Socio-Economic Impact of Road Accident Victims: A Comparative Analysis of Road Accident Victim Protection Policy and the Rights of Road Accident Victims in Japan and Thailand

Road accidents have a negative socio-economic impact on both the victim of the accident as well as the country. In fact, road accidents can have devastating impacts on the livelihoods of people especially the poor people because generally the victim of the accident is economically active and is the main contributor to the household income. Their deaths often radically diminish the family income. Similarly, serious injuries could also have long-term negative impacts on family incomes and on the household quality of life. Like many other countries, Thailand and Japan have established laws to protect road accident victims to ensure that they or their family are not socially and financially affected by the loss they had incurred due to road traffic accidents. However, flaws and gaps might exist in this laws and the process through which accident victims have to go through to obtain their compensation which may reduce the effectiveness of these laws. To prevent this from happening, it is important to understand these laws and processes. In this study a comparative analysis was conducted between the laws and processes that exist in Japan and Thailand to protect road accident victims. This research study is beneficial to both countries as it will help to determine the flaws and gaps in the laws and processes and bring out the best practices that exist in these two countries. The aim of this study is to see whether and which best practice in one country can be adopted in the other.