The most dangerous countries to drive in; Thailand ranks #2

[asiamint]

I would put 2 criteria into the mix.

1) A lot of motorbikes & a lot of SUVs - the two don't mix particularly well at speed

2) The main roads are pretty good here compared to other third world countries, therefore you can get a good head of steam up. I've noticed once they widen or relay a road it seems to get more dangerous as people can drive quicker on them.

I just put it down to drinking whiskey and speed.

Very high percentage drink and drive and the tightness to the next cars bumper at speed is something i have seen all Thai's do. I have not seen ever driver in Thailand but i would wager these two reasons are the main factors.

[surangw]

where does it rank in being a pedestrian

[englishoak]

One thing driving here does for me is heighten road awareness tenfold. BKK on a bike is hugely tiring and driving at night anywhere in Thailand even more so.

I can well believe these statistics and unless im out on a run with a bike club or in convoy with a few of us driving is not much fun here, just a necessity.

[Thai at Heart]

Namibia . outside a couple of cities, you'd do well to run into anyone. Let alone another car.

[PaullyW]

Like all statistics it depends if the parameters are the same.

For example some countries include deaths in or on the way to hospital. Others only count death at the scene.

Personally I found Egypt to be the most dangerous country i've driven in. On my first visit i saw 5 serious accidents of which 2 had fatalities in just the short trip from the airport to Giza.

Saudi prior to the introduction of speed cameras was bad too.

Driving in Thailand is a breeze compared to a lot of other countries.

I would imagine the statistics people were looking at equivalent stats (as reported). One thing that nobody has mentioned is the FACE saving thing in Thailand and how something like that might impact the stats. If one were to assume that stats are actually underreported due to FACE saving,,,

[focus27]

Will these stats be skewed by populations figures? Indian roads are much more dangerous in my view - but the population of India is so vast and only a comparatively small % owns a bike or car - so accidents by head of population will be diluted.

I would rank India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia above Thailand from what I've seen of the roads - but perhaps fewer people own cars and bikes?

Indeed, some comments on the original article say that this is not the best metric - pretty simple school exercise to get the fatalities from the WHO and official population numbers.

Fatalities per km driven would be much better, but more difficult to estimate.

Fatalities per number of registered vehicles would be a good compromise.

Thai driving is just a reflection of Thainess: thoughtless and careless. After a while, you can just sense that something stupid is going to happen... and avoid it.

I've driven in similar places - need 360 degrees awareness.

[coma]

And this clip shows why it is #2. Very scary to watch these two drivers [clowns] put a lot of lives at risk on a busy highway in broad daylight.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f1a_1392977143

[bangkokheat]

I don't know....been driving here for 12 years.....just got to be very careful and patient....never had an issue......

Have been close at U turns with cars and bikes coming along the wrong way.

Speed, drugs, booze and tiredness......and of course, inexperience........that's what takes people out here on the roads.

i agree with the drugs and booze, even the inexperience, but you might want to add lack of respect for other life and dangerous driving

[garrya]

Looking at these figures, Thailand would be the most dangerous for motor/cycle deaths. As about 80% of deaths in Thailand -re road accidents are M/cyclists.

Thailand I would say is number 1 if you ride a M/Cycle.

Only 20% of deaths here are other than m/cyclists and cars are a % of that so make what you like of the figures.

It is reported that Thai deaths stats are ONLY those that die at the scene, so could it be that overall they are number 1 ???

Easily the number 1

[garrya]

Like all statistics it depends if the parameters are the same.

For example some countries include deaths in or on the way to hospital. Others only count death at the scene.

Personally I found Egypt to be the most dangerous country i've driven in. On my first visit i saw 5 serious accidents of which 2 had fatalities in just the short trip from the airport to Giza.

Saudi prior to the introduction of speed cameras was bad too.

Driving in Thailand is a breeze compared to a lot of other countries.

Funny you are. I see accidents on a daily basis, and I don't see that so called "breeze" in it.

[hkt83100]

The most perplexing driving habit that I observe - perhaps - is making a right hand turn from the right hand land and onto the right hand lane of the street/road they turn into. Can this maneuver be explained?

This hardly beats using the hazard lights to indicate that you want to go straight ahead at the next junction. If one of these idiots is coming from your right side you can see (obviously) only his left side lights, don't take it for granted that he/she is making a left turn and you are free to go. :-(

[captspectre]

Yes, that is about right....

With all the MORONs who drive drunk on Songkran, I am not surprised... people drunk falling out of trucks while they spray water at people standing on the side of the street with water hoses....

I guess Thais are really VIOLENT... Songkran is suppose to be s non-violent festival.. But Thais knack for violence, killing and beating each other up, that is just a dream!!

not just songkran, but most everyday. i drive with one hand on the horn and on the lookout for an escape route.

[laobali]

Will the Government do anything about this ???

I think not... would be nice if they did try...

Yes. They already have, they significantly increased the amount of vehicles on the road, and the amount of inexperience drivers, via the car rebate last year. Yet they did not spend a cent on ensure more effective driver training, or police of the roads.

Good case for a class action agains Yingluck for gross negligence on that one. The road death stats speak for themselves.

Perhaps they are in an all-out bid to be #1 at something!

[justathought]

Thailand is not that bad. If in saudia, kuwait or uae, you knock an arab car, you are instantly guilty and will be liable for all the damages. lucky if you do not get molested in the jail while awaiting deporatation

[jimky]

Queue the usual 'Thailand, hub of...' posts and other crap.

I have safely driven maybe three quarters of a million miles in Los between 1977 and now. There's probably some who have done even more.

Sure it would be very risky for someone who had never, driven in LOS to get behind the wheel of a car at Suvarnabhumi and drive to (say) Pai on the pre-Songkran weekend... but who on earth does that?

There's loads of stats on what kills the most foreigners in Thailand but I don't recall it being driving related. Even if we look at the very high risk motorcycle accident victim, outside the tourists spots, you don't see a lot of foreigners on 2-wheels.

Seriously? I've only done a tiny fraction of that mileage in seven years here but I've already been crashed into once while stationary. I've seen a pickup lose it and go cartwheeling down the highway. I've seen a truck jack knife and i've seen about half a dozen motorbikes get taken out at traffic lights as I watched. And then there were all the near misses. I rarely drive in this country if I can avoid it and I never drive at night.

I guess it depends where are driving. But yeah my experience is similar to yours. I've driven by dead bodies from auto accidents (motorbikes) many times in Udon Thani. Out in the sticks on way to Ban Phue every so often have someone seriously injured or killed by a gang that flings large rocks at windshields in order to rob the driver after the crash. While traveling, I've seen cars flipped over (on way to Chiang Mai see this every few trips), roads disappeared in mudslides, and almost was hit by one of those 'falling rocks' (better described as bolders). The saddest part is I don't have enough fingers to count by hand the number of people I know who lost one of their children to an auto (usually a motorbike but know both) accident. Over 5-years I've driven a lot, had only minor accidents, but for sure can understand Thailand ranking high for automotive deaths.

[Farma]

Like all statistics it depends if the parameters are the same.

For example some countries include deaths in or on the way to hospital. Others only count death at the scene.

Personally I found Egypt to be the most dangerous country i've driven in. On my first visit i saw 5 serious accidents of which 2 had fatalities in just the short trip from the airport to Giza.

Saudi prior to the introduction of speed cameras was bad too.

Driving in Thailand is a breeze compared to a lot of other countries.

Funny you are. I see accidents on a daily basis, and I don't see that so called "breeze" in it.

No garrya there's nothing funny about my comments at all. It's sad there are so many deaths.

My comments were in comparison to driving in other countries.

If you expect the unexpected and learn to read other drivers it makes driving in Thailand not as bad as it could be. I'm not denying there are a lot of crazy drivers on the road.

As mentioned by others the number of motorbike deaths plus multiple deaths in bus crashed could be another reason for the high road death figures for Thailand.

[almafudd]

The study is called Mortality from Road Crashes in 193 Countries: A Comparison with Other Leading Causes of Death

So it includes all road crashes not only cars...

[AbuBacon]

Obviously the authors haven't driven in Iraq much

Sent from my Lenovo A516 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Puwa]

I haven't read any comments to the tune of "I drove for 5 years then got killed," or "My tour bus hit a cement truck head-on and crushed my skull instantly," or "I bled to death on the side of the road amid the fragments of my shattered scooter." I wonder why.

The whole reason for conducting a professional research study is to escape the imagined individual realities of "I've been driving for 20 yrs..." and try to build a factual overview.

[moe666]

Queue the usual 'Thailand, hub of...' posts and other crap.

I have safely driven maybe three quarters of a million miles in Los between 1977 and now. There's probably some who have done even more.

Sure it would be very risky for someone who had never, driven in LOS to get behind the wheel of a car at Suvarnabhumi and drive to (say) Pai on the pre-Songkran weekend... but who on earth does that?

There's loads of stats on what kills the most foreigners in Thailand but I don't recall it being driving related. Even if we look at the very high risk motorcycle accident victim, outside the tourists spots, you don't see a lot of foreigners on 2-wheels.

Seriously? I've only done a tiny fraction of that mileage in seven years here but I've already been crashed into once while stationary. I've seen a pickup lose it and go cartwheeling down the highway. I've seen a truck jack knife and i've seen about half a dozen motorbikes get taken out at traffic lights as I watched. And then there were all the near misses. I rarely drive in this country if I can avoid it and I never drive at night.

I think we all experience something different, I have ridden my bike from CM to Surin and back via Pattaya, Bangkok. Chiang Mai to Hua Hin and back and recently to Kanchanaburi and back to CM I have only seen the results of 6 accidents and 3 of those were truck over turns.

[wilcopops]

What nonsense! Because of "A", "B" must be true?

"There are lies. dam lies and statistics" (MT) - and driving statistics and their interpretation are in a league of their own.

[diehard60]

Well we can not blame this on Thaksin or suthep. But we can blame the Department of Motor vehicles and the trafic police.

[diehard60]

I can tell you why this. it is because Thailand has made it easy for anyone to buy a car or truck and these people have no idea of what they are doing behind the wheel of it. They have not been to a drivers school, pay for their lience, and thei think they own the road when they are out there. They also can NOT judge distances at all when driving. They do not know nor care what the rules of the road are. Now this is just cars and trucks. Now motor cycles (scooters) are another topic altogether. They are cheap to buy and most people do not even have a drivers liecence.

[Cylon]

this goes further, this has to be attempted murder.skip to 2mins for it to really turn nastyThai truckie.htm

[NangrongJ]

I've stated this elsewhere when this was posted. Such statistics lack in accuracy. The only credible and accredited statistics come from the UN/WHO report which takes 4 years. This requires a detailed and lengthy audit of each country. The reason for this is to give aid to those countries to improve their road safety. I have been a member of these audit teams. Thailand has consistently failed to provide accurate statistics and will not allow external audit. It must also be added, or explained to those who are not aware of such matters that the reason why universities carry out such research is for financial gain - grants!

I have seen at least 22 such claims and none of them are anywhere near accurate. Yes, Thailand is potentially dangerous in terms of road safety but no where near India or China and any of the Arabic countries. And finally, it's a bit rich coming from the USA which has the worst road safety record of the developed world.

[soalbundy]

Tell me about it

[Artist]

In my experience Thai drivers are much more alert and polite than Australian drivers. Of course Thai drivers do crazy things like overtaking on blind bends but everybody expects it and just pulls off to make way for them. If I drove in Australia the way I do in Thailand I would have guys tailgating me flashing their lights and making rude signs at me. In Thailand drivers are very forgiving.

On the whole Thailand major roads are well engineered and the road rules are good. Turn left with care against red traffic lights and U turns rather than Right turns are examples.

Some Australian driving conventions are downright stupid. Last week a friend of mine had an accident in the NW. The rain was so hard he couldn't see clearly and he knew their was a rest stop on the right so he decided to pull over. He signalled right and some idiot tried to overtake him as he turned and the two 4WDs collided. Nobody was hurt fortunately. The idiot said that when my friend signalled right he thought that meant "its clear to overtake me" and its true that is the convention that Ozzie truckies use. They must be out of their minds!!

In Thailand indicating right means either I am turning right or do not overtake me. Indicating left means I am turning left or it is clear to overtake. Now that is a rational convention.

[PaullyW]

I haven't read any comments to the tune of "I drove for 5 years then got killed," or "My tour bus hit a cement truck head-on and crushed my skull instantly," or "I bled to death on the side of the road amid the fragments of my shattered scooter." I wonder why.

The whole reason for conducting a professional research study is to escape the imagined individual realities of "I've been driving for 20 yrs..." and try to build a factual overview.

+1 Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

The people who explain reality using their own anecdotes would be urged to take some adult learning courses in statistics.

[PaullyW]

In my experience Thai drivers are much more alert and polite than Australian drivers. Of course Thai drivers do crazy things like overtaking on blind bends but everybody expects it and just pulls off to make way for them. If I drove in Australia the way I do in Thailand I would have guys tailgating me flashing their lights and making rude signs at me. In Thailand drivers are very forgiving.

On the whole Thailand major roads are well engineered and the road rules are good. Turn left with care against red traffic lights and U turns rather than Right turns are examples.

Some Australian driving conventions are downright stupid. Last week a friend of mine had an accident in the NW. The rain was so hard he couldn't see clearly and he knew their was a rest stop on the right so he decided to pull over. He signalled right and some idiot tried to overtake him as he turned and the two 4WDs collided. Nobody was hurt fortunately. The idiot said that when my friend signalled right he thought that meant "its clear to overtake me" and its true that is the convention that Ozzie truckies use. They must be out of their minds!!

In Thailand indicating right means either I am turning right or do not overtake me. Indicating left means I am turning left or it is clear to overtake. Now that is a rational convention.

Maybe you should teach Thais their own "rational conventions" as it seems the stats suggest they don't understand them well

[ginjag]

If most Thai rider/drivers do not understand a highway code or are not aware of one you cannot expect them to correct a wrong when it's pointed out to them.

Example, a driver on a straight road with a winker going, you pip him to warn him. Take a look in your mirror, he stops parks up and looks around his vehicle to inspect.

You swerve to avoid hitting a M/cycle who just cut you off, pip him and he is not happy about it being pointed out.

This is the biggest example of ignorance --dual carriage way driver doing 70kph, approach from a distance wanting to overtake maybe a flash of lights, no response, as though they are in a trance-no way they give way--you have to break the law, technically and overtake on the nearside lane.

Tour buses/inter city buses big offenders.