According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, Thailand suffered losses estimated at Bt500 billion in 2019 from road accidents and over 80 per cent involved motorcycles.
Thailand is the country with the highest death rate from road accidents in ASEAN of 32.7 per cent. By estimating the statistics of road fatalities over the next six years (from 2021 to 2027), the worst- case scenario is estimated at 18,606 deaths per year and about 15,399 deaths per year in a best-case scenario.
WHO had estimated the financial loss from road fatalities in various countries and in the case of Thailand, the losses due to accidents were estimated at 3 per cent of gross domestic product, or Bt500 billion on 2019 GDP of Bt16.87 trillion.
Deaths and road accidents during the first three months of this year are likely to increase after a sharp decline in numbers in 2020 to 17,831 from 22,000 in 2019, partly due to the April 2020 nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 crisis. (NNT)
