The Issue of Road Safety in Thailand

In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that Thailand had the second highest rate of traffic-incident related fatalities in the world. An estimated 22,941 people die each year due to traffic-related incidents in Thailand, constituting nearly 33% of the country’s total deaths. A majority of these victims are teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 29 years. Several factors, including the lack of helmet and seatbelt use, drunk driving, unlicensed drivers, and corrupted law enforcement have contributed to the exponential increase in traffic-related incidents over the past decade.

Unsurprisingly, an estimated 70%-85% of road traffic-incidents in Thailand involved a motorcycle. Since motorcycles are much cheaper than cars, many young adults drive - often without receiving proper training and obtaining a license. Additionally, it was reported by the World Health Organization that just over half of motorcycle drivers wore helmets and only 20% of their passengers used helmets while on the road.

The number of traffic-related injuries and deaths also tends to increase during the week of Songkran - the Thai New Year festival - which typically occurs mid-April. During this week, the level of drunk driving increases, leading to a rise in cases of traffic-related incidents that result in injury or death.

This project seeks to explore the relationship between road traffic related-incidents, population density, and gross provincial product (GPP) across the different provinces of Thailand in order to determine if these factors may be used as accurate predictors of traffic incidents.

The map below depicts the number of road traffic incidents per 100,000 people that resulted in injury or death. Each dot represents the number of incidents for each province, with the darker colored dots having a higher number of cases. There are a higher number of road incident cases near the capital, Bangkok, with 800-1,000 cases reported per 100,000 people. Tourism may contribute to this high number, as it is one of the most popular places to visit in the country, in addition to being the center of business affairs. A geographical pattern is also evident, as provinces near the mountainous region of northern Thailand have a higher number of road incident cases.

The population density in different areas of Thailand is shown in the map below. The yellow areas of the map signify a dense population while the blue regions represent more sparsely populated areas. As expected, the population is most dense around Bangkok, as it is the largest city in the country with nearly 9 million inhabitants. However, there is little correlation between population density and road traffic incidents in more rural areas, such as northeastern and central Thailand.

The final map below shows gross provincial product (GPP) per capita. Light purple areas represent provinces with a high GPP while areas highlighted in dark purple have low GPPs. Provinces with the highest GPP are concentrated in the Bangkok metropolitan region due to the fact that most non-agricultural businesses exist in this area. Bangkok also generates the highest percentage of the country's GDP - 47.5%. For comparison, the entire region of eastern Thailand only produces 18.02% of the country's GDP, despite being the largest region.

Conclusions:

Road safety remains a major concern in Thailand, particularly in areas with large population densities and high GPPs like Bangkok. Safety on roads in mountainous regions such as those in northern Thailand also correlate to greater instances of road traffic-related incidents, presumably due to the large presence of narrow roads with sharp turns. It is imperative that the Thai government takes further action to reduce the number of road incidents and improve the traffic environment for the safety of its citizens.

Potential road-incident mitigation strategies may include:

• Promoting use of helmets when riding motorcycles, especially among children and young adults
• Stricter enforcement of laws requiring motorcycle riders to earn/carry a license
• Stricter enforcement of speed limits and other traffic laws
• Equipping police with sufficient numbers of breath alcohol analyzing devices to limit drunk driving
• Strict punishments for police who abuse traffic stops and use them for personal monetary gain
• Increasing the number of road safety educational programs implemented in schools

Further research into other predictor variables of road traffic related incidents is needed to more effectively implement these proposed mitigation strategies. Additionally, research into the creation of an efficient and easily accessible road-incident reporting system is necessary in order to determine road safety levels in specific areas of the different Thai provinces.