Road safety
If this were a war, you might say the casualty figure was high - more than 15,000 people killed in a year. But on this battlefield, it is not guns that do the killing. It is cars, lorries and motorcycles.
There is no getting away from it, it is dangerous on Thailand's roads. Every year, the death and injury figures make sombre reading. But there is one city that offers a message of hope.
Khon Kaen, about 480km northeast of Bangkok, has little to distinguish it, apart from some 5,000-year-old pots and bones at a nearby archaeological site. But it does appear to have an answer to the madness of road deaths. Its death toll fell from about 1,500 in 1996 to 302 last year.
This is the reason the World Heath Organisation's road safety department recently set up an office there, providing training and resources for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Sri Lanka - and Thailand.
On the frontline in the war on road deaths and injuries is Wittaya Chatbanchachai, who heads the Accident Protection Centre at Khaon Kaen hospital.
He said the main impetus for Khon Kaen's fight came from the province's governor, Wijarn Chaiyanand, a decade ago, following a higher-than-average road-death toll. But as Dr Wittaya makes clear, there is no magic answer to the way Khon Kaen has slashed the number of road deaths.
In this battle, the analogy of a well-trained and well-equipped soldier fits well. He wears a helmet and flak jacket, and uses equipment that is well-maintained.
He also has papers to show he is fully trained in how to get from A to B without getting shot, and is aware of the danger zones en route. And he does not drink while on duty.
This is all fairly obvious information. But the province has been methodical in educating drivers and schoolchildren, carrying out speeding, drink-driving and seatbelt checks, and building a database for the police on injuries, deaths and accident black spots.
Evidently it works. The authorities are now training officials from other provinces in how to cut the carnage.
And clearly, there must be something to it, as the nationwide death toll has dropped from 15,000, when Khon Kaen finally woke up to the problem in 1996, to about 12,000 last year.
Now a new governor, Jet Thangwat, has to pick up where his predecessor left off, keeping the death toll low. He had better buckle up for the ride.
