Contributing Factors of Road Crashes in Thailand: Evidence from the Accident In-Depth Study

Road crashes have caused heavy burden to Thailand’s economy as the majority of the victims are from the economically active segments of the population. The urgent need to build up accident knowledge and research base for Thailand has led to the development of Thailand Road Safety Master Plan. The master plan has identified the need for the accident in-depth study to investigate, analyze, and evaluate the mechanisms behind the crashes and the incidence of injuries on a continuous basis and to provide a scientific and objective approach to reduce the suffering and losses caused by road accidents with adaptable solutions in Thai context. The objectives of this paper are to present the findings on the contributing factors of road crashes through accident in-depth study in Thailand. The study involves scene investigation to inspect the accident site and gather all related evidences. Then, all of information and evidences collected from the scene have been reconstructed in order to determine the crash significant factors. The findings of this study summarize different characteristics of crashes encapsulating most of the accident cases in Thailand, which related to motorcycle accidents, behavior of young drivers, road side hazard crashes, and rollover crashes.