The high road fatality rates that make Thai roads the world's second deadliest may in fact be understated, said Prommin Kantiya, director of the Accident Prevention Network (APN).
Mr Prommin, who was responding Thursday to the Public Health Ministry's campaign to reduce road fatality rates, said he was not surprised by Thailand's poor ranking for road safety and said road accidents were inaccurate and under-reported.
"I think Thailand should be number one," he said.
The APN chief said government agencies had different criteria for recording accident cases, with police records based on legal charges, and those from the Public Health Ministry based on hospital admissions.
According to the recent World Health Organisation (WHO) 2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety, the number of people reported killed on Thai roads and highways in 2012 was 14,059.
The Public Health Ministry says that is equivalent to a road-death rate of 36.2 people per 100,000. This rate was only surpassed by war-torn Libya, where 73.4 people per 100,000 died that same year.
However, the WHO concluded that road fatalities in Thailand were far higher than reported. It estimated road traffic fatalities that year were actually as high as 24,237, or 42% more than stated.
Mr Prommin said that while the road-safety campaign aimed to educate people, law enforcement was the only solution to reducing the death rate.
He said state agencies had failed to reduce the traffic accident rate as they were too focused on other tasks.
Police prioritise crime, rather than traffic, while the Transport Ministry focuses on building roads and issuing driving licences instead of driving standards and qualifications.
Mr Prommin said the lack of integration between agencies was to blame for their poor efforts in tackling the problem, although irresponsible drivers were at fault for the accidents.
Highway Police chief Somchai Kaosamran said the Royal Thai Police had stopped implementing a policy to suspend driving licences of motorists caught repeatedly breaking traffic regulations.
The policy was short-lived due to problems in coordinating with the Department of Land Transport (DLT), he said.
A source at the Transport Ministry also blamed the failed policy on poor system coordination between the two agencies.
Pol Maj Gen Somchai said the Highway Police had installed traffic cameras to capture violations and avoid having to deal with motorists breaking traffic regulations face-to-face. The idea was to curb confrontations and bribery, he said.
He also blamed bad motorists, citing a figure that about 73% of road accidents result from driver misconduct, not weather or road conditions.
Pol Maj Gen Somchai also called for a long-term approach to dealing with confrontations with motorists when police strictly enforce traffic regulations, suggesting related laws could be amended.
This was because the vast majority of road accidents usually occur on local roads within small communities, not the highways, he added.
Many people there tend to use motorcycles for travel and usually fail to wear a safety helmet, he said.
Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck also blamed the high road accident figures in Thailand on lax law enforcement.
He has instructed the DLT to work with operators of public-private bus services and airport taxis to have those vehicles equipped with a GPS so their driving can be recorded and monitored, in an attempt to control people's driving habits.
Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said the ministry will operate a road safety campaign throughout the year, and not just during the New Year and Songkran festivals.
More checkpoints will be set up in over 7,000 communities across the country, he said, while shortcut emergency services will be set up in provincial and district hospitals to treat accident victims.