FEWER people are dying on Phuket's roads, and the improvement is being attributed to more people wearing motorcycle helmets, plus better infrastructure.
Figures released to Phuketwan by the Department of Public Health show a dramatic reduction in the numbers of deaths on the road in 2008 so far, compared to 2007.
Phuketwan was also supplied with the statistics on the number of drownings/deaths in the water in 2007 and 2008, figures that support the need for lifesaving and learn-to-swim campaigns.
However, we have been told that there are at present no lifeguards on any Phuket beaches because a new contact for the service has yet to be agreed.
Local workers on the beach at Nai Harn told one resort manager that they have dragged two people from the sea this week following calls for help.
The statistics indicate that about one person drowns every two weeks off Phuket or in fatal incidents in Phuket swimming pools, lagoons or canals, a surprisingly high number.
A total of 20 people drowned or were killed in the water up to the end of September 2008, compared to 26 deaths for the whole of 2007.
Up to the end of September, 102 people were injured in or on the water. This compares with 114 for the whole of 2007.
There is no way of telling how many of these involved jetskis or motorboats, or fishing trawlers.
On the roads, the difference between 2007 and 2008 so far indicates a dramatic improvement in the number of fatalities.
In 2007, a total of 159 people died in motorcycle accidents and 39 were killed in other vehicles.
To the end of September, 87 people had died on motorcycles on Phuket, with 18 others dying in cars, trucks, buses and vans, bicycles, or as pedestrians.
The total number of road deaths recorded so far in 2008 amounts to 105 compared to 198 for 2007.
While a dramatic increase in deaths in the final three months of 2008 remains possible, at least one safety experts believes a significant turning point has been achieved in public safety.
Chotnarin Kedsom, Director of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Ministry of the Interior, believes that the enforcement of road laws relating to helmets is one of several factors responsible for saving lives.
A law banning the use of mobile phones in moving vehicles, without hands-free attachments, was also introduced earlier this year.
Police checkpoints and crackdowns and the use of motorcycle headlamps day and night have almost certainly helped to reduce road toll numbers.
Khun Chotnarin said that local authorities were also paying much closer attention to traffic accident black spots and taking steps to improve conditions at places that were the scene of repeat crashes.
The number of injuries, however, remains high and is likely to grow alarmingly this year.
A total of 9106 injuries in motorcycle incidents were recorded on Phuket up to the end of September, compared with 10,128 for the whole of 2007.
In other vehicles, 535 were injured for the whole of 2007 while 489 people have been injured so far in 2008.
Expats and tourists are often involved in crashes because of lack of experience of local conditions.
The statistics supplied to Phuketwan were recorded at the island's three government hospitals, Wachira Thalang and Patong.
More detailed analysis would enable authorities to determine how many more deaths and injuries are preventable.
Public health officials have told Phuketwan, for example, that a high number of teenage girls are among the drownings.
Girls tend to be quieter as children, reach adolescence, then become as adventurous as boys, without the same conditioning.
The social and economic cost to Phuket each year of up to 12,000 motorcycle injuries, many involving permanent disability, hardship and dramatic changes in family life, is massive and difficult to measure.
In thousands of cases, the injuries are preventable.
Figures on drownings and the road toll support the need for greater education and enforcement of road laws, as well as the benefits from learn-to-swim campaigns.
Phuket Lifesavers Start As Nippers
Drownings on Phuket are no longer being taken for granted as the culture of learning to swim and save a life takes hold. Coming up, a carnival on the sand for Nippers.
Phuket Lifesavers Start As Nippers
Bent Motorcycles, Blood On A Sunny Day
Photo Album: The road toll trauma of the Phuket region is no longer reported regularly by the English language press. By chance, we are on the scene soon after motorcycles collide.
Bent Motorcycles, Blood On A Sunny Day
Phuket Lifesaving Gets Kick Up The Bum
Photo Album: Tight swimsuits and lashings of sunscreen mark the introduction of the surf lifesaving culture to Patong beach at Phuket's First Surf Lifesaving Carnival. Go save a life.
Phuket Lifesaving Gets Kick Up The Bum
Figures released to Phuketwan by the Department of Public Health show a dramatic reduction in the numbers of deaths on the road in 2008 so far, compared to 2007.
Phuketwan was also supplied with the statistics on the number of drownings/deaths in the water in 2007 and 2008, figures that support the need for lifesaving and learn-to-swim campaigns.
However, we have been told that there are at present no lifeguards on any Phuket beaches because a new contact for the service has yet to be agreed.
Local workers on the beach at Nai Harn told one resort manager that they have dragged two people from the sea this week following calls for help.
The statistics indicate that about one person drowns every two weeks off Phuket or in fatal incidents in Phuket swimming pools, lagoons or canals, a surprisingly high number.
A total of 20 people drowned or were killed in the water up to the end of September 2008, compared to 26 deaths for the whole of 2007.
Up to the end of September, 102 people were injured in or on the water. This compares with 114 for the whole of 2007.
There is no way of telling how many of these involved jetskis or motorboats, or fishing trawlers.
On the roads, the difference between 2007 and 2008 so far indicates a dramatic improvement in the number of fatalities.
In 2007, a total of 159 people died in motorcycle accidents and 39 were killed in other vehicles.
To the end of September, 87 people had died on motorcycles on Phuket, with 18 others dying in cars, trucks, buses and vans, bicycles, or as pedestrians.
The total number of road deaths recorded so far in 2008 amounts to 105 compared to 198 for 2007.
While a dramatic increase in deaths in the final three months of 2008 remains possible, at least one safety experts believes a significant turning point has been achieved in public safety.
Chotnarin Kedsom, Director of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Ministry of the Interior, believes that the enforcement of road laws relating to helmets is one of several factors responsible for saving lives.
A law banning the use of mobile phones in moving vehicles, without hands-free attachments, was also introduced earlier this year.
Police checkpoints and crackdowns and the use of motorcycle headlamps day and night have almost certainly helped to reduce road toll numbers.
Khun Chotnarin said that local authorities were also paying much closer attention to traffic accident black spots and taking steps to improve conditions at places that were the scene of repeat crashes.
The number of injuries, however, remains high and is likely to grow alarmingly this year.
A total of 9106 injuries in motorcycle incidents were recorded on Phuket up to the end of September, compared with 10,128 for the whole of 2007.
In other vehicles, 535 were injured for the whole of 2007 while 489 people have been injured so far in 2008.
Expats and tourists are often involved in crashes because of lack of experience of local conditions.
The statistics supplied to Phuketwan were recorded at the island's three government hospitals, Wachira Thalang and Patong.
More detailed analysis would enable authorities to determine how many more deaths and injuries are preventable.
Public health officials have told Phuketwan, for example, that a high number of teenage girls are among the drownings.
Girls tend to be quieter as children, reach adolescence, then become as adventurous as boys, without the same conditioning.
The social and economic cost to Phuket each year of up to 12,000 motorcycle injuries, many involving permanent disability, hardship and dramatic changes in family life, is massive and difficult to measure.
In thousands of cases, the injuries are preventable.
Figures on drownings and the road toll support the need for greater education and enforcement of road laws, as well as the benefits from learn-to-swim campaigns.
Phuket Lifesavers Start As Nippers
Drownings on Phuket are no longer being taken for granted as the culture of learning to swim and save a life takes hold. Coming up, a carnival on the sand for Nippers.
Phuket Lifesavers Start As Nippers
Bent Motorcycles, Blood On A Sunny Day
Photo Album: The road toll trauma of the Phuket region is no longer reported regularly by the English language press. By chance, we are on the scene soon after motorcycles collide.
Bent Motorcycles, Blood On A Sunny Day
Phuket Lifesaving Gets Kick Up The Bum
Photo Album: Tight swimsuits and lashings of sunscreen mark the introduction of the surf lifesaving culture to Patong beach at Phuket's First Surf Lifesaving Carnival. Go save a life.
Phuket Lifesaving Gets Kick Up The Bum
I'm interested to know if the drowning statistics include records from the private hospitals on Phuket where many of our foreign visitors and residents may go in an accident. Any information on this?
Editor: We were pleased to be supplied with the statistics from the public hospitals. Divers who have pressure mishaps, for example, would certainly need decompression treatment. We hope we can report the statistics for 2008 in more precise detail early in the new year.
Posted by Anonymous on November 24, 2008 13:35