Thailand's roads second deadliest in the world: World Health Organization

[Thian]

This might result from the lack of safety precautions ??

​This is the result of no driving skills and no enforcement of traffic rules !!

More likely, the over use of motorcycles and three wheelers on any roadway usually in violation of any know road safety rules and almost always going the wrong direction at the time of impact I would suggest? Its like swatting flies isn't it?

Nope it's not like swatting flies!

There's always a chance you miss the fly while you can't miss the motobikes driving against traffic. I see them every 30 seconds.

[roquefort]

I would like to know how many of these deaths occurred at U-Turns.

Every few hundred metres on major 3 lane highways these are just accidents waiting to happen. How many times have you been driving along at 120kph in the outside lane (when there's no overloaded truck or bus blocking your way) and had to slam the brakes on to avoid running into a queue of traffic trying to do a U turn. Madness.

[AGareth2]

to be No 1

[rafish]

We have a "government" whose primary reason for existing and whole focus is on making sure the masses never get the chance to elect a government of their choice again and yet something like this, which kills tens of thousands of Thai citizens yearly is ignored. When exactly does reform of the police begin? That would be a primary solution to much of this bloodshed. Never is the probable answer sadly.

Please illuminate us on exactly what the "police," can do to stop ignorance? Secondly, you want to enforce unenforcable laws then I'd suggest you return from whence you came. Next accident you come across try and help out, see what it gets you....more police state mentality...ridiculious!

[English 1]

It's very much to do with the chronically Impatient Thai people.

On the road they constantly fail to wait a few seconds but take a dangerous chance.

Same in shops where they try to get served while someone else is being served.....which is also rude.

Have you noticed that in a lift/elevator they always press the close door button!

They just will not wait for anything.

[Travelman868]

Outrageous, the fact that reducing the farcical attitudes towards road safety isn't even on the junta's radar shows just how clueless they really are. Only today I saw 3 young kids drive into the local anuban school all minus their helmets.

The only way it will get fixed is by actually massively increasing fines and confiscating vehicles. As for licencing, until there is a system that rewards actually having one they might as well scrap them altogether

In the village where I lived in the police did about one check per year making sure the kids wore helmets. First two kids turned around and warned all the others the police were there.

Fine if caught 200 baht

The joke :- Main police station just down the road from the school. EVERY RTP had to drive on this road to get to work.

You only have to pass a driving test if you want a licence. Most Thai's don't bother

[gazzasore]

When you have Police directing traffic around a Roundabout You know things are seriously wrong

I would Say less than 2% would know what the Road rules are

[diehard60]

They are 100% WRONG. The roads are not bad. In fact they are pretty good. It is the Thai drivers that are bad. When they drive they look right in front of their vehicle not down the road about 100 - 200 yards. So they do not see anything coming until it is too late. They do not use their mirrors for anything but putting on make up, coming their hair, and picking their zitts. They can be the most polite people face to face but when they get behind the wheel of a car or truck they are the MOST rude and ignorant drivers in the world. And I have driven in many countries around the world.

[reptile91602]

What is really fun is driving out on the country highways after dark. No light on the highway, 1/2 the trucks have no real lights on the back of them, 3 lanes converge into two with no visible warning, people out on their motorbikes with the lights turned off. Brilliant highway engineers and laws. But it is fun if you are an adrenaline junkie.

Edited October 21, 2015 by reptile91602

[lonewolf99]

Why is it all about "roads" and "vehicles" and "driving standards" ?

The cause of the death is by a human. Sometimes his own death.

If a person woke up and looked in the mirror in the morning and said to himself

"Maybe my driving skills are not up to driving to Bangkok in a truck,? I think I should get proper training and a licence first. Then I really should have the truck checked by a mechanic that can certify the vehicle as road worthy. I know it is the right thing to do. If i carry on doing what I am doing now, it is only going to lead to some very big problems".

Dream on.....no one in Thailand does that. Including those that drive Articulated HGV trucks.

Here is what is required in the UK and still they have deadly prangs.

www.hgvtraining.co.uk/hgv-training

[jesimps]

We have a "government" whose primary reason for existing and whole focus is on making sure the masses never get the chance to elect a government of their choice again and yet something like this, which kills tens of thousands of Thai citizens yearly is ignored. When exactly does reform of the police begin? That would be a primary solution to much of this bloodshed. Never is the probable answer sadly.

Good job! Managing to bring the present government to task for a situation that has been exactly the same for more than a decade, unless you count Yingluck bringing another million plus cars to public roads without improving driver training, actually making things worse. Way to stick your foot in your mouth!

Yes but this govt are trying to bluff by claiming they are reforming the country when they're doing sod all. We all realise the shortcomings of previous govts.

[BuaBS]

Oh man , not again ! Every month or so , another stupid biased article about Thai road safety.

The roads & drivers are ok , nothing needs to change. The police are doing a good job. Yes I dare to say it : if you don't like road safety here , go back to your nanny state. There I said it.

[elgordo38]

That figure is underrated. Thai only count the dead AT THE SCENE. If you die later in the hospital, you don't don't get counted. Fact, not fiction.

Maybe they put you in the TAT count.

[elgordo38]

Outrageous, the fact that reducing the farcical attitudes towards road safety isn't even on the junta's radar shows just how clueless they really are. Only today I saw 3 young kids drive into the local anuban school all minus their helmets.

The only way it will get fixed is by actually massively increasing fines and confiscating vehicles. As for licencing, until there is a system that rewards actually having one they might as well scrap them altogether

Increasing the fines hmm you cannot get blood out of a stone. If you bump it up to say 500 bahts there goes their tea money. You could price yourself right out of the tea market.

[blazes]

The absence of adequate rail structure for cargo guarantees the roads will be thronged with millions of trucks and the further dangers implied by that.

[Basil B]

Has anybody explained how this list works and the idea is not to be top of this list...

More to the point is it not about time other countries excluded Thais from the international reciprocal agreements on driving in other countries, it scares me to think there are many Thais in the UK Driving on Thai licence.

[waldroj]

While most of us would suggest the statistics quoted in the two news articles of this forum are bleatingly obvious, there needs to be a big caveat in interpreting the WHO figures.

There are four groupings comprising a total of 180 countries included in the WHO report.

The first group of 85 countries meet the WHO’s completeness criteria of 80% or more of registered data. The second group (which includes India, Iran, Thailand, and Viet Nam, used a regression method to project forward from the most recent year for which data was available. The third group were 13 small countries with populations less than 150,000, while the fourth group were 78 countries without adequate data, and other statistical methods were applied for these. Included the latter group are Myanmar, Lao PDR, Cambodia.

So, while the report does indeed suggest Thailand ranks second (with 36.2 deaths per 100,000 population) behind Libya (with a staggering 73.4 deaths per 100,000 population), we aren’t exactly comparing apples with apples!

Many other factors (not included in the WHO figures) need to be taken into consideration. From further reading of the report I was able to extract the following:

One unfortunate trend for Thailand is that reported road traffic deaths continue to increase annually, from around 20.9 in 2009 to 21.8 in 2012.

Riders of 2 or 3 wheeled vehicles account for 73% of all deaths in Thailand in the current report, followed by pedestrians (8%) which were missed in the article by Coconuts, and passengers in cars and light vehicles (7%).

Whilst the WHO report found that (in Thailand) enforcement of drink-driving, motorcycle helmet, and seat-belt laws were average by world standards, enforcement of the speed limit law was very poor.

The WHO report also identified that Thailand does not require formal audits for new road construction projects. It does not carry out regular inspections of existing road infrastructure. It does not have policies to separate road users and protect vulnerable road users. And (at the time of writing the report), it does not have policies to promote walking or cycling.

Incidentally, the country with the least deaths was Sweden (2.8), just ahead of the United Kingdom (2.9). Singapore was the best of the Asians (3.6).

The WHO report can be downloaded from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2015/en/

[balo]

"riders of motorcycles and three-wheelers are by far the largest group to be killed in road accidents (73%) followed by passengers of 4-wheeled cars (7%) and drivers of 4-wheeled cars (6%)."

That's why I only drive a car in Thailand. I don't want to end up in the statistics.

Edited October 21, 2015 by balo

[elgordo38]

The hub of dangerous drivers. This statement of the 2nd worst roads in the world (sorry should be 2nd worst drivers) should be included in all tourist pamphlets so that newcomers have a fighting chance.

[docspinoff]

Simple !!!! Police just need to do their job . if a person or car/mortorcycle is not safe or driver not obey rules .like trafic lights ,TAKE his car / bike away so simple

[jonesthebaker]

now here is a novel idea that commentors seem to have overlooked so far: how a bout a driving test which actually invloves driving a car.

[allan michaud]

Congratulations to Thailand, they were number three just a couple of years back, good to see the country climbing the international tables in something... oh wait.... erm?

[GlobalCtzn]

Have been visiting LOS for almost 40 years. Drove around Chiang Mai, Lampang & Chiang Rai this month. I commented several times to the missus that the driving attitudes seemed markedly better than ever before. Nowhere near as much passing on blind curves and driving at insane speeds etc. Was I dreaming or has anyone else felt the same?

As someone who rides a motorcycle on average 70 -100 km a day around Chiang Mai, I would say that you are dreaming

[me313]

I feel unsafe around tourist drivers in High Season, but relatively okay around Thais who are driving in non-tourist areas. Tourists rush around and I wonder how many of them drive drunk or with too high BAC?

[simple1]

In March 2013 a senior Thai government representative announced about 26,000 road deaths every year. Given Thailand's reticence to announce bad news I would assume these figures are more accurate than WHO. The 26,000 death toll has been mentioned in a number of previous topics on TV

"Up to 26,000 people are killed in road accidents every year in Thailand, which puts the country in the 6th spot in terms of road casualties. Of those killed, up to 70 or 80 per cent are motorcyclists or their passengers.

These statistics were released at a press conference by Vice Interior Minister Silapachai Jarukasemratana yesterday".

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

[Baerboxer]

We have a "government" whose primary reason for existing and whole focus is on making sure the masses never get the chance to elect a government of their choice again and yet something like this, which kills tens of thousands of Thai citizens yearly is ignored. When exactly does reform of the police begin? That would be a primary solution to much of this bloodshed. Never is the probable answer sadly.

Well it certainly never started under the previous regime or their earlier incarnations who've governed for most of this century.

[TheCruncher]

Near where I live is a elephant farm located about 2 km from the highway.

To enter the road to the elephant farm they can either take the u-turn approximate 1 km further on or go about 100 meter against traffic flow on a major highway.

An estimate 100 buses a day choose for the latter option, that is endangering the lives of hundreds of people each and every day at just this single location.

I went to report it at the local police station, and reported to a BIB with 3 stars on his shoulder, who told me he would have a word with the owner of the elephant farm.

Even telling him that I would start to take pictures and send them to Bangkok couldn't impress him.

[Sabot]

just an idea, but maybe Thai authorities should spend a little more time solving this problem rather than wasting time worrying about whether someone insulted a convicted ex-prime minister

[AlQaholic]

I'm disappointed, I thought Thailand was first in everything!

[DrTuner]

Given Thailand's reticence to announce bad news I would assume these figures are more accurate than WHO.

Given their desperate desire to save face, I'd assume they'll give as low figures as they can before it becomes way too blatant. But then again, assuming has already made asses of both of us.