WHO: Roads in Thailand the sixth most dangerous

[buksida]

Songkran alcohol ban mulled in a move to reduce deaths during holiday
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee will on Monday consider whether to issue a ban on the sale of alcohol during the Songkran holiday period, Songkran Pakchokdee, director of the Anti-Alcohol Organisations Network, told The Nation.

A ban, aimed at reducing deaths from road accidents over the period, will be proposed by Dr Saman Futrakul, director of the Disease Control Department's Office of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco Consumption Control Committee.

The committee, chaired by Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong, is expected to announce a decision on Monday. If the proposed ban is passed, it will be submitted for final approval to the National Alcohol Beverage Policy Committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, on March 28, in time for next month's water festival.

Saman's earlier proposal for a year-round ban on the sale of alcohol on pavements, roadside areas and public walkways was shelved by Plodprasob's committee last December.

Thailand currently bans alcohol sales on four major religious holidays: Makha Bucha Day, Visakha Bucha Day, Asarnha Bucha Day and Buddhist Lent Day.

In related news, the Thailand Accident Research Centre (TARC) recently conducted a study into accidents on Thai roads over the past 20 years.

Kunnawee Kanitpong, who headed the research, said that statistics for 1993-2011 road accidents and fatalities gathered by two agencies - the National Police Office and the Public Health Ministry - varied significantly (see graphic).

Prommin Kantiya, director of the Accident Prevention Network, said Thailand lacked a single systematic process to gather such information.

He said police statistics only covered cases in which victims had died on the same day as their accidents, while the Public Health Ministry collects follow-up information for another 30 days and therefore records a much higher number of road-accident fatalities.

However, the number of road deaths recorded by the Health Ministry is still lower than that gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Last month the WHO reported that up to 26,000 people are killed in road accidents every year in Thailand, which places the country as sixth-highest in the world for road fatalities.

The TARC research indicates that integration of relevant agencies is necessary to gain a true reflection of trends in road use and the toll that road accidents take, said Kunnawee.

The research study, the fruit of almost a year's work, will be forwarded to the Road Safety Centre and published in a book this year.

Source: The Nation

[Bristolian]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... ere-an-app
Safe driving? There's an app

Published: 26 Mar 2013 at 10.23 Online news:
The British Foreign Office has developed an app for portable devices to guide Britons abroad on traffic and safe-driving concerns.

Like any such app, its use is not restricted, and visitors - or residents - other than British could benefit.

High numbers of crashes and highway deaths by British visitors to Spain, Australia and Thailand sparked enough concern among British diplomats that the app has been produced.

After natural causes, a Briton in Thailand is most likely to die in a highway mishap.

The Foreign Office said in releasing the app that there are 50,000 British residents and more than 870,000 British visitors to Thailand every year - but they are involved in 68,852 road accidents.

In 2011, the FO claimed, 68,852 traffic accidents killed 9,205 British citizens. By contrast, 1,901 people were killed in road accidents in the UK in 2011

It is unclear where the startling statistics originate. They work out to 2,869 accidents a day in Thailand involving Britons, causing 25 road deaths every 24 hours.Mark Kent, British ambassador to Thailand, gave the statistics and the technology a boost with a statement introducing the mobile app.

"British nationals using the roads in Thailand should bear in mind that road laws and driving customs here are different from those in the UK and road conditions, driving standards and road traffic regulations can vary," he wrote.

"Many lives (might be) saved and critical injuries reduced if people adopted the same safety precautions abroad that they would naturally take at home."

The app provides links to advice on roads and driving from both the Foreign Office and Angloinfo, a tourist and expat-angled website.

See article for link to app

[Frank Hovis]

These numbers simply cannot be right.
Taking Thailand's road carnage at roughly 30,000 deaths per year nearly a third would be British people. Compound that with "After natural causes, a Briton in Thailand is most likely to die in a highway mishap" and you'd need more than 10,000 Britons dying of natural causes. That's 20,000 Britons dying every year in Thailand, there'd be no expats left at that rate.
No.

[Bristolian]

These numbers simply cannot be right.
Taking Thailand's road carnage at roughly 30,000 deaths per year nearly a third would be British people. Compound that with "After natural causes, a Briton in Thailand is most likely to die in a highway mishap" and you'd need more than 10,000 Britons dying of natural causes. That's 20,000 Britons dying every year in Thailand, there'd be no expats left at that rate.
No.

I agree and that is why I highlighted the statement in blue. The figures can't possibly be right and are probably the total number of Brits killed in road accidents in the total countries mentioned.