Thailand is World’s Deadliest Country for Motorcyclists

[janpharma]

Monkeys drive safer than that...

[MaxYakov]

14 minutes ago, longtom said:

In my experience motorbike-taxis are the safest Thai drivers on 2 wheels, that is if they are not high on something of course.

Yes, they may be the safest, but that's not saying much in Thailand, is it? Especially when your fate may be determined by someone else on the road who is not safe.

 

I watched an ongoing beer (and who knows what else) party of MB taxi operators one night across the street from a popular FoodLand in Bangkok.

 

I rarely rode motorbikes as even a passenger. Nowadays I refuse to ride them. I am, however, a cyclist and at least my fate is, for the most part, in my hands.

[playyer]

Road fatalities per inhabitant is a pretty useless statistic. You need to measure road fatalities per road vehicle. Everybody in thai pretty much has a motorbike. Where as the people of Congo etc does not.  The stats will get twisted.

Check out 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

and sort by road fatalities per vehicle for a much more true picture of the dangers of traffic around the world.

[user4643453]

what a lot of bulldust, look at who is having accidents? manly tourists who either don't have license or think they can ride like on European streets and insists on right of way and speeding thru the traffic.

Does not work here, motto is: flow with the traffic, be alert and read the traffic and roads ahead and around you, too easy, eh??

[stanleycoin]

Thailand has the most selfish , stupid riders / drivers in the world.

They even kill there children on the roads,   and put  it down,                           as  just bad luck.!!!!!!!!!!

Shameless Riders and drivers of Thailand.

 

[stutz]

I believe it should be titled" Thailand has the world's stupidest motorcycle riders"  I've been riding here for 25 years from six months in Samui to the other years centered in Issan (UBON). I love riding bikes here and (thank God) have never had an accident. But I am careful and figure I know where danger lurks.(But it can strike anytime)  My opinion, 95% of the accidents are brought on by themselves through recklessness, drunkenness, speeding, total lack of braincells and sheer stupidity. There are of course accidents caused by cars and trucks hitting bikers, again for mostly the same reasons. I believe one day I'll be taken down by a teenage female rider or an oblivious 55-year old market lady. Until then I'll keep my eyes peeled. I  still believe it is one of the best places to motorcycle in the world. I hope to continue touring for another 10 years.

[sanukjim]

6 hours ago, jaltsc said:

"...making Thailand the world’s deadliest country for two-wheelers."

 

What the article should say is that "Thailand is the most lax in enforcing safety standards for motor cycle and auto drivers, resulting in it becoming the most deadliest country for such vehicles". 

Several tears ago Vietnam had the record of the most people killed in a weekend .It occurred  during a TET week end. Vietnam has since decreased the accidents and overall deaths through the year via "Enforcement" where as the Thais have yet to use their police for any type of enforcement other then disrupting the people going to work and schools in the mornings with traffic stops.In reality they do not have many more thoughts outside of how to collect the brown envelops.

[klauskunkel]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

“If you take motorcycles out of the equation, Thailand’s roads will be as safe as (those in) Switzerland, the United States and Britain,”

leaves minivans, tuk-tuks, hiso piglets and the zero-sum traffic police in the equation..., I think Dr. Liviu Vedrasco needs to check his math

[marquis22]

Speed kills

[arend]

10 hours ago, Jessi said:

These motor bike riders think they have a brick wall around them and nothing can hurt them. They just turn into the road & dont look.

there is a bit of logic to the madness however because they turn in very close to the curb... it's just very alarming to us farangs who are not used to it but once you know the method, it makes sense... you won't see people just turning out into traffic without looking... most accidents are due to lack of defensive driving and speed...

[GarryP]

3 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

The incomprehensible part of this video is that there is no reason for the 'bike riders to not be on the correct side of the road !

They can't be arsed to ride up to the next u-turn or intersection where they can cross over the central island and get on the right side of the road. Often it adds quite a few kilometers onto their trip.  

[Jeremy50]

Dr Liviu Vedrasco 'health cluster chief', the job title sounds like a nasty and exotic infection. Maybe he has been to Switzerland, bet he certainly has never driven in Thailand. His WHO, or WHO? report is a total cluster <deleted>.

[GarryP]

I have noted that many Thai motorcyclists ride like nutters, but for the most part they have not put me in any danger. When I am out on my motorcycle it is more often than not drivers of pick up trucks and SUVs which pose the most danger to me. Turning left into a side road and cutting me off (often without any use of indicators), turning left out of junctions without so much as a glimpse at traffic to their right, tailgating (which I find the scariest of the lot), etc.    

[Grumpy Duck]

I live just off Ladphrao Rd. I actually have seen few accidents. But that doesn't mean they don't happen. I suspect that if motorcycles were allowed on highways accidents would be reduced, not greatly, but it is a fact most accidents occur at intersections. 

 

I ride a scooter, and recently was rear ended by some idiot on a trike with scrap cardboard piled so high in front of him he could not see over it. I was waiting for the right turn green arrow, (or a break in traffic) to make a u-turn in front of the chock chai police station and the guy saw the green light for traffic moving forward and he ran right into me. As I picked myself & my bike up I waved at the traffic cop controlling the lights pointing at the obvious hazzard. But he did nothing. Fortunately only my ego was bruised along with my wrist & leg. I went on my way

[F458]

The 'Experts' reporting 5,500 motorcyclist causalities per year have gotten something totally wrong.

According to the WHO 2015 study the death rate is some 26.3 per 100,000 which comes to a total of 17.884 and is a scary figure.

And with motorcycles out of the equation the roads are 'as safe as those in Switzerland, UK or US' are they joking?

Just look at all those car, pick up, mini bus, truck and bus crashed day in day out.

[Retiredandhappyhere]

The statistics normally quoted for Thailand show that there are around 25000 deaths each year on the roads.  If, as stated in this article, 5500 are attributable to motor cycles, where do the other 19500 come from?  I thought that motor cycle accidents accounted for about 83% of all accidents (if not all deaths).  Can anyone throw some light on the apparent anomaly?

[Wake Up]

I find driving a car in Thailand not a lot different from driving in other countries except for the drunk tourists renting motorbikes driving on the wrong side of the road and some Thai motorcycles that drive at night with no lights the wrong way on the road.  But Thailand has a big mixture of cars and bikes unlike most countries so more accidents happen. In Hanoi it is mainly bikes. In the states mainly cars. So comparing Thailand to these places distorts statistics because more cars combined with more bikes means more deadly accidents. I enjoy driving in Thailand and would not change a thing especially driving in Issan and Krabi. 

[NeoDinosaw]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Dr Liviu Vedrasco, health cluster chief at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Bangkok, told The Sunday Times.

Does the good Dr Liviu  never leave the sanctuary of the UN in BKK ?  Does he/she never travel on Thai roads ?  Is he/she always chauffeured in a very sedate luxury vehicle with blacked-out windows ?

 

Or, maybe he/she has only just arrived in the kingdom and has not had an opportunity to learn anything about the country .......

[ELVIS123456]

When I moved to Thailand a few years ago, I was intending to get and ride a motorbike. Having ridden for over 40 years back in Aus, I was confident I would be OK. But first I got a car to get around and after driving around Chiang Mai and seeing how bad the drivers were, and the BiB, and the roads and rules (and ignoring of them), and the trucks, and the pick-ups, and etc etc etc (especially seeing the aftermath of a pick-up taking out 6 bikes), I decided 'no way jose' to a bike. The Thai wife was pleased and I never regretted not getting one - absolute death trap - just a matter of luck/time. Perhaps in a local village or a very quiet town a bike would be OK - but no way in any City or on any major roads. We are now back in Aus and the wife can now understand why it is so much safer here for bike riders - the vast majority obey the laws and no one drives like so many in Thailand (the very few drunks aside). 

[Dumbastheycome]

Experts?  Cluster  Chief?   I think anyone given    daily  lists  to  compile  and  compare   would  be  enough !

But  ok,  it  does  not  alter the  fact.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

“If you take motorcycles out of the equation, Thailand’s roads will be as safe as (those in) Switzerland, the United States and Britain,” Dr Liviu Vedrasco,

If that is true I am completely lost for words. Considering the numbers of pick-up truck, minibus, tour bus, general car and various other accidents like petrol trucks catching fire, and even a dynamite truck exploding (yes that was years ago)   the numbers have to be higher than Switzerland, US or UK surely, possibly even added  together?

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

Only 15persons/day? well that is just 3 motorbikes

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Persons in positions of authority have a duty to lead by example.

See below...

 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

[Keesters]

On 5/23/2017 at 5:11 AM, webfact said:

“If you take motorcycles out of the equation, Thailand’s roads will be as safe as (those in) Switzerland, the United States and Britain,”

If you take all >2 wheel vehicles out of the equation Thailand's roads would not be so crowded and there would hardly be any accidents at all.

 

Anybody can make up stuff.

 

 

[bander]

Shocking news, I thought Thailand was the safest country in the world riding motorbikes. Just ask the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

If that is true I am completely lost for words.

See my Post #70.

[hawker9000]

On 5/23/2017 at 6:32 AM, jerojero said:

If the person wants to ignore his her own safety and take risks, allow them. But they or their families ought not to be surprised, upset or sorrowful when an accident happens.

 

No! They DON'T just endanger themselves.  Not by a long shot. The reckless ones, who are mostly the mototaxi drivers and foreigners wirh their holiday rentals, endanger each other as well as pedestrians, who are usually treated with utter contempt.  Reign in the mototaxi idiots, and put an end to the relaxed attitude toward rentals by tourists (impose an outright prohibition or at least deny rentals to anyone who cannot produce a valid int'l license WITH motorcycle endorsement PLUS completion of a local motorcycle day-long safety course -- i.e., make it difficult and expensive).

 

Oh, and for those obsessed with the idea of imposing a travel/medical insurance requirement on foreigners, HERE'S where to do it!  Produce an insurance program specifically for operation of a motorcycle, however costly it needs to be, REQUIRE it for rentals, and impose DUI-like penalties for failure to have it.

[YetAnother]

17 hours ago, GarryP said:

They can't be arsed to ride up to the next u-turn or intersection where they can cross over the central island and get on the right side of the road. Often it adds quite a few kilometers onto their trip.  

i would pay money to hear someone come to my village and advising the whole group about riding on the wrong side/wrong way; they FIRMLY believe that law does NOT apply to them; their response will doubtlessly be "we have done it that way for a long time"; quite incapable of grasping concepts such as 'safety' or 'law and order'

[welovethailand]

Wife and I got broad sided back in November. Her foot got crushed,  My pelvic bone was separated almost to the point of needing a steel plate put in. The "boy" who  hit us thought he was playing a video game. At about 70km, oh, we were stopped in our lane, I started to turn around (our favorite chicken on a stick was closed). I only turned the handle bars, he thought he could "zip" us in our on lane. Well, he hit us so hard, he  threw me and my bike about 25 feet to the other side of the road.. My wife laid there on the road. It was terrible. His father arrived at the police station an hour before us. He paid the cop money under the table. I am embarraced to say what we got paid, yes, we got very litttle money, the cop blamed the accident on me....(really) and the "boy" didn't even get a ticket or warning.