Rant of the Week: Road Safety in Thailand
There isn't any – that's a good place to start. Honestly, that could be the whole story. People just kind of do whatever they want and there are very few instances of there being any sort of repercussions.
That lack of law is another story though and to be honest there are instances where I actually appreciate the fact that the police aren't looking to give you a $200 ticket because you didn't know your tail light was burned out.
it's schoolkids on this thing... what happens if we hit the brakes?
There are many different ways of looking at the stats but if you look at really any tally of road fatalities you will see Thailand in the top 10, every year. Most recently one survey had us at number 1 in the world (at least we are the best at something!)
This is all quite harrowing indeed but the thing that I find so disturbing is that the people that live here, Thai and the expat community are VERY AWARE of this fact yet actively choose to not use the basic safety mechanisms that are provided and are required (at least in theory.)
If we were to sit on really any city street outside of Bangkok (which is the only city I can see that actually enforces the nationwide helmet law) and count how many people are wearing helmets, I would be extremely surprised if even 50% of the people were actually doing so. Even the people that do wear helmets have a 3 dollar helmet that doesn't stand much chance of helping you in a crash.
where i live, only the driver of the bike needs to be wearing a helmet
What you most commonly see is that people have their helmet on their head but the chin strap isn't attached so as soon as you have an accident it is going to fly off your head. Many people simply keep the helmet sitting in the basket on the front of the bike to put on in the event that there is a police checkpoint. In the locals facebook page, police checkpoints for helmet checks are announced so that the local community can be sure to bring their helmet that day.
I just don't get it: This one pieces of equipment that isn't even expensive can be the difference between you having some road rash and being dead. Your body can take a tremendous amount of damage, your head can take almost none.
My own head met the pavement in a motorcycle crash where I was knocked unconscious through the helmet. I broke my leg, if I didn't have my helmet on, my brains would have been on the street.
4 people that I personally know have died because of a crash where if they had just worn a helmet, they would still be alive. Another friend of mine had a $3 helmet on and was thrown from the bike. She has brain damage now and it seems unlikely she is ever going to be the same as she was before. She already was wearing a helmet but the type that people know is not going to protect you in a crash.
I guess i just don't understand the thinking behind the average person on a bike over here. We are very aware of the fact that it is extremely dangerous on the roads in this country yet most people don't exercise any caution.
am i just not understanding the culture? How is this not child abuse?
I went to a restaurant opening tonight in the town where i live in Krabi and I counted the oncoming motorbikes during my (quite short) journey there. It was 97 motorbikes that i encountered and 7 (7!!!) that had people wearing helmets. I saw no police at all during my drive. I was one of the 7 by the way.... because i enjoy having a head.
Do you live in a country where people can't seem to be convinced to look out for their own well-being? I would love to hear about it. I just can't understand why this country can KNOW they are number 1 (or in the top 5, whatever) in road deaths and not give a crap.
As always I welcome your comments / criticism and will award an additional upvote for anyone that spots problems with my spelling and grammar.
Very interesting article. Kudos!
I am not at all in favor of people dying, and from a purely humanitarian perspective I fully share your expressed feeling about the state of things, currently. But, as an anti-statist, I cringe at allowing the government the power to tell adults what to do with their own lives...children, yes--that's a whole different story. But, if an adult wants to be an idiot...
Could religion and/or social stigma be employed to encourage helmet use? Might take awhile, and I'm not sure how to go about it,but... Maybe local communities could offer some type of (tax?) incentive for the use of helmets?
(FYI...the "i" in your 3rd-ro-last paragraph should be capitalized...lol)
I am anti-government also. I just can't understand why a group of people, who almost certainly know at least one person who has lost their life by choosing to not do something, would still choose to not do it. Mostly, I feel that when people are left to their own devices that at the minimum self-preservation would prevail.
If the only thing anyone can find is me not capitalizing my "i" 's ... i'm doing alright.
Thanks for reading
LOL...thanks for writing!
Same thing in my country, it's only the rider of the bike that's legally required to wear helmet. But even them hardly where it, they just bribe the police once a while when they stop them. The police stop them because they need the money
yep, i am sure that is the same thing that is happening over here. Thanks for reading.
I'm really sorry for your friends that had bike crashes.
They learnt their lessons hard way.
Same thing happened to my brother.
He was always a crazy driver, and he fell off from his bike.
It occured on a street that usually has lots of cars.
He was lucky that no one was behind him... He would've probably died if someone was.
Good thing was that he was wearing a helmet.
It might have saved his life.
And after that, he sold his bike, and our father forbid us to buy bikes again.
Even if you drive it safely, it's a lot more dangerous than driving a car.
I am very happy that your story has a happy ending. For all too many people that isn't the case. Thanks for reading.
I knew guy that actually died after a fall, but he was crazy, I'd say.
He was driving 200km/h+, so I wasn't surprised when I heard that he died.
I remembered I had a picture of when my friend fell of from bike last year.
It still looks really bad when we see that scar.
You see everything you talked about here is happening exactly the same way it is happening in my country .
I’ve seen people make helmets outta a bowl attaching ropes all in the name of passing though the check points
In my country, only the rider has an helmet without the soft inner part of it and they never wear it securely well, some turn it face back and some only wears it when they want to receive call and do not want to stop and so the helmet is only a phone holder .
Two of my own friends died the same day on a bike accident, a biker rider collided with a fence right infront of him and I could see his brains. The scene was horrific, I wish I hadn’t been there that fateful day
Oh my God!!!!%$&@collided with a fence sh$!&@+!t
I still have the horrific scene play in my head
Omo!
My country is the number one when it comes to this, it is terrible, it is disheartening that things like this still happen.jpeg)
Your story looked exactly like the one we are having here in Nigeria..
People only obey the law of the road due to the fear of the police and not because of the benefits they stand to gain if they obey them.
Helmet is even becoming forbidden where I live, hardly will you see one out of one thousand motorcycle rider using helmet.
What of seatbelt? As soon as we approach the check point, that is when your will see everyone trying to fix it and remove it after wards. This supposed not to be so, it's for our safety for crying out loud.
Nobody supposed to be reminding us before we use them.
In the picture above, look at how they packed the students together, that is very terrible, do you know how many lives are at risk if something uncalled for should just happen
Look at how they pack people together in the following pictures as well, I don't know where they were taken, but can you just emerging how they are risking their precious lives
I can only say Wow!
This is very alarming, most especially the helmet and overloading issue. Car and Moto fatalities are avoidable through means such as public education, enforcement of law,etc. But if Thailand residents are failing to put these into practice, I really don't see the rate of accidents falling. By posting this publication, I really think you're doing the people good by educating them on this alarming road-awareness issues. Well done @gooddream
In my country, Indonesian, many users seem to have not realized the importance of safety compared to comfort. People are lazy to wear helmets for one reason they are uncomfortable.
even more sad, people are afraid to use a helmet just because they do not want to be fined by the police.
Should be early, children have been implanted safety patterns in driving
The lack of law is bad, I say it from experience in the country where I live.
haha your spelling and grammar was good, because I could understand it well to be a Hispanic person. Greetings and blessings