Is Phuket the Most Dangerous Place in the World to Drive?

[LivinginKata]

Quality helmets and seat belts are essential road safety components. When I used to drive a m/bike I would never consider not wearing a helmet, eventually I nagged my Thai wife into the same mindset. In the early years I would see her riding off to the market without helmet, excuse being ... oh it's only a short distance, I'll be Ok ..the old mai penn rai syndrome.

Same with seat belts, I buckle up even for a 500m drive. Just very simple safety precautions, might help, might not if a cement truck rolls on top of you .... and this happened to one of my farang neighbours.... dead

Edited November 20, 2015 by LivinginKata

[FBlue72]

Quality helmets and seat belts are essential road safety components. When I used to drive a m/bike I would never consider not wearing a helmet, eventually I nagged my Thai wife into the same mindset. In the early years I would see her riding off to the market without helmet, excuse being ... oh it's only a short distance, I'll be Ok ..the old mai penn rai syndrome.

Same with seat belts, I buckle up even for a 500m drive. Just very simple safety precautions, might help, might not if a cement truck rolls on top of you .... and this happened to one of my farang neighbours.... dead

I agree, I always wear a full face quality helmet on the scooter, and a seat belt in the car.

My point is another person's choice not too affects my safety in no way. Police spend a lot of time enforcing this helmet law rule on lower income motorcycle drivers, sort of a war on the poor, IMO - when the real danger to public safety is the maniac in the new Toyota going 120 km in a 60 kph zone. Ditto the taxis, and poorly trained truck drivers in vehicles that are poorly maintained.

[FBlue72]

How do you explain the damning road fatality statisitics for Phuket, which only include those who die at the scene, not shortly after, in a hospital, not to mention road accidents with serious injury?

The most accurate statisitcs, which can be relied upon, come from the various Embassies and Consulates in Thailand, on the death of their citizens in Thailand.

These statistics show road death is a major killer in Thailand, with Thai officials admitting Phuket has the highest fatality rate.

Low level of drivers using safety belts and helmets. Dangerous to themselves not to anyone else.

^

I've noticed a lot of Phuket expats seem to think enforcing helmet laws is a safety issue. I've always thought it is the ultimate in nanny state controls and affects no one but the non- helmet wearer. Police efforts would be better spent stopping speeders, which do endanger everyone.

Personal opinion is just that- personal opinion. Presenting personal opinion as fact does not make it so and neither does repeating it incessantly whilst comparing cliffs, bike lanes, pot- holes, honking drivers or helmet wearing with road fatality stats.

Phuket is the most likely place in Thailand to die on the road. Thailand is rated second n the world and with its dubious fatality statistics in question, it may well actually be first place or close to a level as Libya, rated number 1.

Therefore, Phuket is extremely likely to be the most likely place on the planet to meet your end in a road accident.

Incidentally Thailand was 3rd last time this UN survey was conducted, so it's gotten worse. As long as building wider faster roads is seen as a solution, and not part of the problem, this dismal fatality rate will increase as will general road congestion. Build it and they will drive on it.

You don't think wearing helmets/seatbelts effect road fatality numbers?

For me I don't care if people wear seatbelts or helmets...up to them if they want to die.(unless in my vehicle)

According to Rebecca B. Naumann, MSPH, Ruth A. Shults, PhD, Div of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC:

Helmet use is estimated to prevent 37% of fatalities among motorcycle operators and 41% of fatalities among passengers (4). NHTSA estimates that in 2010, helmet use saved the lives of 1,544 motorcyclists, and an additional 709 lives might have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets (NHTSA, unpublished data, 2012). With motorcycle ownership at an all-time high (8.2 million registered motorcycles in 2010, compared with 4.3 million in 2000),†† motorcycle-related deaths and their associated costs are expected to remain at high levels unless more effective protective measures are implemented (10). Helmets are proven to save lives and money, and universal helmet laws are the most effective way to increase helmet use (3).

Yes absolutely I do think the fatality numbers are affected by wearing helmets and belt, and I always make the personal choice to use them.

I'd just rather the limited police resources were spent on speeders than enforcing a rule that has no affect on my safety when some woman gets on her scooter and decides to not wear a helmet so her brains get splattered all over the road, ( And traffic from such brain splatterings are often from gawkers having to have a good look.)

When a woman gets in her car and goes twice the posted speed limit, then she is endangering everyone. One law affects one person the other law affects everyone. With limited police presence-which law should be enforced- and what law is?

[Old Croc]

I don't give a stuff here in Thailand if idiots want to ride without helmets, as stated it's their lives they're risking.

However, I didn't like it back in the nanny state because my tax dollars went towards keeping the comatose on very expensive life support systems for lengthy periods. And hospices where the severely brain damaged get permanent care don't come cheap.

(I used to do charity wo​rk for Nulsun Haven in Perth and have first hand experience of how road trauma turns normal people into semi-vegetables)

[banagan]

public transport would help. i'd imagine most foreigners out for the night would choose an affordable bus over a $15 taxi or their scooter.

Edited November 22, 2015 by banagan

[LivinginKata]

public transport would help. i'd imagine most foreigners out for the night would choose an affordable bus over a $15 taxi or their scooter.

But there is no public bus service after 18.00 ... only taxi/tuk tuk service trying to extort high fares.

[grumpyoldman]

public transport would help. i'd imagine most foreigners out for the night would choose an affordable bus over a $15 taxi or their scooter.

But there is no public bus service after 18.00 ... only taxi/tuk tuk service trying to extort high fares.

Cue NKM "uh-huh, gonna beat that drum, uh-huh, can't touch that"

[NamKangMan]

public transport would help. i'd imagine most foreigners out for the night would choose an affordable bus over a $15 taxi or their scooter.

That would be a $30USD tuk-tuk home, or their scooter, and the scooter seems to be the transport of choice after a night out here, thus, the high road fatality statistics for Phuket.

Edited November 25, 2015 by NamKangMan

[NamKangMan]

I don't give a stuff here in Thailand if idiots want to ride without helmets, as stated it's their lives they're risking.

However, I didn't like it back in the nanny state because my tax dollars went towards keeping the comatose on very expensive life support systems for lengthy periods. And hospices where the severely brain damaged get permanent care don't come cheap.

(I used to do charity wo​rk for Nulsun Haven in Perth and have first hand experience of how road trauma turns normal people into semi-vegetables)

"I don't give a stuff here in Thailand if idiots want to ride without helmets, as stated it's their lives they're risking." - I'm sure you would "give a stuff" when one of these "idiots" crashes into you.

[NamKangMan]

public transport would help. i'd imagine most foreigners out for the night would choose an affordable bus over a $15 taxi or their scooter.

But there is no public bus service after 18.00 ... only taxi/tuk tuk service trying to extort high fares.

Cue NKM "uh-huh, gonna beat that drum, uh-huh, can't touch that"

mc_hammer.png

It's difficult to hear the beat of the drum, over the hum of the coach bus engines, transporting the only tourists that are coming to Phuket now, the Chinese, due to the lack of transport here.

[grumpyoldman]

OP-from the Samui forum.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/874143-why-is-samui-so-dangerous-and-why-is-nothing-being-done-about-it/#entry10126359

[Old Croc]

I'm not trying to pretend that Phuket is not very dangerous on the roads, particularly for bike riders, but I think the system used to measure deaths is a little skewed. (I'm not talking about hospital deaths)

Figures are calculated as deaths per 100,000 population.

I believe there are many more people on Phuket, at any given time, than the official count based on an old census and how many are registered with the local authorities.

Tourists, local expats, migrant workers and others are not counted as part of the population. In total there are probably far more of these categories here than in any other province outside the capital.

Additionally, Thai workers flock here from other parts of Thailand without changing their place of registration until they need to, like wanting a 30 baht hospital visit.

My wife employs a number of these people all registered in north of the country, and there is even an unregistered family member in the house who seems to be trying hard to become part of the statistics.

In summary, I don't think Phuket is the most dangerous place on earth to drive, but it does have some huge problems.

[SDM0712]

...................

I've driven in Cairo, Egypt - much worse than Thailand.

It's funny you should say that, I have an Egyptian client that has just moved here from Cairo, and he won't drive here because, he says, it's far too dangerous.

I'm on the roads every day all over the island. Sometimes on a big bike, sometimes in an SUV. I've got to say apart from the occasional lunatic, it doesn't really feel dangerous to me. Maybe I'm just used to it.

S

[NamKangMan]

I'm not trying to pretend that Phuket is not very dangerous on the roads, particularly for bike riders, but I think the system used to measure deaths is a little skewed. (I'm not talking about hospital deaths)

Figures are calculated as deaths per 100,000 population.

I believe there are many more people on Phuket, at any given time, than the official count based on an old census and how many are registered with the local authorities.

Tourists, local expats, migrant workers and others are not counted as part of the population. In total there are probably far more of these categories here than in any other province outside the capital.

Additionally, Thai workers flock here from other parts of Thailand without changing their place of registration until they need to, like wanting a 30 baht hospital visit.

My wife employs a number of these people all registered in north of the country, and there is even an unregistered family member in the house who seems to be trying hard to become part of the statistics.

In summary, I don't think Phuket is the most dangerous place on earth to drive, but it does have some huge problems.

You have a point, OC.

The registered Thai's on Phuket is something that is very surprising when election time comes around. There are very few of them, compared to the actual number of Thai's living here.

That said, a road fatality is a road fatality, and if we were to look at those figures, alone, and not "per 100,000 population" I think we would still see that they tell a tragic story of driving / riding on Phuket's roads, no matter how many people "officially" live on the island.

Edited November 29, 2015 by NamKangMan