Road Safety Campaign for Brits Driving in Thailand and Other Countries
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is today launching a road safety campaign to help British nationals drive safely abroad and stay on the right side of foreign road laws. The campaign has been developed in response to FCO staff based overseas reporting a high number of road traffic incidents affecting British tourists and expats in popular destinations, such as Thailand, Australia and Spain.
Road conditions, driving standards and laws vary widely and some countries experience much higher rates of road traffic accidents and fatalities than the UK. For example, in Thailand, a country with 50,000 British residents and over 870,000 British visitors per year, there were 68,582 road traffic incidents resulting in 9,205 deaths involving both Thai residents and tourists in 2011. In contrast 1,901 people were killed in road accidents in the UK in 2011.
After deaths from natural causes, road traffic deaths are the most common cause of death for British nationals in Thailand and cause a high number of hospitalisations. According to FCO staff in Thailand, the majority of road traffic accidents involve motorcycles and scooters, although serious accidents also occur with other vehicles. For instance, in the past year a number of British nationals were involved in accidents whilst travelling by overnight coach.
Mark Kent, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, said: “British nationals using the roads in Thailand should bear in mind that road laws and driving customs here are different from those in the UK and road conditions, driving standards and road traffic regulations can vary.” He went on to say, “Accidents do occur and not all tragedies are avoidable, but the outcome could be very different with many lives being saved and critical injuries reduced if people adopted the same safety precautions abroad that they would naturally take at home. I have visited hospitals here and heard from doctors how many deaths could have been avoided by following the law and taking the appropriate precautions, such as safety helmets. You should check that your travel insurance specifically covers you for driving a scooter or any other vehicle abroad.”
As part of the campaign, the FCO is launching an online tool to give people access to specific road safety advice for the country they will be driving in. This road safety tool is available here: http://www.fcowidget.com. For up-to-date travel advice on-the-go, the FCO is encouraging people to sign up to Facebook and Twitter feeds to ensure they are informed of the latest travel advice: www.facebook.com/fcotravel or www.twitter.com/fcotravel
Source: Press Release
