Holiday road-death toll soars despite authorities’ crackdown
By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- DESPITE TOUGHER action against law-breaking motorists, including the Army’s seizure of drunk drivers’ vehicles, the road toll during the New Year holiday remains higher compared to the previous year.

 

Six of the so-called seven dangerous days saw 426 deaths and 3,761 injuries in 3,579 road accidents – marking an across-the-board increase from 340 deaths and 3,216 injuries in 3,092 accidents over the same period last year – the Road Safety Directing Centre announced yesterday.

 

Chon Buri suffered the highest number of fatalities at 33, said Lt General Teerawat Boonyawat, head of civil affairs of the National Council for Peace and Order. This included the 25 people killed in Monday’s horrific crash involving a van and pickup truck.

 

Udon Thani reported the highest number of accidents with 146 incidents and the most injuries at 156. Only Mae Hong Son, Phang Nga, Yala, Ranong and Satun had no deaths, he said.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30303436

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-05

So much for the 5% less

Congratulations

Maybe they should try a nation wide lobotomy of all Thai drivers before the next big holiday in April?

 

After over 30 year here I have not seen any improvements in the locals driving habits, it has actually getting much worse.

Another sign that nobody listens to the old general anymore. 

Not a surprise.  Crack downs by more check points don't work.  Patrolling and stiff fines might do it,  eventually over time. 

426 = x 2 parents = 852 = + 1 family member = 1278 

 

that would be as a minimum  the people affected directly from their passing

 

A sad and unchomprehensible statistic that is way off the mark 

In Jomtien, near TV readers favourite stinking cess pit Pattaya, I have not seen a single manned police check point since the crackdown began.

56 minutes ago, tracker1 said:

So much for the 5% less

Simple to fix. Next time they will make it 10%. Job's a goodun.

4 minutes ago, BaldPlumber said:

In Jomtien, near TV readers favourite stinking cess pit Pattaya, I have not seen a single manned police check point since the crackdown began.

 

Wrong again, Jomtien is Pattaya's stinking cesspit.

 

Pattaya is Naklua's stinking cesspit.

 

It's called gravity but you'll get the hang of it.

I wonder how the PM and the people in charge feels when every long holiday that

comes they KNOW that 400-500 of their people will parish in a matter of few days

from now? dose it bother any body up there or this is a case of ' Oh well, we are

doing the best already" kind of situation?....

You cannot fix stupid, Meek and mild Thais become stupid crazy idiots when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Have all the campaigns you want, it will make no difference what so ever.

9 minutes ago, ezzra said:

I wonder how the PM and the people in charge feels when every long holiday that

comes they KNOW that 400-500 of their people will parish in a matter of few days

from now? dose it bother any body up there or this is a case of ' Oh well, we are

doing the best already" kind of situation?....

 

If you do some web searching, you will find the Thai transport minister making a few recent statements on what they are doing about Thailand's transportation. Among the main areas of concern are better infrastructure (getting from Bangkok to Korat in 2 hours by road is quoted), more environmentally friendly transport solutions (nothing about increasing the amount of freight shifted by railways from the current 2%) and being able to get the Bangkok city workers that live in the Bangkok suburbs into work quicker. When asked about the status of a much heralded new train line, he does inform us that "... the physical infrastructure is complete except for the signalling system and the tracks."

 

Is that a no Minister?

 

Anyway, the PM has already said that addressing the increasing road transport fatalities is something for the 'elected government' to sort out so the current Minister of Transport has a free pass until (at least) 2018.

Well done.

They went for the record and achieved it.

About time Traffic Police actually started to do their job.

2 minutes ago, Lite Beer said:

Well done.

They went for the record and achieved it.

About time Traffic Police actually started to do their job.

 

The only difference between a regular policeman and a traffic policeman is the nearly new Camry company car.

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by NanLaew

No point in having checkpoints if the incompetent cops are just going to allow vans with tyres through to the canvas to carry on their merry way to pick up passengers!

8 minutes ago, LennyW said:

No point in having checkpoints if the incompetent cops are just going to allow vans with tyres through to the canvas to carry on their merry way to pick up passengers!

 

Yes. And that gem of official incompetence and acquiescence was broadcast on national television. Pretty sure if it goes viral the most it will do will give the computer crimes nincompoops some sleepless nights.

It appears to me that their current crackdowns and campaigns aren't working. 

Maybe scrap them completely and come up with new and better crackdowns and safety campaigns? 

 

 

160 km/h mai pen rai

I've said this before. Keep in mind that these stats show only those who died within 24 hrs of the accident. Outside of the 24 hr period you are not considered to be a road fatality in Thailand.  426 deaths is only those who died within that 24 hr period.

In Thailand they are called traffic police in England we call them car park attendants,both as much use as each other

the red cops may well be reporting higher than normal numbers of dead to make the general look bad. seems the general wants to give up on the problem and has said he wants to let the next govt deal with the problem. might be years away from any future attempts.

What's the Real Numbers got to be higher TIT

I was more interested in some of the details rather than the simple head count. They reckon speeding and alcohol was each around 30% contributory. Motorcycles were around 80% of total accidents so nothing new there. The only new statistic (to me) was the majority of all accidents happening between 4 PM and 8 PM. The mad rush to get home/fed/watered before sun down maybe? Or the driver fatigue inevitably kicking in after maybe 6 to 8 hours on the road, the failing light and the 5 PM local rush hours in provincial towns and villages?

First hub for the new year?. 

4 hours ago, jerojero said:

Not a surprise.  Crack downs by more check points don't work.  Patrolling and stiff fines might do it,  eventually over time. 

 

Double the amount of policeofficers in the tents...all the ones on inactive posts can also go sit there faceside to the roads so we all can see them. That will do it 

 

And drunk drivers who get caught will get castrated on the spot. 

 

The head of the roadpolice deserves a big bonus though, they did an excellent job and sit in the tents VERY well, i have only once seen them outside the tents, well done 

4 hours ago, jerojero said:

Not a surprise.  Crack downs by more check points don't work.  Patrolling and stiff fines might do it,  eventually over time. 

Think you have hit the nail on the head! "eventually over time" any safety program takes years to instill the behaviors required to be safe! when are they going to start the installation process, has to be 24/7 not 5 days a year!

The national average for deaths per day in Thailand is around 60 to 80 depending on which figures you chose to use.....

The average per day according to the “official figures for the holiday period? 71...so no significant change there.

 

The only thing of real interest to come out of this is that it is patently obvious that Thailand does not have a proper system for gathering road safety statistics - there are no figures for the whole year that includes incidents

Furthermore the internationally recognised way to categorise the stats is.....

1 - deaths

2 - serious injuries

3 - minor injuries

 

Thailand has no such system.

Basically reporting and gathering is totally haphazard and at the whim of a police force untrained in these matters.

Then there is the frenzied media reporting of these tragedies that completely misleads when it comes to putting the situation in context and the wild and frankly ridiculous conclusions drawn by the general public that are echoes by un-informed police and other “authorities”.

 

People are dying because te whole thing is a shambles from top to bottom.....just citing instant cures is not the solution - you can’t address the problem effectively unless you understand it - I see no evidence of that here or anywhere else in the nation’s media.

Okay, all together now:

 

4 hours ago, BaldPlumber said:

In Jomtien, near TV readers favourite stinking cess pit Pattaya, I have not seen a single manned police check point since the crackdown began.

 

Thats because they are still cracking up at the thought of the PM wanting a crackdown.