News Analysis
PHUKET: Two young people have been killed in a horror motorcycle crash on Phuket as authorities seek ways of reducing needless deaths on the island's roads.
Kanthima In-tharasuwan, who would have celebrated her 23rd birthday on May 31, was not wearing a helmet. Nor was her friend, Patompong Kruasanit, 21.
The pair hit the back of a pickup in Thepkasattri Road near Supercheap in heavy rain about 10pm on Saturday.
Death took its time. Doctors and nurses did what they could. Kanthima, nicknamed ''Lookpat,'' succumbed in Vachira Hospital Phuket about 10.30. Patompong, nicknamed ''To,'' died about the same time at Mission Hospital.
A telephone call about 11pm of the kind that parents dread put Khun Lookpat's mother and father on the road to Phuket immediately.
Last rites for their only daughter, who had just left university and started a job on Phuket working for Bangkok Airways, were being held in Nakhon Si Tammarat this week.
Those officals from 10 southern provinces who attended last week's road safety seminar on Phuket will be saddened by the deaths of the young couple, but not surprised.
Road safety officials know better than most that Phuket and Thailand are a long distance from being places where everyday journeys are free from danger.
At last week's seminar, Phuket journalists were urged to include whether helmets were worn in their reports of crashes.
The quality of the helmets was also important to emphasise, the reporters were told.
As a result of last week's meeting, Phuketwan aims to resurrect its Mothers Or Motorcycles (MoM) campaign, which was designed to make English-readers in the Phuket region aware of the dangers.
However, the personal anguish of the families of all the road toll victims is always best reflected in accurate, comprehensive statistics.
Figures on deaths and injuries give communities a sense of the scale of the tragedy on the roads. Sadly, statistics are no longer being released each month for Phuket's road toll.
This is a flaw in road safety planning. In other countries, entire year-long campaigns have been successful because of the concentration on reducing the toll.
Without accurate, comprehensive statistics, all the promotion of the need to wear helmets, all of the crash reports in the media, all of the campaigns, lose their impact.
The figures that Phuketwan has reflect a drop in the number of deaths between 2007 and 2011, but we have no idea whether that drop continued in 2012.
Alarmingly, the number of crash victims who needed hospital treatment increased from 11,049 in 2007 to 15,282 in 2011.
During that same period, the deaths dropped from 201 to 136 to 153 to 137 then to 119. Whether the figure went up or down in 2012 and whether the figure is up or down so far in 2013, we are unable to report.
All we can do is continue to add individual needless deaths. Khun Kanthima and Khun Patompong are two more.
Additional reporting by Premkamon Ketsara
Phuketwan will report other revealing factors in the road toll battle later this week.
This is such a waste of life.
Yesterday whilst driving in Phuket town near the main police office I noted 3 policemen on motor scooters without helmets, if Phuket wants to get everyone wearing a helmet maybe they should at the very least start with the police setting an example.
Posted by Granitebeetle on May 21, 2013 11:16