Dangerous festival

That’s because a large number of road accidents take place during this period every year, and the number is rising.

State agencies say that the increase in accidents is due to the larger number of vehicles on the road, as well as the increasing number of drivers without adequate experience and knowledge on traffic rules.

If that is true, then this year’s New Year festival will surely be one to watch out for, since presently there is a very large number of new cars on the roads driven by inexperienced drivers thanks to the government’s First Car Buyer scheme. In addition, these are small-sized cars that are designed to be driven in the city with lots of traffic, rather on high-speed roads.

I am not suggesting that small cars can’t be driven far. But I would like to warm drivers of small cars that you must first understand the limits of the vehicle. You can’t drive it like a larger car, particularly on the highways with high speeds.

If you drive on the upcountry highways often you will notice that vehicles that look most risky of running into an accident due to the high speeds used as well as the driving style, comprise of  small cars, pickup trucks and PPVs (Pickup Passenger Vehicles). Although there is no official record, this is what you will see on the road.

The data that I collect for my radio program also points in the same direction. Before every major festival, I will get questions from novice drivers about driving techniques for uphill and downhill (gears and braking). Most of these questions also come from users of small passenger cars with automatic gearboxes. They don’t have much knowledge about driving, and once I even got a question about when is the right time to use the foglamps.

This kind of question is usual when people are preparing to take a vacation. But when everyone is taking the vacation all at the same time, it means that we will be on the road together too. Drivers must make sure they use the right speed and when to slow down in order to prevent accodents from occurring.

There is also a large number of drivers who disobey the law, or they might not know that what they are doing is against the law. Examples include driving on the right at low speed, without allowing faster traffic to overtake. Vehicles at the rear may start blowing the horn and switching the high beam, but the driver of the vehicle in front does not understand these signals and have no idea that the Thai traffic law states that every vehicle must be driven on the left lane, while the right lane is only for overtaking.

Due to the poor quality in public transport, a large number of Thais prefer to drive their own vehicles when travelling upcountry, whether for business or for pleasure.

I suggest that if you are an inexperienced driver, or if you have driven for 10 years but mostly in Bangkok, which requires different experience and driving techniques compared to driving at high speeds on provincial highways, you must start learning the light signals.

If you want to overtake the vehicle in front, switch on the right-hand turning lights before doing so. Always maintain a good level of acceleration while doing this, in order to reduce overtaking times and increasing the safety level.

Similarly, if you notice that the vehicle following you wants to overtake, and you can see that the road ahead is clear, switching on the left-hand turning lights will help inform the others of the situation. Also bear slightly to the left to allow others to overtake comfortably and safely. In some cases you may have to decelerate slightly to allow the overtaking vehicle to achieve what it’s doing safely.

Remember never to accelerate when a vehicle is trying to overtake you. Apart from being an act of poor road manners, it could also lead to serious accidents.