The Thai New Year, Song Kran, is coming up in Thailand. This is the biggest holiday of all and huge amounts of people travel to their hometowns. This event has been more or less banned since the virus outbreak but this year the restrictions have been eased. We expect, as always, that the death toll during this period will rise significantly.
Thailand has one of the world’s highest death tolls when it comes to traffic accidents. This is mainly due to driving and drinking, poor safety education, and speeding.
How can Road death in Thailand be avoided?
First, some statistics. A whopping 72% of deaths come from motorbike accidents. Maybe not surprising since MC is the most popular way of driving around in Thailand and can do so all year round. Driving a car is therefore not that bad compared to many other countries but there certainly are many things to do even there. Big parts of Thailand have excellent road infrastructure with 4 to 10 lanes Highways. This means high speeds and severe accidents.
If you drive around Thailand you can reduce the chance of having an accident by driving responsibly, sober, and not sleepy. Look out for motorbikes and expect them to do something irrational. If you encounter a drunk driver, there is not much you can do to evade mostly.
During the New year’s holiday, thai police set up many checkpoints along the roads. They stop many cars and check for alcohol or other influenced substances. If they test positive they have to sleep it off on a camping bed set up at the checkpoint. Very different from the western world where they will be taken to jail. If you feel tired you can use one of the beds and have a nap. All these procedures are much better than doing nothing but not enough to make roads safer and decrease road death in Thailand.
The two most common causes of deadly accidents are drunk driving and speeding. Both problems can be heavily reduced, but the will or money to do it seems to be lacking. Efforts should be done to eliminate drunk drivers with heavier fines, jail, and education.
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As for myself, I have been driving in Thailand now for 17 years and never had an accident. Minor incidents have occurred mainly because the traffic in many places, like Pattaya where I live, has very small margins.