jellykookabanj

What really bugs me is the hypocritical way the police treat the driving laws. They all pile out every day for a couple of hours at the beginning and end of the school day. They help millions of kids get to and from school riding their motorcye WITHOUT WEARING CRASH HELMETS.

Later in the day they then set up checkpoints and start to enforce the helmet law...

In Surin at least they may have had some good effect as most kids now wear helmets. Many very young kids still ride bikes obviously without either training or licences.

a very old topic ....with such a high rates in deadly car accident in thailand , all different governments should have done something about it , 20 years here I never see any improvements just seen more cars and more accidents. Send the people to driving school would be a first good thing , teach Thais road safety and respect , then it might be better .. you can write what ever articles you want on road safety and dangerous roads , nobody except foreigners will pay attention. I would be curious to know how many drive without proper license.

You cannot get a licence at 5 years old.

And there are foreigners who depend on Government hospitals

What is funny about that?

Me too, I have no idea why this is considered funny. I had two strokes and was very well cared for by doctors in a govt hospital and would probably have died if not cared for speedily and well. So NOT funny comment at all.

Perhbaps the original poster has a mental illness which make him think illogically.

The Thai drivers will definitely be the favourites if they drive normally. All other drivers will not appreciate having cars pull out in front of them, or changing lanes without looking. Then when they all get angry with the Thai drivers, the thais will just ignore the looks and do it again to show thay are number one. The race will be like a train wreck.

I don't think Formula 1 cars would cope well with Pattaya traffic.

They were planning a night race like Singapore, may be between 3 & 5am, yet I doubt any F1 driver would be happy to be overtaken by some local, tanked up on two wheel and no crash helmet.

I doubt that F1 cars could last on roads of the standard in Pattaya or even Thailand in general

The departure/arrival card is a thai non sense. ù

Who reads it? It is just a waste of time and paper

Malaysia has abolished it,

The immigration process takes less than a minute and you get a sticker plus a stamp with 90 i repeat 90 days visa !

Why is it so difficult to do the same in smiling land????

Marco

Maybe it is because many other countries make thai's jump through hoops to gain entry. UK for instance requires a visa, europe requires a shengen visa, need I go on.

I would like to see any of you poster's sit and deal with hundreds if not thousands of people day in and day out. None of you would even consider doing this type of job and with the attitudes that are displayed from the supreme Tv know it all posers. I would hate to be in your cue. Why do travelers and especially from the west think that they deserve some sort of special treatment because they are spending money? Because why? Here let me hand fan you whilst you wait in line to come into our country? Let us trip over ourselves to be extra smiley and nice so that you ca feel good about yourselves. Give me a break! It is what it is. Whether I get a smile or a stink eye glance from them I don't give a sh*t. It is not the officers fault that the system is flawed. They are there to process you as quickly as possible end of story. You all think that the officers are intentionally stalling you and the line that is front of them? I doubt that completely. The system will improve that is what the dialog would suggest. Ever travel to India? US? Europe? South America? Do they all smile and trip over themselves to make a good impression for people? Thailand is awesome! Incredible? Fun! and I for one am extremely grateful to be able to live here.

Well said, I agree totally. I very much doubt BKK is the worst.

well said. BKK is far from the worst. Try London LHR on the many days that immigration are having a "go slow" over something or other. US can be both fast or bloody minded depending on the day and time.

I despair at the lack of knowledge of some of the posters on here. Since 9/11 the USA in the guise of the FAA have introduced an online system of entering information about any passenger that is headed for their borders. This can be completed by yourself online at any time after you have purchased the ticket to fly. It MUST be completed before you are allowed on the aircraft so if you have not furnished the info prior to check-in then the airline agent must input it. Your ability to fly to USA is totally at the mercy of the US immigration authority.

Secondly the airline is legally required now to ensure that passengers have the requisite paperwork and visas needed for entry to USA. If they incorrectly allow a passenger onboard without the necessary paperwork/visa then the airline is fined heavily and also has to suffer the cost of returning the passenger to the point of embarkation.

Thirdly, as a safety feature, to guard against people boarding the wrong aircraft, the passport is checked again at the boarding gate by airline staff before you pass through to the aircraft and board.

All these procedures have been in place since 9/11 and were driven by FAA (USA) and backed up by the CAA (UK).

Even information about cargo is now required to be input electronically and cleared through US customs before it has even been loaded on an airplane.

All these procedures have been introduced in an attempt to prevent any future terrorists from doing anything any more to an aircraft or the passengers.

So it is plainly obvious that nobody could depart a country without the passport being checked, by at the very least, by airline staff.

The film may be a smidgen pathetic but the amount of pain it causes to the Muslim people cannot even begin to compare to what a few Muslims did to the western world on 9/11. That should be the yardstick against which we measure outraged feelings.

A morally bankrupt country!

Every country has it's fill of corruption so we Farang have no right to overly critcize. The ONLY fifference between us and them is that the corruption in Asia is far more open and in fact is welcomed by most Farang. Driving offences as an example, in UK biggish fine and points on your license over here, couple hundred baht usually does the trick. I know which system I prefer.

If true, the poor sod who has to install all the cameras is going to be extremely busy over the next few hundred years...

What a surprise!

Yup...the question to ask is where was the "shut down in 5 minutes" if test goes wrong. Operating procedures in this country are non-existant. Poor farmers may have lost a great deal of money, but as another poster said, as it is Bangkok nobody will care.

Not too massive a fine as the cost relates to less than 1 baht per each customer. I think DTAC might just be able to afford it. Nice addition to the general "TEA MONEY KITTY" though

Although this is a high profile case, it could just be that it was an accident. How many times have I not seen the police motosai just pull into traffic right in front of cars.

Most people here panic when they have been in accident and just flee, even when not at fault.

Just sayin'...

That could very well be true. But someone driving a Ferrari must have been traveling at quite a speed to dent it as much as it is shown in the pictures.Corruption in police forces exists in virtually every country in the world. Here in Thailand it is just a slight bit less "under the counter" and favours are done in eveery country for the wealthy and people in power by authorities.

My condolences to the family olf the deceased policeman.

Last I know the office moved to Korat....but if you travel a few Kilometers on to the border at Chomchong, there is an office next to the passport checkout where you can present the 90 day report. I am not 100% sure but that was the case last year.

And i thought i was the only one

Me too....but the two things I have learnt is 1)( that when my thai wife says 5 minutes....it could be up to 6 weeks before she actually turns up or is ready to go out and 2) I have to be a mind reader because she doesn't tell me something but swears blind that she did some time before. Yes I KNOW it could be me going senile but I still have a high IQ and a bloody good memory, so surely not me going doolally

No problems in Surin. My wife has been on phone for most of the morning (as usual) unless , of course, if she is talking to herself and hasn.t noticed yet. LOL

The governments mathematics are slightly out. With a population of between 60-70 million then a drop of 60-70,000 smokers and drinkers represents a 0.01% (one tenth of a percent) not the 0.5% they stated

It's the idiots that rioted wearing red shirts that is the problem. I have ditched all the red t-shirts I owned for fear opf wrong idea being projected. I would niot worry in the slightest if in the UK but here could cause some aggro.

Rechargeable electric vehicles.

A technical deadend if ever there was one. Limited range and don't even think about running the ac.

Electric vehicles really only make sense when they are fuel cell especially here in Thailand.

Can't understand why any energy company doesn't invest more in hydrogen production especially here in Thailand where renewables can be used to generate it.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect App

Very true.

But consider this, what the hell is 9 yes nine charging stations going to do to help with the millions of cars on the road in Thailand.

Yet another fanfare from La La Land...he he he

The passengers can avail of the new service via mobile phones or tablet browsers, mobile application, mobile game, and iPad application.

So I can't do this from my notebook or desktop PC then? No printable boarding pass.

And what about luggage?

Absolutely brilliant and only at least five years behind British Airways at LHR plus many other european airlines. When you electronically record the boarding pas it gets you to an express baggage drop-off point and you stroll through imigration, except when there is industrial action taking place. LHR handles a dam_n sight more passengers than BKK. What are TG going to claim next...5 hours to LHR maybe if they awaken from their dreamworld of being a pace setter. he he he

Why would you be looking for somewhere to charge up. Think thai style and just plug in anywhere. My wife has a thai massage business and customers routinely plug in their phones at her expense. She won't say anything due to the face factor.

Sensibly though, swampy is way back on providing services. Terminal three waiting area at London Heathrow has charging points by the dozen. I have yet to find a proper one at swampy.