all thoise blocking the junction when the lights change, they need to be punished.

[bangarang]

not a surprise at all

[bonobo]

As I leave my mooban to go to work, there is a blind T side road with high walls in the two corner properties that block all visibility of the road from the main road. This morning, an older security guard came scooting out of it on a motorcycle right in front of me, texting with one hand. I slammed to a stop less than a meter from him and honked my horn, yet he never even looked up from his phone. Unfortunately, this is a perfect microcosm of driving here in Thailand, and the high mortality rate does not surprise me.

In the US, I was a volunteer EMT, where it was our job to find the accidents and render assistance. Despite the traffic fatalities to which I responded there, I have seen far more bodies on the side of the road here in Thailand during my somewhat short time here.

I love Thailand, but the traffic situation is broken, both from the drivers' actions as well as the inactions of the police.

[gudtymchuk]

Land of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" comes to mind when observing Thai driving and many other facets of Thai culture........

[denishuahin]

The first thing to do is make the motor bikers responsible for they accidents ( Take away their immunity ) Second thing, confiscate bike or cars driving without lights at night, only give them it back to them when it's fix ,that includes Police cars and bikes! That will reduce the deaths by about 20%. Then slowly make sure the all become road worthy of the next 10 years. But it's not the vehicles but it's start, then try and train riders and drivers. Hold on now this is getting stupid, how the hell could you train them when there's nobody who can drive anyway!

[rayw]

Thailand has all the right and sensible road traffic laws in place. The primary fault is with the traffic police NOT stringently enforcing those laws on those idiots dangerously breaking those laws. In particular the worst and most dangerous offences are :-

Three or more on a Motorbike.

Driving or Riding without adequate or indeed any lights at night (should be in day too on motorbike)

Driving and riding down the WRONG side of road or even in wrong lane on dual carriageway.

Jumping Red traffic lights.

Not stopping at junctions when pulling onto main roads

Very poor lane discipline

Reckless use of speed (speed itself is not dangerous if used intelligently and sensibly)

Driving way too slow in centre of road causing road rage and dangerous manoeuvres with others (worst offenders those trucks with speakers and the tricycle street vendors on main roads)

And many more dangerous practices that endanger other folk on our roads.

Sure not wearing helmets or seatbelts increases fatality when accidents happen, BUT that is NOT the cause of those accidents and only affects the idiot not wearing a helmet or seatbelt. Enforcing just those over protective nanny type laws that do not affect anyone other than the offender, will NEVER do anything to reduce the accidents that cause all these injuries and deaths. The police really must primarily concentrate on the serious offenders as listed above, until they do that then nothing will ever change here for sure. Nothing to do with tea money "fines" as long as they are applied to the serious offenders and not just the easy money from those not wearing helmets or seatbelts which is NOT the cause of the accidents of course.

Personally I do not give a f*** if someone does not wear a helmet on a motorbike, as that is causing no danger to me or others, just to themselves for being so incredibly and ignorantly stupid !!!

[lmaxv]

Interesting that requiring seat belts or child restraints are not part of the remedies...

[phuketkenny]

"According to Australian road safety expert, the best way to reduce road fatalities and loss should be done through encouraging the people to be aware of traffic rules, stringent enforcement of traffic laws."

What great timing for this story to appear now as expats abroad try to understand what is going on in Bangkok. The answer is right here. After 15 years here it is so clear to see and understand Thai politics from the lessons taught by Thai drivers.

1) Rules of the road are called Laws, usually written into a traffic control act. Imagine that laws!

So based on the way MOST Thais's drive there are only two options;

a) they do not know the law

or

they know the law but do not care.

My best guess is a combination of both.

2) Rules of the road or Laws, are written to be enforced when there is an infraction.

So based on what I have seen on the roads over the last 15 years from behind the wheel or on the Harley

a) there is no enforcement until AFTER an accident

or

there is enforcement, once a month around pay day, when road blocks are set up to collect money for infractions like no helmet, no insurance stickers, no registration and no license.

Thai Politics = No law or No respect for the law, No enforcement of the law...or if there is enforcement, it is go collect the money.

I have heard that the "solution" to the problem is better education of the rules of the road, so now when you go to get or renew your drivers license, ( assuming one actually does ) the one hour video you must watch will be longer than the mandatory one hour viewing, but will go to two days at 15 hours ( rumour, yet to be confirmed ), next year.

I hear from expats that have gotten their Thai license that the Thais use the education video viewing time to sleep, talk or play games on their phones.

Thai politics so clear to me now.

[Polanskiman]

Give it up... There are problems on both sides of this equation. Crap drivers with no desire to change and crap police with no desire to stop extorting money.

Solution being not to do anything?

[Frito]

Been driving here for 7 years car and bikes its dangerous but being smart you can avoid a lot.

Anyway finally something to see that Thailand is ranked high in they will be so proud.

Agree, but it is the dreaded certainty of the little that I find so disturbing.

[phitsanulokjohn]

That's a nice statistic the Thais can be proud of,the way I see them drive everyday,I think they're vying for the number 1 spot.

[ppmacready]

Suthep insists under his leadership Thais could win the gold medal next year!

[gp2002]

I firmly believe that Thais think the white lines on the road should be driven ON instead of driven BETWEEN.

They think to themselves................."Why should I drive in one lane when I can drive in two lanes?"

[supaprik]

this is what you get, when it s only take 1 day to get your driving licence

actually less...

My wife Bless her, recently went to the Dept of Roads to get her car licence, she had zero previous experience, she did study the rule book but when she sat the multiple choice she failed twice!!! No problem 200 thb and that test was passed. Then went outside and was supposed to drive a car around a course, place was nearly closing so inspector said 200 thb and no need to do that part either, so 400 thb plus another couple of hundred legit just under 2 hours later waltzes out with full licence and says...I drive home darling... NOT A HOPE IN HELL..

Note: My lady was not the only one that did/does business this way on the day I was there I would have seen at least 10 others that I ( guess ) received their FULL drivers licences exactly the same way...

Be careful out there folks

[wxpwzrd]

Give it up... There are problems on both sides of this equation. Crap drivers with no desire to change and crap police with no desire to stop extorting money.

Solution being not to do anything?

The solution is usually to do something... The current fact is - no one wants to.

[Emdog]

C'mon Thailand, you can move up to #1! Start including those who die in hospital after the smash ups! Just because you have better health care system than Libya or Eritrea is no reason to let them stay ahead!

[englishoak]

Natural selection, mai pen rai

[CIHUAHUA]

Funniest thing I ever saw was down town CM at the main gate near a book store. The policeman on a motorbike chasing after a young guy without his helmet knocked over a planter and the guy he was chasing made an old woman fall down. They kept going until the policeman got the guy and gave him a ticket for 200 B. I say funny but not really - made me think about how authority is not respected on the roads here. And, there was the time at "gas 'n cow" when a foot-policeman was instructing the load-dang to stop but instead he inched the policeman ahead of him till he was able to get away. The list goes on from there, you know, motor bikes going the wrong way against traffic, turns from the far lane, parking in the middle of the road, and on and on and on. How will the "law" enforce the rules is the real question when the law breaks the rules as well. Maybe this also explains why the political situation is the way it is.

[sabaii69]

the police hanging out at the Beach Rd police station and catching those pesky tourists who have the balls to ride a motorbike does not solve the death ratio. The highway police practice of putting up a dam roadblock on Sukhumvit highway at S. Pattaya Rd. to catch only motorbikes does not solve the problem. Actually, the numbskulls are putting bikers at risk of getting killed in this practice. Hey, farang volunteers, have you ever thought of educating the dummies about the dangers here? I notice that you don't go and stand in the middle of the highway flagging down bikers into the highway police station.

[In Search of Space]

Years ago I asked 5 policemen on different occasions what the maximum speed limit on Thai highways is. None of them knew it. Nor did the staff of Avis know...

It's not in their interest to know - less income for the boss.

[In Search of Space]

this is what you get, when it s only take 1 day to get your driving licence

actually less...

My wife Bless her, recently went to the Dept of Roads to get her car licence, she had zero previous experience, she did study the rule book but when she sat the multiple choice she failed twice!!! No problem 200 thb and that test was passed. Then went outside and was supposed to drive a car around a course, place was nearly closing so inspector said 200 thb and no need to do that part either, so 400 thb plus another couple of hundred legit just under 2 hours later waltzes out with full licence and says...I drive home darling... NOT A HOPE IN HELL..

Note: My lady was not the only one that did/does business this way on the day I was there I would have seen at least 10 others that I ( guess ) received their FULL drivers licences exactly the same way...

Be careful out there folks

At least she is half-way there by actually bothering to get a licence