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

  • France a star in road safety
    September 3, 2012
    In the past, France had a poor road safety record. This has turned around to make the country a success story
  • Making roads safer for the young
    February 27, 2018
    Children are at serious risk on Europe’s road network. This is the finding of a new report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC’s analysis of crash data, more than 8,000 children aged 0-14 years have been killed in road traffic collisions over the last 10 years in the European Union. Half of the children killed were travelling in cars, a third were walking and 13% were cycling, with one in every 13 child deaths in the European Union being the result of a road collision.
  • Joining forces on safety'
    April 12, 2012
    The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) welcomed the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, saying it will enable the European Union to join forces in tackling road safety at a global level. The UN move aims to reduce by 50% the projected increase in road deaths by 2020, and was developed with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030 in the world. It demanded action to correct t
  • Easing temporary highway danger
    February 22, 2013
    Some of the latest speedometer technology has been successfully trialled in French highway work zones, while tireless work continues across Europe and the United States to reduce the number of work zone deaths and serious injuries involving road workers and motorists. Guy Woodford reports The number of roadworkers being killed and seriously injured on England’s motorways and major trunk roads more than doubled between 2007 and 2010 – from no deaths and 14 serious injuries. This rise has led to to major camp