The UN Road Safety Fund's partners; UN-HABITAT, WHO and UN ESCAP, are working with authorities in Thailand to improve to identify the root causes of motorized two-wheeler crashes and develop new policies and strategies to improve motorized two-wheeler safety.

Motorized two-wheeler safety is a major concern in the Asia-Pacific region as 39.2% of road fatalities in 2016 involved motorized two-wheelers. Among the subregions of ESCAP, South-East Asia suffers from the most challenge in terms of motorized two-wheeler safety as 62% of road fatalities in 2016 were users of motorized two-wheelers.

According to WHO report, in 2019 Thailand was one of the countries in South-East Asia with the highest number of motorized two-wheeler fatalities. The number of road traffic fatalities is over 20,000 each year, and 74% of them are the users of motorized two-wheelers. The statistical data from the Department of Land Transport (DLT) of Thailand, in 2021, there were more than 21 million registered motorized two-wheelers in the country, which was 51.6% of all registered vehicles.

Motorized two-wheeler users are at great risk of being injured or killed in road crashes and a motorized two-wheeler user is 9 to 30 times more likely to be killed compared to a car driver per kilometre of travel in Thailand. To reduce the number of motorized two-wheeler crashes, injuries and fatalities in Thailand, it is necessary to identify the root causes of motorized two-wheeler crashes and develop new policies and strategies to improve motorized two-wheeler safety.

Currently, Thailand has prepared a draft of Thailand Road Safety Master Plan 2022–2027 awaiting finalization by the Government, and the 12 voluntary global performance targets are being considered under Thailand’s context in the national plan.  Motorized two-wheeler safety is an integral part of the master plan. However, the national master plan is not specific to motorized two-wheeler safety improvement.

The objective of this project is to develop a Motorized Two-Wheeler Safety Master Plan for Thailand. The outcome of this project will enable the related agencies to develop countermeasures to increase active safety to prevent or reduce the occurrences of motorized two-wheeler crashes or passive safety to reduce the severity of motorized two-wheeler crashes.

In addition, the project will select one community areas where motorized two-wheeler crashes can be reduced. A detailed motorized two-wheeler crash data analysis will be performed for these areas and some proposed solutions such as road design improvement will be implemented to improve motorized two-wheeler safety.

The motorized two-wheeler safety master Plan will ensure the government agencies take action toward the reduction of motorized two-wheeler crashes, injuries, and fatalities by implementing safety improvements and monitoring systems.