New point system aims to weed out bad drivers

[bangkokheat]

they talk about like its a new idea, cant wait for the photo opp. wonder if the fatality rate will climb again

[AloisAmrein]

Much too lenient, and it will never ever work.

[jaywalker]

45 minutes ago, r136dg said:

I should add; the roads need massive work. More lanes also & probably a minimum speed limit. The ultra slow vehicles get many worked up to pass radically at high speed.

Never mind, it's hopeless.

Absolutely. There is no "Flow of Traffic'. It's either balls-to-the-wall, or going 40 kph.

 

I've had numerous vehicles in Thailand (mostly newer rentals), and I've never seen a cruise control on any of them.

Edited December 15, 2017 by jaywalker

[sammieuk1]

Wait the next idea maybe better thought out .

[RickBradford]

Police are working toward a new point-cutting system next month to try to weed out bad driver from the streets. increase the income of ordinary traffic police officers. And the first step, a ticketing system with a bar code, will be introduced this Sunday.

 

There, fixed that for you.

[NextStationBangkok]

Where to punch the feedback rating, when you are not happy ?

 

[stephehr]

Who is going to enforce it?

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Ignoring the fact that over 90% of offences committed in front of the police are ignored by the police.

 

70%, say, of offences are settled with an unreceipted fine.

Each police station area is a mini-fiefdom so they will only report 10% of the receipted fines to the points database.

The staff at the points database will have I.T. problems or administrative problems meaning the system is down 85% of the time.

Upon hitting 12 points, the points database, presumably held by the police, would need to inform the Land Transport Dept to rescind the offender's licence. Such inter-deparmental communication only works around 8% of the time if you are lucky.

 

This proposal will never be implemented in Thailand in any working form in my lifetime which could be another 50 years.

But if the police haven't stopped an offender and issued a ticket, then none of the '90% of offences committed in front of the police are ignored by the police" never really happened.

 

Anyway, today's 'here's some percentages I pulled out of my ass' thread brought to you by...

[NanLaew]

15 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

Absolutely. There is no "Flow of Traffic'. It's either balls-to-the-wall, or going 40 kph.

 

I've had numerous vehicles in Thailand (mostly newer rentals), and I've never seen a cruise control on any of them.

You need to rent up-market and not from Somchai-rent-a-car.

[NanLaew]

4 minutes ago, stephehr said:

Who is going to enforce it?

With a growing network of radar-enabled camera's on the motorways as well as in-and-around some major provincial towns, the enforcement issue is moving fairly rapidly beyond relying on a couple of dozy cops with a speed gun and the optional book of tickets.

[johnny49r]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

In the system, each motorist would start with 12 points that would be shaved down as drivers commit traffic offences. When a driver has lost all points, they would be banned for driving for a certain period of time, said Pol Maj-General Ekkarak Limsangkas, chief of the Police Ticket Management project.

It could help except that it would require police to actually enforce laws and that ain't going to happen any time soon.

Another plan cooked up by officials that aren't willing to address the real problems. 

[jaywalker]

11 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

You need to rent up-market and not from Somchai-rent-a-car.

Brand new stuff from Budget and Avis is what I rent.

[johnny49r]

5 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

With a growing network of radar-enabled camera's on the motorways as well as in-and-around some major provincial towns, the enforcement issue is moving fairly rapidly beyond relying on a couple of dozy cops with a speed gun and the optional book of tickets.

Cameras catch speeders but it doesn't catch other dangerous driving habits. It also doesn't know who has a valid driver's license (less than 50% by most accounts).

Cameras are a way to pick the low hanging fruit but is no substitute for a police force that actually performs law enforcement.

[silent]

39 minutes ago, RichardinHuaHin said:

Well  I think that since they cannot even enforce wearing helmets, broken lights or idiots that drive with no lights on.... I don't see how anything will change since there is no enforcement currently.

I still remember when enforcement in Toronto was like that, but they're salaries alone have them as members of the sunshine club now. Check out how much it costs for a parking too far from curb ticket today before you get what you wish for.! 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Ignoring the fact that over 90% of offences committed in front of the police are ignored by the police.

 

70%, say, of offences are settled with an unreceipted fine.

Each police station area is a mini-fiefdom so they will only report 10% of the receipted fines to the points database.

The staff at the points database will have I.T. problems or administrative problems meaning the system is down 85% of the time.

Upon hitting 12 points, the points database, presumably held by the police, would need to inform the Land Transport Dept to rescind the offender's licence. Such inter-deparmental communication only works around 8% of the time if you are lucky.

 

This proposal will never be implemented in Thailand in any working form in my lifetime which could be another 50 years.

 

 

Add, most of the offences which cause accidents and deaths go unnoticed by the cops because the cops are not out on the roads. Therefore no points cut for serious offences.

 

[Khun Paul]

When I stop laughing at the improbability of this actually having any effect, I will sit down and consider the ramifications of this plan.

1 Police need to be firm and fair in exercising the LAW ( That is if the Polcie actually know the law in the first place ).

2 Increase the severity of the driving test and renewal procedures to remind people of the real dangers of driving .

3 Anyone caught driving without a licence immediate One month in prison no matter who they are.

4 Insurance companies top insure the driver and nominated vehicle.

5 overloading by goods or people , insurance automatically invalid apart from 3rd party injury payments.

6 Speeding and overloading  by passenger carrying vehicles automatic ban for one year and the company involved possible suspension of operators licence .

7 Underage riding/ driving , parents automatically fined 10,000:00 baht .

 

Not that I for one moment would think that any of the above will be implemented therefore it will never happen.

[madmitch]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He said his team is still considering a system for retraining drivers before restoring their points.

 

How about a system for training drivers before they get their licence in the first place?

[bristolgeoff]

i had a friend who was caught by the police,she had no license sorted it out and probadly still has no license today.what would a pts system do for her and thais like herself

[1duckyboy]

Instead of adding points for traffic law infractions, Thais propose subtracting from a starting point of 12 points. With this system, one can't be any worse than 0 points, even if they have 100 or more infractions. It's the Thai way on the highway. The scofflaws will be laughing. 

Edited December 15, 2017 by 1duckyboy

[silent]

18 minutes ago, Khun Paul said:

When I stop laughing at the improbability of this actually having any effect, I will sit down and consider the ramifications of this plan.

You left out graduated licensing

[AsianAtHeart]

4 hours ago, Smiley Face said:

Since so many Thai driver don't bother with a license anyway I don't see this as being a tremendous advantage.

Somewhat related to this point was a recent eye-opener I came across in neighboring Laos.  It turns out that police in Laos will charge 10x the ticket price for an offense if the driver is in possession of a license, because a licensed driver should "know better."  (When some protest was made, they brought out the code book that supposedly supported this.)  That is a big disincentive to getting a license!

[AlphMichaels]

Can't set up a stop to catch the violators who speed, pass on curves, etc.   Need to actively patrol roads and pull them over.  This will go nowhere.  

[holy cow cm]

Let's say that cc tv is going to hurt a lot of drivers. 

[Teddy3943]

This proposition shows how weak and afraid the Thai authorities are to impose real strong traffic rules. Afraid for dislikes of the public, which can result in losses at the next elections. Why not train the traffic police in right traffic behavior, because many of them don't know what that is. And next to the point system high fines and seizure of the vehicle. The only thing where Thai drivers are afraid of is losing their so adored vehicle and high fines. Of course enforcement of the law is the first thing that has to be done... and this is probably the most hard part of the purpose of the change to safer driving.

[hobobo]

"But first they must link the online database hosting driver’s licences to the database of traffic tickets."

 

If this will take as long as Immigration's 90-day online reporting, I'm afraid I will reside either upstairs or downstairs and will miss out on this wonderful idea.

 

 

[holy cow cm]

Also unfortunately on the other side, even if you didn't do anything, the cop can say you did. Happens all of the time here. 

[hkt83100]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But first they must link the online database hosting driver’s licences to the database of traffic tickets.

If this is going to (not) work like the online 90-day-report, nobody should be afraid of the system.

[KeeperRik]

80% of road deaths are on motorcycles, speeding and no helmets, this is where they have to start añd quickly. 

[Blackheart1916]

One word. Enforcement.

[trigpoint]

How can this work? A lot of drivers don't have a licence anyway, those that do would carry on driving if they racked up to many points , if stopped pay the usual fine and on your way. The only way to stop people driving is to confiscate the car, you get it back when you have a licence, works in the UK, but not a cat in Hell's chance here in Thailand