News Forum - 333 lives lost on Thailand’s roads over end-of-year holiday period

[Thaiger]

While the government frets over the Omicron variant, 333 people died in road traffic accidents during Thailand’s so-called “7 dangerous days” during the end-of-year holiday. The official figures, reported by Nation Thailand, were released by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. The department says there were 2,707 road traffic accidents reported between December 29 and January 4, with 2,672 people injured and 333 killed. On Tuesday, the last of the 7 days, there were 209 road accidents, resulting in 21 deaths and 202 injuries. On the same day, 78,340 car and motorbike drivers were charged with violating traffic laws. […]

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[HiuMak]

11 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

While the government frets over the Omicron variant, 333 people died in road traffic accidents during Thailand’s so-called “7 dangerous days” during the end-of-year holiday. The official figures, reported by Nation Thailand, were released by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. The department says there were 2,707 road traffic accidents reported between December 29 and January 4, with 2,672 people injured and 333 killed. On Tuesday, the last of the 7 days, there were 209 road accidents, resulting in 21 deaths and 202 injuries. On the same day, 78,340 car and motorbike drivers were charged with violating traffic laws. […]

The story 333 lives lost on Thailand’s roads over end-of-year holiday period as seen on Thaiger News.

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more deadly than Covid

[gundam0315]

surprised those deaths weren't count as "covid" deaths

[ThaiEyes]

Sad this happened, but it does cull the herd of drivers making bad choices. Hopefully not many of these drivers killed someone else, including their own family members

[AlexPTY]

if Moderna could develop a vaccine for those idiot drivers in Thailand... i would recommend vasectomy until then

[Cabra]

forever endemic to Thailand

[RampantRabbit]

2 hours ago, whitesnake said:

Yes....WAY MORE DEADLY!!!!!

and been going on for decades

[Bluesofa]

I was going to suggest sarcastically the vaccine manufacturers should produce one to prevent people here from driving. Then I realised they must have done so already judging by the accident figures.

[Tim]

3 hours ago, AlexPTY said:

if Moderna could develop a vaccine for those idiot drivers in Thailand... i would recommend vasectomy until then

Haha GOLD !

[cowslip]

The department says there were 2,707 road traffic accidents reported between December 29 and January 4, with 2,672 people injured and 333 killed. This equals 386 per day (333 = 47 per day killed)

In Uk the average collisions per day are around 336 a day with 60 serious injuries per day. https://www.brake.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/mybrake/knowledge-centre/uk-road-safety

 

The difference isn't the number of accidents, it's the numbers of deaths.

(incidentally in a normal, non-covid year, the death rate is slightly lower than during the rest of the year.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Khunwilko

[Bluesofa]

8 minutes ago, Khunwilko said:

The department says there were 2,707 road traffic accidents reported between December 29 and January 4, with 2,672 people injured and 333 killed. This equals 386 per day (333 = 47 per day killed)

In Uk the average collisions per day are around 336 a day with 60 serious injuries per day. https://www.brake.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/mybrake/knowledge-centre/uk-road-safety

The difference isn't the number of accidents, it's the numbers of deaths.

Agreed on the number of deaths.
I remember looking at the figures a year or so back and the UK traffic fatalities were 5-10% that of Thailand. The land size of Thailand is twice the UK, even though the population is near enough the same.

[cowslip]

5 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

Agreed on the number of deaths.
I remember looking at the figures a year or so back and the UK traffic fatalities were 5-10% that of Thailand. The land size of Thailand is twice the UK, even though the population is near enough the same.

The death rate is as you sy about 10 to 12 times that of the UK- BUT the collision rates are not that different.

the figures used first are usually per 100k population.

I can't see how the size of the country in acreage, is in particular, significant. The number of vehicles per km. or number of miles driven pr vehicle per death may be....and of course the miles of roads available.

But the situation appears to be your chances of having a crash in UK or Thailand  are not significantly different. This would indicate that it is when you actually have a crash in Thailand you are more likely to die.

So what factors are involved? 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Khunwilko

[Bluesofa]

Road traffic deaths per 100K capita:
Thailand 32.7  (2016)
UK 2.9 (2019)

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

What factors are involved? Purely for fatalities, I'd say less people administering first aid and not so good emergency treatment at the accident location/on the way to hospital.
That's just personal experience of two incidents.

[cowslip]

55 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

Road traffic deaths per 100K capita:
Thailand 32.7  (2016)
UK 2.9 (2019)

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

What factors are involved? Purely for fatalities, I'd say less people administering first aid and not so good emergency treatment at the accident location/on the way to hospital.
That's just personal experience of two incidents.

So wiki figures put the death rate at about one tenth of the UK, right? The other figures wiki publishes or lack of them in the case of Thailand is probably more telling than the oft regurgitated death rate per 100k.

 

You have identified a single issue emergency. – it is pretty certain that Thai emergency services are just too rudimentary to deal with RTIs. … but there are other issues; firstly the prevalence of motorcycles up to 50% on Thai roads, then such things as speed /road design/road surfaces/roadside hazards / type of vehicle etc.) that have to be dealt with concurrently for there to be any significant change.

The thing is, you can't just say "bad drivers" if the collision numbers are the same or similar. All countries will have the same number of idiot drivers ... it's what they do to stop idiots from being idiots or after they've been and idiot hence the "Safe System". It's dependant on  what governments put in place to protect them.

The UK policy is summed by the idea that road deaths and casualties are not merely the result of poor driving, centrally relevant though that is, but of a transport system as a whole, from signage to road user education, from enforcement to infrastructure design and construction  - Dept for Transport 201

The Safe System (otherwise known as Vision Zero, Towards Zero or Sustainable Safety) views human life and health as paramount to all else and should be the first and foremost consideration when designing a road network.

People make mistakes which can lead to crashes; however, no one should die or be seriously injured on the road as a result of these mistakes.

·      The human body has a limited physical ability to tolerate crash forces – any impact greater than 30km/h increases the risk of dying significantly.

·      Road safety is a shared responsibility amongst everyone, including those that design, build, operate and use the road system

·      All parts of the road system must be strengthened in combination to multiply the protective effects and if one part fails, the others will still protect people.

·      At the centre of the system is people – people that are fragile and will at times make mistakes that can lead to crashes. With that understanding, the road system needs to put layers of protection in the form of safe roads, vehicles, speeds, people around the fallible and vulnerable human in order to prevent deaths and serious injuries.

http://www.towardszerofoundation.org/thesafesystem/

The SAFE System is designed to be forgiving of human error. The cornerstones of this approach are 

safe roads and roadsides, 

safe speeds, safe vehicles, and 

safe road users, 

all of which must be addressed in order to eliminate fatal crashes and reduce serious injuries.

It requires 

·      An overhaul of road design and construction

·      Reform of the POLICE – with a properly trained traffic police.

·      The legal system has to be reforms to deal with, hand out and collect enforced penalties. Corruption needs to stop

·      The public need a full continuous health and safety campaign in all media – a driving test is not enough.

·      Emergency services need to be homogenised and run on a central system.

·      All accidents reported need to be thoroughly analysed, calibrated and put onto a database.

This takes years, but only then will there be a significant reduction in death and injuries on Thai roads. It will cost but one has to bear in mind that as it stands, road deaths and injuries cost the Thai economy trillions of baht every year. WHO estimates Thailand's losses from road accidents at Bt500 billion or he losses due to accidents were estimated at 3 per cent of gross domestic product

 

http://www.towardszerofoundation.org/thesafesystem/

Edited January 6, 2022 by Khunwilko

[cowslip]

not sure what the photo in the article is for - it isn't from the New Year as far as I can see it is from a private motorcycle touring site . My guess is it's a foreigner owned vehicle the has taken out a load of parked motorcycles.

[Poolie]

86% of Thai fatalities were motorcycle accidents. Its in no way comparable to the UK.

[cowslip]

3 hours ago, Poolie said:

86% of Thai fatalities were motorcycle accidents. Its in no way comparable to the UK.

the overall average for Thailand motorcycles is 73% in the most complete figures.

Road safety is not a matter simply of swapping death rates - it is a science and the problem is one of public health worldwide. Half the traffic in Thailand is 2-wheeled. In Vietnam and other S.E. Asian countries it is the majority, yet they end up with lower death rates. 

But you can compare the death rates in 4-wheeled vehicles - and the Thai death rate for cars etc. is a little lower than than that in the USA.

 

[DesperateOldHand]

3 hours ago, Khunwilko said:

the overall average for Thailand motorcycles is 73% in the most complete figures.

Road safety is not a matter simply of swapping death rates - it is a science and the problem is one of public health worldwide. Half the traffic in Thailand is 2-wheeled. In Vietnam and other S.E. Asian countries it is the majority, yet they end up with lower death rates. 

But you can compare the death rates in 4-wheeled vehicles - and the Thai death rate for cars etc. is a little lower than than that in the USA.

Shouldn't be surprising, as Americans might have the most disconnected and unaware driving character that they share with their Anglophone community. And have derived this fashion that they might be the most prudent of all drivers, all the while critique those whom aren't privy to their exceptional driving skill - especially Asian. Such fancy.

[cowslip]

10 hours ago, DesperateOldHand said:

Shouldn't be surprising, as Americans might have the most disconnected and unaware driving character that they share with their Anglophone community. And have derived this fashion that they might be the most prudent of all drivers, all the while critique those whom aren't privy to their exceptional driving skill - especially Asian. Such fancy.

Sorry I don't understand you post - are you suggesting that driving in the USA is analogous with other English speaking countries?

For sure most western drivers are under a false impression that they are "better" than Thai drivers - a misconception that stems from the inherently safer driving systems imposed on them at home.

USA have not nationally adopted the Safe System - their national death rate is four times that of the UK. the private vehicle rate is higher than that of Thailand