A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the “Global status report on road safety 2015,” provides unique insight into road issues around the world.
According to the report, 1.25 million people worldwide die each year from accidents related to road injuries. In Asia, China reports the highest number of road deaths at 261,367. Thailand reported 14,000 road fatalities in a year.
The report for Thailand (data collected in 2012) says that, in a country of 67 million people, there are 32 million registered vehicles. It goes on to note that 26 percent of road deaths in the country involve alcohol and that 4.6 percent of people admitted to hospitals for injuries related to car crashes are permanently disabled from their accident.
The report makes some notable observations about what they call “vulnerable road users.” This term describes the people that are most likely to be injured or killed in road accidents: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
These people make up half of all road traffic deaths in Southeast Asia and, in Thailand, they amount for a jaw-dropping 83 percent of road deaths (motorcyclists are 73 percent of these).
The study goes on to note that, though there is a motorcycle helmet law for both drivers and passengers in Thailand, only a reported 52 percent of drivers and 20 percent of passengers wear helmets.
The WHO reports that, in Southeast Asia, traffic injuries kill about 316,000 people each year. That’s roughly equivalent to 17 per 100,000 people, which is slightly lower than the global rate of 17.4 per 100,000.
That might sound okay but, when you break the figures down by country, Thailand weighs in at 36.2 deaths per 100,000 people while countries like the Maldives lower the regional figures by reporting only 3.5 deaths per 100,000 citizens.
Southeast Asia road fatalities account for a whopping 25% of global road traffic deaths.
