Thailand scores 6 for road safety

BANGKOK, March 15 (TNA) - Thailand scores six points out of total ten for road safety evaluation; while Singapore and Vietnam earn nine points equally. The scores were publicly announced on Friday, after a recent survey conducted by the Thai Roads Foundation and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation in which Thai people were found to ignore road safety, as most local motorcyclists and pillion riders, especially young ones, did not wear crash helmets. The survey found that the ignorance by Thai motorcyclists and pillion riders was the sixth greatest degree worldwide. According to the survey, the highest percentage of motorcyclists and pillion riders wearing helmets was detected in Bangkok, or some 80 per cent of them, followed by those in Phuket, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Pathum Thani; while the lowest percentage of people wearing helmets, less than 20 per cent, were found in Bueng Kan, Lamphun, Chaiyaphum, Narathiwat and Nakhon Phanom provinces. There are, meanwhile, about 1.5 million motorcyclists in Thailand, only some 43 per cent of them wear crash helmets and only 28 per cent of teenage motorcyclists and only 7 per cent of children who ride motorcycles wear the safety gear. Over the past decade, road accidents have killed over 100,000 people in Thailand, tantamount to about 30 persons per day, with about 70-80 per cent of the road accidents caused by motorcyclists and pillion riders. (TNA)