Traffic police are the missing link for Thai road safety

[daiwill60]

I've always thought the BIB were the "missing link".

As in the knuckle dragging kind.

You are worse than the Thai government with your acronym. What is a BIB?

Huh , A senior member on TVN does not yet understand probably the most widespread acronym in use on TVN yet?

BIB = Boys In Blue, ( the police ) maybe it is just a British thing as Police in the UK are often referred to as BIB due to the Uniforms of past and Blue flashing lights etc etc .

Though it may be confusing to some as in Thailand the BIB are never seen wearing blue uniforms , though they do wear a sort of sh*tt* sort of brown colour in some cases or Black. So BIB could still be referred to them in its usage as an acronym I guess.

Hope that helps

[Praematura]

I've also some of the police to be the missing link.[emoji23]

[Godders]

There are plenty of traffic cops on duty where I live. They gather in little clumps on rat-run roads to prey mostly on kids not wearing crash helmets - an easier target than the well-connected hi-so's piss-heads whose ostentatious grunt mchines create such carnage on the major roads.

Friday is the dodgiest day, when the BiB are out in force looking for some extra dosh to fuel their weekend fun.

Crackdown on corruption? Pull the other one.

[zakk9]

I've always thought the BIB were the "missing link".

As in the knuckle dragging kind.

You are worse than the Thai government with your acronym. What is a BIB?

Huh , A senior member on TVN does not yet understand probably the most widespread acronym in use on TVN yet?

BIB = Boys In Blue, ( the police ) maybe it is just a British thing as Police in the UK are often referred to as BIB due to the Uniforms of past and Blue flashing lights etc etc .

Though it may be confusing to some as in Thailand the BIB are never seen wearing blue uniforms , though they do wear a sort of sh*tt* sort of brown colour in some cases or Black. So BIB could still be referred to them in its usage as an acronym I guess.

Hope that helps

In Thailand, that would be "Boys in Brown".

[razer]

Missed one thing ... making a cultural shift through constant public service advertisements on TV which somehow, always get on the social media platform.

A fewThai companies have made some of the best PSAs focused on kindness and respect. Now they need to focus on drivers.

Time for Chang or Singha to step up to the plate on drunk driving.

[ratcatcher]

I've always thought the BIB were the "missing link".

As in the knuckle dragging kind.

You are worse than the Thai government with your acronym. What is a BIB?

BIB..............................=

Babe In Brown

[Just1Voice]

I've always thought the BIB were the "missing link".

As in the knuckle dragging kind.

You are worse than the Thai government with your acronym. What is a BIB?

You are DEFINITELY a "newby" if you don't know what BIB is. BIB = Boys In Brown = Police.

Welcome to Thailand,

[JOC]

What can possibly go wrong??

[marko kok prong]

While the article makes some good point,i am afraid it is a thing of fantasy.

[mojorison]

I think we could simply shorten the heading to "Thai police are the missing link."

They represent 95% of what is messed up in this poor poor country. The other 5% is the elephant.

[fred Kubasa]

Not unlike many people who wear t-shirts stating " FBI", there are many

uniformed people with " traffic police" on their tunics who are fakes !

[zakk9]

But thats LOS, nobody gives a shit about anything, except the right stamp in a farangs passport....

I guess that pretty much sums it up...

[masuk]

The lack of proper policing and enforcement of existing traffic laws probably accounts for 20 - 30% of accidents and deaths in this country. That's many hundreds in a year.

The country needs MANY MORE trained traffic police, actively doing their job, not collecting 100baht fines for helmet-less m/bike drivers and passengers.

As I've said before, buy in a few dozen 'booze buses' and have these in different locations every night, mopping up the drunk drivers. It cut road fatalities by a huge number in Australia. The law allows some alcohol, but not exceeding .05%.

It would be a huge social shock for this country I know, but so is a policeman at your door, letting you know a son or daughter has just been killed on the road.

The apparent ban on publishing road accidents and fatalities should be lifted. If TV can show it, why not newspapers?

[impulse]

The apparent ban on publishing road accidents and fatalities should be lifted. If TV can show it, why not newspapers?

I'm struggling to understand how the OP claims 3834 deaths in the first quarter (3 months) when other published statistics are over 2,000 per month. Even the OP goes on to claim 44 deaths per 100,000 population, which puts it over 2,000 per month.

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

http://asiancorrespondent.com/131679/thailand-road-deaths/

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Road-death-toll-in-Thailand-among-highest-in-the-w-30202066.html

http://global.umich.edu/2014/02/thai-roads-ranked-no-2-for-traffic-deaths/

[zakk9]

The apparent ban on publishing road accidents and fatalities should be lifted. If TV can show it, why not newspapers?

I'm struggling to understand how the OP claims 3834 deaths in the first quarter (3 months) when other published statistics are over 2,000 per month. Even the OP goes on to claim 44 deaths per 100,000 population, which puts it over 2,000 per month.

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

http://asiancorrespondent.com/131679/thailand-road-deaths/

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Road-death-toll-in-Thailand-among-highest-in-the-w-30202066.html

http://global.umich.edu/2014/02/thai-roads-ranked-no-2-for-traffic-deaths/

The low figure is from the official Thai statistics, the high figure from a research project performed by WHO a few years ago. There are some good and many not so good reasons for the difference.

[The Deerhunter]

Excellent discussion regarding what Nepal did. Relatively easy to do the same here if the politicians got on board.

+1. And think of all the part time jobs they'd create for designated drivers.

I'll repeat what I've often said. When I started driving, I was a hazard. Young, bulletproof and (I thought), an excellent driver. Had the best driver's ed classes in the country. But I was still an accident looking for a place to crash until I got a few years of driving experience and developed proper driving habits. It was only the fear of tickets that instilled in me the driving habits that kept the gendarme off my case and (not so coincidentally) kept me out of accidents.

Without enforcement, I just don't see the roads getting any safer here.

Well said. In our early days on the road we thought we were great drivers and have no idea how incompetent we were. Fear of loss of licence kept us saf(er).

With the local cultural environment, genuine traffic enforcement will be a long hard row to hoe.

A side issue. As reputedly, people who die later, but at the scene of the RTA are not included in road death stats, if we included them, could we be first in the world? Thailand is always so proud of it's "firsts in the world." This one might make some of them think after scraping through another death defying blind passing maneuver. Nah, I'm kidding. Just buy another overpriced amulet from the temple and drive even faster. Remember, it's ME first, YOU always second, that's important, because I am always more important.at everything than you. THAINESS personified!

NOTE: In the above instance, RTA means "road traffic accident", not "RTA" - aka "BIC" boys in Camo!!!!!! See post #50.

Edited May 28, 2015 by The Deerhunter

[sprq]

Wow! Enforce traffic laws! Why didn't any of us figure that one out? Guess they do have some eggheads here in Thailand....

You should read more carefully. One of the authors is Anglo, the other is Nepalese.

[Remi080]

Yo finally they know there are missing links. Hope they will discover more missing links.

As for good advice for them they should read this forum more often as there are to many people know things way better than any one else in nowaday's Thai politics.

[The Deerhunter]

I've always thought the BIB were the "missing link".

As in the knuckle dragging kind.

You are worse than the Thai government with your acronym. What is a BIB?

Huh , A senior member on TVN does not yet understand probably the most widespread acronym in use on TVN yet?

BIB = Boys In Blue, ( the police ) maybe it is just a British thing as Police in the UK are often referred to as BIB due to the Uniforms of past and Blue flashing lights etc etc .

Though it may be confusing to some as in Thailand the BIB are never seen wearing blue uniforms , though they do wear a sort of sh*tt* sort of brown colour in some cases or Black. So BIB could still be referred to them in its usage as an acronym I guess.

Hope that helps

Does "Boys in Brown" help you at all? The army wears camo. Certainly, I have always considered it meant "brown"!

[craigt3365]

Excellent discussion regarding what Nepal did. Relatively easy to do the same here if the politicians got on board.

+1. And think of all the part time jobs they'd create for designated drivers.

I'll repeat what I've often said. When I started driving, I was a hazard. Young, bulletproof and (I thought), an excellent driver. Had the best driver's ed classes in the country. But I was still an accident looking for a place to crash until I got a few years of driving experience and developed proper driving habits. It was only the fear of tickets that instilled in me the driving habits that kept the gendarme off my case and (not so coincidentally) kept me out of accidents.

Without enforcement, I just don't see the roads getting any safer here.

Well said. In our early days on the road we thought we were great drivers and have no idea how incompetent we were. Fear of loss of licence kept us saf(er).

With the local cultural environment, genuine traffic enforcement will be a long hard row to hoe.

A side issue. As reputedly people who do not die at the scene are not included in road death stats, if we included them, could we be first in the world? Thailand is always so proud of it's "firsts in the world." This one might make some of them think after scraping through another death defying blind passing maneuver. Nah, I'm kidding. Just buy another overpriced amulet from the temple and drive even faster. Remember, it's ME first, YOU always second, that's important, because I am always more important.at everything than you. THAINESS personified!

China under reports also. I'm sure many countries do. Or at least "massage' the numbers a bit!

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-01/07/content_11808453.htm

The study's researchers, from Johns Hopkins and China's Central South University, compared police data with death certificates from doctors logged between 2002 and 2007. They found that police statistics showed a 27 percent decrease in traffic fatalities, while those recorded on death certificates increased by 8 percent.

In 2007, for instance, police logged 81,649 deaths, compared to 221,135 listed on death certificates, said the study, whose findings were released this week.

[The Deerhunter]

I think we could simply shorten the heading to "Thai police are the missing link."

They represent 95% of what is messed up in this poor poor country. The other 5% is the elephant.

I hope by that, you didn't mean "The elephant in the room?" The thing we don't talk about." That would be very naughty!!!!!!!!!!!! But there is at least one bigger elephants than that, even.

[Jdiddy]

Just back from a 2000km roadtrip up country on my bike, i wouldnt change anything, i like the way things are

Only real highlight was a police officer on a 110 trying in vein to catch up to me after i blitzed a red in front of him lol

[zakk9]

Just back from a 2000km roadtrip up country on my bike, i wouldnt change anything, i like the way things are

Only real highlight was a police officer on a 110 trying in vein to catch up to me after i blitzed a red in front of him lol

How unfortunate that you weren't hit by a truck doing that. Thailand needs people like you to overtake Zimbabwe and get to the top of that list.

[Lee4Life]

I guess the cop I saw this morning riding up the wrong side of the road on his way to the tea money check point with his chin strap flapping in the wind missed the memo.....

He was doing better than most of the officers around here...their chin straps are still at home, along with the rest of the helmet!

[masquerade]

Enforcing the "drink and drive" laws is an excellent idea, but to make it effective, there must be other ways of coming home from restaurants etc. Only Bangkok has a reasonably efficient, reasonably priced public transport system, and as far as I know, only in Bangkok, taxis use meters. Most places in Thailand, finding transportation home after a night out can be a hassle if I'm not on main street, and when at last I find a taxi, he charges more than the meal cost me.

So they have to do two things: enforce the laws and establish systems that makes it easier to follow them. Kill the transport mafia.

Almost every bar I used to frequent in the USA had a sign saying they'd call you a taxi if you didn't want to drive home. Maybe the bar/restaurant operators can be part of the solution?

If they are Thai owned or managed, it would cost an arm and leg as they would want their cut.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013 by the World Health Organization (WHO) found 74% of total deaths were users of motorized 2- or 3-wheelers, 13% were drivers of 4-wheeled vehicles, then 8% were pedestrians, while cyclists accounted for 3%.' Someone seems to have misread or misinterpreted their own data. Cyclists at 3.0% of total fatalities doesn't bear that out. 84% of m/cs, on the other hand, does add up.

'Studies have shown a good-quality helmet can reduce the risk of death on the road by 40%. However, most Thai motorcyclists only wear helmets to avoid traffic police fines.' And most of those helmets are worse than useless. And added to the need to wear quality helmets is the need to replace one that has been in an accident.

'... the authorities were aware that an increased likelihood of punishment would, in time, deter criminal activity, as predicted by rational action theory, which states that human beings are more likely to obey the law if the chance of punishment is higher.' Of course it is. Any reasonably intelligent individual can grasp that. Unfortunately, most government ministers in the majority of countries don't qualify.

'... instead of licensing cyclists, the government should be making the roads safe for them. Introducing cycling routes in touristic destinations, making parking spaces for bicycles, clearing the footpaths and constructing new cycle lanes should be priorities.' As opposed to prioritising pedestrians. Naturally.

[kiwikeith]

Wow! Enforce traffic laws! Why didn't any of us figure that one out? Guess they do have some eggheads here in Thailand....

Mr. Yim (smile in Thai) the dummy police manikins that were deployed to fool drivers that there was a police presence will now have to have a dummy breathalyzer in their hand!