Thailand's "Ten Year Plan" to improve road safety has failed - instead of halving the death toll it's nearly doubled! 😡😡😡

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Thailand's "Ten Year Plan" to improve road safety has failed - instead of halving the death toll it's nearly doubled!

 

Picture: Voice TV

 

A Zoom conference was told that the last ten years have seen a complete failure to address the carnage on Thailand's roads.

 

The ten years from 2011 to 2020 was billed as a decade to end the carnage. 

 

Instead of halving it has got much worse. 

 

In fact it has nearly doubled. 

 

It didn't need Thaivisa to do the math but we did: If nothing changes a MILLION more people could lose their lives by about the middle of the century.

 

Now a complete rethink is needed with refocus on what is important, otherwise it will just go on and on, said a manager of a road safety study group.

 

Dr Thanapong Jinwong said that the "10 year safety campaign" had failed. He was talking on the subject of "what to do about the roads so Thais don't fall victim to collisions".

 

Back in 2011 the target was to reduce road death from 20 per 100,000 inhabitants to 10.

 

Instead it is now 29 per 100,000. 

 

Earlier this year it looked like there was going to be some improvement but it proved a false dawn.

 

There were now just as many accidents and just as much death as ever on the Thai roads. 

 

He pinpointed the need to focus on three main areas:

 

1. Improving the driving skill and road use behavior of Thais.

 

2. Improving the safety of roads.

 

3. Ensuring law enforcement. 

 

These areas have long been advocated but continuing lip service being paid to the issue as well as a lack of any effective action means that the problems continue unabated. 

 

Dr Thanapong called for an end to a piecemeal approach with a setting up of a national taskforce to deal with the problem rather like the government has done with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

He said that concentrating on festivals (like Songkran and New Year when the issue is highlighted in the media and becomes a fleeting top priority), it needs to be a year round, all encompassing approach. 

 

If action is not taken now the problem will just get worse.

 

Thaivisa notes that the death toll on the Thai roads is among the worst in the world with a figure around 25,000 often given for annual deaths, perhaps 70% involving motorcycle fatalities. DPM Prawit Wongsuwean admitted two years ago that it was in excess of 20,000 per annum.

 

It is a sobering thought that if nothing is done to address the problem, the next three to four decades could see a MILLION people lose their lives on the nation's roads. 

 

Source: Voice TV