I spend a lot of time in Asia. With this series of reports from prominent newspapers I wish to highlight how Western bourgeoisies, in the name of "globalisation" or "cosmopolitanism", are laying the foundations for the decline of Western living standards to a point where (a) they resemble those in Asia and (b) contemporaneously allow for growing economic and social and above all political inequality.
By Hannah Beech
· Aug. 19, 2019
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Image
Paramedics treat an injured man after a motorcycle accident in
Bangkok in April.CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
When things go wrong, those in power often
promise to make it right. But do they? In this series, The Times investigates to see
if those promises were kept.
BANGKOK — The Thai woman was riding on
a motorcycle on her way to work when a pickup truck sideswiped her on a rural
stretch of asphalt in northeastern Thailand. The truck’s driver was an off-duty
police officer. He was drunk.
Orathai Chanhom, the motorcyclist, was
catapulted off her bike and killed almost instantly in the crash.
The
officer who struck her still has his police job. His driver’s license was not
taken away. A court declined to sentence him to prison.
But
what the government has not addressed is the country’s vast gap in wealth,
which is the core issue that not only makes its roads so deadly, but has also
split the country into two bitterly divided political camps: Thailand’s haves
and have-nots.
Image
The aftermath of a traffic accident in Bangkok in June. CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
WHAT WE FOUND
Inequality
in Life, and Death
Thailand, named the most unequal
country of the 40 major economies surveyed last year by Credit Suisse, has
what might be the world’s most toxic combination for traffic safety.
Unlike poorer countries, its roads are
well paved and made for speed, and the cars driven by the rich and its growing
middle class tend to be new and fast.
But many Thai families can afford only
a single scooter or motorcycle, and high-quality helmets are a luxury for many,
whatever the law says about their being mandatory to wear.
In accidents on the country’s crowded
roads, it’s a devastating mismatch when an air-conditioned SUV collides with a
two-wheeler, scattering the detritus of death across the asphalt. And the
aftermath of such accidents are a common, macabre sight on Thai thoroughfares:
a shredded tire, a mangled frame of steel, a bloodyplastic flip-flop.
Motorcycle
accidents can involve multiple fatalities. Because public transportation is
limited outside the big cities, it’s not uncommon to see a couple of adults —
and even a child or two crammed between them — balanced on a single bike.
Only 12 percent of Thailand’s road
traffic deaths involved occupants of cars or other light vehicles, according to
the 2018 W.H.O. Global Status Report on
Road Safety. Most of the dead were motorcyclists — or pedestrians.
In many Thai towns, there are few wide,
easily usable sidewalks because, critics say, they are not a priority for the
rich and influential, who prefer not to walk in Thailand’s oppressive
heat. When there are wide footpaths, they often overflow with street
stalls and even motorcycle traffic, pushing people into the roads.
The country’s economic disparity is not
the only reason Thailand’s road deaths are not distributed equally. Justice,
too, is handed out unevenly.
For the superrich, or those in
positions of authority, the rules of the road may not apply at all. They know
they can speed with impunity and drink heavily before getting behind the wheel,
with little fear of the consequences.
In 2012, a young man in a Ferrari — the
heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune — plowed into a policeman, dragging him to his death. The
driver, Vorayuth Yoovidhaya, was intoxicated, according to a test. Seven years
later, he has never been prosecuted.
“What
is clear in Thailand is that the roads are not safe for all users,”
said Evelyn Murphy, who specializes in unintentional injury prevention at
the W.H.O. “Whether it’s cars or motorcycles or pedestrians, the safety of all
users of roads must be considered, regardless of income level.”
Image
The police giving breathalyzer tests to motorbike drivers at a
checkpoint during Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year, in Chiang Mai, in
April.CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
WHAT WE FOUND
Weak
Enforcement, Compounded by Corruption
Speeding,
drunken driving and failing to wear proper helmets are the primary causes of
traffic deaths in the country, Thai officials said.
While the laws are there to combat each
of those factors, enforcement is not.
Wearing helmets is required on two-wheelers,
but fines are rarely dispensed, unless the police need to meet a specific quota
during a crackdown period.
Unaccustomed to checkpoints or sirens,
speeders or other rule-breakers may not even pull over when caught.
“It’s hard to convince people to stop
for us when they are not used to stopping,” said Maj. Gen. Jirasunt
Kaewsaengeak, the deputy commissioner of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police.
Then, there is corruption. The rich or
well connected know a bribe can often see them on their way if they are nabbed
breaking traffic laws.
Bangkok’s 3,000 traffic police make an
average of $600 a month for working in broiling heat, monsoonal downpours and
suffocating smog, which can make even small payoffs highly appealing, and
effective.
Twice
a year, during the Thai New Year in April and the Western New Year in January,
campaigns warn against drunken driving, complete with billboards of gory
crashes. Arrests skyrocket during these periods, but then quickly fall off
again.
“If
you eat vegetables twice a year and only eat ice cream for the rest of the
year, your doctor will think you are crazy,” said Tairjing Siriphanich, the
secretary general of the Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation of Thailand. “But that’s
what we are doing with road safety.”
Image
Traffic in Bangkok. The city’s traffic police, who work in brutal
conditions, are susceptible to bribes. CreditAdam
Dean for The New York Times
WHAT WE FOUND
A
‘Sabai Sabai’ Mind-set
When asked why so many people die on
Thai roads, officials here ascribe it to a “sabai sabai” culture.
Sabai sabai is one of those
untranslatable phrases, but it denotes a kind of relaxed contentment. Sabai
sabai is one reason Thailand is a great place for a beach holiday. But it’s not
a helpful attitude when building national safety standards.
“If police enforce the law, rather than
just give a verbal warning, then Thai people are unhappy, and they complain
that it’s not sabai sabai,” General Jirasunt said.
A prime example of the effect of the
sabai sabai way of life on traffic safety is the approach to helmets. Many
motorcyclists simply don’t bother.
“People
think air pollution is a threat, but they don’t think the same way about
drunken driving or wearing helmets,” said Mr. Tairjing of the Don’t Drive Drunk
Foundation. “We have failed to make people understand that they can save their
own lives.”
But the authorities can make a
difference: In the districts where police are known to hand out fines, helmets
are more common.
The government could also do more to
educate Thais about helmets, which are often substandard or worn incorrectly.
“When
you see someone who makes the effort to put on a helmet without actually
strapping it on, it defeats the whole purpose of wearing it,” said Ms. Murphy,
of the W.H.O. “It shows a lack of understanding of basic safety mechanisms.”
Image
Taking the driver’s test in Bangkok. CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
WHAT WE FOUND
Shifting
the Blame
In 2016, 32.7 out of every 100,000
Thais died on the country’s roads, according to the most recent W.H.O.
estimates. By comparison, the road fatality rate in the United States was 12.4
that year. In Indonesia, a less developed Southeast Asian country with more
potholed roads, the rate was 12.2. Across most of Europe, it was a single-digit
number.
Since the government made its promise
to halve road deaths, a vow other countries have also made, Thailand has barely
inched upward, moving from the country with the next-to-worst per-capita death
tally to the ninth-worst.
“No
political party has made this an issue. No leader wants to do anything,” said
Mr. Tairjing of the Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation. “They just make promises to
halve the number of road deaths even though they know it’s impossible. Maybe
they think we’ll forget about the promises they made.”
The question of who is at fault for
Thailand’s lack of progress draws a lot of finger pointing by Thai officials.
Chayatan Phromsorn, the deputy
director-general of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning,
the agency that pledged to the United Nations to halve the number of road
deaths, said he was not familiar with the document that detailed Thailand’s
promise. (That English-language document was never made available online in
Thai script.)
The official who presented the paper to
the United Nations in 2015 said she had done so only because her colleague was
unable to attend the conference. In turn, that colleague, Usanisa Jikyong, said
in an email that her office “is not responsible for a road safety initiative in
the national level.”
Ms. Usanisa suggested that another
government agency, the department of disaster prevention and mitigation at the
Ministry of Interior, was in charge of such matters. But Chayabol Thitisak, the
department’s director general, shifted responsibility back to Ms. Usanisa’s
office.
Officials at both agencies said that
the blame lay primarily with the police.
“The big factor is law enforcement,”
Mr. Chayabol said. “We have to make people realize that by violating the law
they will face severe consequences.”
But the police refused to accept fault.
“As
police, there are many things we cannot do,” General Jirasunt said. “We cannot
build more roads and public transportation. We cannot change the number of cars
on the road. We cannot change the attitudes of people so they have discipline.”
Image
Mechanics check the road worthiness of cars for a compulsory
annual inspection at a test center in Bangkok.CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
WHAT WE FOUND
The
High Human Cost
The World Bank estimated in a 2018 study that
Thailand could lift its per-capita gross domestic product by 22 percent by the
year 2038 if it successfully halved its traffic fatalities.
Despite that economic upside, the
government — led by a retired military general since a 2014 coup — has done
little to address the wealth gap that’s at the core of Thailand’s problem with
road deaths.
The country has made a few road-safety
improvements. Schools have added road safety lessons to their curriculums, and
there has been some progress in setting new vehicle safety standards.
The numbers do show a slight
improvement: Road deaths were 7 percent lower in 2018, with 22,491 deaths
compared with 24,237 in 2015.
While the enormous macroeconomic cost
of all these road deaths can be measured, what can’t be given a dollar figure
is the personal toll inflicted on individuals by the inequality and impunity
that menaces Thailand’s roads.
The family of Ms. Orathai, the killed
motorcyclist, has no lawyer to pursue a civil claim. It did not appeal the
decision not to jail the officer. There is no further legal action to take.
“In
Thailand, the law does not matter,” said Ms. Chularat, her daughter. “People
like us, how can we change anything? Even if we die for no reason, our lives
are worthless.”
The Takeaway: For the poor, Thailand’s roads are unsafe at any speed.
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