Sulkiflee MAMA Lecturer

Each year the number of road crashes in Thailand which result in about 12,000 deaths has been around 1 million. About 12 % of these crashes occur on national highways under the jurisdiction of the Department of Highways (DOH). For the past three years, 2007-2009, roadside crashes constitute between 42.2- 42.7 % of the total crashes on the DOH’s which highways. In 2009, 13,673 crashes occurred, of which 5,770 (42.2%) were roadside crashes. For that three year period, the casualties from roadside crashes were 16,416 persons (43.52%) of total casualties (37,719 persons) with the severity being 1,588 deaths (35.36%), 3,734 serious injuries (42.93%), and 11,094 slight injuries (45.22%). This paper provides overview details of the investigation into the cause of roadside crashes and to the strategies about how to deal with this serious problem. The strategies are described in the DOH Roadside Safety Strategic Plan 2009-2013 that the authors have contributed to its development