Thai Road Accident Rates Among World's Highest

[george]

Road accident rates among world's highest

BANGKOK: Road accident rates in Thailand are high by international standards, the government says.

There were 6.6 people killed or injured in road accidents for every 10,000 registered vehicles, said Deputy Transport Minister Nikon Chamnong. The figure was drawn from the findings of a road safety programme jointly conducted with the Asian Development Bank.

In Europe, the corresponding figure was 1.8 people, and in Malaysia, 4.9 people.

Mr Nikon said the government was working on better road design, correcting danger spots, educating young motorists, more vigorous testing of driving licence applicants, and law strict enforcement.

--The Post 2004-03-30

[ChiangMaiThai]

Does anyone know hoe 6.6 compares to the rest of the world, not just Europe, but some other crazy places like Cambodia and Democratic People's Republic of Congo?

[davethailand]

most road accidents in the world,

i wonder why?

[mango head]

Does anyone know hoe 6.6 compares to the rest of the world, not just Europe, but some other crazy places like Cambodia and Democratic People's Republic of Congo?

Never been there but, I read that Korea had the highest per capita accident rate in the world.

[mango head]

Mr Nikon said the government was working on better road design, correcting danger spots, educating young motorists, more vigorous testing of driving licence applicants, and law strict enforcement.

--The Post 2004-03-30

I hope they start cracking down on the motorists that drive down the wrong way on the highway.

[heychay]

[Mr Nikon said the government was working on better road design, correcting danger spots, educating young motorists, more vigorous testing of driving licence applicants, and law strict enforcement.]

The other night a friend and I sat at a roadside pub and counted off 500 motorcycles going by. How many drivers were wearing helmets? 35. We waited an hour and tried it on 100 more. about the same result. 8 out of a hundred with helmets. a week ago i was waiting at a red light, the guy in front of me got tired of waiting and just went thru. in the next lane over was a police pick-up. they did nothing. get ready for some more insane numbers over the holiday.

[kandt]

6,6 Road accidents per 10.000 vehicles including motorbikes are pretty high. Cambodia has far less vehicles and terrible roads away from Phnom Penh so I believe the road accidents are much less but still alarmingly high. Viet Nam had the highest road accidents/fatality in the world some years back and I am not sure they have managed to reduce the numbers.

It is interesting to read the actions taken by the Government (same old story) and when you know from experience what traffic law enforcement entails in Thailand, things will unfortunately never change.

Cheers………….kandt

[slim]

Having lived and driven in and around Khon Kaen in the North East for the last 5 months I can honestly say the standard of driving I've witnessed defies belief. I was going to say I've seen it all but everyday I see something new.

The general level of driving by all road users is at best appalling but the standard of driving by young motorcyclists is nothing short of outrageous.

I could fill several pages with examples but I think my favourites are the girl who stopped her bike without warning in front of me to answer her mobile phone, the women who stopped her bike with her friend a junction by the left side of my car and then turned right and the lad who ran into the back of my car recently as I slowed down indicating to turn right into our estate who then blamed me for the accident (fortunately the insurance assessor didn't agree with him and forced him to hand over 3,000 baht or he'd phone the police!)

The words "right of way" have absolutely no meaning here which means if you're travelling on a straight road, bikes (and cars) frequently pull out in front of you without warning.

They might as well put ashtrays on motorbikes as indicators - maybe as few as 1 in a hundred ever use them and that is no exageration.

Probably only 1 in 10 motorcyclists wear crash helmets.

Mr Nikon said the government was working on better road design, correcting danger spots, educating young motorists, more vigorous testing of driving licence applicants, and law strict enforcement.

The key section of this quote is "educating young motorists".

If in every school they had road safety lessons and drummed home the phrase show consideration for other drivers many road accidents would be avoided.

I'm not holding my breath though.........

[NedKelly]

I have to laugh when I see Thai drivers come to an intersection and they put on the hazard lights and go straight through.

The policy of police to collect thos esmall tea money bribes all the time has to stop as well. they definitley need to enforce a more strict , formal and expensive fine system for people........cant pay then lose your car/bike/buffaloe or whatever.

Likewise, roadrules need to be enforced.........the other day I went by taxi along the freeway from Sathorn area to Lad Prao.........the driver was an insane lunatic right out of One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest ........... he passsed a police car and a police motorcycle with 2 cops on it........and left them behind in a slipstream like a jet aircraft. I thought......here we go he'll get pulled over for sure for doing 140k's .........I was wrong of course.......the cops obviously had othe rbetter things to do. .........and I was inthe back seat with no seatbelt !

If I want to scare the <deleted> out of myself I will go to Disneyland and take a roller coaster ride !!

[El_D]

I took my wife to get her first driver's license some time back in Surin.

I got to watch about a dozen Thai's taking their driving test.

I don't know whether to call it amusing or alarming.

They had these 3/4 inch blue PVC pipes about 5 feet tall set in 1 gallon coffee cans of cement to use as harmless things to run into (that you're not supposed to run into) while taking one's driving test.

I saw at least 6 out of the 12 people taking their test knock these things over, my wife included, yet they all got their licenses nonetheless.............

I asked my wife how/why she got it & you guessed it! 600 baht in tea money took care of it.

I've since "tested" & instructed her on her driving skills extensively myself and she's a pretty decent driver now, but I paid for it with a few thousand additional grey hairs.

[sonthaya]

If you think this is bad, you haven't seen the Arabs in the Middle East, lots of money, fast cars and no brain, they should never have gotten off the camels, at least they have enough brain not to collide with each other

[350torana]

Yes, I think arabs are the one of the world's craziest drivers. Love to see a demolition derby between Thai's and Saudies. Lived in the Emirates for a whiles, bad enough, but hear Saudi is the worst as far as road statitics go.

[megashox]

I have to laugh when I see Thai drivers come to an intersection and they put on the hazard lights and go straight through.

Yeah, and no signals when turning right or left!

[royar2002]

Probably only 1 in 10 motorcyclists wear crash helmets.

Probably only 1 in 10 motorcyclists know what it is and how to ride it.

[taxexile]

advice given to me in all seriousness on many occasions by thais regarding driving and accidents in this country.

if i ever hit a pedestrian,cyclist or motorcyclist whilst driving at night outside of a city do not under any circumstances stop to help or call the hospital,just get away from the scene as quickly as possible and turn off my lights so no one can see the registration. this is to avoid the expenses that would be incurred in either paying the hospital fees or paying off the family in case of death. if i hit another car and the car is still driveable, then keep driving.

anybody else heard this?

[Polo]

advice given to me in all seriousness on many occasions  by thais regarding driving and accidents in this country.

if i ever hit a pedestrian,cyclist or motorcyclist whilst driving at night outside of a city do not under any circumstances stop to help or call the hospital,just get away from the scene as quickly as possible and turn off my lights so no one can see the registration. this is to avoid the expenses that would be incurred in either paying the hospital fees or paying off the family in case of death. if i hit another car and the car is still driveable, then keep driving.

anybody else heard this?

If You have no money then maybe run away, i think that is why drivers flee the scene so much, a Thai guy rode his motorcycle into my pick up years ago, he just came straight out of a side road without looking and hit my truck, of course i had to pay, another time a drunk Thai Guy stumbled out into the Road in Pattaya during Thai new Year, i was on a motorcycle, my handlebars hit him, i was thrown off the bike and injured,my friend scraped his face up, the motorcycle was damaged....he was completely drunk, he caused an accident, i had to pay him, when he turned up at the police station with an exaggerated limp, even though the Police knew that he had caused the accident it made no difference.

But the police told me that as i was on a motorcycle,and he was a pedestrian,i had to pay even though he caused the accident, and he also told me that it would be the same if i was a Thai Guy, i would still have to pay. No wonder there are so many that flee the scene

[Adjan]

... was living in Phuket and have thai friends in Bangkok... Same attitude, same advice, even from policemen... and not only about road accident but about any kind of probable cause of problem !

... tsk... tsk...

In fact, it's maybe no other judicious choice. Have confidence in justice is more than naive in Thailand.

[megashox]

The chap who was driving a container truck for a company I worked for some years ago told me that if he hit a motorcyclist, he would try to run over him also with his rear wheels to ensure that the rider was dead!

Apparently, this is because the expenses of a funeral + claims from the family are lower than those of hospitalization + claims.