Road safety can’t wait

Every third Sunday of November is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims — a time for relatives of victims around the world to honour the lives lost or those disabled by traffic crashes. Running for 21 consecutive years, the global event has become a way for civic groups to launch campaigns or pressure the government to do more to reduce accidents.
For Thailand, 17,498 people died in road accidents last year — that’s 48 deaths a day on average — according to the information from the Ministry of Public Health. This ranks Thailand 9th in the world regarding fatal road casualties.
About 1,000 people are permanently disabled each year due to traffic accidents, while the financial losses incurred from such accidents amount to 100 billion baht annually.
This year, civic groups in Thailand have proposed five recommendations to the government. Three of these focus on increasing criminal penalties for drivers violating traffic-related laws in cases leading to serious accidents, driving under the influence, and failing to stop at a pedestrian crossing, causing an accident.
A network of victims’ relatives also asked the government to impose a 50-km-per-hour speed limit in urban areas nationwide and make the driver’s licence application and renewal process more difficult so as to filter out drivers with traffic violation records.
While these proposals are promising, more is needed to be done.
Traffic accidents in Thailand result from fundamental flaws, including a lack of safety infrastructure, uneducated road users, and weak law enforcement.
Regarding infrastructure, the Ministry of Transport and local governments such as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) diligently invest a vast budget to expand roads, but the money is rarely used on safety infrastructure.
For example, the Klong Toey flyover from Asoke to Rama III just installed a traffic light last month despite the flyover being in service several months earlier.
Another element the government has ignored is family members or surviving victims’ hardship when they go to court to claim compensation and take on insurance companies or state agencies.
Such lawsuits often drag on for years, and defendants often appeal to the Supreme Court.
A glaring example is the case of family members who sued a public bus company involved in an accident that claimed five lives and injured 61 people in the northern region in 2014.
The plaintiffs — most of them poor people — had to go to court for over eight years to get a total of 2.8 million baht in compensation.
The company, which has reportedly delayed paying the 2.8 million baht, still has a permit to operate a public bus on the same route.
Meanwhile, according to the Foundation of Consumers, more than 500 plaintiffs related to road accidents are currently seeking legal help from the foundation.
The government must provide help. One thing they can do is revise the law setting the amount of compensation for third-party liability so that people can get such funds immediately instead of fighting for it with insurance companies in court.
Victims of road accidents are not just those who are hit by vehicles. Their family members also suffer the consequences.
The government’s moral duty is to promptly help these people get sufficient compensation.