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

[SPB65]

One word again - Thainess.

[emilymat]

They are very close to being a HUB that they so craved towards achieving...

Who's No 1 ?. It used to be the Dominican Republicif my memory serves me.

[owenm]

In the statistics collected, Thailand no. 2 again. Is no. 1 still Namibia? How many other countries supply only "Dead at Scene" statistics, or is it only Thailand. The road death toll statistics in Australia includes those that die at the scene, in transit to hospital and within a particular time from after the accident. If Thailand statistics were measured the same as most first world countries, they would most likely be no. 1 in the world.

[Thian]

Even at khao sarn road or the new extension of it there are many cars/taxi/motocy's who drive fast inbetween all the pedestrians. Also there is a policebooth on the road where they are sitting and doing nothing.

They just don't give a @#$@ , nobody.

[DrTuner]

Is no. 1 still Namibia?

Nope, from the article: "Meanwhile, Libya scored the highest percentage with 73.4 deaths per 100,000 people and the African region continued to have the highest road traffic death rates."

[lvr181]

I am astounded! Not! Do Thai people and their Government care?

Somehow I think not, because they never do anything on a continuing basis to change what is happening

And always remember - no one takes any notice of farang!

[tuanku]

Some easy partial fixes............

1. do not extend credit on a bike or car to anyone who cannot show a driving licence for the vehicle.

2. As in some other countries (Canada?) put the year on the licence plates and make owners renew their plates each year conditional on showing a driving licence and insurance.

3. Keep records of driving infractions and refuse insurance to those with a poor record (points system)

then simply make the driving licence test meaningful.

Motor bikes and 3 wheelers may seem to be the problem but it is often 4- 18 wheel vehicles that kill them.

[metisdead]

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[EJK]

GEORGE MILLER

Had a location scout for MAD MAX on the job in a Thailand.

He loved the idea that the extras were already there on the roads running wild.

Couples charging up roads on bikes with baby's spread evil over handle bars

The horror of the reality was to great and he reverted back to blonde Falang hotties in the desert

[Basil B]

The Chinese had the "One Family One Child" approach to population control, seems Thailand's take on this is Darwinism, and if the take anybody else with them, so be it

[lowbo]

bottom line... absolutely NO enforcement. From top to bottom Thai law enforcement and the rule of law has failed all those that have died on these roads...

[someonelovesyou]

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.

Interesting. Who at the "scene" is qualified to pronouns a person is actually dead,?

Could you please supply a reference for this "fact not fiction" you quoted. Thanks

According to the World Health Organization (fairly reputable organization), there are several countries that do this. They create an adjusted estimate in their report for these countries. Perhaps Thailand is one of the more reliable countries out there in terms of reporting this, lets keep it positive

"The total fatalities figures comes from the WHO report (table A2, column point estimate, pp. 242–255) and are often an adjusted number of road traffic fatalities in order to reflect the different reporting and counting methods among the many countries (e.g. "a death after how many days since accident event is still counted as a road fatality?" (by standard adjusted to a 30 days period), or "to compensate for underreporting in some countries", see WHO report pp. 48–51)"

[Borzandy]

First sack the transport minister, then the traffic police inspector!

But, but, the next one will be the same....

[prakhonchai nick]

1) Start with the schools. Let the education ministry instruct ALL schools to only allow motorcycles on school premises where the driver has a valid licence, fully insured bike, and driver and ONE pasenger have proper helmets..fastened! Applies to teachers too!

2) Stop police in every town stopping traffic to wave through schoolkids into school, who have no helmets and are clearly underage. Instead let them confiscate the bikes, make their parents/guardians pay a hefty fine, and keep the bikes for a minimum of 3 months.

A policeman in my town once told me that he had instructions from on high ..."leave the kids alone"

[glaswegian]

driving is probably tha latest thing i wull do here in this kintra, hundreds of thousands crazy thai driver oot there driving just tae satisfy their ego! you may eeven be shot dead!!!

[tingtongfarang]

The Chinese had the "One Family One Child" approach to population control, seems Thailand's take on this is Darwinism, and if the take anybody else with them, so be it

Thats also the only conclusion i can reach, i really cant see another reason for not actively doing something to reduce the road death toll.

[TKDfella]

But wait! It's almost Sugar Cane season. You'll see trucks overloaded, trucks tipping over, mad drivers still trying to drive at 80+km/hr overtaking these trucks, several in a line, on single lane traffic. Happens year after year. Unregistered trucks, farm tractors driving 30+km to the processing plants holding up traffic. Roads covered in dropped cane that no one clears away. Oh man I love it... after a short part of a 30 km stretch was widened with two lanes both ways, cane trucks taking up both lanes in race to get to looooonnnngggg queue waiting at the plant...and impatient drivers driving over and in the dividing area. I can tell you, sometimes it's better than watching 'fast & furious'. Okay seriously. It's a death trap plain and simple. With normal heavy trucks taking supplies from town to town it's risk all the way.The many accidents I've seen, along with remains of others happening some time before, I just cannot understand the gross lack of consideration for other road uses. It might the LOS in the shops, markets etc but on the road it's.

[ChangMaiSausage]

I'm surprised Qatar is not listed

[NoBrainer]

I think that Thais in general are pretty good drivers, it is just that they are not quite so good at multitasking, so when they are watching TV, checking Facebook or texting their friends while driving, their concentration seems to suffer slightly.

I think if they can develop better multitasking skills, the accident rate should slowly improve.

[tingtongfarang]

The Chinese had the "One Family One Child" approach to population control, seems Thailand's take on this is Darwinism, and if the take anybody else with them, so be it

Thats also the only conclusion i can reach, i really cant see another reason for not actively doing something to reduce the road death toll.

On the face of it thailands version of population control seems to be very successful but i,m not so sure that in this case darwinism can in the long run produce a positive result,

Taking into account that driving a merc or bmw will increase the chances of survival in the slaughter and mayhem, but also probable those same merc or bmw drivers attained the wealth through corruption and or criminal activities,

Then it,s also plausible the corrupt/criminal element within the thai population would increase.

[ExpatOilWorker]

40 deaths per day: New study says Thailands roads 2nd most dangerous in the world

By Kyle Lawrence Mullin

Thailands roads remain among the most dangerous in the world according to a World Health Organization report, which found that the Southeast Asian nation is second only to war-torn Libya in terms of per capita road fatalities.

The UN health agencys Global status report on road safety 2015 study, found that 14,059 people died on Thailands roads in 2012 a rate of 36 people per 100,000 and an average of almost 39 fatalities per day. This places Thailand in the company of Iran (32.1 per 100,000), Togo (31.1) and nine African nations that fell between 30 to 35 deaths per 100,000 people.

However, compared to its ASEAN neighbors, Thailands road fatality rate remains woefully high. In Malaysia, the estimated fatality rate per 100,000 was 24, compared to 17.4 in Cambodia, 15.3 in Indonesia and just 3.6 in Singapore.

What is more, Thailands actual road fatality rate may be even worse than reported, thanks to skewed reporting by the nations Public Health Ministry whose figures only include fatalities at the scene of accidents. Traffic-related deaths which occur later in hospital are not included in official figures.

Full story: http://asiancorrespondent.com/136235/40-deaths-per-day-new-study-says-thailands-roads-2nd-most-dangerous-in-the-world/

-- ASIAN CORRESPONDENT 2015-10-21

Thailand is looking a little better when looking at fatalities per 100,000 vehicles. In some countries 1 out of 10 vehicles will kill somebody.

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

However, Thailand does stand out as a high risk country:

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/road-traffic-accidents/by-country/

Edited October 21, 2015 by ExpatOilWorker

[phantomfiddler]

From this story it looks like they are blaming the roads not the drivers. From my experience roads in Thailand are very good. Roads to villages etc not so good so just drive accordingly.

I would venture to guess, Khun Phil, that you have not seen the roads in the Pattaya area ! Around a year ago two people were killed hitting the same pothole, around 20 minutes apart, and the general state of the roads here is deplorable. For some strange reason the roads in nearby towns like Siracha are perfectly satisfactory

[waldroj]

Tingtongfarang

A truly enlightening observation on the theory of natural selection.

[bazza40]

Its not the roads, not the cars at fault but the crazy maniacs driving.

A lot is covered up not all reported.

Completely agree. In general, Thai roads are in quite good condition. There's the odd spot of potholes on the left lane where overloaded trucks chop up the surface.

Thai drivers seem to be in two camps - passive or aggressive. The aggressive ones think nothing of overtaking uphill into a blind curve, on the assumption everyone will get out of their way. The passive ones invite collisions by being painfully slow to make a decision.

Driving instruction for learners is patently inadequate. I'm still trying to teach my Thai g/f how to overtake safely.

I'd like to see every Thai learner compelled to qualify for their licence in a manual car, so at least they learn how gears can be used for various situations. Won't happen.

A couple of days ago, saw the best jacknife of a semi-trailer at the top of Khun Chae National Park, Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai road. Trailer is upside down. cabin at 300 degrees angle is upright, straddling a retaining wall. Idiot driving it probably walked away without a scratch. Mai Bpen Rai if another vehicle had been in the way.

[bazza40]

Its not the roads, not the cars at fault but the crazy maniacs driving.

A lot is covered up not all reported.

Completely agree. In general, Thai roads are in quite good condition. There's the odd spot of potholes on the left lane where overloaded trucks chop up the surface.

Thai drivers seem to be in two camps - passive or aggressive. The aggressive ones think nothing of overtaking uphill into a blind curve, on the assumption everyone will get out of their way. The passive ones invite collisions by being painfully slow to make a decision.

Driving instruction for learners is patently inadequate. I'm still trying to teach my Thai g/f how to overtake safely.

I'd like to see every Thai learner compelled to qualify for their licence in a manual car, so at least they learn how gears can be used for various situations. Won't happen.

A couple of days ago, saw the best jacknife of a semi-trailer at the top of Khun Chae National Park, Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai road. Trailer is upside down. cabin at 300 degrees angle is upright, straddling a retaining wall. Idiot driving it probably walked away without a scratch. Mai Bpen Rai if another vehicle had been in the way.

[willyumiii]

This is not news!

Thailand has been number two on traffic fatalities for as long as I can remember.

I am only surprised that they are not number one.

As long as there is no active enforcement of traffic laws in Thailand, the death toll will be huge.

Will law enforcement ever realize that they could bring in much more money by issuing citations and fines than they get in "tea money" ?

The revenue raised from parking fines alone would be enough to pay decent salaries, medical and retirement for law enforcement officers!

It would even pay for the fuel needed to get out and patrol the roads!

[lathamallika]

Safety regulation plays a big role but most people in Thailand just don't KNOW how to drive or what the traffic rules are.

In Isaan people just buy their drivers license, no need to do examination, and if there is some kind of test all they have to do is to pass a very simple theory exam and drive a few rounds on the parcours.

THERE, fix that first and road accidents will decrease by half.

Safety belts LMAO, what about this?

- Mom and dad on a bike with 3 young kids

- Somchai with his huge truck and extended family of 10 loaded in the back like cattle.

- Young girls (or Thai women in general) who can't even park a car but are allowed to use the highway

- Minivans driving like they're soliciting for a role in fast and the furious

- Overworked bus drivers

and on and on

hi everyone i see the report on thailands ,i lived in sri lanka for 6 years i challenge any foreigner living here in thailand to go and drive in sri lanka you take you life in your hands no such thing as traffic rules the reality is its like dodgem cars ,and i have been driving for 47 years in europe and asia ,like sri lanka nothing compares

[a99az]

What only second place! So it's not the HUB of deadliest roads? Don't tell TAT.

[kiwikeith]

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

Today I came around a blind corner in Hua Hin, a narrow road another car was aproaching me then 2 people on a bike overtook the aproaching car ,I had to swerve instantly left they only just made it through the gap.

Idiots.

The aproaching car was also over the centre line.

Everyday you drive in LOS you see something crazy.

[AlQaholic]

Lemme see here....if a country have only one car in the entire country and that car crashes and kills all the people inside together with some other people, the statistics would be terrible right? So those countries with very few cars should not be taken into account, that would make Thailand number one and once again the HUB of everything!