Thread: New Year Holiday Road Accidents in Thailand Claim 85 Lives in 2 Days

Road accidents across Thailand have claimed 85 lives and injured 714 people in the first two days of the New Years road safety campaign, with speeding and drunk driving being the leading causes.


The numbers are slightly lower than the same period last year, when 90 people were killed and 787 were injured on the first two days of the so-called “seven dangerous days” for road travel.


Chotinarin Kerdsom, deputy permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, said on Saturday that 48 people were killed and 363 were injured in 366 accidents on Friday alone. Accidents totaled 715 in the first two days, compared to 797 in the same period last year.

According to the Bangkok Post, speeding was responsible for 35.5% of all road accidents, with drunk driving accounting for the remaining 25.7%. Motorcycles were involved in 79% of all accidents, with 83.9% of crashes occurring on major roads. Between 4 and 5 p.m., the most dangerous hour for collisions.


On Friday, Sakon Nakhon had the most road accidents, with 18. Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most injured people (18), while Pathum Thani had the most fatalities (4).


Thirty-one provinces reported no traffic fatalities. Sakon Nakhon had the most crashes in two days, with 26, and the most injuries, with 29. Pathum Thani had the highest two-day death toll, with six, according to Mr Chotinarin.



Thailand Top 10 for Road Accidents


Thailand is one of the top ten countries in the world for the number of road accidents. Thailand is ranked ninth in the world for the highest number of road fatalities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), while Thailand’s roads are ranked first in Southeast Asia.


The Accident Information Center for Culture and Road Safety collected road accident data between 2021 and 2022 in order to analyze the main causes of accidents.


According to the statistics, there were 13,488 deaths from road accidents during this time period, and the accidents were caused by three major factors: 1.) a collision, 2.) human behavior like speeding or overtaking, and 3.) equipment failure like brake failure.


Because of the sheer number of motorcyclists on the road, especially in urban areas, more road accidents occur.


Data collected by the ‘Social Mobilization for Motorcycle Safety’ project on 1,000 kilometers of Thai roads revealed that three out of four roads pose a risk to motorcyclists due to factors such as deterioration, potholes, or the road’s design being unsuitable for motorcycles when compared to cars.


Roadside structures such as poles and trees can also exacerbate risks for motorcycles that lose control on the road, and the law appears to work against safety at times.


Motorcycles sliding under trucks are a common accident in Thailand because motorcycles and trucks are required to drive in the leftmost lanes.

New Year Holiday Road Accidents In Thailand Claim 85 Lives In 2 Days

Since the daily average is higher than that, clearly the campaign works.

^ I don't know where you learned math, but 13,488/730 = over 18 deaths per day, so 85 in two days would be more than double the daily average.
People outside of the developed nations need to learn what lanes and signals are for.

Okay, now I know where you are coming from