What is considered a major offence in the US is no big deal in Thailand

[connda]

More fuel for the Most Dangerous Roads in the World.

First world countries make excessive speeding a big deal -- even when done by their HiSos and elites.
I think there is an object lesson here that Thailand is failing to understand.  How much of the non-enforcement here in Thailand is due to fear of repercussions to the officers who issue the citations? But, in first world countries, the police are respected even by the most prominent in society.  The police can do their jobs.  It's up to the lawyers and courts to battle guilt or innocence.  Not a bad model imho.
And the media reports it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/fox-news-jeanine-pirro-charged-driving-119-mph-upstate-article-1.3646308

Edited November 21, 2017 by connda

[observer90210]

Many good points in the OP's post.

 

Assuming one day things will catch up here, it would surely unleash new market ventures for radar detectors (legal in some states in the USA, not at all in the EU) !!

Edited November 21, 2017 by observer90210

[dotpoom]

11 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Many good points in the OP's post.

 

Assuming one day things will catch up here, it would surely unleash new market ventures for radar detectors (legal in some states in the USA, not at all in the EU) !!

Are you saying that radar detectors (speed detectors) are not legal in the EU?......then somebody should tell the police and the courts that.

Edited November 22, 2017 by dotpoom

[Langsuan Man]

16 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Are you saying that radar detectors (speed detectors) are not legal in the EU?......then somebody should tell the police and the courts that.

Any time I got a speeding ticket in Germany is was via speed camera, which I seriously doubt has the ability to determine if you are using a radar detector or not 

 

Even in the US , those states that prohibit radar detectors require that the police observe the detector before a ticket for using it can be issued. 

 

But radar has become old hat in the US these days, the police now use laser detectors that only need a fraction of a second to track your speed, so by the time you detect it, it's too late if you are speeding 

[observer90210]

19 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Are you saying that radar detectors (speed detectors) are not legal in the EU?......then somebody should tell the police and the courts that.

Yup...radar detectors...but you seem to confuse with the speed guns used by the police. Radar detectors detect the speed guns (legal use by the police) with concentrated radio waves and electro magnetic energy and are not speed detectors (legal use by police again)  that detect the speed of a car.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Note, "Judge" Jeanie was hit with "excessive" speeding.  Makes one wonder what the ticket would have read for just plain ol' vanilla speading.

 

"ALBANY — Fox News host and TV judge Jeanine Pirro is heading to court herself after being ticketed for excessive speeding Sunday in upstate New York."

 

Mac

[phantomfiddler]

But it also works the other way round, sometimes to a ridiculous level, as in the case of the Thai woman who, in Thailand, got 15 years in jail for possession of 0.1gms of cocaine !

[Been there done that]

Speeding is perhaps seen as even worse than a sexrape in our beautiful civilized world.

 

All for the money !

[Time Traveller]

2 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

But it also works the other way round, sometimes to a ridiculous level, as in the case of the Thai woman who, in Thailand, got 15 years in jail for possession of 0.1gms of cocaine !

Or 35 years for some Facebook comments ! (actually it was 70 years, but reduced in half due to admitting guilt) 

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by Time Traveller

[PAIBKK]

14 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Assuming one day things will catch up here, it would surely unleash new market ventures for radar detectors (legal in some states in the USA, not at all in the EU) !!

Having a radar detector here in Thailand but I'm not using it. Only had 1 speeding ticket on the road from BKK to Hua Hin in 2013. Traveling 136 km/h as 90 km/h was allowed. Only paid 400 THB.

[sammieuk1]

Its not the speeding that kills just the inability to stop is the problem .

[Katia]

Quote

the police are respected even by the most prominent in society. 

 

Really?  I've heard of plenty of "do you know who I am???" stories, and probably also cops getting a hard time after not caring who the person is and issuing the ticket anyway.  (And the people who aren't anybody give the "I pay your salary!" line.)

 

 

4 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

But radar has become old hat in the US these days, the police now use laser detectors that only need a fraction of a second to track your speed, so by the time you detect it, it's too late if you are speeding 

Plus also more pin-pointed with the laser beam... no more hoping that the radar picks up a larger vehicle near you instead...

[NanLaew]

How about DUI or DWI. Much more dangerous than speeding. The Norwegians have a nice, tiered fine system for those hi-so's that go too fast.

 

That's about $30k for being 3 x the legal blood alcohol limit. For someone in the same leagues as the Red Bull shit, that's water of a ducks daddy's back.

[bazza73]

IMHO speeding fines in most Western countries are so severe it's almost mandatory to have cruise control on a vehicle. It's quite noticeable new vehicles for the most part don't have cruise control in Thailand.

There are three factors in road accidents in Australia. Speed, alcohol and fatigue. In Thailand, one could add in yaa baa and driver training.

[marko kok prong]

Driving a few times through Bangkok ect on the motorway going to Koh Chang,doing the limit 120kph,Mercedes and Bmw's and other expensive cars fly past at insane speeds often cutting in between lanes,but i have never seen the Police stop an expensive imported car like this ,why?  Because they know who ever is driving will be rich and well connected,and they could end up in deep do-do if they stop them,similar to out in the sticks when you see some of the wrecks getting around no lights,dents all over,bald tires,no tax,ins,licence,not worth stopping as they are at the other end of the spectrum,to poor,to pay  much so not worth the time and effort. i have only got stopped for a misdemeanour once,overtaking a truck on an empty road on a double yellow line,and i saw the only Cop i saw the whole day,it was a good spot,but 200baht in his pocket,i was away,much preferable to what would have happened in Aussie or Uk.

[Enoon]

 

"But, in first world countries, the police are respected even by the most prominent in society."

 

Whereas in Thailand the police are foremost the servants of the prominent (according to degrees of wealth/power) who are placed above the law.   It is the prominent who are respected by the police/law............not the other way around.

 

That is the way their society has been arranged (by the prominent and powerful) for 100s of years.  For 1000s of years if you see it in the general context of Eastern society.

 

Very much not the way that society in the West moved.  It's a "History" thing.

 

No prominent/powerful person is working to change that.  They never have.

 

Wacha gonna do?

 

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by Enoon

[UnkleMoooose]

"The police are respected" in western countries!!??  Bwaaaahahahahahaha!!

[csabo]

15 hours ago, dotpoom said:

Are you saying that radar detectors (speed detectors) are not legal in the EU?......then somebody should tell the police and the courts that.

Try and follow me. A "radar detector" detects radar. A "speed detector." detects speed. You see how words make a difference with regards to meaning? Have you been mixing up your oral and anal thermometers also? 

[hawker9000]

"First world countries make excessive speeding a big deal..."

 

It's not that it's a "big deal".  You don't get the chair for it.  In the U.S. you pay a fine (generally hefty by Thai standards), attend traffic school (which costs MORE money), and that's the end of it unless you're an habitual offender.  It's just that the Rule of Law, and equal treatment under the law, generally MEANS SOMETHING in the west.   A certain US president and certain municipalities who decide they're not going to enforce immigration law kind of puts a big dent in this justice-for-all ethic.  But with that exception, it's just a matter of law enforcement actually doing its job, whether it be a major crime or a simple infraction.   (And police officers who take bribes, steal evidence, etc.,  AREN'T just simply temporarily assigned to "inactive posts" only to return after things "cool down".)

 

 

[mike324]

19 hours ago, marko kok prong said:

Driving a few times through Bangkok ect on the motorway going to Koh Chang,doing the limit 120kph,Mercedes and Bmw's and other expensive cars fly past at insane speeds often cutting in between lanes,but i have never seen the Police stop an expensive imported car like this ,why?  Because they know who ever is driving will be rich and well connected,and they could end up in deep do-do if they stop them,similar to out in the sticks when you see some of the wrecks getting around no lights,dents all over,bald tires,no tax,ins,licence,not worth stopping as they are at the other end of the spectrum,to poor,to pay  much so not worth the time and effort. i have only got stopped for a misdemeanour once,overtaking a truck on an empty road on a double yellow line,and i saw the only Cop i saw the whole day,it was a good spot,but 200baht in his pocket,i was away,much preferable to what would have happened in Aussie or Uk.

its more like there are no cops trying to catch those driving over the limit (its not just bmw and mercedes going over the limit, you see vans and trucks flying too), but there are a lot of cops that drive around stopping trucks for easy money as many truck drivers don't have proper licenses too, or most trucks are not up to emission standards.