THAILAND’S DANGEROUS ROAD STATUS CONFIRMED – AGAIN! - The Zutobi, which is a driver’s education portal website that publishes a new score annually, has reported that Thailand scored badly on five different factors to rank it on second on the list of most dangerous nations to drive in. The factors were estimated road death rates, maximum motorway speed limits, seat-belt wearing rates, alcohol-related deaths, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits. Royal Coast Review

THAILAND'S DANGEROUS ROAD STATUS CONFIRMED – AGAIN!

August 2, 2022

The Zutobi, which is a driver's education portal website that publishes a new score annually, has reported that Thailand scored badly on five different factors to rank it on second on the list of most dangerous nations to drive in.

The factors were estimated road death rates, maximum motorway speed limits, seat-belt wearing rates, alcohol-related deaths, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits.

The world's safest countries for driving this year have seen little change from the previous year. For the second year in a row, Norway is the safest country in the world for driving, while runners up Iceland and Estonia ranked in last year's top five safest countries.

Switzerland rose into the top ten countries with the safest roads, up three places from last year.

The most dangerous countries for driving have remained consistent since last year, with the three most dangerous seeing no change. 

Zutobi ranked Thailand in second spot behind South Africa. The United States was third.

The full report and complete country rankings can be seen at https://zutobi.com/static/assets/the-worlds-safest-roads/common/safest-roads-zutobi-2021.pdf

What can be done to avoid road accidents and unnecessary road fatalities?

Zutobi says that first of all drivers should be aware of the main reasons accidents occur – by narrowing the list down to the major reasons, drivers can also focus specifically on not making those mistakes.

Major reasons include speeding, distracted driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, and lack of scanning, among other things. Government awareness campaigns can also help educate drivers to avoid these behaviors.

Second, drivers also need to have proper knowledge of driving safety practices and the rules of the road before beginning to drive. A good way of attaining a proper foundation is by reading driving theory and doing practice tests.

Thailand saw a total of 32,190 road accidents in 2020 and 2021, mostly involving pickups, according to the Transport Ministry.

According to the Ministry of Transport's Data Catalogue, motorcycles did not cause the most accidents as many assumed, however the Ministry information does not relate to injuries or fatalities.   

Most accidents that happened in 2020 and 2021 involved pickup trucks (37 per cent), followed by a category of private and public vehicles (27 per cent).

Key interesting statistics from the ministry's Data Catalogue include:

Types of vehicles in accidents:

– Pickups (37%)

– Private and public vehicles (27%)

– Motorcycles (20%)

– Trucks with at least 10 wheels (8%)

– Six-wheel trucks (6%)

– Vans (2%)

Types of roads where most accidents happened:

– Straight-ahead roads without slope (70%)

– Curves without slope (13%)

– Curves with slope (8%)

– Bridges to commercial venues (3%)

– Intersections (1%)

Types of accidents:

– Overturning on or skidding off straight-ahead roads (43%)

– Rear crash (31%)

– Overturning or skidding off curved roads (13%)

– Head-on crashes (5%)

– Crashing into traffic barriers (4%)

– Crashing at intersections (2%)

– Hitting pedestrians (2%)

Causes of accidents:

– Violation of speed limit (78%)

– Being cut in front by pedestrians, vehicles or animals (8%)

– Falling asleep behind wheel (4%)

– Drunk driving (3%)

– Violations of traffic lights or signs or vehicles malfunctioning (2%)

– Unlawfully overtaking other vehicles, not allowing vehicles on main road to pass first, or not familiar with roads (1%).