Road accidents among Thai youths
Every year, 700 young people between the ages of 10 and 14 in Thailand die in moped accidents and 15.800 are injured. The Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center (CSIP) has now made a video clip, pointing out the dangers of riding a moped to young people. This has been posted on social media and has already attracted many viewers.
Dr. Adisak, the initiator of this video, initially holds parents responsible for the death and injuries of the young people, but does not want to accuse them of what happened. It is a social problem that cannot be blamed on parents alone. The underlying question remains, of course, when is it legal to drive a moped. Who provides traffic education for young people and the use of helmets. Sometimes a child is sent out on a moped with an even smaller child on the back to deliver something or run an errand. It literally remains a life-threatening risk.
Not long ago there was a video on YouTube (see below), where a proud father gave his son (aged 12 – 14) a new moped. When leaving the house, the child was already hit by a passing moped. It ended reasonably well, but no lesson or instruction was given beforehand.
Especially during the holidays and festivities such as Songkran, the number of accidents increases. Unfortunately, Thailand is number one in this area.
Only Libya seems to score higher in terms of the number of road deaths per capita, I recently read. Was that here? It is even more dangerous on the road there than in Belgium! Indeed, I have known several Thais who are now gone, thanks to traffic.
Is that 700 deaths, where the child was the driver, or also the accidents, where an adult was the driver?
That makes some difference, of course (although not for the child, of course).
But many people cannot afford a car and are therefore dependent on the dangerous transport on a moped.
These are children who drive a moped themselves.
The fault is not only with the children, the parents are the main culprits, this is a lack of education, and I think that one should take the bull by the horns, start at school where they all have to do a little study due to the dangerous traffic, as well as the police should not always turn a blind eye, just pay the receipt and fine and repeatedly chain the moped
It is the discipline that the Thai people do not have, and that must be learned from a young age.
In the posting, the fault is not attributed to the children, but was an answer to Ruud's question whether the injured children drove the moped themselves.
The parents are proud that their child rides a moped, and then you have to think that 14 years is already old.
Stand at a primary school, how many drive there with a moped (and not a scooter or something, no, they are no longer good enough, it must be the motorcycle model) away. At the school gate, the local police are directing traffic, see going out of the schools. These children are barely able to lift the “motorcycle”, but then drive away with a wheele and of course without a helmet. And what does the police do, right, nothing and why not? They are there to arrange school traffic and not to see what is going on with the mopeds. This is not a story, I've watched it for 8 years at different schools. I picked up my Farang children by car.
In the original article,
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http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/motorcycle-accidents-kill-average-15-thai-youths-every-10-days/
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there is an average of 15 deaths in the age group 10-14 years per 10 days.
For the sake of convenience that is equated to 700 per year, but that is not correct, it should be: 547.
Furthermore, there is nothing to indicate that these numbers only concern drivers.
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75% of the road deaths in Thailand are drivers/passengers of a motorbike.
Assuming 20.000 deaths per year, 15.000 motorcycle victims.
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The 10-14 age cohort makes up about 1/14th of the Thai population.
With a proportional distribution, one would therefore expect 15.000 / 14 = 1071 deaths per year in this category.
There are 'only' 547.
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To now conclude that children aged 10-14 are twice as safe on a motorbike than the rest of the population is a bit short-sighted, but the figures do not show that young people are in more danger or would drive more dangerously .
I myself have lived and worked in Pattaya for over 17 years. I drove both car and motorcycle there. Unfortunately it happened to me too. I was riding my motorcycle on the Teprasit road when a young girl coming from the right of an soi ran over the double line and without a helmet steered more and more to the left side of the road. I came from behind and unfortunately I couldn't swerve anymore and I drove into it diagonally on the side, resulting in a broken little finger and a lot of damage to my bike. The crying girl on the floor and I could go to the hospital. I called my Thai friend and he called the police. It turned out that the girl was 12 years old and did not have a driver's license. Fortunately I was insured but the girl was not. She and her rushed mother had to come to the police station in the afternoon to settle the damage. Unfortunately for me there was no money and the policeman looked at me like what am I supposed to do with this? imprison the girl because mother has no money? After consultation with my friend, I left the matter as it is, after a few hardening, the policeman sent the 2 away. The only positive thing about this story is that I have kept a friend from the policeman, and when I go on holiday to Thailand he always comes by and we have a nice meal and drink together.
In Thailand mopeds 49 cc do not exist
Motorcycles, scooters usually from 107 cc, for which a driver's license is of course required, from the age of 16 one can take an exam for this.