Road death toll reaches 209 during first 4 days of New Year holiday

[stoli]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

Absolutely, you must blame the law enforcement. Goodness knows that they don't have drunk driving or excessive speeding in other countries, only here in Thailand. In Thailand they should find all of the drunks and speeders before they get on the road, just like every other country does. (Well, at least the country that you are from.) Wake up & and smell the coffee.

[CBR250]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

I agree with you almost 100% - but I question the emphasis on speeding. Yes, driving too fast for road, traffic and vehicle conditions leads to accidents. But breaching a 100kph limit by 10-15 kph on an expressway on a clear day with little traffic does not cause accidents. Unfortunately, this little bit of reality is totally disregarded by western countries in their search for revenue - and in the interests of encouraging unquestioning obedience to the law. I actually hope that Thailand DOESN"T follow Falang countries and get all anally retentive about "speeding".

Drink driving - sure. Jump on it. Stupid and dangerous. Driving while fatigued is another big problem here that needs some attention. However, I blame a lot accidents on the limited skill sets of many Thai drivers/riders (and some falang drivers who seem to have gone native). In fact, as a vulnerable bike rider every day, I see the lack of competence in reading traffic and controlling a vehicle by many drivers as much more of a concern than low level speeding.

[robinc]

In Canada, as well as most countries I imagine, the police are out in full force this time of year checking for drivers under the influence (DUI). That really cuts down on the death toll.

[soomak]

Am I missing something or how are these bad numbers?

According to WHO Thailand's road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year according to wikipedia was 38.1 and Thailand has 69M inhabitants. So that would be over 26000 per years and 72 per day. So wouldn't that mean that it is safer to drive now?

I wondered the same myself. Can't understand these numbers.

Either the Wikipedia number is way off, or the police figures are way off.

209 deaths in 4 days = ~ 50 per day, and it's supposed to be the "most dangerous time of the year", so the average must be lower.

In that the case we are talking maybe 15,000 deaths per year, perhaps even less, much much less than the Wikipedia figures.

Can somebody shed some light on this?

[tom21]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

rubbish, you obviously know little about Buddhism, now go back to your seat in Soi 6

Lol.I suggest distance yourself from other farangs and try to know thailand.But that's probably mission immposible

most of the post here are stupid but congratulations you have just won first prize

[bkkgriz]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there.

In 2010 1.4 Million people were arrested in the US for DUI, and a large % of the fatalities on the roads were involving Alcohol.

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

Stringent laws don't stop Americans from drink driving, why do you think it would stop the Thais and the Farangs that drive here whilst alcohol impaired ?

Yet Thailad has almost 4x the number of deaths on the road per 100,000 people. Mai pben rai I guess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

[boomerangutang]

Enforcing road laws might help, but then again, Thai authorities are riven with subjectivity. In other words, the social standing of anyone they pull over - would far out-weigh the offense. So, not only are cops incapable of doing an arrest for reckless driving, they are incapable of arresting a VIP or someone they're familiar with (family member, fellow cop, village VIP, army brass, anyone with a shiny new car, etc, etc, etc.)

[NoshowJones]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

I know this will upset a small minority of posters, but I hope all those drunken drivers who are dead rot in hell, and anyone who is "drunk" and drives, notice I'm using the word drunk here. I hope they die on the road also. the more drunken drivers who die, the less innocent sober drivers, and passengers will die. If I lack compassion here, then that's just too bad. I stand by every word.

[Felt 35]

Am I missing something or how are these bad numbers?

According to WHO Thailand's road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year according to wikipedia was 38.1 and Thailand has 69M inhabitants. So that would be over 26000 per years and 72 per day. So wouldn't that mean that it is safer to drive now?

I wondered the same myself. Can't understand these numbers.

Either the Wikipedia number is way off, or the police figures are way off.

209 deaths in 4 days = ~ 50 per day, and it's supposed to be the "most dangerous time of the year", so the average must be lower.

In that the case we are talking maybe 15,000 deaths per year, perhaps even less, much much less than the Wikipedia figures.

Can somebody shed some light on this?

Not exactly but can it be some of the same reason as in Phuket where the public health authorities have stopped to inform the media and then the public about monthly / annually traffic fatalities. Maybe we should take that as the numbers have dropped or could it be totally opposite............

[paulyd2k]

well it will be a lot higher after tonight I bet, take it easy people and have a good new year, and safe night

[GotR1GHT]

most of the post here are stupid but congratulations you have just won first prize

or maybe you're the one who is stupid. It's not post of the year but there's some truth in it.Comparing buddhism thinking that people are not worried about death which basically means hey let's drive drunk, if die and take 4 people with me -no worries,i'll be reincarnated.Lol. It just shows that many foreigners think they know everything about Thailand but in fact they know jack shit.And yeah i agree,most of the stupid stories come from barstools

[boomerangutang]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

I know this will upset a small minority of posters, but I hope all those drunken drivers who are dead rot in hell, and anyone who is "drunk" and drives, notice I'm using the word drunk here. I hope they die on the road also. the more drunken drivers who die, the less innocent sober drivers, and passengers will die. If I lack compassion here, then that's just too bad. I stand by every word.

Ask anyone but an alcohol guzzler whether alcohol is a drug, and they'll say 'yes' (which it is). Therefore, any crimes and harm committed while drunk are therefore 'drug related crimes' - are they not? Of course, neither newspaper headline writers nor politicians will cop to that, partly because they all imbibe also. Even the #1 illegal drug fighter in Thailand, Mr. Chalerm, is an alcoholic. What's he going to do, order his own arrest for heavily using Thailand's most harmful drug? Doubtful.

[NoshowJones]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

I know this will upset a small minority of posters, but I hope all those drunken drivers who are dead rot in hell, and anyone who is "drunk" and drives, notice I'm using the word drunk here. I hope they die on the road also. the more drunken drivers who die, the less innocent sober drivers, and passengers will die. If I lack compassion here, then that's just too bad. I stand by every word.

Ask anyone but an alcohol guzzler whether alcohol is a drug, and they'll say 'yes' (which it is). Therefore, any crimes and harm committed while drunk are therefore 'drug related crimes' - are they not? Of course, neither newspaper headline writers nor politicians will cop to that, partly because they all imbibe also. Even the #1 illegal drug fighter in Thailand, Mr. Chalerm, is an alcoholic. What's he going to do, order his own arrest for heavily using Thailand's most harmful drug? Doubtful.

Excellent post my friend.

[IAMSOBAD]

I'm praying for the special monk that was supposed to stop all evil accident spirits.

He will be reassigned like the BIB to a desk post in the South.

[kwonitoy]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

'He doesn't know nothing' means he does know something - and he's quite right about the Thai populace.

Well it's a well known fact most of TV users are hating everything what's related with thai in any means.Saying that thais don't care about death it just moronic but understandable.Most of the foreigners don't speak thai thus can't understand everything that's going on,believe me those who can speak are seeing the country on whole new level.

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

I know it's just coming in under the wire,

But I nominate DA3NDORPHIN3 as poster of year.

[Markos22]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

'He doesn't know nothing' means he does know something - and he's quite right about the Thai populace.

Well it's a well known fact most of TV users are hating everything what's related with thai in any means.Saying that thais don't care about death it just moronic but understandable.Most of the foreigners don't speak thai thus can't understand everything that's going on,believe me those who can speak are seeing the country on whole new level.

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

I know it's just coming in under the wire,

But I nominate DA3NDORPHIN3 as poster of year.

I don't see nothing funny with that post.The ones who actually living in thai will understand it

[lostmebike]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

'He doesn't know nothing' means he does know something - and he's quite right about the Thai populace.

Well it's a well known fact most of TV users are hating everything what's related with thai in any means.Saying that thais don't care about death it just moronic but understandable.Most of the foreigners don't speak thai thus can't understand everything that's going on,believe me those who can speak are seeing the country on whole new level.

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

What on earth has this got to do with the topic in hand?

[taony]

Yeah!!! Woohoo !!! We did it! Accidents in all provinces! In only four days!

Morbid bastards

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[simple1]

Am I missing something or how are these bad numbers?

According to WHO Thailand's road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year according to wikipedia was 38.1 and Thailand has 69M inhabitants. So that would be over 26000 per years and 72 per day. So wouldn't that mean that it is safer to drive now?

I wondered the same myself. Can't understand these numbers.

Either the Wikipedia number is way off, or the police figures are way off.

209 deaths in 4 days = ~ 50 per day, and it's supposed to be the "most dangerous time of the year", so the average must be lower.

In that the case we are talking maybe 15,000 deaths per year, perhaps even less, much much less than the Wikipedia figures.

Can somebody shed some light on this?

refer post# 18

Edited December 31, 2013 by simple1

[belg]

magic protective amulets must be out of batteries, they dont seem to work (anymore?)

[Mudcrab]

Annual road toll lowest in more than 60 years.

(Down 17% on last year)

This is the headline from New Zealand's largest newspaper at the end of 2013. Sadly I don't think we will ever see a report in Thailand like this.

More info on how it came about below.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11179909

Portal Travel will be perfected before you will see this in Thailand as Portal Travel is the only way the carnage will reduce.

Please explain the physics of portal travel. I am really interested.

,

[lostinsurin]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there. The Royal Thai Police need to be completely overhauled. Until the day the police actually start enforcing existing laws we will read similar headlines year after year.

I know this will upset a small minority of posters, but I hope all those drunken drivers who are dead rot in hell, and anyone who is "drunk" and drives, notice I'm using the word drunk here. I hope they die on the road also. the more drunken drivers who die, the less innocent sober drivers, and passengers will die. If I lack compassion here, then that's just too bad. I stand by every word.

I sit with 8-10 farangs every afternoon, all drive home drunk.

all complain about Thai drivers.

(I drink tea)

[bumbles]

Really really, you can get the police motivated.

Think, for every violation of reckless or drunk driving, they get big bonu$e$.

(I've seen some brains of a 15 year old on the road. It worth the money to control this)

[Card]

Slightly more than the UK figure of 189. Except the Uk's figure is for the last 365 days, not the 4 in as in Thailand.

[Tomtomtom69]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

'He doesn't know nothing' means he does know something - and he's quite right about the Thai populace.

Well it's a well known fact most of TV users are hating everything what's related with thai in any means.Saying that thais don't care about death it just moronic but understandable.Most of the foreigners don't speak thai thus can't understand everything that's going on,believe me those who can speak are seeing the country on whole new level.

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

I can read and speak fluent Thai but yet I'm convinced many of the commentators on here are correct - Thais do have a weird reaction to death. Basically, if it's not an immediate family member, they put it down to "bad luck" or "fate". Actually, that counts for family members and friends too. They're sad of course when it does happen, but sometime afterwards they seem to be able to move on very well - perhaps the lack of cemeteries in Thailand could explain this? In Vietnam, cemeteries are everywhere, with lots of rituals to commemorate the dead, but in Thailand most people are cremated after death and there is no grave left behind (only a few prominent people and others if they wish, have their remains interned inside a temple headstone but this represents only a small percentage of the population). Christians, Muslims and other groups are exceptions, but for Buddhists, which represent about 95% of the population, this is the case (no graves).

[GAZZPA]

Most deaths due to drunk driving or speeding. Two problems that could be cleaned up with stringent law enforcement, but we know the deal there.

In 2010 1.4 Million people were arrested in the US for DUI, and a large % of the fatalities on the roads were involving Alcohol.

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

Stringent laws don't stop Americans from drink driving, why do you think it would stop the Thais and the Farangs that drive here whilst alcohol impaired ?

its not that it never happens anywhere else and even with stringent laws people still break them. The problem is that it is worse here then almost any country in the world, surely you believe that enforcing the law would have a positive effect?

This evening whilst riding through Pattaya I had to ride through a temporary police check,, as riding up to this well lit area noticed there were no police. As i got closer i saw maybe10 of them sitting on plastic chairs along the side of the road drinking beer,, brilliant example. No wonder people do not take the law seriously..

[joboss]

you can't really blame the cops for the populace's deep belief in reincarnation and therefore not so worried about death, more concerned with enjoying themselves and living in the moment regardless of the consequences...

you really don't know nothing about thailand.I guess only barstool stories about how thailand being a bad country etc.Now go back to soi 6.

And u do ?? <deleted>

[joboss]

Well, there is only one way.

Revamp the BiB and re-write the fines. I am dreaming but the following comes to mind:

Drunk driving at THB 5'000 in the first case; car stays put until a) fine is paid and driver is sober.

Second time THB 20'000; car stays put for two weeks and until fine is paid.

Third time same as second time but a mandatory jail term of a week.

Forth time - car gets impounded for a month and the fine is THB 50'000; two weeks jail.

All this is not rocket science but I guess it needs a death in each and every family having a drunk driving member until the message reaches home. How sad!

Have you taken the police entrance exam? 200bt + 200bt + 200bt + + + = pass

[joboss]

Well it's a well known fact most of TV users are hating everything what's related with thai in any means.Saying that thais don't care about death it just moronic but understandable.Most of the foreigners don't speak thai thus can't understand everything that's going on,believe me those who can speak are seeing the country on whole new level.

Seeing that most of the farangs don't even know difference between bar girl and normal girl says everything.Ones who marry with bar girl and than complain how she stole his money and "every thai girl" is the same are the best lol.Ah farangs,education doesn't worth shit sometimes

I know it's just coming in under the wire,

But I nominate DA3NDORPHIN3 as poster of year.

I second your nomination. Takes a special talent to be such a knob polisher

[noddy77]

Annual road toll lowest in more than 60 years.

(Down 17% on last year)

This is the headline from New Zealand's largest newspaper at the end of 2013. Sadly I don't think we will ever see a report in Thailand like this.

More info on how it came about below.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11179909

Portal Travel will be perfected before you will see this in Thailand as Portal Travel is the only way the carnage will reduce.

Please explain the physics of portal travel. I am really interested.

,

Google it.

Google knows everything!