Road deaths, injuries higher in first 3 days of the "seven dangerous days"

[webfact]

Road deaths, injuries higher in first 3 days of break
Wattana Khamchu
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A total of 1,322 road accidents on the first three of the "seven dangerous days" of the New Year holiday period claimed 161 lives and caused 1,390 injuries, the Road Safety Centre reported yesterday.

These three days saw millions travel upcountry and traffic jams were common. The 'gateway to the Northeast', Nakhon Ratchasima, saw the highest accumulated deaths at 15, plus 62 people injured in 51 accidents.

Figures across the board were slightly higher than in the same three-day period last year, when 1,321 accidents killed 147 people and injured 1,361 others.

Only two provinces this year - Chaiyaphum and Samut Songkhram - had no accidents.

Dr Amnuay Gajeena, deputy permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said there were 456 accidents on Sunday alone, killing 75 people and injuring 503 others.

The highest proportion of accidents were caused by drunk drivers (39 per cent), and speeding (30 per cent).

Motorcyclists most at risk

Most accidents involved motorcycles, at 78 per cent. They mostly took place on a straight highway section (60 per cent) and occurred between 4pm and 8pm, while the victims were mostly of working age (61 per cent).

Some 2,261 main checkpoints, were manned by 65,009 officials, who charged just over 100,000 people for violating traffic laws. Most failed to show a driver's licence (30,479 cases) or rode motorbikes without helmets (27,762 cases), Amnuay said.

Now that most people have reached their destinations, such as home towns or tourist sites, and started their celebrations, officials have been instructed to set up checkpoints for drunk drivers, speeding motorists and motorcyclists without helmets, especially yesterday and today, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department chief Chatchai Phromlert said.

-- The Nation 2013-12-31

[EricBerg]

The only way to change the mentality of drivers is to have tight law enforcement. If there's hardly any risk of getting caught when driving drunk or speeding , there's no reason for many to not go driving after drinking a gallon or so and to not stick to the speed limits..

Singing monks won't do the job. Competent and allover present police will.

Houston we have a problem.

Edited December 30, 2013 by EricBerg

[stubuzz]

Yesterday:

Some 611,600 cars and vehicles were inspected at police checkpoints and 100,587 cases resulted in arrests. Infractions included 31,020 drivers without a licence, and 28,092 motorcyclists without a helmet.

Today:

Most failed to show a driver's licence (30,479 cases)

[ChrisY1]

Staggering statistics to say the least......most civilised countries would be utterly ashamed to have theses killed and injury rates in only 3 days of the holidays.

But...do I think the powers that be care.....not at all!

Lives are cheap and expendable here unfortunately.

[jaltsc]

"Now that most people have reached their destinations, such as home towns or tourist sites, and started their celebrations, officials have been instructed to set up checkpoints for drunk drivers, speeding motorists and motorcyclists without helmets..."

I would think that the time to have set up the checkpoints would have been before the161 deaths and 1,390 injuries occurred. This, especially after the government officials made such a big deal about this year's safety campaign to reduce road crashes, deaths and injuries. Are these people that ignorant that they don't realize that it takes more than words and posturing to increase road safety? For those of us who have lived here for a while, we all know the answer to that question

[JoeThePoster]

A total of 1,322 road accidents on the first three of the "seven dangerous days" of the New Year holiday period claimed 161 lives and caused 1,390 injuries, the Road Safety Centre reported yesterday.

How does this statistic stack up against the 358 dangerous days of the Rest of the Year period?

[cardinalblue]

Every driving day in LOS is dangerous..Thailand does itself a disservice to focus a PR campaign on only 7 days a year

I think they refuse to accept they have problem...they are too worried about image and face so nothing gets done...

[marko kok prong]

most accidents between 4 pm and 8 pm,wonder how many of these where motorsais with no lights,and driving the wrong way down the road,on another note,yesterday coming out of the busy local market,turning left,2 girls on motorsai,who cannot see past my pickup,can't be bothered to wait,so cut infront of me just as i start my turn,luckily,i always check 2 or 3 times each way now,just managed to avoid hitting them as they sped off unaware they had so nearly ended up under the front wheels of my vehicle,when i overtook them up the road i blasted the horn at them,but it was pointless really as i don't think they realised how close they had come to causing an accident,it's got to the stage now where i even look above me,when i pull out,who knows where they will come from.

[Yunla]

RIP. My prayers are with the families of the deceased, the seriously injured, and also I pray every day that the fatality-rate will lower during the rest of the crazy-week.

We can only hope that future generations of Thais will see road-safety, vehicle-safety, license-regulation etc. as a *much* higher priority than the previous generations have done. Investment required on this project is truly massive and will not happen anytime soon. Maybe one day, I certainly hold that thought in my prayers.

[selftaopath]

Thailand: Hub of Road Deaths.

[khwaibah]

According to this article http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-ranks-worlds-third-highest-road-fatalities/ somebody is screwing with the figures, they should be double what they are showing.

[johnlandy]

The only way to change the mentality of drivers is to have tight law enforcement. If there's hardly any risk of getting caught when driving drunk or speeding , there's no reason for many to not go driving after drinking a gallon or so and to not stick to the speed limits..

Singing monks won't do the job. Competent and allover present police will.

Houston we have a problem.

I agree with your comments but nothing is gonna change for the better. Whilst it is sad, most of those killed are of no great loss to anyone excepting their families.

If they don't kill themselves this year they will do it next year

[Thaddeus]

According to this article http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-ranks-worlds-third-highest-road-fatalities/ somebody is screwing with the figures, they should be double what they are showing.

When it is supposed to be a good thing i.e. tourist arrivals, the officials double the numbers ..... when it's a bad thing, they get halved.

[lmaxv]

The highest proportion of accidents were caused by drunk drivers (39 per cent), and speeding (30 per cent). I guess one could surmise that one-third of the travelers has either common sense or just plain lucky...only 1/3 !

[JRSoul]

The highest proportion of accidents were caused by drunk drivers (39 per cent), and speeding (30 per cent). I guess one could surmise that one-third of the travelers has either common sense or just plain lucky...only 1/3 !

I guess you are logically challenged.

[muratremix]

If you think thai drivers are bad, uneducated, lacking self-development skills and unrespectful, it means you haven't driven to Isaan in new year. I thought I saw the worst kind here in Bangkok but after taking a journey on 28 December morning to Buriram, I was impressed to see how can they lose everything that us human.

Police handling accidents is a joke, no warning, no alternative routing, people just wait and go pee near road (men & women & children). It took 2.5 hours to remove one pickup and one small truck to open single lane road.

[phitsanulokjohn]

There should be nothing more revered than life itself.Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case in Thailand.

I have to bear witness to daily carnage,seen with my own eyes and on the news.Even when death occurs,Thai's do not learn a lesson from it.God only knows where the answer lies.

[phitsanulokjohn]

There should be nothing more revered than life itself.Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case in Thailand.

I have to bear witness to daily carnage,seen with my own eyes and on the news.Even when death occurs,Thai's do not learn a lesson from it.God only knows where the answer lies.

[fakename]

I wonder how these numbers can be accurate. There were 1322 accidents, and besides the dead, there were only 1390 injured! That means that in every accident, there were almost no passengers! How many cars are traveling at this time of the year, with no passengers? Just like all statics here, they are all adjusted, to make a better picture, and even then, its still a very ugly picture.

[upena]

Wonder what the real numbers are since the road deaths reported are only those that died at the scene of the accident.

[VocalNeal]

There should be nothing more revered than life itself.

Isn't this a Christian philosophy? Buddhists get resurrected so come back.

Our dog is the reincarnation of the previous two. Ask my wife!

Visitors should just come here enjoy the weather, the scenery, the lifestyle and relax. Concentrate on what is good here and not vex everyday about what is in your opinion, bad.

Edited December 31, 2013 by VocalNeal

[ginjag]

2,261 main checkpoints, manned by 69,000 officials ?????

charged 100,000 law violations ???

30,000 for NOT SHOWING a license ??? do they have the option to later report at a local police station to then prove they have one??? doe's not say not having. ----- 27,000 no hat the other 30,000 for not having money on them to pay ????

Why would you want 30 persons at each checkpoint ?????

[Mosha]

2,261 main checkpoints, manned by 69,000 officials ?????

charged 100,000 law violations ???

30,000 for NOT SHOWING a license ??? do they have the option to later report at a local police station to then prove they have one??? doe's not say not having. ----- 27,000 no hat the other 30,000 for not having money on them to pay ????

Why would you want 30 persons at each checkpoint ?????

All I can say is that I've just been into town. 3 Checkpoints 2 unmanned. another manned by 1 person who was comatose. 1 place where there usually is a checkpoint was without one. Saw one badly squashed pickup in Ranong. I doubt anyone got out of it unscathed.

[buhi]

I woke up at 3 am this morning to the sound of two stroke motor cycles racing near by.

I know where they meet and race, perhaps the police do not!

Then an emergency vehicle siren.

Happens every holiday and most weekends.

[ginjag]

I woke up at 3 am this morning to the sound of two stroke motor cycles racing near by.

I know where they meet and race, perhaps the police do not!

Then an emergency vehicle siren.

Happens every holiday and most weekends.

Very rare in Thailand do you get traffic patrols-SQUAD CARS. So for most violations they do not stop as they in general too stout to run.

[casindonet]

Guess most of the drivers feels invincible after all the monks blessing & the renaming of the highway.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ginjag]

Guess most of the drivers feels invincible after all the monks blessing & the renaming of the highway.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I think the dead think it is a good idea.

But sorry if this offends some believers.

[balo]

If you are drunk and cause an accident in my home country you get a jail sentence , and you lose your license . If you killed someone in an accident maybe 6 years in prison .

Edited December 31, 2013 by balo

[IDL]

The only way to change the mentality of drivers is to have tight law enforcement. If there's hardly any risk of getting caught when driving drunk or speeding , there's no reason for many to not go driving after drinking a gallon or so and to not stick to the speed limits..

Singing monks won't do the job. Competent and allover present police will.

Houston we have a problem.

Offering something to ponder...

I personally don't see the lack of law enforcement being as simple as laziness, lack of education/training, and/or simple-minded BIBs/policy makers, I reckon it's far more contrived than that.

As it stands the BIBs can healthily top-up their monthly income by setting-up 'occasional stings'. They can wholly rely upon that income.

If they were to, say, 'enforce' the law on an hourly/daily basis, the people would largely reform to abiding by the rules, thus the cash-cow hops the fence never to be seen again.

Worth a thought...?

[webfact]

Road Safety Centre: Road accidents kill 209 during first 4 days of New Year holiday, 1,931 injured; Korat records highest death toll at 13 /MCOT