52 people killed and 431 injured on first day of Songkran festival on Monday

[diehard60]

At this rate just multiply those figures by 7 and see what you get. What happened with the cops doing more this year???? They say that every year and more and more people die and get hurt.

[guapo]

To Fairynuff I say I bet all my marbles that u r a Pom or an ozzy and u can not swallow the fact that falangs have $&@" up their Sunkran . It used to be a religious event for Thais , now is a sham. I have traveled around the world and what I kept seeing are drunk idiots like you loosing their face is normal

[Gerard052]

A good start!

Really? is that what you take from the death of 52 people, a good start? will it be better

for you with 500 dead?

I think myself 1million would be a better number because those freakin a..holes never learn from one year to the next because their lives are worth nothing, if it was, they would do something about it but they don't <delete> country.

[guapo]

I wish I could, but the cops won't do it nighter. If you have understood anything about Thais their sence of respect for dead people is far greater than any other society. Their funerals last days.....ours last hours.

[ggt]

Ah, Songkran is off to a great start once again...

[Moti24]

Usual final toll for Songkran is about 350 deaths and between 2000 and 3000 injuries; looks like it may be another record on the horizon.

This afternoon, at about 3:45, I turned left at a set of traffic lights and was confronted with a Toyota Vios, being driven by, what I can only describe as a madman, hairing towards me; obviously he wasn't amused with waiting for the traffic in front of him to move. I jammed on my brakes and moved to the left as far as I could. He didn't appear to brake, but moved to the left, pushing a motorcycle and sidecar onto the sidewalk, and went past me like a bat out of hell. How he missed me, I' don't know. He just continued through the red light and disappeared into the distance. This is an all too common occurence during Songkran, which is why I stay at home as much as possible.

RIP the 52 who died; I know how they would feel if they were still alive.

[kiwikeith]

Speed limit all cars in Thailand to 80 or 100km an hour.

Worked on all mine sites I worked at in reducing accidents.

Must be an Aussie!......Thailand....and for that matter, most places in the world, is/are not a mine site...........traffic just cannot travel at 40kmh and there are no 200t dump trucks sharing the roads!

He said 80 to 100 km the speed limits here are to high.

NZ puts the limit down from 100 to 90 during festive seasons with a 5 k tolerance.

In the city over holidays its 50 k with zero tolerance over 50, so 51 your busted.

Many roads are limited to 60 and 80.

This works well and has made a drastic change in Rd fatality.

Well pointed out Auss.

[khomlong1]

There we go again, despite all the government and the police efforts to minimize the carnage on the roads

the first 52 dead in a day that not even a proper holiday time, one can only sigh in despair and sorrow......

[Broeno]

I just stay home for a few days to avoid the madness. Just only go to a restaurant outside Chiang Mai and keep the my car windows closed.

[tominbkk]

Motorbikes accidents shouldn't count. They all drive batshit crazy every day.

[khomlong1]

Yeah, most drivers have little patience behind the wheel. They just want to beat the car in front.

I used to go to stock car racing in Wimbledon , London. Not unlike a lot of drivers here?..

[Jim walker]

first day of the launch road safety campaign so some general should get the sack for such an abysmal failure over 50 deaths or at least rank reduced to private along with his pension Statius also reduced military running the country and failing to save the public a complete disgrace throw them all out and get them on a proper job training adjustment course

[williamgeorgeallen]

Isn't that figure in the ball park for the daily average, in fact it may be a little lower.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

this always gets me as well. the international stats put average deaths on the roads at 72 per day but during songkran it rarely reaches that figure. some say that the official figure only counts people dead at the scene of the crash, not those who die later. i suspect these figures are more likely best case gestimates.

[jerojero]

A good start!

Really? is that what you take from the death of 52 people, a good start? will it be better

for you with 500 dead?

... Umm....dark sarcasm?

[Roomuck]

77 provinces in Thailand.

Not even 1 per province.

Not too bad really.

And only six in cars for the whole country during a holiday season day.

[South]

.... and while you have been reading this thread , another xx have died.

[1BADDAT]

and the largest number of vehicles in accidents were motorcycles,,, go figure

worst thing about moto's is that many foreigners see the way the locals drive and instead of setting a good example

start to drive like the locals and do things they would never consider back home as they would end up with

one heck of a lot of expensive tickets for stupidity

the worst thing is that foreigners drive like the locals...seriously where do you guys come up with this stuff?

[Antiparovian]

If you do not like the Country there are many others to live in

[UPDEHSOI]

It's very sad, but it comes as no surprise to see the annual carnage starting already!

Out here in smallsville I needed to go into the big city to get the car checked over, the girlfriend wasn't too keen on the idea of driving this close to Songkran, and it didn't take long to find out why.

We didn't see any accidents, but we saw lots of people rushing to get to one! The idiotic rush to get past was no different to usual except for the increase in numbers.

Girlfriend says they're in a hurry to get to paradise! She also observed, in the 'Big C' car park that there were a lot of Bangkok registered cars, and the car park was a lot busier than usual.

I keep a safe braking distance between me and the car in front, but the "Paradise Run" drivers feel the desperate need to occupy that space. I give 'em space to get by so they're no longer tailgating me, I'm in no hurry to get to paradise myself!

Keep a safe braking distance between you and the car in front of you, huh?...desperate need to occupy that space?! Yesterday I decided to go downtown CM to get the car serviced. Took the G/F with me. That was a mistake, but anyway... she INSISTED I keep a safe braking between me and the car in front of me. I said, "if that's what you want sweetheart." So I backed up a bit to create said safe braking space...then I had to back up again..backed up a bit more....backed up one more time...then I backed u....I ended up getting the car serviced in Lamphun. And ya know, I never WAS able to create that safe braking distance.

[HomeinThailand]

A total of 528,903 vehicles were checked and, of these, 84,724 faced legal actions, including 25,651 cases of no driving licenses and 23,354 cases of riding with crash helmets.

I guess if you ride a motor bike you are screwed. Get ticketed for wearing them and not wearing them. hahahahahaha

[brling]

77 provinces in Thailand.

Not even 1 per province.

Not too bad really.

And only six in cars for the whole country during a holiday season day.

Thais have the second highest road kill in the world. Try defending that Mr. apologist. You forgot to sign of your post, with the usual line ("clever people these Thais") Hmmmm, are they.

[siamcrut]

same same every year. It's part of their culture, falang no understand...

In a few days it will be over again.

[Pattaya28]

They just don't get it !!

[aabdo]

In my humble opinion, what is happening on the roads of Thailand is a result of the risky behavior of most drivers in general, yes they are skilled but extreme risk taking drivers. I have been visiting Thailand for many years and used all transportation methods, from walking on my feet to motorbike to driving a car. Almost most drivers in this country will change their lanes in a split second if the car in front of them slows down without checking the new lane they are moving into or without thinking why the car in front of them slows down, maybe there is danger on the road. The maneuver and lane change happen so fast, it is like a fish in a water tank avoiding another fish in front of it. The drivers need to learn to respect the right of way, respect the lines on the ground, and check before changing their lane and signal. Some drivers will go on red light, some do not understand any concept of right of way, this afternoon I was driving on 121 hwy minding my own business a large pickup enter the highway and almost run me over when there was 4 empty lanes and only me and this pickup truck driver, he could not merge gracefully and choose his lane.

The problem is very serious and there is no simple solution for it. I would say the solution would require every motorcycle, car and truck driver to go back to school and learn how to drive properly and pass a driving test according to international standards. BTW, I do not recall seeing one car driving school all these years. Do they really exist or not? If they exist, I wonder what they are teaching drivers?

Government should setup driving schools with professional instructors and send everyone back to learn how to drive, give them deadlines 24 months to re-train the nation drivers and safe lives. This solution will create jobs, create businesses and you improve the safety for everyone.

Also use technology to remove extreme unsafe drivers from the road like street cameras. I have seen drivers that take extreme risk removing these drivers and revoking their licenses will improve safety for everyone.

What is happening is not a bad luck, but natural given the number of drivers sharing the road with extreme risk taking and lack of the driving knowledge and rules, it is as simple as that. Once we educate drivers and have a better quality drivers accidents will be reduced.

The Thai population is general is in denial and when telling a Thai friend about this subject, he pointed that the bad driver could be Chinese

I have assured my friend that there could not be that many bad Chinese drivers on the roads of Thailand, definitely Thai drivers.

[raphoedon]

I must assume these unfortunate accidents are happening on the open highway.On my last Songkran trip to Huahin the coach down from swampy made Huahin in the usual time and then took 45 mins to get from Huahin airport area to Market Village. It was nose to tail < 5 kmph.

R.I.P. to the passed.

[anotheruser]

Record breaking news for TAT regarding domestic tourism... Millions spent.

[Moonmoon]

Songkran if u experience it once or twice thats enough. Avoid the jams n queues. Better to stay home n chill. I rather go to the provinces to enjoy on other days.

[dcnx]

It's almost 2:30am, just home in Chiang Mai. Between 11pm and 2am, I personally drove past 3 car accidents (no bikes). Police were on the scene, but not a single police stop checking for drunk drivers anywhere in the old city and all the way out near the 700 year old stadium where I live. I did see a small tent with a couple tourist police (maybe volunteers) not too far from Thapea Gate, but they were just hanging out, not doing anything.

I'm curious what the accident count will be in CM tomorrow. My gut tells me it will be fabricated.

The carnage continues.

[dcnx]

Forgot to mention, at 2am drunken foreigners were hiding behind cars and shooting water at drivers as they pass. I took a blast to the chest.

[GanDoonToonPet]

What is wrong with you people ? Normality (Thai style) reigns. 20,000 a year is the normal rate of road deaths. 20,000 divided by 365 is apporxmately 55 deaths a day. Get it ?

According to the latest report, The Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015, there were 24,237 deaths, or 36.2 per 100,000, in 2015. That equates to 66-67 per day on average.