How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Driving and riding in Hua Hin and Thailand, all topics on cars, pickups, bikes, boats, licenses, roads, and motoring in general.
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buksida
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

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Cops eye traffic offences points system

Police are hoping to introduce a penalty point system to deal with traffic offences as part of an effort to improve road safety in the country.

Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn, the assistant police chief, said efforts must be made to amend traffic laws since the current light punishments do not appear to scare road offenders into changing their driving habits.

Fines, he said, tend to affect the poor more than the wealthy who can afford to speed and pay them when caught.

Police are in the process of linking traffic offences to a demerit point system which authorities would consider when renewing a driver's licence, he said. It is unclear when police hope to introduce the new system.

According to Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn, generally, each driver would have a full 12 points.

Minor offences, including riding motorcycles without a helmet, not wearing a seatbelt and speeding over the limit, could result in the deduction of one point.

It would cost the drivers two points if they committed "moderately serious" offences, such as running a red light, driving on the wrong side of the road or driving at a speed of more than 130 kilometres per hour.

Severe traffic offences would result in the deduction of three points. These include drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs and driving at speeds of more than 160km per hour.

If all the 12 points are deducted, drivers would have their licences suspended for 90 days.

However, it has not been determined how long point deductions for various offences will last for.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... nts-system
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by Big Boy »

All they have to do then, is get Thais to obtain a licence before driving.

The kiddie who drove his bike under my truck did not have a licence, but that was only considered a minor offence and not punished because he'd hurt his leg.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

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Severe traffic offences would result in the deduction of three points. These include drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs and driving at speeds of more than 160km per hour.
Ridiculous! You can drive drunk or up to your eyeballs on ya-ba 4 times before your points are used up and you may face a ban for 90 days.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

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Safer roads will boost Thai GDP by 22 per cent: World Bank
THAILAND could gain significant long-term economic benefit by making the roads safer and saving its mainly young and capable population from premature death in accidents, the World Bank says.

A report released earlier this year, titled “The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unacceptable and Preventable”, concludes that, if road traffic injuries could be reduced in Thailand by 50 per cent and satisfactory road safety sustained for 24 years, the economy would enjoy a 22-per-cent boost.

Dipan Bose, one of the researchers involved, said the key to earning that substantial benefit was ensuring that productive young people live long enough to contribute to the country’s prosperity. Instead, they’re dying or being maimed in road crashes while still young.

“Road traffic injuries are the single largest cause of mortality and long-term disability among people in the prime working ages of 15 to 29 years old,” said Bose of the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility.

Full Story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30355064
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

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Driving drunk or drugged FOUR times and you lose your license for 90 days--OMG they really mean business.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by PeteC »

Just a bit of thinking out loud based upon some statistics I've read in the past few days.

66 road deaths per day, 73% motorcycles = approximately 18 per day non-motorcycle = 6,570 per year.

France, with a population approximately the same as Thailand, had approximately 3,900.

The UK with again almost the same population of Thailand and France had approximately 1,793.

Numbers for France and the UK don't have motorcycle deaths deducted. I wouldn't think it was/is a significant percentage as it is here. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Minivan, bus and road accidents

Post by fabman »

The amount of drivers that tail gate here in LOS is crazy, not a thought from these selfish idiots!

I don't know how the latest accident happened but whenever I drive to Bangkok or anywhere quite far , you can always gauruntee at least half a dozen of these brainless fools tailing you, before flying up the inside or cutting across lanes.

We have child stickers on the back of our car, but of course that dosent stop them.
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Re: Minivan, bus and road accidents

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fabman wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:51 pm We have child stickers on the back of our car, but of course that dosent stop them.
I don't get these "child on board" stickers at all. Well not as far as tailgating goes. If you want to alert the emergency services that there's a child on board in the event of an accident where you can't communicate, then fine. But I don't see why anyone would think "I am a reckless driver, I will happily stick a meter from your bumper when your doing 120 kph, with no regard for your safety or mine" but then expect them to suddenly change their tune if there's a child on board. Surely if they had regard for road safety or child safety they wouldn't drive like morons in the first place.
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Re: Minivan, bus and road accidents

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MDMK wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:24 pm
fabman wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:51 pm We have child stickers on the back of our car, but of course that dosent stop them.
I don't get these "child on board" stickers at all. Well not as far as tailgating goes. If you want to alert the emergency services that there's a child on board in the event of an accident where you can't communicate, then fine. But I don't see why anyone would think "I am a reckless driver, I will happily stick a meter from your bumper when your doing 120 kph, with no regard for your safety or mine" but then expect them to suddenly change their tune if there's a child on board. Surely if they had regard for road safety or child safety they wouldn't drive like morons in the first place.
Your right that these people are morons, but you would think that even they, would understand if they are tail gating and there is a baby / young child in the back seat, if there is a collision then that child will most likely be killed or badly injured, probably more so than an adult.
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Re: Minivan, bus and road accidents

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fabman wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:42 pm you would think that even they, would understand if they are tail gating and there is a baby / young child in the back seat, if there is a collision then that child will most likely be killed or badly injured, probably more so than an adult.
I think if the morons had the capacity for rational thought they wouldn't drive like morons in the first place

but they do :roll:
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by Dannie Boy »

This is slightly off tangent but yesterday we left our house and needed to stop to put some rubbish in one of the bins. I checked in my rear mirror and there was a small Honda maybe 30 meters behind me so I signaled to pull in and gently came to a stop. The woman on the Honda instead of passing on the right couldn’t have been looking and came by on the left and eventually came to a halt just past our car. My wife wound down the window - I thought maybe she knew her and they were going to talk, instead the woman apparently said “sorry I couldn’t stop because my brakes don’t work properly”. So clearly she was driving a motorcycle with little or no braking capacity so had a child ran out or a car pulled out in front of her, she was an accident waiting to happen.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

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I also like the motor bikers and bikerettes whose taillights don't work and you can't see them at night.

Old Thai joke: Why do Thais have mirrors on their motorbikes?
So they can look at themselves when stopping at a red light.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by Big Boy »

:agree: I've been driving the road from Ratchaburi to Hua Hin at night quite a bit in the last 6 months. 10 miles either side of Petchaburi is particularly bad for this, and I encounter dozens on every journey. Driving a bike at night on that stretch is bad enough, but with no lights is madness.
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by Nereus »

I try and avoid driving at night any longer. The idiots that get me going is the ones driving towards you on the wrong shoulder WITH a frigging headlight on high beam! :guns:
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Re: How can Thailand curb its appalling road fatality rate?

Post by uncle tom »

I try and avoid driving at night any longer
I'm not fond of crossing the main drag on foot after dark - I'm sure the traffic speeds up when the sun goes down..

The biggest problem with all aspects of safety in Thailand is getting people to recognise that they are the masters of their own well-being, and that no amount of religious trinketry makes up for a lack of basic care and attention..
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