PHUKET: The road fatality toll for Phuket in January was nine deaths, with no drownings, Phuket Public Health department said today.
The department apologised for earlier supplying Phuketwan with incorrect figures that showed the road toll at six and the drownings at five for January.
The good news: the update means two additional lives have not been lost on Phuket. The accurate figures show it's also a whole lot less dangerous to swim on Phuket in January than the erroneous figures indicated.
The total for 2011 shows 40 drownings compared with 37 recorded in 2010 and 57 in 2009.
On the roads, two separate collisions involving a total of 10 deaths just north of Phuket in February has probably conveyed the false impression that the Phuket toll may be rising.
In both cases, those killed had just left Phuket. Four young Swedish tourists and their driver were killed when a fish truck crossed a divider on a four-lane highway to collide with their hire car, and a group of mourners perished when their local bus was nudged into trees by an overtaking BMW.
Despite impressions, nine road deaths in January 2012 on Phuket compares with 11 in 2009, 13 in 2010 and seven last year.
The total 2011 Phuket toll of 119 deaths was down on the 137 recorded in 2010 which in turn was a dramatic improvement on the 153 in 2009. A few years earlier, annual tolls above 200 deaths were expected.
The numbers of those injured or maimed in crashes on Phuket remain unacceptably high with 1574 people treated in hospitals in January.
Most crashes on Phuket involve motorcycles. Phuket's residents are forced to use motorcycles because a local taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly has prevented the development of a safe, low-cost network of public transport.
The road toll and drowning figures come from Phuket's Public Health department and are compiled on details supplioed by Phuket's three public hospitals.
The department apologised for earlier supplying Phuketwan with incorrect figures that showed the road toll at six and the drownings at five for January.
The good news: the update means two additional lives have not been lost on Phuket. The accurate figures show it's also a whole lot less dangerous to swim on Phuket in January than the erroneous figures indicated.
The total for 2011 shows 40 drownings compared with 37 recorded in 2010 and 57 in 2009.
On the roads, two separate collisions involving a total of 10 deaths just north of Phuket in February has probably conveyed the false impression that the Phuket toll may be rising.
In both cases, those killed had just left Phuket. Four young Swedish tourists and their driver were killed when a fish truck crossed a divider on a four-lane highway to collide with their hire car, and a group of mourners perished when their local bus was nudged into trees by an overtaking BMW.
Despite impressions, nine road deaths in January 2012 on Phuket compares with 11 in 2009, 13 in 2010 and seven last year.
The total 2011 Phuket toll of 119 deaths was down on the 137 recorded in 2010 which in turn was a dramatic improvement on the 153 in 2009. A few years earlier, annual tolls above 200 deaths were expected.
The numbers of those injured or maimed in crashes on Phuket remain unacceptably high with 1574 people treated in hospitals in January.
Most crashes on Phuket involve motorcycles. Phuket's residents are forced to use motorcycles because a local taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly has prevented the development of a safe, low-cost network of public transport.
The road toll and drowning figures come from Phuket's Public Health department and are compiled on details supplioed by Phuket's three public hospitals.
"Phuket's residents are forced to use motorcycles because a local taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly has prevented the development of a safe, low-cost network of public transport." Really? Do you truly believe this is the ONLY reason people choose to ride bikes? Do convenience and easy of use not figure into this equation? Is the use of motorcycles in the rest of Thailand and SEA predicated on local taxi and tuk-tuk monopolies having prevented the development of a safe, low-cost network of public transport?
Posted by Mick D on February 23, 2012 20:42
Editor Comment:
We didn't say it was the only reason. But we did say it is the reason why there is no alternative, safe, low-cost network of public transport. There was the consultant who came to Phuket and decided the island didn't need public transport because everybody already had their own motorcycles. You seem to find that logical, Mick D. We say, give people a choice