ZZZ

How about teaching Thais to drive properly before issuing a DL?

How many Thai drivers actually have real driving licences?????

There's a guy up the road from me that buys wrecked trucks, mostly older ones and fixes them up to sell. He told me many of these people come in, make a down payment and drive out of the lot. Many of them don't have drivers licence.And some have never driven before.

During this New Year week police stopped around 4 million vehicles and out of them over 200,000 faced legal action for driving without a license. That makes it about 5% of all drivers do not have a license.

GNC have Ultra Omega Krill Oil in their shops, 60 500mg soft gel THB2800. Check their website for shop locations www.gnc.co.th

From Pattaya Mail:

Police and consumer-protection officials are calling for swift remedial action after finding a majority Pattaya retail, hotel and vehicle-rental companies are selling uncertified products or lack licenses altogether.

Every car rental agency and jet ski operator checked lacked any sort of license at all, Wuthi said.

“Rapid action must be taken to have these operators register or measures must be enforced against operators to maintain compliance with the law,” he said.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/majority-of-pattaya-stores-hotels-rental-companies-fail-consumer-protection-inspection-officials-say-21542

There is really only one way to solve the problem and that is for City Hall and Department of Land Transport to take charge and enforce the contract with the Baht Bus Cooperative. A 10Baht fare should be adequate but as all drivers now are competing at the most trafficked routes there are not enough customers to make a decent living.

A fixed set of main routs with a fixed set of baht busses per rout should be established and enforced. If one rout would be less profitable they could arrange some kind of rotation system between the routes for the drivers.

I would like to see four main routes:

1. Jomtien to Naklua via Second rd and back via Beach rd with half the busses going via Pratumnak and the other half via Thappraya rd.

2. North Pattaya rd/Sukhumvit via North Pattaya rd, Beach rd, South Pattaya rd to Sukhumvit. Same return trip but via Second Rd.

3. Central Pattaya rd/Sukhumvit via Central Pattaya rd, Beach rd and back via Central Pattaya rd.

4. Bali Hai via Third rd to North Pattaya rd bus station/Sukhumvit.

There will also be a need for minor routes such as Theprasit rd to Sukhumvit and a number of feeder services from the dark side to the main routes at Sukhumvit/North/Central and South Pattaya rd.

If a system like this was implemented it would help to lessen the current traffic congestion and maybe cut down on the number of drunk drivers, It should also provide a decent living for the baht bus drivers as more people would use the system.

All this is probably wishful thinking as it depends 100% on City Hall doing their job.

IMO, a series of smaller but more frequent buses would provide better service. Small buses would allow more of them, more frequency, and they would be easier to handle on the poorly-maintained and congested roads. Start with a simple route and with clearly marked bus stops. A route starting at the south end of Jomtien Beach Road and heading north along Jomtien Beach Road, on to Thap Phraya into Pattaya, then north along Pattaya Second Road, continuing north into Naklua. Then turn around and head south from Naklua onto Pattaya Beach Road, south on Thap Phraya, south on Jomtien Beach Road. Repeat and repeat and repeat.

That route would handle passengers going Jomtien <-->Pattaya, and also Naklua <--> Pattaya. It would be nice if the government would train some of the current baht-bus drivers to drive those buses, collect fares, perform maintenance, etc and relieve some of the potential job loss for them.

So the govenment should use a series of smaller busses (Baht busses) to be driven by the current drivers on a rout they are currently using??

I'm not sure this is changing anything.

Many years ago a system was introduced where all the baht busses (700 then) were color coded with a green, red or blue sign in the window. Only the green (100) busses were allowed to use beach road, to ease congestion. The other busses were to go other routes. As always the baht bus drivers did not like to do what they were told and nothing came out of this scheme.

I would like to see a new color coding where half the baht busses going from South Pattaya to Jomtien had a code for going via Pratumnak rd and the other going via Thappraya rd.

As the current problem is all about money I think much of it would solve itself if baht busses were allowed to charge 20baht per person going from South Pattaya to Jomtien, or anywhere inbetween. This fee could be in effect only night time, say 7PM to 4AM. This way they could make as much money, or more, running regular fares compared to doing nothing for hours waiting for a charter.

In the end no system will work unless City Hall and Department of Land Transport monitor and enforce the system with stiff penalties.

Phuket is trying to break the taxi mafia monopoly. It will be interesting to see how this works out. Not quite the same situation as we have in Pattaya but it's a fight between the public interest and the mafia, same as here.

Pattaya Mail headline 24th Feb 2012 (11 month ago):

Stricter disciplinary measures for rogue baht bus drivers coming in “4 to 5 months”

Penalties proposed were 500-2000Baht fine, report to Department of Land Transport and permanent termination of permit. To report call : 081-9838-716, 038-423-554 and the office will investigate the driver and, if necessary, dole out punishment.

Pattaya Mail story here:

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/stricter-disciplinary-measures-for-rogue-baht-bus-drivers-coming-in-4-to-5-months-10385

Not sure what the outcome of this was but the result, or lack there of, is evident. This is a public service, contracted and regulated by City Hall and Department of Land Transport to provide the public with a transportation service within the city. We are just a minority complaining, it would probably be much more effective if the Thai population of Pattaya complained as well as they are the big losers in this mess.

I assume that the way the baht busses are operated are regulated in the license agreement between the baht bus cooperative and Pattaya city hall.

This agreement will cover the rates the baht busses are allowed to charge and most likely also regulates where and how they should operate.

I’m pretty sure that what is going on now is a clear violation of this agreement and Pattaya City Hall should clear this up before we end up with the same system they have in Phuket. But with so much on their "should do" list I doubt anything will ever be done.

All those ships at Laemchabang are dumping their trash overboard as well.

In European waters ships are required to have holding tanks for sewage if they don't have a sewage treatment plant fitted, and many ships incinerate their trash. Not an ideal solution but better than throwing it into the ocean as we used to do. I guess it will take time for these regulations to filter through to this part of the world.

The MARPOL laws are global, not just European. Unfortunately, there's always badly managed vessels that will dump stuff regardless and not just third-world boats in third-world waters either.

MARPOL may be global and prohibit the dumping of ANY plastic ANYWARE at sea. 97.18% of the world fleet hava signed this agrement. This is pretty much all countries in the world, except, you guessed it THAILAND, as they don't seem to care.

MARPOL covers:

• Annex I - Oil
  
• Annex II - Noxious Liquid Substances carried in Bulk
  
• Annex III - Harmful Substances carried in Packaged Form
  
• Annex IV - Sewage
  
• Annex V - Garbage
  
• Annex VI - Air Pollution
  

Thailand have signed MARPOL but have opted out of Annex III, IV and V

back home (UK) beaches are tested for water quality and I've seen pristine looking beaches fail the water test and been closed for a season, can you imagine the same type of testing quality control going on here, does anyone think that beaches from Bangkok to Rayong would be fit for swimming - I very much doubt it, and for (as some say here) such a modern country as Thailand that relies on tourism - why are they not testing water quality ? but on the other hand even if they were could you honestly expect them to be trusted ?

Like I said earlier, after being here for nearly nine years I'd have expected progress and improvement and I see the opposite, there are no signs that it's going to get better so I can only assume it will continue to get worse.

PDC test the water quality of a number of beaches in Thailand twice a year, wet season and dry season. The numbers for 2011 were just published, December 2012. The tests are quite comprehensive and include bacteria levels.

In the Chonburi area Koh Larn and Koh Srichang was rated good (index 80-90). All beaches in Pattaya, north, south and Jomtien was rated fair (index 50-80). Naklua market was rated as deteriorated (index (25-50).

Complete report can be downloaded from www.pdc.go.th

"More than 4.7 million vehicles were flagged down, and 688,381 offenders punished for violating traffic laws. Of those caught, 202,893 faced legal action for driving without a licence"

Nice to know that at least a majority of the drivers out there have a license

What's the deal with koh Samet, is it also covered by this ban?

I always use the "Guide" button on the remote. You can setup to only see the listings for your favourite channels, you can search all channels for key words and you can setup alerts when the program starts, works fine for me, never use the printed guide.

Unfortunately most of the "probiotic food" bought in supermarkets has been pasteurized and are therefore not probiotic anymore as this will kill the bacteria but it will probably taste the same.

If they make it on the premises, like the German sausage factory, it's probably good.

For the real stuff you can easily make it yourself, only takes a few days. There are plenty of recipes and instructions on the web.

Have you considered an electric bike?

Advantages is, for the smaller versions; NO registration, NO tax, NO insurance and NO license needed, cheap to run, low cost.

The smaller bikes is around 20,000 Baht, have a range of about 40km, top speed around 40km/h, will recharge in about 6hrs.

(The bigger versions will need registration, tax, insurance and a license to drive, not shure where the power limit is between small and big)

bagonthai have 3 showrooms on 3rd Rd between Pattaya Tai and Klang, check their website for map. There are probably others selling these bikes as well.

The GNC shop in Tops, Pattaya Klang/second road, have Ultra Omega Krill oil and a lot of other suplements.

I use dehumidify mode in living areas, feels like 23 deg but is actually around 30 deg but low humidity, also saves a lot on the power bill.

In bedroom using sleep mode. Initial temp 22 deg and then the temp will gradually increase during the night and the aircon will switch off after preset time 5-6 hours. Saves on power bill and nice to wake up when the aircon is off and not to coold in the bed room.

If you have had one beer, one drink or a cigarette within 15 minutes of being tested you could test over the limit. That would be one reason for refusing a breath analyzer test.

Also, most test units require you to drink water before the test to avoid false positive, is this ever done here?

Do you have the option of a blood test if you test positive on the breath analyzer?

A cigarette will not give a reading,

The notion of water given is total rubbish.

If you have been cigarette smoking, it could be wise to pass on the breath test. Scientific research shows that nicotine can certainly increase the test outcome substantially — enough to get you charged and convicted of drunk driving. This occurs due to the fact a chemical substance known as acetaldehyde (which gets into the body via smoking) is often misunderstood as aclchohol by the machine.

One of the most common causes of falsely high breath analyzer readings is the existence of mouth alcohol. In analyzing a subject's breath sample, the breath analyzer's internal computer is making the assumption that the alcohol in the breath sample came from alveolar air—that is, air exhaled from deep within the lungs. However, alcohol may have come from the mouth, throat or stomach for a number of reasons.To help guard against mouth-alcohol contamination, certified breath-test operators are trained to observe a test subject carefully for at least 15–20 minutes before administering the test.

Other than recent drinking, the most common source of mouth alcohol is from belching or burping. For this reason most test equipment manufacturers recomends drinking water before the subject is tested.

There are several other causes for a false positive reading such as being a diabetic, or being on a special diet.

Anyway, I'm all for this testing as long as it is only a tool to separate drivers for additional testing using a fail proof method such as a blood test.

I don't know where you come from but if you decide to not have a breath test for being a smoker in Australia you will be charged, no if no butts. I have done 1,000's of breathe tests and I have never heard of what you speak. Yes an operator must wait 15 minutes from the time of interception before conducting a breath test (different to a prelim test or PBT) The instruments we use are the Drager Alcotest 7110 and if someone should burb whilst providing a sample of breath for analysis then the instrument automatically self aborts the test and a further 15 minutes is required. If this occures again the process is repeated and on a third time it is then to blood testing.

As you say the breath analysing operators are trained and duely qualified and I can assure you that they will never provide a subject with food or drink prior to testing. Police are told never to give the subject anything which includes water and if they must use the toilet prior then they are supervised to ensure that they do not consume anything that could place doubt on legal proceedings.

Well, this is not Australia. I don't know if they use a Drager Alcotest 7110 here in Thailand or if this unit is safe regarding acetaldehyde. All I'm saying is that many units wil show a false positive after smoking. Can you garantee that is not the case with the units used in Thailand?

I just said that most manufacturers of analyzers recomend that you rinse your mouth before testing, if the test is performed without following the manufacturers instructions they should be invalid.

Anyway, refusing or not is no big deal if the next step would be a reliable blood test.

If you have had one beer, one drink or a cigarette within 15 minutes of being tested you could test over the limit. That would be one reason for refusing a breath analyzer test.

Also, most test units require you to drink water before the test to avoid false positive, is this ever done here?

Do you have the option of a blood test if you test positive on the breath analyzer?

A cigarette will not give a reading,

The notion of water given is total rubbish.

If you have been cigarette smoking, it could be wise to pass on the breath test. Scientific research shows that nicotine can certainly increase the test outcome substantially — enough to get you charged and convicted of drunk driving. This occurs due to the fact a chemical substance known as acetaldehyde (which gets into the body via smoking) is often misunderstood as aclchohol by the machine.

One of the most common causes of falsely high breath analyzer readings is the existence of mouth alcohol. In analyzing a subject's breath sample, the breath analyzer's internal computer is making the assumption that the alcohol in the breath sample came from alveolar air—that is, air exhaled from deep within the lungs. However, alcohol may have come from the mouth, throat or stomach for a number of reasons.To help guard against mouth-alcohol contamination, certified breath-test operators are trained to observe a test subject carefully for at least 15–20 minutes before administering the test.

Other than recent drinking, the most common source of mouth alcohol is from belching or burping. For this reason most test equipment manufacturers recomends drinking water before the subject is tested.

There are several other causes for a false positive reading such as being a diabetic, or being on a special diet.

Anyway, I'm all for this testing as long as it is only a tool to separate drivers for additional testing using a fail proof method such as a blood test.

If you have had one beer, one drink or a cigarette within 15 minutes of being tested you could test over the limit. That would be one reason for refusing a breath analyzer test.

Also, most test units require you to drink water before the test to avoid false positive, is this ever done here?

Do you have the option of a blood test if you test positive on the breath analyzer?

In Aus, the blood test is what gets you charged. The breath test is just an indicator, since as you say, you may have just had a single drink.

or used a breath-freshener spray recently - most are alcohol based.

Yeah, and if you sprayed a few nips of "breath-freshener", you could be legally DUI, as well. Then, there's metho, which used to be popular in the early days as a mouthwash...

Would it be correct to say that those who are in the habit of drinking and driving would be the most reluctant to see such measures implemented?

As most people tested are not DUI they are the ones that should be most reluctant to use a method that could easilly give a false positive and result in severe consequences.

A breath analyzer should only be a tool for the police to decide who should be given a blood test, as is done in most western countries.

DUI is a very serious crime with very serious consequenses and should be proven using a fail proof test like a blood test.

Actually a performance test would be better as some drivers should not be allowed to drive no matter how sober they are and some drivers are actually better drivers after a beer or two.

If you have had one beer, one drink or a cigarette within 15 minutes of being tested you could test over the limit. That would be one reason for refusing a breath analyzer test.

Also, most test units require you to drink water before the test to avoid false positive, is this ever done here?

Do you have the option of a blood test if you test positive on the breath analyzer?

Being legally drunk is not a valid reason for refusal.

BTW, they have breath tests for tobacco use now? Isn't that still a legal crime?

You are not legally drunk after one beer but a breath analyzer test whithin 15 minutse from drinking one beer could result in a false positive reading saying you are legally drunk.

Breath analyzer can indicate a false positive for a variety of substances including tobacco, medicines and others

If you have had one beer, one drink or a cigarette within 15 minutes of being tested you could test over the limit. That would be one reason for refusing a breath analyzer test.

Also, most test units require you to drink water before the test to avoid false positive, is this ever done here?

Do you have the option of a blood test if you test positive on the breath analyzer?

Tried to login around 05:00 this morning but got a message that online services were down due to system maintenance. Just tried again and all looks OK.

Hotels dont actually use the TM30form, they have a login account with immigration and send in a daily spreadsheet with all the info. No big problem for them as they have this information in their check in ledger.

The TM30 form can be used by private home owners to register a temporary guest. If you are living in your own condo you have to send in this form everytime you return to Thailand. If you live in a house in your wifes name she needs to send it in. Guess most people dont do this but I have heard about people getting cought for not doing it.