Thread: Thailand's killer roads (or perhaps I should say : " drivers")

Killer roads: Why Thailand has one of the worst death rates from driving in the world | World News | Sky News

Driving in Thailand is like tiptoeing through the minefields in Cambodia.

It's a perennial subject for reporters. They don't say where they get their data. Looking on WHO I see stats from 2013.

WHO | World Health Organization

Which are really useful.

We all know, it is a problem. Can't fix it. Drive defensively and take care out there.

Total corruption by the police leads to total disrespect of the rules by the public and that's it in a nutshell.

According to backspin it's because they have a lot of traffic.

Originally Posted by Troy

Total corruption by the police leads to total disrespect of the rules by the public and that's it in a nutshell.

Police corruption is just the front end, there's also the contractors and those that dish it out for substandard roads that decay further as the rains fall, poor lighting, street markings and furniture, the whole package. Then we could discuss the level of competency required to obtain a Thai driving license, and the value of life here against the developed world, but these have also been beaten to death with no positive indications for the future.

Behind it all is lack of education that reinforces the 3W mentality, with leaders queuing up to tell us their next ambitious project to benefit the people which is guaranteed to fail, and nobody is surprised when they live up to that expectation. What this mindset needs is good defibrillator, but even that would be a Chinese knockout at 10x the cost of a German one.

99.9% of it is pure Thai fuckwittery. Speeding, ignoring traffic lights, driving drunk, an inflated feeling of self-importance while living in a fucking world of one's own....

Originally Posted by jabir

Police corruption is just the front end, there's also the contractors and those that dish it out for substandard roads that decay further as the rains fall, poor lighting, street markings and furniture, the whole package. Then we could discuss the level of competency required to obtain a Thai driving license, and the value of life here against the developed world, but these have also been beaten to death with no positive indications for the future.

Behind it all is lack of education that reinforces the 3W mentality, with leaders queuing up to tell us their next ambitious project to benefit the people which is guaranteed to fail, and nobody is surprised when they live up to that expectation. What this mindset needs is good defibrillator, but even that would be a Chinese knockout at 10x the cost of a German one.

you have said it all thats wrong with this country,from the bottom to the top.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

99.9% of it is pure Thai fuckwittery. Speeding, ignoring traffic lights, driving drunk, an inflated feeling of self-importance while living in a fucking world of one's own....

Nailed it, especially the last part. Safe driving means multi-tasking - as in your brain has to be processing everything going on around you non-stop, anticipating dangers, and be able to come up with an evasive action plan instantaneously. Thai's are good at many things, multi-tasking is not one of them.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

99.9% of it is pure Thai fuckwittery. Speeding, ignoring traffic lights, driving drunk, an inflated feeling of self-importance while living in a fucking world of one's own....

Never mind, when they invent self driving mosais that should considerably reduce the death rate.

Most Thais couldn’t drive a greasy stick up a dead dog’s arse with a frying pan.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

99.9% of it is pure Thai fuckwittery. Speeding, ignoring traffic lights, driving drunk, an inflated feeling of self-importance while living in a fucking world of one's own....

I laughed, I was shocked and I felt sorry.

AMAZING THAILAND !

Originally Posted by Headworx

Nailed it, especially the last part. Safe driving means multi-tasking - as in your brain has to be processing everything going on around you non-stop, anticipating dangers, and be able to come up with an evasive action plan instantaneously. Thai's are good at many things, multi-tasking is not one of them.

On the other hand, they generally seem to have good spatial awareness. I can't, for example, remember the last time I saw a Thai trip over. I am always stumbling over broken pavements, even before I have any refreshments.

Some brutal accidents in that video clip. Quite a few involved the Thai thinking that if you don't look then there will be nothing there.

I saw this and it got me thinking about how many times I got in a car or on the back of a moto knowing the driver was pissed up. I was pretty fucking stupid myself at times, but plenty of others were doing it and you think it will never happen to you, dont' you?

Originally Posted by Troy

Some brutal accidents in that video clip. Quite a few involved the Thai thinking that if you don't look then there will be nothing there.

I've mentioned a Facebook group called Bad Driving in Thailand before. It's all cctv or dash-cam footage of vehicle accidents and as gruesome as it often is, should be mandatory viewing for anyone who drives here so they know to never let their guard down no matter how normal and safe everything looks around them. Death on the roads here comes from anywhere, including above, and they excel at making what seems impossible a reality. You'd normally need to be watching a cartoon to see some of the things on video on that page.