Skip to main content

Thailand’s dangerous roads see heavy casualties

Thailand’s dangerous roads see heavy casualties every year.
By MJ Woof February 24, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Thailand’s dangerous road network - image © courtesy of Sarah Biswell

Dangerous roads pose a major hazard to live in Thailand. New statistics show that around 22,000 people/year die in road crashes on Thailand’s road network. This equates to an average of 65 deaths/day.

Drink driving is one of the primary causes of crashes in Thailand. Young people are at particularly high risk of being seriously injured or killed on Thailand’s roads, as are the powered two wheeler riders who make up much of the country’s road users.

Thailand’s road network stretches for some 500,000km in all, with around 400,000km being rural roads under local administration. It is this latter category that poses much of a problem, as boosting safety is the responsibility of local administrations that have few resources or expertise available to deliver the necessary improvements.

Related Content

  • Malaysia’s road safety problem needs addressing
    February 2, 2017
    Malaysia’s road safety problem is a cause for concern. The country’s Transport Ministry has revealed data showing that in 2016, Malaysia figured amongst the countries with the highest rate of road fatalities. The figures show that for every 10,000 registered motor vehicles on Malaysia’s roads, there were 2.55 deaths. One new strategy intended to address the problem being launched by the Transport Ministry is the Malaysia-wide National Blue Ocean Strategy Road Safety Cluster. Meanwhile the Safe Kids Mala
  • Concern at worsening road safety worldwide
    May 22, 2019
    The latest road safety data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) provides a serious cause for concern. The annual global road fatality rate has increased in the three years since the WHO last carried out a study of worldwide crash statistics. The report says that 1.35 million people are now killed on the world’s roads every year, compared with a figure of 1.25 million three years ago. The problem is particularly acute in the developing world, where increasing vehicle numbers combine with poor levels
  • India’s poor road safety requires improvement
    September 13, 2016
    The Indian Government has revealed that 146,133 people died in crashes on the country’s roads during 2015. This figure is of concern as it is an increase of 4.6% over India’s road fatality rate of 139,671 for the previous year. Also of concern is the fact that over half of the people who died in crashes were aged from 15-34, revealing that there is a particularly high risk for the young on India’s roads. The data also shows that there were 501,423 reported crashes on India’s road network in 2015, an increas
  • Better road safety can save lives worldwide
    January 24, 2017
    Road safety is an issue that rarely grabs headlines, although it is something that affects people around the globe. Road deaths account for a shockingly high percentage of deaths worldwide, with the risks being particularly high in developing countries. This poses such a threat to public health that the United Nations has been taking steps to address the issue, commencing with its Decade of Action on Road Safety in 2010. The focus has been on developing countries, due to the rapid increase in road deaths in