Skip to main content

Thailand to tackle illegal motorway racers and child road death toll

Illegal motorway car racers in Thailand are to be targeted with additional radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and surveillance cameras. The move comes after Thai authorities have been tackling high-speed motorcycle racing involving youth gangs, mainly from low-income households. Meanwhile, a new seatbelt law for children is set to be introduced in a bid to reduce the country’s number of child accident deaths. It will make it compulsory for children aged below 15 to use a seatbelt when a passenger
May 9, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Illegal motorway car racers in Thailand are to be targeted with additional radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and surveillance cameras.

The move comes after Thai authorities have been tackling high-speed motorcycle racing involving youth gangs, mainly from low-income households.

Meanwhile, a new seatbelt law for children is set to be introduced in a bid to reduce the country’s number of child accident deaths. It will make it compulsory for children aged below 15 to use a seatbelt when a passenger in a vehicle. The move has been welcomed by Adisak Plitponkarnpim, paediatrician in the 5469 Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, who has also called for safety seats for younger children in vehicles to be made compulsory. 

According to a report by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 614 children aged 15 years and below died in motor vehicle accidents in Thailand in 2011. Out of the total, 126 had not fastened their safety belts.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Thailand’s dangerous days for festival
    April 20, 2018
    Thailand’s recent Songkran Festival period saw a worrying spike in road crashes and fatalities. There were 418 road deaths over the seven day festival period, held in April, an increase of 7% over the 390 fatalities recorded for the event in 2017. The Road Safety Centre's report said that the number of crashes during the seven day festival hit 3,724 for 2018, compared with 3,690 in 2017, while injuries grew to 3,897 in 2018 from 3,808 in 2017.
  • European police group TISPOL committed to helping cut road deaths
    April 2, 2015
    In its latest three-year strategic plan, the European Traffic Police Network has reaffirmed its commitment to the European Union’s road death reduction target of 50% by 2020. World Highways reported last month that road deaths fell by just 1% in the EU in 2014, according to data released by the European Commission. There were 25,700 road deaths across all 28 Member States of the EU. The European Commissioner of Transport, Violeta Bulc said at the time that the statistics give some cause for concern. S
  • New report lays out concrete steps toward safer roads
    July 31, 2023
    Countries can reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by flipping the traditional mobility hierarchy and adopting the Safe System approach. That is the finding of a new report from the Sustainable Mobility for All Initiative (SuM4All) presented at a press event of the ITF Summit held in Leipzig.
  • Alcohol consumption car crash cause
    December 15, 2014
    A new report from insurance firm Allianz highlights the appalling risks to road users resulting from drink driving. "On a global level, every 10th fatal accident can be traced back to alcohol. Men are more likely to expose themselves to this danger, risking their lives with it," according to Christoph Lauterwasser, Head of the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) in Munich. The fatality rates from road traffic crashes that have resulted from alcohol use have been investigated by the World Health Organisatio