7 Deadly Days

[MichaelJohn]

Call me a cynic ..... the 7 Deadly days start tomorrow, hence this year they include 3 working days (Tue, Wed and next Monday) as this year there is only 2 days holiday whereas we usually have 3 for Songkran; not sure why this is so this year?

So, statistics would suggest that the  road casualties might not be as bad as usual this year?

I can see that next week some people will be claiming that all this focus of minivans, pickups, seat belts, stricter law enforcement etc etc was the cause of this reduction.

Ummm, I wonder?

 

[ukrules]

I think you will find that a huge number of people die on the roads every day of the year.

 

The so called 7 deadly days are a bit misleading I think.

 

Many 100's will die just like any other week.

 

[KhunBENQ]

The arithmetics don't not make sense to me.

The usual peak travel days are included.

Be it a Saturday or Sunday, what difference does it make.

 

But you might argue that the rush already began Friday evening (7th).

I saw a report today that road #304 (a major route from eastern seaboard/Pattaya to Isan) is already facing heavy traffic.

Air and bus traffic very heavy also since the weekend.

Our family members will arrive on Wednesday 12th in the evening at latest.

 

[williamgeorgeallen]

why would this year be any different? they have made the same safety announcements as they do every year so nothing different there.  about 70 people die on the roads a day through out the year and official figures show songkran road toll is about the same. is just part of life in thailand it seems.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

It is a farce. If you take the annual road deaths and divide that by 365 you end up with the death rate per day which is higher than the death rate per day during the "7 deadly days". 

[Moonlover]

This has been my observation too, covering 3 years. And the reason is so obvious. The majority of road deaths occur in the rural areas and are motorcycle related. And this does not fluctuate very much throughout the year.

The police in the meantime are concentrating their efforts on holiday traffic on the main highways. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, l'm sure quite a number of lives are saved through getting drunk drivers off the roads and, importantly, it raises awareness, but it does not address the core issue.

Unless and until the authorities find a way of tackling the motorcycle issue, I'm afraid we will not see any noticeable reduction in road deaths. Whether be at holiday times or otherwise.

And this, I feel, the most difficult and challenging problem of all.

Exercise self preservation and stay safe during the holiday season.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Moonlover

[elgordo38]

6 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

why would this year be any different? they have made the same safety announcements as they do every year so nothing different there.  about 70 people die on the roads a day through out the year and official figures show songkran road toll is about the same. is just part of life in thailand it seems.

You make a good point how do the "7" days stack up against any 7 days picked at random. 

[Stocky]

It doesn't make any difference how you package it, 70-80 people die everyday on Thailand's roads Songkran or not!

[abab]

This is just scaremongering, last year there was a  99.999% survival rate, that's near perfect safety.

 

 

 

[balo]

Same same  , every day .  Be safe out there. 

 

[elliss]

33 minutes ago, balo said:

Same same  , every day .  Be safe out there. 

 

                 Not go  out .

[kannot]

I  just driven down from BKK to Prachuap ( 1 am) and the driving was absolutely disgusting............no Police anywhere, cars swerving in and out and  one great big Arctic using his size as a battering ram, swerving all over the road and I mean sudden violent jerks of the entire  lorry trying to push his way between cars and then sitting in the outside lane for about 50km, had another jerk on the tollway in the middle  lane doing about 40kmh with all other lanes empty, came up behind him flashed  lights as he was painfully  slow, he took an immediate  offence to this and put on his pretend red and blue  flashing lights as if  he was a  Police car then after I had  passed him he roared up behind and pulled in front of me  but his driving was  so crap I just went straight  back round  him, all the time his stupid blue and red  lights on and it wasnt a Police vehicle at all.

The roads are  full of these  absolute psychopaths

[dbrenn]

Songkran is an abomination of a once charming festival. It's degraded to the point of being loathsome in every way. 

[Dag Ekeberg]

Here are the Songkran numbers. And some information about why the Thai roads might not be the second most dangerous in the world after all. The hype is driven by both government and the media. They seem to have different objectives.
 
"7 Dangerous Days" no more dangerous than rest of year
 
The average number of daily road deaths during Songkran's "7 Dangerous Days" is 50 – based on government data for the last 10 years. The number of people who die on the roads in Thailand on an average day is somewhere between 39 and 66, depending on if you believe the government or the World Health Organization (WHO). So why the biannual hype?

 

Read the whole thing here:
 
http://www.thailandstidende.com/component/k2/item/3261-7-dangerous-days-no-more-dangerous-than-rest-of-year

[Badrabbit]

The fact that people are allowed to throw water containg Ice cubes at you from the side of the road makes this so called Thai celebration of the coming Rainey season a joke and a dangerous joke at that, stay at home!!

 

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