Thailand.. The land of spectacular car crashes

[greenfox]

Many Thais seem to exist in a state of challengement.

Others are a challenge to them. Their ego and face is at stake.

Somebody overtakes them, they suffer loss of ego and face, a loss of manliness. They have been challenged. They must win.

Their programmed society allows for very little expression of negative emotions. Getting behind the wheel where they are invisible allows for their release. They can bully, deride and get a sense of power by endangering others and making them move out of their way, they can belittle other men, they can release their anger.

It all adds up to a very dangerous driving culture.

[RedDemon88]

Malaysia even worse. Approval by JPJ ( Road Transport Department) stated plate number could created a accident. I so ashamed that I am Malaysian!!

[giddyup]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Just saw a young lady on Thai television tonight whose restaurant and car were demolished, her husband killed and her 5 year old daughter a vegetable, all by an inexperienced speeding motorist who was allegedly racing other cars. Seven years later and all she's received is 140,000 baht, hardly enough to compensate for losing a husband, daughter, car and business. The problem with irresponsible drivers (a lot) in Thailand is that there's little in the way or repercussions, they just don't have any sense of guilt or responsibility for their actions, it's always someone else's fault. Needless to say the driver and passenger of the car responsible were uninjured. Makes my blood boil.

I was watching this tonight too. This is what inspired my post

Come on...I've seen plenty of cars wrapped around trees...driver young,white, drunk

Agreed, ive lost mates back in oz too. But here its on another level

Kill a person whilst you're drunk and speeding in Oz and see what happens.

[giddyup]

Just another attempt of Thai bashing..... just as bad everywhere....

Stupid bloody statement. Take time to have a look at road death statistics and see where Thailand is on the list.

[whatawonderfulday]

figures road deaths per 100,000 people per100,000 vehicles

uk 2175 3.5 6.2

thailand 26,000 38.1 92.4

usa 36166 11.6 13.6

italy 3753 6.2 7.6

australia 1196 5.2 7

brasil 43869 22.5 67

So based on those statistics Thailand could quite rightly claim to be the "Hub of road deaths "

Go on make it worse and add the average traffic densities in another column. Will make it even more staggering

[dotpoom]

They have started another campaign of TV Ads. back home (Western Europe) to advise people to slow down after a spate of accidents recently. The Ad's are so graphic that people have been phoning into talk shows complaining about them. I just listened to the Mother of a 25yr. old man who was killed in such an accident 6 years ago in broad daylight and no alcohol involved...it was at a double bend.

She is totally in favour of the Ads and she states that...... "Of course, they should be graphic because that's exactly the reality of what happens in these accidents. She watched them cut her son from the car and feels it should not be glossed up if we want it to sink into young people's heads and maybe if one person takes real note of it, it might just help to save that one person's life

[Broeno]

Come on...I've seen plenty of cars wrapped around trees...driver young,white, drunk

Offcourse you see that kind off things everywhere, but worse as in Thailand, i have never seen before.

In Holland there are living 16 million people and every year 570 killed in traffic.

Here it is not only the irresponsible or drunk driver. It's also the quality of the roads.

I am living in a industrial area full of trucks. They destroy all roads. Very often you can not speak of a road anymore, but a little bit of road between all the holes. In between the trucks there are cars and motornikes pushed away by crazy truckdrivers who know that the others are at risk so they drive ass hell.

[greenfox]

I like how they remove the seatbelts from public vehicles.

Putting on a seatbelt does two things.

• Makes the driver lose face as it is a criticism - that his driving isn't good and he might crash.

• Actually preempts and causes accidents through some magic stuff stupid Westerners don't understand.

There really is very little hope for them.

[greenfox]

Come on...I've seen plenty of cars wrapped around trees...driver young,white, drunk

Offcourse you see that kind off things everywhere, but worse as in Thailand, i have never seen before.

In Holland there are living 16 million people and every year 570 killed in traffic.

Here it is not only the irresponsible or drunk driver. It's also the quality of the roads.

I am living in a industrial area full of trucks. They destroy all roads. Very often you can not speak of a road anymore, but a little bit of road between all the holes. In between the trucks there are cars and motornikes pushed away by crazy truckdrivers who know that the others are at risk so they drive ass hell.

There was a case in Lampang a few years ago.

A truck side swiped a pick-up truck, then tried to escape (hit and run).

The truck hit a set of lights and took out all the scooters and bikes waiting at the front. There were about 15 scooterists dead. Mostly nurses and students as the local college had just finished and a hospital had just had it's shift change. He then tried to run from that and hit another vehicle.

It didn't make the main news at all, just some Thai boards.

I suspect there was village justice administrated. Perhaps he was Burmese.

The only piece left on the web about it is:

http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/366/news.shtml#hd13

the Thai forums and their photos of 10+ crushed scooters and riders under the truck was sobering

[smotherb]

The army is going to fix all these things in an instant ! Trust them <3

No, the Burmese are definitely behind it.

[SilverBeast]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

figures road deaths per 100,000 people per100,000 vehicles

uk 2175 3.5 6.2

thailand 26,000 38.1 92.4

usa 36166 11.6 13.6

italy 3753 6.2 7.6

australia 1196 5.2 7

brasil 43869 22.5 67

This claimed they were 3rd.
http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-ranks-worlds-third-highest-road-fatalities/

You failed to mention Canada which has only 6 traffic related deaths / 100,000 people. Seems to be very low. Driver training and defensive driving is emphasised. There is a high school driver training program.

The OP has never driven in Italy.

List of countries by traffic-related death rate (wiki)

Deaths per 100,000 by Motor Vehicle

Thailand 92.4

USA 13.6

Italy 7.6

Australia 7.0

UK 6.2

Viet Nam 65.3

Laos 125.6

Cambodia 118.8

Myanmar 308

Central African Replublic 13,472.8

It would seem Italy is quite tame compared to Thailand and even the US for that matter. However, Thailand is better than the surrounding countries except for Viet Nam. I certainly wouldn't want to live in the Central African Republic. Now that is one hell of a death rate at 13.73%.

There are about 90 countries that come in worse than Thailand, which did surprise me. Some of these countries, many of them in Africa, have no stable government to speak of and so there would be no emphasis on safety at all. Life is very cheap in these countries, even more than in Thailand.

Canada has no business being better then the USA. The USA has large swaths of their population that never see ice and snow or those dangerous conditions.

I think there are multiple factors at play here and simply trying to claim "Thainess" is actually really foolish.

Most of this really just comes down to a couple different factors. Road design and Peoples actions. There are lots of contributing factors to peoples deaths in Thailand compared to Canada for example. How many motorbikes are in use in Thailand? Multitudes upon multitudes of them. In Canada there are just a few and only used seasonally. These types of vehicles have a high fatality rate in an accident and the Thai's don't usually have helmets. An effective Thai ad campaign could probably change that. I've seen some of their ad campaigns and they are probably far better then what we get in Canada.

How about you compare traffic density? If you take the density of traffic experienced across Canada which is 35 Million people in the second largest country on the planet versus Thailand which is 65 Million on a chunk of land barely bigger then a province that contains 1 million people...

I'd say the qualities of roads themselves are actually better in Thailand. I was surprised at that but they were better then what I find in Canada. But they have no ice. I saw some foolish design though that will contribute to traffic deaths. U-turns on 50 mile per hour roads are just asking for it.

As for the driving, I didn't think their driving was too bad. I saw a lot of things done better then Canada and some things worse. I'd have no fear driving in Thailand though.

[paulchiangmai]

The accident rate will drop when the police get some training in traffic regulation, when the police have a desire to do the job for which they are paid to do, when those that have no wish to work are got rid of, when Thai's and not falangs want change. They could start with the useless policemen who are supposedly directing traffic on the 118 Doi Saket to Chiang Mai road,

I disagree that enforcement of rules will change the behaviour, in any meaningful way. It would require one traffic cop per 10 meters of road.

The mindset of the people must change, for changes to happen.

Thais don't do changes of mindset, it indicates that they were doing things incorrectly to begin with. too much for their ego to accept.

Isn't that what I just said?

[teebe]

Sorry, by the time cars and roads are introduced in your country there is a lag to good drive behaviors. I seen middle east cars and traffic same as Thailand, all depends on how drivers exchange their body [meat] with iron sheets, mind and $$$ can do it. Meanwhile numbers [death accountant] make a sense with long term trends, just prompting casualties is not enough to understand the learn curve. Last is road conditions, whatever is your driving style. All depends on experience and there is no quick relief for it. If someone really love speed should drive on a racing track, otherwise is just bulling [minivan] around with a car.

[BadBouy]

Why do people always want to interfere with Darwinism?

Because they are taking others down with them other than that I could care less. Tempt fate and pay the price.

[jesimps]

Just another attempt of Thai bashing..... just as bad everywhere....

Blx! Check stats worldwide. Never understand why people spout this tripe.

[eeeya]

Just another attempt of Thai bashing..... just as bad everywhere....

Blx! Check stats worldwide. Never understand why people spout this tripe.

its up there with the "nanny state" comment

[samuijimmy]

Well according a recent Sky news report, those figures posted above, for the UK are not accurate.....

so you guys just carry on talking rubbish as so common here on Thai Visa....

There are better places on this forum, where there are some intelligent comments

[Ace of Pop]

After going up n down Thailand for 25 Years the worst are Mocycles , Tourists in rent cars, Ex Pats who know it all , and Tuna Drivers.The rest are predictably bad.There are many superb Thai Drivers.

[thailand49]

The accident rate will drop when the police get some training in traffic regulation, when the police have a desire to do the job for which they are paid to do, when those that have no wish to work are got rid of, when Thai's and not falangs want change. They could start with the useless policemen who are supposedly directing traffic on the 118 Doi Saket to Chiang Mai road,

I disagree that enforcement of rules will change the behaviour, in any meaningful way. It would require one traffic cop per 10 meters of road.

The mindset of the people must change, for changes to happen.

Thais don't do changes of mindset, it indicates that they were doing things incorrectly to begin with. too much for their ego to accept.

Isn't that what I just said?

I have a number of degrees or endorsement as they call it in the U.S. in regards to driving. Been to a number of Department of Transportation training classes, hold a A class for Commercial license and certified to teach and test for the DMV, and obtained a motorbike license from the California Highway Patrol.

When you talk about Thailand driving let stick to just Thailand? it would be unfair to compare it to other countries? Much of the driving rules or laws are basically taken from the west. One can change all the rules from top to bottom along with their driver education system and nothing will ever change as long was you do not have a consistent system to enforce! And enforcement is what keeps us in line in the west rules that are enforced through being jailed and fined heavy for violations

Here in Thailand the people in control do not embraced these laws themselves they talk a good game but when they are off the clock they themselves violate the laws they are entrusted to enforce. That is why year after year the WHO donate millions to correct the problem yet they have moved up to number 2!

The biggest problem many of us who complain about the driving here come from other countries. We have something to compare but majority of Thais can own a car but will never be able to leave Thailand. They know no other way of driving and if you ever confront another Thai as to how they drive you are asking for trouble this is what I have found. They see nothing wrong with the way they drive! Ever see a rear end accident everyone sits and wait for the police to come because they have no idea who is at fault so they refuse to move their vehicles when where we come from a rear end accident is obvious. Preaching isn't enough one has to practice what they preach and those that can change do not embrace the problem unless there is money in it for them!

Driving is a privilege and not a right, a vehicle is a weapon not a toy or a video game until they grasp the problem there will continue to be accidents and deaths. Ninety percent of the accidents and traffic jams are self created by the lack of driver education. When they start to force the networks to stop showing the death and accidents and day in and day out just show actual footage as to how Thais drive and nothing will change.

I can right now give this government a complete list from top to bottom as to how to fix the problem and it would take at least 10 years to slowly correct the problem but nothing works unless you have enforcement! You can invent all the tech-no gadgets in the world until you invent something that allows the car to drive itself you need to enforce to control humans tendency.

[Ace of Pop]

It would take 10Years to read it. Nothing will change.No ones bothered here except a few ferangs..