First of 7 dangerous New Year holidays see 39 killed, 399 injured in road accidents

[GeorgeO]

"The death toll was seven or 21.88 per cent higher than the same period last year."

I see the official 'safety campaign" is working out really well. If February's elections meet with the same success, we won't have to worry about traffic accidents, since all the roads will be blocked by military tanks, thus slowing down traffic. Come to think of it, that might by the only solution for reducing traffic fatalities in Thailand. And you said this administration can't get anything accomplished.

If it does come to that, then that is a success story that the current administration certainly cannot lay claim to ...!

[Emdog]

That statistic comparison between Thailand and UK/France still is flawed because statistics in Thailand are not comprehensive. Does not include those who die in hospital, which would boost numbers enormously I am sure. A case of statistics being 'garbage in-garbage out". And don't need to use statistics, just general observation to know that Thai drivers are accidents waiting to happen.

[Sirius1935]

When you consider that 90% of the deaths were due to motor scooter crashes and those in the back of pick up truck, none of which would happen in the U.K. Canada Australia or wherever, that leaves only 4 deaths from car crashes which is pretty good for a population on 66 million.

If you then consider that most of the motor scooter deaths (I don't class them as motor bikes) were pillion passengers of unlicensed riders or the riders themselves, then licensed motorist deaths were very low and a third of them were drunk!

As long as the police stop and fine riders for not having a license or wearing a helmet and then let them drive off, nothing will improve. The motor scooter should be confiscated and the rider sent away on foot. Any "motorsai" driven by an underage kid should also be impounded then sold to a buyer who can produce a license. The funds would be put towards better policing. Stop laughing! It makes sense. Things must improve and pick up trucks must be banned from carrying people in the back.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Sirius1935

[socksy01]

The comparison is between traffic accident rates outside of Thailand and in Thailand. It is irrelevant what foreigners do within Thailand because that would not be reflected in the accident rates.

The important thing to remember is that accident rates in Thailand are so high. What will be done about it?

The answer is SFA - sweet Fanny Adams. Not proud of him at all but a mate of mine got stopped in Udon, blew the machine and was a few units over. The Thai Cop wanted 10,000 baht but he had only 2,000 with him. His wife who was present negotiated to that amount and what happened? He was allowed to drive on his merry way. <deleted>

[Chao Lao Beach]

According to the officials, the eviction of bad spirits will prevent future accident and help boost the morale of motorists.

Any questions????

Yep, get skiddled by a drunken truck driver, then thrown in the back of a pick-up and die on the way to hospital , you are not counted as a road casualty in Thailand.

Mind boggles about the real number.

[apetley]

When you consider that 90% of the deaths were due to motor scooter crashes and those in the back of pick up truck, none of which would happen in the U.K. Canada Australia or wherever, that leaves only 4 deaths from car crashes which is pretty good for a population on 66 million.

If you then consider that most of the motor scooter deaths (I don't class them as motor bikes) were pillion passengers of unlicensed riders or the riders themselves, then licensed motorist deaths were very low and a third of them were drunk!

As long as the police stop and fine riders for not having a license or wearing a helmet and then let them drive off, nothing will improve. The motor scooter should be confiscated and the rider sent away on foot. Any "motorsai" driven by an underage kid should also be impounded then sold to a buyer who can produce a license. The funds would be put towards better policing. Stop laughing! It makes sense. Things must improve and pick up trucks must be banned from carrying people in the back.

The daily count released at New Year and Songkran is meaningless due to under reporting.

The average daily death toll is about 75 which implies it is actually safer to drive at this time! Laughable and recignised by the Govt or they wouldn't label it '7 deadly days'.

[apetley]

According to the officials, the eviction of bad spirits will prevent future accident and help boost the morale of motorists.

Any questions????

Yep, get skiddled by a drunken truck driver, then thrown in the back of a pick-up and die on the way to hospital , you are not counted as a road casualty in Thailand.

Mind boggles about the real number.

WHO and a Thai Interior Minister gave a figure of 28,000 annual road deaths earlier this year that was covered by The Nation.

This compares with the 'official' toll of about 12,000.

[Anon999]

In most other countries, 39 killed in one day would be considered a national disaster and called for a day of national mourning!

In Thailand it is same <deleted>, and life goes on!!

In Sweden the number was 354 in a year!!

As the population of Sweden is just 9.5 million what's the point in quoting that figure? A fair comparison is with the UK which has a similar population and road deaths of 1,900 (5.2/day) including those that died within 30 days. Road deaths UK 2.75/100,000 and Thailand 38.1/100,000 or if you prefer nearly 14 times as many and that's only deaths at the scene so it's even higher.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Anon999

[Mosha]

From the TV news death toll day 2 was 47

[ratcatcher]

From the TV news death toll day 2 was 47

So, Day 1 - 39 deaths, day 2 - 47 deaths plus at least 29 in the Lom Sak bus crash. Total 115 plus.

[Advisore]

Most are probably motorbike accidents and very likely by night.

the solution to help is to promote wearing luminescent SAFETY WEST

as Police wears, airport employees etc..

It can be made obligatory or at least heavily recommended and bike

traffic violators may be obliged to buy them...may save 20-30 % of casualities.

Please vote for it and support strongly ...if you care for human lives.

There are even safety west available for dogs in some countries.....

so why not for humans ???

[khwaibah]

From the TV news death toll day 2 was 47

So, Day 1 - 39 deaths, day 2 - 47 deaths plus at least 29 in the Lom Sak bus crash. Total 115 plus.

At 5 AM Friday the 27 that is the first day of the official count.

Bus Drives Over Edge of Tallest Bridge in Thailand and Kills 29 People

Dec 27, 2013

Society

CityNews – Thairath reported that a Khon Kaen – Chiang Rai bus fell from Phor Khun Pha Muang Bridge in Petchabun at around 5 a.m. on Friday 27th December, which killed 29 passengers and caused four .....

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2907

[Lite Beer]

Holiday period claims 86 lives

BANGKOK: -- A total of 86 people were killed and 885 others injured in road accidents during the first two days of the so-called "seven dangerous days" of the New Year holiday period, the Road Safety Centre announced.

Drunk driving is considered the root cause of most accidents.

There were 866 accidents in the first two days of the December 27-January 2 period.

[kingalfred]

After the holidays there will be the usual committees set up, no doubt with huge expense allowances, to discuss what went wrong, but again as usual nothing will happen.

Let the givernment delegate road safety to a team of safety experts with authority to act.. Introduce meaningful penalties to all motorists breakling the law YEAR ROUND. Make young drivers LEARN how to drive and take a proper test...TOO late for the current drivers. They can be fined into action!

And above all punish the police who fail to take action against everyone who breaks the law. Stop the kids on motorbikes, make everyone wear a helmet, and punish severely those motorists who NEVER NEVER move from the outside lane of dual carriageways!

Better still, make it an INTERNATIONAL team of safety experts...

.... oops, NO!.... that would mean inviting advice from Farangs - and THAT would never do !!

Yeah, cos Farangs never drink and drive, never drive dangerous and never have accidents.

Why can't these pesky Thais be more like us?

Nearly every Farang I know who drinks alcohol and rides a motorbike or drives a car in Thailand, does so whilst way over the drink drive limit on a regular basis, and stick to the speed limits, yeah right, of course they do.

In 2010 1.4 Million Americans were arrested for DUI, not all were of Thai descent surely.

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/by_the_numbers/drunk_driving/index.html

Many posters on this website are so anti Thai they forget the mess that is their home countries that they chose to leave in order to come to Thailand.

nonsense.fact is there is almost perfect driving conditions all year round in thailand,no ice.fog. And the reason for the carnage is poor driving standards,driving too close too fast.Alcohol plays some part.At least western countries make the effort to deal with road accidents ,Thailand does NOTHING.It's not "Thai bashing" it's telling it as it is.

[taony]

Its ridiculous they are tracking this thing minute by minute and doing so little to prevent it.

The Thai roads are what is most dangerous about Thai roads. The road system is ridiculous and inherently dangerous. Yes people do not drive well, but they don't really have any opportunity to see normal driving conditions, let alone have opportunity to learn to drive well, do they?

If this time of year is so dangerous (even though like a poster said in another thread that on average there are more than 70 road deaths a day, so how are this numbers worse?), they need to do radical things to cut down on the carnage.

New Year's is Tuesday/Wednesday this year. People are leaving town Friday and Saturday, plenty of time. Close lanes on all roads leaving just one lane open in every direction. Create massively slow traffic. Everyone will be late but there won't be many crashes because of speeding and the assinine way Thais pass other cars on the road.

[Felt 35]

"Paz" People routinely blames poor driving, but facts show a different reason:

The high death rate in Thailand is mostly due to the fact that motorbikes are so numerous, unlike any other country that is being compared. If there were statistics separating motorbike and non-motorbike accidents and casualties, one would see that Thailand ranking similarly to developed countries of the world.

If traffic are heavy with numerous vehicles people are supposed to learn and understand to be careful and drive defensive.

[Felt 35]

Most are probably motorbike accidents and very likely by night.

the solution to help is to promote wearing luminescent SAFETY WEST

as Police wears, airport employees etc..

It can be made obligatory or at least heavily recommended and bike

traffic violators may be obliged to buy them...may save 20-30 % of casualities.

Please vote for it and support strongly ...if you care for human lives.

There are even safety west available for dogs in some countries.....

so why not for humans ???

This is a great idea but as with the helmet not trendy for the youngsters and ........

[MilesofSmiles]

Looks like those prayers worked.

[Lite Beer]

86 people die in road accidents in two days

BANGKOK: -- Death toll from road accidents during the first two days of the safe driving campaign has risen to 86 on Saturday from 39 one day before.

The Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department also reported that the number of people injured from 474 road accidents has climbed up to 885 from 399 during the same period.

Nakhon Si Thammarat tops the highest rate of road accidents and highest number of injuries with 23 cases and 25 injuries respectively but Ayutthaya tops the highest death toll with five dead in just two days.

No accidents have been reported in Chaiyaphum, Bung Karn, Rayong and Samut Songkhram.

The number of road accidents during the first two days of the festive season is registered at 866 cases representing an increase of 58 cases compared to the same period last year.

Two major causes of the accidents are drunk driving and speed driving with motorcycles being involved in 81.53 percent of the accidents.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/86-people-die-road-accidents-two-days/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=86-people-die-road-accidents-two-days

-- Thai PBS 2013-12-29

[edwinchester]

'No accidents have been reported in Chaiyaphum.....'

I have a rubber farmer friend that lives in Chaiyaphum. This morning in a phone call, amongst detailing the 2 day party she had just hosted, she said there had been several road accidents where she lived.

As said elsewhere these stats are so under reported as to be meaningless.

[Dibbler]

No kidding! 7 days with not a traffic policeman to be seen on duty = lack of enforcement of road rules = drinking, speeding, underage driving, illegal vehicles = death, misadventure and general chaos on the roads...

[pb1936]

Thailand soon to be world leaders at last.

[paz]

When you consider that 90% of the deaths were due to motor scooter crashes and those in the back of pick up truck, none of which would happen in the U.K. Canada Australia or wherever, that leaves only 4 deaths from car crashes which is pretty good for a population on 66 million.

That is what I was saying before. But it doesn't dawn to people.

If you then consider that most of the motor scooter deaths (I don't class them as motor bikes) were pillion passengers of unlicensed riders or the riders themselves, then licensed motorist deaths were very low and a third of them were drunk!

As long as the police stop and fine riders for not having a license or wearing a helmet and then let them drive off, nothing will improve. The motor scooter should be confiscated and the rider sent away on foot. Any "motorsai" driven by an underage kid should also be impounded then sold to a buyer who can produce a license. The funds would be put towards better policing. Stop laughing! It makes sense. Things must improve and pick up trucks must be banned from carrying people in the back.

I don't agree with that. Many, or most (but I have no reference to backup), motorcycle accidents are caused by collision with a car or truck, and are not survivable even when wearing a full face helmet. Actually after many years of driving in Thailand I come to the conclusion that motorbike driver do care for their life, and drive defensively in 99% of the casese.

Based ont that it would be excessive to further penalize motorbike drivers just because they had no motorbike license or no helmet. It would not change the deathc toll significatevely.

Once again: It is not the lack of licence or helmet that kills, it the fact that the body is tossed around, or is crushed as a consequence of even a minor accident. No enforcement of law can change that.

[paz]

As the population of Sweden is just 9.5 million what's the point in quoting that figure? A fair comparison is with the UK which has a similar population and road deaths of 1,900 (5.2/day) including those that died within 30 days. Road deaths UK 2.75/100,000 and Thailand 38.1/100,000 or if you prefer nearly 14 times as many and that's only deaths at the scene so it's even higher.

That is not a correct comparison because the UK (that has an exceptionally low figure) does not have 80% motorcycle related deaths. Go back to read on that.

[apetley]

When you consider that 90% of the deaths were due to motor scooter crashes and those in the back of pick up truck, none of which would happen in the U.K. Canada Australia or wherever, that leaves only 4 deaths from car crashes which is pretty good for a population on 66 million.

That is what I was saying before. But it doesn't dawn to people.

If you then consider that most of the motor scooter deaths (I don't class them as motor bikes) were pillion passengers of unlicensed riders or the riders themselves, then licensed motorist deaths were very low and a third of them were drunk!

As long as the police stop and fine riders for not having a license or wearing a helmet and then let them drive off, nothing will improve. The motor scooter should be confiscated and the rider sent away on foot. Any "motorsai" driven by an underage kid should also be impounded then sold to a buyer who can produce a license. The funds would be put towards better policing. Stop laughing! It makes sense. Things must improve and pick up trucks must be banned from carrying people in the back.

I don't agree with that. Many, or most (but I have no reference to backup), motorcycle accidents are caused by collision with a car or truck, and are not survivable even when wearing a full face helmet. Actually after many years of driving in Thailand I come to the conclusion that motorbike driver do care for their life, and drive defensively in 99% of the casese.

Based ont that it would be excessive to further penalize motorbike drivers just because they had no motorbike license or no helmet. It would not change the deathc toll significatevely.

Once again: It is not the lack of licence or helmet that kills, it the fact that the body is tossed around, or is crushed as a consequence of even a minor accident. No enforcement of law can change that.

WHO figures suggest wearing a crash helmet reduces the chance of death by 40% which would mean about 9000 lifes being saved every single year in Thailand.

[Mudcrab]

I think this comparison of death rate per head of population skews the figures substantially.

I see Thailand as a far more mobile country than some of the countries mentioned in previous posts.

So perhaps a better figure for comparison would be the death rate per passenger mile/kilometre travelled. I understand the aviation industry uses something similar.

A pickup with 2 in the front and 4 in the back in reality has travelled 6 times (per passenger miles) as far as a car with just a driver. It won't make the fact of up to 6 people being killed any more palatable but it could put some perspective on the overall death rate. Similarly with 3 or 4 up on a motor bike.

Using the pickup example then it is entirely possible that just 10 fatal accidents a day would give a body count of 60. A terrible figure.....but only 10 accidents - not so terrible.

When I went to school it was either by bus, push bike or plain walking. In Thailand I see hundreds of kids on motorbike going to school.I dare say most are unlicensed and not wearing helmets but that is the reality we are dealing with.

For those that don't know, riding in the back of a pickup is illegal, as is not wearing a helmet or being unlicensed. Arguably none of these actually cause a death but can certainly be contributing factors to the body count.

[MJP]

I think this comparison of death rate per head of population skews the figures substantially.

I see Thailand as a far more mobile country than some of the countries mentioned in previous posts.

So perhaps a better figure for comparison would be the death rate per passenger mile/kilometre travelled. I understand the aviation industry uses something similar.

A pickup with 2 in the front and 4 in the back in reality has travelled 6 times (per passenger miles) as far as a car with just a driver. It won't make the fact of up to 6 people being killed any more palatable but it could put some perspective on the overall death rate. Similarly with 3 or 4 up on a motor bike.

Using the pickup example then it is entirely possible that just 10 fatal accidents a day would give a body count of 60. A terrible figure.....but only 10 accidents - not so terrible.

When I went to school it was either by bus, push bike or plain walking. In Thailand I see hundreds of kids on motorbike going to school.I dare say most are unlicensed and not wearing helmets but that is the reality we are dealing with.

For those that don't know, riding in the back of a pickup is illegal, as is not wearing a helmet or being unlicensed. Arguably none of these actually cause a death but can certainly be contributing factors to the body count.

It's when I see seven year olds riding Kawasaki ZX10r's and Yamaha R1's here I really start to worry. Saw an eight year old girl speed wheelie a V-Max straight through the school playground the other day. She didn't even get a detention. Discipline's right out the window!

Edited December 29, 2013 by MJP

[paz]

WHO figures suggest wearing a crash helmet reduces the chance of death by 40% which would mean about 9000 lifes being saved every single year in Thailand.

How do you they were not wearing helmets ? Have you seen the typical 200 Bt Thai helmet ? What do you know about motocycle accidents ?

[paz]

It's when I see seven year olds riding Kawasaki ZX10r's and Yamaha R1's here I really start to worry. Saw an eight year old girl speed wheelie a V-Max straight through the school playground the other day. She didn't even get a detention. Discipline's right out the window!

What is worst, most kids smoke while wheeling!

[MJP]

It's when I see seven year olds riding Kawasaki ZX10r's and Yamaha R1's here I really start to worry. Saw an eight year old girl speed wheelie a V-Max straight through the school playground the other day. She didn't even get a detention. Discipline's right out the window!

What is worst, most kids smoke while wheeling!

I had it out with our kid about all this the other day. When the time comes, Daddy's going to buy you a big Volvo . . . but you ain't havin' a motorbike . . . ever!