Skip to main content

Thailand’s road safety plan makes novel step

A novel approach to improving road safety is being made in Thailand. The country is now making it compulsory for convicted drink drivers to visit hospital morgues. This move is being handled by the Thai Probation Department and forms part of a series of measures intended to improve road safety in Thailand. The aim of the programme is to scare drivers committing DUI offences into avoiding reoffending. The country has the second highest rate of road fatalities in the world, according to a report by the World
June 22, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A novel approach to improving road safety is being made in Thailand. The country is now making it compulsory for convicted drink drivers to visit hospital morgues. This move is being handled by the Thai Probation Department and forms part of a series of measures intended to improve road safety in Thailand. The aim of the programme is to scare drivers committing DUI offences into avoiding reoffending. The country has the second highest rate of road fatalities in the world, according to a report by the World Health Organisation, with its risk of road death second only to Libya. Since the scheme was initiated over 1,700 drivers convicted of DUI offences have visited hospital morgues. The official data records 11,370 deaths in Thailand from road crashes in 2015, with drink driving being a major factor. However it is widely assumed that the actual death tolls is far higher, with many more people dying a period after crashes have occurred or with road deaths simply not being recorded.

Related Content

  • Road safety experts’ 12 measures for better road safety data collection and analysis
    January 13, 2014
    The vital importance of better data to improve road safety has led international road safety experts from 40 countries to issue the Buenos Aires Declaration on Better Safety Data for Better Road Safety Outcomes.
  • Armenia’s road safety problem is critical
    March 9, 2018
    Armenia is facing a crisis in road safety, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The rate of road traffic fatalities in Armenia is 18.3/100,000 population according to the WHO 2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety. This is the highest rate in any Eastern European or Caucasus country, and costs an estimated 4.62% of GDP/year. Establishing partnerships with local authorities is a vital step towards improving road safety, saving lives and developing the economy. EASST partner Poghos Shahinyan,
  • Safety has no alternative
    January 30, 2023
    The speed control project is recognized as a strategic road safety project of the Republic of Croatia and is included in one of the main documents of the Republic of Croatia, specifically in the National Road Safety Plan of the Republic of Croatia for the 2021 to 2030 period as adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
  • Italian road safety and motorway infrastructure boost
    August 24, 2012
    Fatal road accident deaths fell by 7.1% to around 3,800 in 2011, according to official data provided by Istat and ACI. There were 205,000 road accidents involving injuries in Italy last year, a drop of 3%. The Italian rate of 63 fatalities per million people was just above EU average for 2011, while the number of fatalities out of 100 accidents increased on motorways from 3.1 in 2010 to 3.2 in 2011,