Coronavirus Thailand
54 Covid-19 deaths compared to 26,000 road deaths
OPINION
by Brian Hull, long-term expat
From time-to-time The Thaiger adds some different perspectives from guest posts. Expat Brian Hull gave us permission to repost his social media rant about the road deaths in Thailand, comparing them with the death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Thailand, with a population of 67 million, has done a good job to date in keeping Covid-19 deaths to just 54. This begs the question of why nothing serious is ever done to tackle the annual road carnage of 26,000 deaths, which gives Thailand the distinction of being in the top six of the worst countries in the world.
Every accident is a tragedy but the biggest tragedy of all is that most of these could be prevented with proper police control.
I don’t know where the buck stops in the Thai bureaucratic blame game but it should be obvious to even a blind man where it starts – with the traffic police who are noted by their absence from the roads.
During six years of living in Thailand, not once have I seen a motor bike cop or police car stop anybody for anything. Their activities are confined to roadside checks for motorbike helmets and drivers’ licenses. While it is laudable, it does not require trained policemen to perform this function, it could be done by retired school teachers or librarians, and does nothing whatsoever to reduce road accidents.
For years, I have expressed my frustration, and fumed about Thailand not having proper road rules but to my surprise, when I did a test for a Thai Driver’s License, I discovered that sensible traffic regulations, similar to those in the West, are in place. The problem is that they are not enforced.
I think a basic road rule that applies in nearly all developed countries, including Thailand, is that a vehicle (whether car or motorbike) cannot pass another vehicle that is travelling in the same lane. So, all those motorbikes and scooters that are passing cars on either side of them, and snaking in and out of traffic, are breaking the law and creating mayhem.
This, and drink driving or speeding, are the major causes of accidents. If the police were to crack down on just this one rule there is no doubt in my mind that traffic accidents would be reduced by well over 50%.
At 10pm one night last year, with nothing better to do, I counted 250 traffic transgressions in the space of 15 minutes that were worthy of a fine. Any country in the world would have a traffic accident rate as dismal as Thailand’s if they did not have active police control, from the top down.
If senior Government officials are not capable of effectively managing their police force, or are just too lethargic and unmotivated, then they should be replaced, and if appropriate, face charges of Criminal Negligence.
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Thailand has 10 new cases of Covid-19 reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). The infections were from those arriving from 8 different countries, with all being in quarantine. The new cases bring the total to 3,902 with the death toll remaining at 60. Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, US and India were the countries that the visitors have arrived from, with most having no symptoms upon entering Thailand.
A 55 year old from Germany who was a Dutch businessman tested positive in quarantine after arriving in Bangkok on November 6 without any symptoms.
A 30 year old Thai woman tested positive in quarantine with symptoms after arriving from Sweden on November 12 while a day later a 56 year old Swiss man tested positive after arriving from Switzerland with no symptoms. Another case was a 43 year old Thai masseuse who arrived from the Czech Republic on November 14. That person was also on the same flight as another previously confirmed case.
An engineer from Belgium tested positive after arriving on the same day as the Thai masseuse, and was on the same flight as another confirmed case. The Belgian displayed no symptoms. Again on the same day, a 15 year old Indian student tested positive after arriving in Bangkok. That student was also on a flight with a previously confirmed case.
2 Thai women, who also arrived on November 14 from the Netherlands tested positive. One was a 52 year old housewife with virus symptoms and the other was a 22 year old student with no symptoms. 2 more Thais returned from the US in which both tested positive on the same day as the others, with one displaying symptoms. The other, was a 61 year old retired official.
Globally, the amount of cases rose by 659,511 over the last 24 hours to 57.9 million. The death toll worldwide also rose to 1.37 million. The US remains as the country with the most cases, at 12.27 million, followed by India with just over 9 million. Thailand currently ranks 151st worldwide for the number of cases so far reported.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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The director of the World Health Organisation is praising Thailand for being a successful model of Covid-19 containment. Dr. Panprapha Yongtrakul, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health says the WHO director noted that despite Thailand having a population of 70 million with many densely populated cities, the total number of cases is less than 4,000 with only 60 deaths so far.
But she says that the success isn’t coincidental, but more of a result of over 40 years of investments by past and present governments to improve the public health infrastructure, including recruiting public health volunteers, which have played an important role in the regions during SARS and now Covid.
Today, Thailand is reporting 8 new cases of Covid-19, all arrivals from abroad, and undergoing state quarantine. Currently, the total number of cases is 3,874 with the death toll remaining at 60.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
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The CSSA in Thailand has reported 8 new imported cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total amount of coronavirus infections since the pandemic began to 3,874. No additional deaths have been reported.
4 Thai nationals, 3 Indians, and 1 Egyptian made up the new imported cases, all identified whilst in quarantine. One Thai returnee from Belgium tested positive for the virus on her second test last Thursday. Another Thai woman who returned from the UAE also tested positive for the virus on her second test while displaying no symptoms. Another Thai woman returned from Egypt tested positive on Tuesday with the last Thai national woman testing positive after arriving from Switzerland on November 8.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Toby Andrews
Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 11:13 am
Thais are simply bad drivers for a number of reasons.
One, they are totally selfish on the road. none of them will give way to allow another driver to enter the stream of traffic.
The do not stop at lights to allow pedestrians to cross the road unless the police are present.
12 year old boys drive motorcycles on the roads the wrong way and nothing is done about it. They grow up believing they can drive anyway they want.
The police are keen to collect fines, well all they have to do is wait hidden next to a set of traffic lights and they will catch a 100 a day jumping the lights.
They were a third world country that suddenly became rich in the seventies due to foreign money, but basically they are still farmers and fishermen who still think like peasants.