The roads won’t get safer on their own

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

The roads won’t get safer on their own

By The Nation

 

Citizens need to care more, officials need to do more and police need to do their job

 

BANGKOK: -- About 600 people were killed in road accidents in Bangkok in 2016. Most of the deaths stemmed from motorcycle accidents.

 

 For many people, these statistics are nothing more than numbers. Take for example, the 25 people injured in just two accidents late last month, in Chachoengsao and Prachin Buri. In one case, a bus driver admitted he felt asleep behind the wheel. His vehicle slammed into the back of a 10-wheel truck.

 

More statistics. 

 

These tragedies don’t personally concern us. Such a thing could never happen to us. Too many people seem to think they have some sort of lucky charm in their pockets. The self-congratulation (at surviving) and the denial go on. Until it does indeed happen to them or to someone they love. 

 

Part of the reason people are so indifferent to such statistics is because we have no direct experience of such events. We are indifferent to the issue of road safety. We don’t take the time to examine the circumstances that create hazards on the road, or the consequences – the lost lives, the maiming injuries and, yes, the cost to taxpayers.

 

Has anyone bothered to ask, for example, whether that bus driver had had enough sleep before beginning his day’s work? Is it any of our business what he was doing the night before? Who is supposed to ensure that bus drivers are ready and able to drive? Should the company he works for be responsible for the damage done?

 

This problem goes much further than a bus driver’s fitness for duty, though. It is about our collective 

attitude towards public safety and the lack of proper rules and regulations for the operators of vehicles in general. 

 

Enforcement of the law is an essential factor, yet too often it is ignored. Just ask any motorist whether they’ve ever had to pay a bribe to a traffic police officer. Sometimes it’s the police themselves violating the law. Who’s going to arrest them? They seem to forget that they’re duty-bound to ensure public safety, not go around flexing their muscles.

 

Late last month, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety announced a plan to reduce road deaths in Bangkok by half in the next two years. 

 

As mentioned, there were about 600 road deaths last year, so hopefully by 2019, this figure should be closer to 300, maybe even lower. (The five-year timeframe started in 2015.) Bangkok is one of 10 cities participating in the initiative, says Kelly Larson, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ director of road safety.  

 

The initiative has also waged campaigns to reduce risky behaviour and promote road safety. The strategy to reduce street fatalities also includes redesigning roads to make them safer for pedestrians. Portions of Asok, Silom and Yaowarat roads in Bangkok have already been revamped.  

 

But why do Thais have to wait for foreigners to give us a friendly nudge in the right direction? People who live in these areas see the dangers every day, as do their district officials and their bosses at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Is it not their responsibility to take action and make suggestions to the proper authorities? Or is the BMA only responsible for picking up trash and ensuring that street vendors pay their tithes on time?

 

Sadly, too many of our officials are sleepwalking through their working days. They think it’s a free ride, but it’s not. At least it’s not supposed to be.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30323260

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-09

[BasalBanality]

3 minutes ago, webfact said:

But why do Thais have to wait for foreigners to give us a friendly nudge in the right direction? People who live in these areas see the dangers every day, as do their district officials and their bosses at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Is it not their responsibility to take action and make suggestions to the proper authorities?

Kreng jai is the answer.

Edited August 8, 2017 by BasalBanality

[rkidlad]

30 minutes ago, webfact said:

The roads won’t get safer on their own

What? They won't? Damn! Government will have to come up with a new plan now. 

[Smiley Face]

Enforcement of the law is an essential factor, yet too often it is ignored

 

This has to go into the Guinness Book of records as the greatest understatement of all time!  When has anyone here ever come upon a vehicle that was being cited by police for a moving violation apart from the standard city corner stops of motorcycles for the purpose of raising beer money?

[Dobredin Ghusputin]

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

For many people, these statistics are nothing more than numbers.

Number 2, to be precise. Bangkok had only 600 road deaths in 2016 ?

[darksidedog]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Too many people seem to think they have some sort of lucky charm in their pockets.

On the dashboard actually. Matters are unlikely to improve when so many naively believe they have divine protection.

[SABloke]

Statistics don't mean much to people. When they her 27 000 deaths per year it seems low. When I point out to my family that means basically 1/2000 chance of being killed i.e. 1 kid at the local school will die every year  - their ears perk a little.

 

With babies it's even worse: Studies show that even at a mere 30kp/h babies cannot be held and they fly out of the person's lap they're sitting on. They are very prone to injuring/breaking their necks. This means that even a "slow" inner city fender bender can be very dangerous. I've been trying to track down actual accident statistics, but even if we're generous and we say that there are only 3 non-fatal accidents for every death on Thai roads, that's still a 1/500 in being in a potentially life threatening accident for your baby (and those stats are enough to keep my daughter out of cars that don't have a car seat for even a short journey.

 

On an aside, I was surprised (but not shocked) when my wife's friend (Thai living in the UK) came to visit her family for Songkran. Hubby didn't come with and so she just zipped around town with her children held in the back - in the UK she doesn't do this, because it's against the law, but I figure that she feels embarrassed in front of her family (stupid). On the flip side I have never used a car seat because it was the law - I use it because science proves that it improves my daughter's chances in the unlikely but possible event that we are in a crash. 

Edited August 9, 2017 by SABloke

[MW72]

5 hours ago, SABloke said:

Statistics don't mean much to people. When they her 27 000 deaths per year it seems low. When I point out to my family that means basically 1/2000 chance of being killed i.e. 1 kid at the local school will die every year  - their ears perk a little.

 

With babies it's even worse: Studies show that even at a mere 30kp/h babies cannot be held and they fly out of the person's lap they're sitting on. They are very prone to injuring/breaking their necks. This means that even a "slow" inner city fender bender can be very dangerous. I've been trying to track down actual accident statistics, but even if we're generous and we say that there are only 3 non-fatal accidents for every death on Thai roads, that's still a 1/500 in being in a potentially life threatening accident for your baby (and those stats are enough to keep my daughter out of cars that don't have a car seat for even a short journey.

 

On an aside, I was surprised (but not shocked) when my wife's friend (Thai living in the UK) came to visit her family for Songkran. Hubby didn't come with and so she just zipped around town with her children held in the back - in the UK she doesn't do this, because it's against the law, but I figure that she feels embarrassed in front of her family (stupid). On the flip side I have never used a car seat because it was the law - I use it because science proves that it improves my daughter's chances in the unlikely but possible event that we are in a crash. 

A friend of the GF was killed driving her pick up home drunk one night. Went to the wake at the house and loads of visitors arrived in their cars or on bikes, proceeded to get drunk and drove home . Until the police start enforcing laws the culture will not change.

[Surasak]

24 minutes ago, MW72 said:

A friend of the GF was killed driving her pick up home drunk one night. Went to the wake at the house and loads of visitors arrived in their cars or on bikes, proceeded to get drunk and drove home . Until the police start enforcing laws the culture will not change.

When does he'll freeze over?

[lordblackader]

Quote

Has anyone bothered to ask, for example, whether that bus driver had had enough sleep before beginning his day’s work? Is it any of our business what he was doing the night before? Who is supposed to ensure that bus drivers are ready and able to drive? Should the company he works for be responsible for the damage done?

 

Yeah...I'm pretty sure what the bus driver did the night before doesn't cause them to fall asleep at the wheel versus seriously long shifts with little to no rest breaks... or then again, maybe it was what they did the night before because they were probably also driving a bus then as well :)

[oldlakey]

8 hours ago, rkidlad said:

What? They won't? Damn! Government will have to come up with a new plan now. 

Well I have had my suspicions for some time that just looking the other way was not going to work out too well

[inThailand]

They are betting on evolution to fix the problem. Sooner or later all the bad drivers will kill each other off and unavoidably will take some good ones as well.

So in about a million years it will be safer to drive here.

[metisdead]

An incomprehensible post has been removed as well as a reply. 

[transam]

Nobody fears the road BiB cos they rarely see them..

[inThailand]

They don't see ghosts but they are scared shitless of them. Maybe they need BiB ghosts?

[Artisi]

On the whole , the roads aren't too bad, they are just cluttered up with idiots. 

[les Dennis]

Failing someone at the driving test centre would be a start. Rather than giving them another go at passing the brake test (after hypothetically hitting the car in front) send them away and re apply a month or so later.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, MW72 said:

A friend of the GF was killed driving her pick up home drunk one night. Went to the wake at the house and loads of visitors arrived in their cars or on bikes, proceeded to get drunk and drove home . Until the police start enforcing laws the culture will not change.

Similar to the family opposite me. Their son was drunk on his bike and left half his face on an electricity pole he rode into. The next day I saw his brother roaring off down the road on his own bike, wrong side of the road, no helmet, no lights.

 

You can't fix stupid, and there's a lot of stupid in Thailand. No common sense at all. None.

[jesimps]

9 hours ago, darksidedog said:

On the dashboard actually. Matters are unlikely to improve when so many naively believe they have divine protection.

I think you mean rear view mirror. That's what it's there for isn't it?

[jesimps]

14 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Similar to the family opposite me. Their son was drunk on his bike and left half his face on an electricity pole he rode into. The next day I saw his brother roaring off down the road on his own bike, wrong side of the road, no helmet, no lights.

 

You can't fix stupid, and there's a lot of stupid in Thailand. No common sense at all. None.

The common sense gene closes down when they're 5 yoa.

 

[Echo Tango]

Three things that will improve this situation:

1) Police-car interceptors on daily patrol.
2) Soul-crushing fines for moving violations.
3) Mandatory sentencing for bribery (5 years minimum).

[Autonuaq]

You can reduce the accidents by at least 250. In the trio i make every day at the same point the same accident .

Pre programmed accidents due the to stupid way of road contraction and the lack of space to let cars in and out.

 

The laws are there and start to enforce the correct use of the lanes for trucks and cars.learn how to make a colone of vehicles and that 55 km to 70 km makes them move faster in the slow lane that they do now with the police cars in front.

 

Motorbikes on the right lanes 

 

Ambilnaces and firetucks with sound and light ... yield them so even more  lifes will be savjuat a starter

[Stargeezr]

 Most people in Thailand work their jobs in a keyhole system and the stuff they

can't  handle is  in the Not in my Job description.

Geezer

[gummy]

Actually the road deaths in Thailand need to worsen significantly compared with China.  Just read a recent article regarding a bus crash that killed a few and in that report it stated

 

"The World Health Organization estimates that a quarter of a million people were killed on Chinese roads in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available."

 

Now if only we could get Thais to aim for that figure  then in 40 years time the roads should be a lot safer for visitors.

Edited August 11, 2017 by gummy

[oldlakey]

6 hours ago, gummy said:

Actually the road deaths in Thailand need to worsen significantly compared with China.  Just read a recent article regarding a bus crash that killed a few and in that report it stated

 

"The World Health Organization estimates that a quarter of a million people were killed on Chinese roads in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available."

 

Now if only we could get Thais to aim for that figure  then in 40 years time the roads should be a lot safer for visitors.

1-35 Billion Chinese as against 68 million Thais

Simple really

If there were 1-35 Billion Thais they would far exceed the Chinese figure without even trying

[Jonah Tenner]

On 9.8.2017 at 8:25 AM, Surasak said:

When does he'll freeze over?

Every year.

[rickb]

If the police only enforced two things, driving while intoxicated and speeding, I guarantee that road fatalities would drop dramatically.  But, that takes more police officers and more equipment on the job to do the enforcement.  That would be a big step in the right direction.  But, I'm not holding my breath!

 

[samsensam]

 

only 600?

Edited August 13, 2017 by samsensam
wrong

[fusion58]

Part of the reason people are so indifferent to such statistics is because we have no direct experience of such events.

 

This isn't necessarily true. I know a Thai girl, for example, who survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash and who still drives just as recklessly and carelessly (sometimes while inebriated) as before her accident.

 

Moral of the story: you can't fix stupid.

[wakeupplease]

On 8/9/2017 at 11:02 AM, jesimps said:

I think you mean rear view mirror. That's what it's there for isn't it?

On the bloody phone texting or looking how many likes they have on facebook more likley