Thailand’s perilous roads claim the lives of 75 foreigners so far this year

Thailand’s deadly roads have claimed the lives of 75 foreigners so far this year. A further 2,886 foreigners were injured, according to data from Thai RSC, an accident information centre.

Foreigners getting into road accidents in Thailand regularly make headlines but much more go unrecorded by the media.

Data recorded from January 1 – February 15, 2023, reveals that 2,099 people in total died in road accidents in Thailand so far this year. Of those, 75 were foreigners.

Statistics show that 106,133 were injured in road accidents so far this year, 2,886 of which were foreigners.

Yesterday alone, 45 people were killed on Thailand’s roads and 2,704 were injured.

Last week (February 5 – 11) a total of 312 people died on Thailand’s roads. In the same time frame, 12 people died from Covid-19.

Of the 75 foreigners killed on Thailand’s roads this year, 69.71% were male and 30.29% were female. Most of the victims, 75.31%, were riding motorbikes.

Roads in Chiang Mai province claimed the most lives, where nine foreigners lost their lives on the roads in 2023.

Six foreigners were killed in Pathum Thani province, five in Samut Prakan, four in Surat Thani, four in Trat, three in Bangkok, and the rest were spread across Thailand’s provinces.

In 2022, the Thai RSC recorded 551 foreign deaths on Thailand’s roads. A further 7,912 foreigners were injured.

Similarly, 78.64% of the 2022’s foreigners killed were driving motorbikes. Again, 69.96% of those were male and 29.99% were female.

Last year, 49 foreigners were killed in Chiang Mai, 44 foreigners were killed in Bangkok, 44 in Chon Buri, 33 in Phuket, 32 in Tak, 26 in Rayong, 25 in Samut Sakhon, 26 in Pathum Thani, 21 in Prachuap Khiri Khan, notably.

A family in England are trying to get the body of their father back home after finding out he was killed in a motorbike accident on January 10.

Two weeks ago, an American man died after crashing his Ducati into a trailer truck in Phang Nga province.

Three weeks ago, a Swedish man died in a motorbike crash in Roi Et province. He’d been in Thailand just five days, visiting his Thai girlfriend who he met online two years prior.

An American man died when he crashed his motorbike into a lampost in Chon Buri on January 20.