Motorbike accident deaths: Thailand number one in the world

[SABloke]

All some posters are doing is regurgitating the same old anecdotal prejudices about drivning in Thailand. They are failing to understand or even look at the problem and ask WHY Thailand's  road safety record is so bad 

Remember the plural of anecdote is not data.

 

 

Thailand's road safety record is bad, because the police are useless and do not enforcevany rules whixh results in a populace that do whatever the hell they like. Even if they kept their insufficient driving tests and training but had police that actually did something other than manage traffic lights badly, the Thailand road recors would improve. There are poorer countries with more bikes and worse roads yet better road death statistics. How many people in Hanoi drive the wrong way in traffic I wonder?

 

[chrissables]

1 minute ago, SABloke said:

 

Thailand's road safety record is bad, because the police are useless and do not enforcevany rules whixh results in a populace that do whatever the hell they like. Even if they kept their insufficient driving tests and training but had police that actually did something other than manage traffic lights badly, the Thailand road recors would improve. There are poorer countries with more bikes and worse roads yet better road death statistics. How many people in Hanoi drive the wrong way in traffic I wonder?

 

Hanoi? Everybody! But as they ride very slowly the accidents are kept to a minium.

[leonidpattayski]

The problem is not only the speed. In Europe speeds on roads are faster, but death rate is low. The problem is how people drive and how roads are designed.

 

Every days I see scooter driver going opposite to traffic flow, they think if they drive close to center or close to pedestrian side they can drive opposite to traffic flow. Police do not do anything against that. in Europe driving opposite to traffic flow is big fine and driver license suspension.

 

Cars riding too close to vehicle in front. Many time going with speed close to speed limit i noticed cars drive behind me just in two or three meters wanting i let he or she to pass me, cause they want speeding and everyone let them do that.

 

When some motorcycles or scooters turn they also drive 50 or even 100 meters against traffic flow.

No protective gear, no helmets, majority of helmets cannot protect, people do not fasten helmets. They ride on 125cc scooters 80 km/h, riding on click or fino so fast is like a suicide.

 

There are many vehicles on roads like advertisement cars or scooters with self made prams, they should not be allowed on the roads.

 

Many roads have no pedestrian sides. Pedestrian, dogs, cars, motorcycles go same line. I would notice the dog problem, so many accidents due to dog sleep and walk on roads.

[gk10002000]

Yeah well, neglecting the aggressive stupidity factor, and ridiculous training or licensing, millions of people drive the bikes as if they are still out in a rural village path or country road and  meander and wander along a street or highway as if there is nothing else around them

[inThailand]

While he accepted the responsibility lay with riders it was also very important not to forget the responsibility of the manufacturers.

 

In typical thainess let's blame someone else for our stupidity! 

[toenail]

The Thai public schools spends oodles of baht on pageantry (sport & cultural events), why not on a motorbike safety campaign & show these teenagers a powerpoint of cracked skulls from motorbike accidents.


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[The manic]

Motor bikes cause more deaths than illegal drugs.  Ban motor bikes and provide decent public transport systems. There is no reason to have motor bikes on the road except poverty.

[ALFREDO]

34 minutes ago, The manic said:

There is no reason to have motor bikes on the road except poverty.

There is reason - Some, same me, like to ride a motor bike in nice country side 

 

 

[Prairieboy]

On 11/04/2017 at 12:50 PM, ajarngreg said:

The experts have now called on manufacturers of bikes in Thailand to use available technology to limit speeds to 90 kilometers per hour.

 

Just falling on your head from a bicycle can kill you. Nothing makes any sense if people do not wear good helmets. Not the plastic crap ones. 

 

 The educational system is also at fault. Watch three kids driving to school on one bike and neither cops nor teachers do anything? 

 

  Would such a speed limit prevent accidents? I doubt it. 

 

 

      

Limiting the speed won't prevent the rider from T-boning an automobile, or pulling out into traffic without looking.  Proper gear, helmets, education and policing are needed.  Seizing motorcycles from unlicensed and underage drivers would get many off the road.

 

[chrissables]

2 hours ago, The manic said:

Motor bikes cause more deaths than illegal drugs.  Ban motor bikes and provide decent public transport systems. There is no reason to have motor bikes on the road except poverty.

Your ignorance is astounding, may you find poverty and have to walk or ride everywhere.

[chrissables]

2 hours ago, ALFREDO said:

There is reason - Some, same me, like to ride a motor bike in nice country side 

 

 

Great photo's!

[chrissables]

35 minutes ago, Prairieboy said:

Limiting the speed won't prevent the rider from T-boning an automobile, or pulling out into traffic without looking.  Proper gear, helmets, education and policing are needed.  Seizing motorcycles from unlicensed and underage drivers would get many off the road.

 

What do you call proper gear and could you wear it all day in Thailand?

 

Education of the other road users would be helpful too.

[StayinThailand2much]

"Thailand - The Hub of Motorbike Accident Deaths". 

 

Why am I not surprised: racing - disregard for speed limits, esp. at night, dangerously cutting in front of vehicles - disrespect for others in traffic, (almost) running over pedestrians, while racing on the sidewalk, general disregard/lack of knowledge of/for traffic rules, no enforcement by police, no wearing of helmets, four people and a dog riding on one bike, drunk driving, etc., etc.

 

A (sad) statistical record, well earned Thailand! 

Edited September 17, 2017 by StayinThailand2much

[thaigolfer]

It all has to do with these five: education, responsibility, ego, skills, brains. I rather like to sit on the back of a bike without a  helmet at 120 kmph with a skilled western rider having brains and no negative ego than to sit on the back of a bike wearing a helmet with a Thai at even 40 kmph. Can be within the city. All the rest that people (politicians) can think of is a plaster on a wooden leg.

[Pilotman]

On 11/04/2017 at 1:17 PM, kkerry said:

Vietnam solved the problem of people not wearing helmets by confiscating the bikes of those who didn't comply.

This does of course require a police force that can't easily be paid off, and who will enforce the law, so might not be possible in Thailand...

It also requires helmets that are actually of some use, not the plastic rubbish sold here. Best practice in the west, if you drop your helmet on a hard surface,  or fall off and bang it, buy a new one. Imagine that rule working here. Well actually it probably would, as the plastic one would just break in half.  A lot of  the time, i see riders with a helmet dangling off the handle bars, or Mum and Dad with plastic lids and the small  kids without and hanging on for dear life. 

[Pilotman]

3 hours ago, The manic said:

Motor bikes cause more deaths than illegal drugs.  Ban motor bikes and provide decent public transport systems. There is no reason to have motor bikes on the road except poverty.

My last bike cost me over one million Bhat, not much poverty there my friend. 

[Anythingleft?]

Again the same root causes, police the policies already in place for road users
Driving against traffic, overtaking on dangerous areas, black window tinting and about a dozen other daily broken regulations would be the best start. Most of the road regulations are in fact in place as far as I know just not enforced and blatantly ignored by the majority

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[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Prairieboy said:

Limiting the speed won't prevent the rider from T-boning an automobile, or pulling out into traffic without looking.  Proper gear, helmets, education and policing are needed.  Seizing motorcycles from unlicensed and underage drivers would get many off the road.

 

You summed it up nicely here.

 

AND........Watch three kids driving to school on one bike and neither cops nor teachers do anything? 

 

Yep, see just that here in Kathu when kids pile onto bikes outside the school gates.......many too young to drive, many without licences I would bet, perhaps one crash helmet between three, sometimes four riders per bike.

 

And the BIB stand by and let it happen.

Edited September 17, 2017 by xylophone

[asiaexpat]

No parental care, no law enforcement, no training, no common sense, etc. It is not the vehicles that cause the problem, it is the people. Until Thais are forced by the police to follow traffic and safety rules nothing will change. 

[Lingba]

Another "HUB" to brag about

[maeab101]

5 hours ago, The manic said:

Motor bikes cause more deaths than illegal drugs.  Ban motor bikes and provide decent public transport systems. There is no reason to have motor bikes on the road except poverty.

But not as many death's as alcohol consumption. This the real problem behind accidents in Thailand.

[jenny2017]

On 4/12/2017 at 2:37 PM, Moonlover said:

Yes, I'm all for 'continuation training' as we called it in the forces.

 

Here's an article about courses run by the the British police. I'd love to do one, but I doubt if I'll ever back there to have a go.

 

And the author is quite right in his remark about police motorcyclists in the UK. They are awesome!

 

https://rideapart.com/articles/things-learned-riding-with-british-police

 

No training in the world will change anything if Thai students are allowed to have a race on campus of their school, without even wearing a helmet.

 

 As long as their teachers are doing the same mistakes over and over again, things will never change.

 

  Some bloody photos of accidents at school, plus a few hundred hours of working at an emergency of a hospital when driving too fast and reckless might do the trick.

 

  I've almost killed three students on a bike on campus of a school when they came out of nowhere, chasing each other, doing high speed. 

 

  You can lead a horse to a pond, but you can't make it drink. 

 

  

Edited September 17, 2017 by jenny2017

[Anythingleft?]

No training in the world will change anything if Thai students are allowed to have a race on campus of their school, without even wearing a helmet.
 
 As long as their teachers are doing the same mistakes over and over again, things will never change.
 
  Some bloody photos of accidents at school, plus a few hundred hours of working at an emergency of a hospital when driving too fast and reckless might do the trick.
 
  I've almost killed three students on a bike on campus of a school when they came out of nowhere, chasing each other, doing high speed. 
 
  You can lead a horse to a pond, but you can't make it drink. 
 
  

"Almost killed three students" did you actually make contact with them just to give this some perspective and how badly were they injured. Perhaps the life threatening injuries they sustained were enough to change the way they look at life?

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[jenny2017]

5 minutes ago, Anythingleft? said:

"Almost killed three students" did you actually make contact with them just to give this some perspective and how badly were they injured. Perhaps the life threatening injuries they sustained were enough to change the way they look at life?

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Fortunately, I saw something, more the shadow of something and hit the brakes. They were only a few centimeters away from a perhaps deadly crash.

 

My heartbeat was unbelieveable and I don't know if the kids did even realize how close we were.

 

 Without braking down to stop, I'd have run over them. 

Edited September 17, 2017 by jenny2017

[ovi1kanobi]

5 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

Fortunately, I saw something, more the shadow of something and hit the brakes. They were only a few centimeters away from a perhaps deadly crash.

 

My heartbeat was unbelieveable and I don't know if the kids did even realize how close we were.

 

 Without braking down to stop, I'd have run over them. 

They were just playing tag.

[Anythingleft?]

Fortunately, I saw something, more the shadow of something and hit the brakes. They were only a few centimeters away from a perhaps deadly crash.
 
My heartbeat was unbelieveable and I don't know if the kids did even realize how close we were.
 
 Without braking down to stop, I'd have run over them. 

While I am happy to hear that there were no injuries, or indeed, an accident my point of this was the over dramatization of the situation
My neighbour was almost broken into last night, well a car slowed down at the entrance to our road then drove on so we will never know how close we came. Lucky all the same....

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[spidermike007]

Nobody at that "safety" forum was addressing the real issues. Why do the authorities care so little? Why is traffic safety such a low priority? Why the lack of helmet policing? All the blame is being put on the kids driving the bikes. Sure, there is a lot of blame to go around. But, the complete lack of a deterrent here is also part of the blame! What about good parenting? Teaching your kids some common sense? Instilling some discipline in them?

 

Many of us drive motorcycles or scooters here, and it is dangerous getting on the roads with some of these other drivers. 

 

Getting on a scooter, or a motorcycle anywhere in Thailand, much less the islands, like Phuket, Phangan, Dark Tao, or Samui without a very good helmet, is like playing Russian Roulette with three or four bullets in the chamber. It is absolutely asking for problems. The degree of recklessness here is astounding. And many foreigners come here thinking "how much trouble could I get in on a little scooter, on a tropical island"? Well, the answer is alot. The amount of foreigners who are killed on the Southern islands is staggering. Most are not reported in the media. I had a friend who worked for Samui rescue for many years, and said the numbers were about 30-60 a month, on Samui, Phangan and Koh Tao. The official number is about 3 a month. Rider beware. Use as good a helmet as you can afford, and do not use these eggshells pieces of crap. They crack at the first impact, and what lies underneath them? Your skull, which is very delicate. 
 
Just ask yourself- do I have enough problems already, without a broken skull, or smashed head, or face injury, or lost eye? I have two friends who have been in motorbike accidents on Samui within the last two years. One still cannot walk, or talk or function on her own, from a motorbike accident, where she hit her head on the pavement going only 20 kph. The other one has lost alot of his mental capacity after hitting his head. He insisted for years he would never wear a helmet. Now, he seems 15 years older. 

 

I was told by a very reliable source. He did not have an agenda. He rescued alot of the survivors. He attended to alot of the ones who did not make it. The press here is highly censored. The report only what the so called leaders want them to report. Nothing else. Social media? Why would social media report these statistics? They report individual accidents, but not overall statistics. Anything you read about accidents on Samui in the media would be false. 

 

 

• Road deaths are now calculated based on fatalities on-site. Victims dying later in hospital not counted.
• In 2000 there was an average of 30 deaths a month on Koh Samui (official figures released each month).
• Now it is stated that Koh Samui has 3-5 deaths each month (using the new way of reporting road deaths).
• In the last ten years the population has almost doubled and there are now 5x more vehicles on Koh Samui.
• Based on ‘official figures’ today it is possible to estimate that Koh Samui currently has 60 deaths per million per year. (Compared to 23 in London.) Based on the population and traffic density statistics from 10 years ago Koh Samui has in reality 720 deaths per million per year. This is probably the highest rate of road deaths in the world. Samui is a fatality death spot that nobody is willing to acknowledge!

 

•  

[leonidpattayski]

Just today morning scooter overtake me in intersection when i was turning, 3 people on the scooter, no one has helmet. I doubt they have driver license too. 

I just calculated price list.

driving without helmet 200baht for every person, reckless driving 400baht, no driver license 400 baht.

 

200*3 + 400 + 400 = 1400baht. Where is police?

[Media1]

Never started riding bikes at a young age on dirt bikes plays a big part in skill sets. 

Have had little or no education and simply have no brains. This equals a disaster on wheels. Racing for 25 years I stay clear of these coffin makers. The government and police simply don't care. The police allow a whole family on a bike no helmets equals bad parents that should be jailed. But the jails can't hold 20% of the country. I have seen uniform police taking kid on with no helmets. Buffaloes. I suppose the government look at it as a population cull.

[Media1]

On 4/11/2017 at 1:17 PM, kkerry said:

Vietnam solved the problem of people not wearing helmets by confiscating the bikes of those who didn't comply.

This does of course require a police force that can't easily be paid off, and who will enforce the law, so might not be possible in Thailand...

You are correct