A fatal collision in Samut Sakhon province on a recent Friday night left a 51-year-old man dead and an 18-year-old severely injured. What caused the accident? This time, it was not drunk driving or a fast car but a poorly lit curve, which a local official blamed as the source of frequent accidents.
The fatal accident is only a blip in the news. It's not uncommon to hear of tales of deadly accidents daily. But why are such accidents so frequent? It's no secret that Thailand ranks among the top country for fatal road accidents. According to the Thailand Road Accidents Data Centre for Road Safety Culture, 14,737 people lost their lives on the road in 2022, with 924,799 injuries reported.
In 2021, the World Health Organization said traffic-related incidents in Thailand made up nearly 33% of total deaths. Reckless driving behaviour, limited education, lack of enforcement, and road infrastructure challenges have all previously been identified as major obstacles to change, and current efforts to make roads safer seem to have had little effect.
