Police appeal for public help to lower holiday road toll

[webfact]

Police appeal for public help to lower holiday road toll

By Pratch Rujivanarom, 
Suriya Patatayo 
The Nation 

 

 

THE Academic Centre for Road Safety said yesterday that drunk driving remained the issue of greatest concern regarding road safety, as people may celebrate for a longer time during the upcoming holidays compared to previous years.

 

Technology and public surveillance will be used to help prevent road accidents during the New Year holidays, authorities said. And the Academic Centre for Road Safety has disclosed that drink-driving remains the most concerning issue, as people tend to celebrate for a longer period at this time of year.

 

The Police and Probation Department said it will increase the use of electronic tools such as speed detectors, alcohol testers and in-car video recorders to promote road safety and enhance traffic law enforcement to lower the accident rate.

 

The New Year period is among the most fatal for road users. According to the Road Safety Operations Centre, during the seven-day monitoring period for New Year last year, there were 4,128 injuries and 478 deaths from 3,919 road accidents. This represented a rise on previous years.

 

The same research showed that the top five reasons for road accidents were: driving while drunk, speeding, cutting in front of another vehicle, recklessly riding a motorcycle and poor visibility on the road.

 

Deputy police commissioner-general Wirachai Songmetta said police will use technology alongside more checkpoints to assist the enforcement of traffic laws and stop dangerous driving behaviours during the festive period.

 

Wirachai said that more than 5,000 speed detectors and alcohol testing units had been distributed to police stations nationwide.

 

Additionally, the highway police will arrange special routes for motorists during peak periods to relieve traffic congestion. A total of 92,746 police officers will be stationed at traffic checkpoints and at about 2,000 accident black spots around the country, he said.

 

 

“We are encouraging people to assist police by monitoring traffic offenders and promoting road safety. People who have a video recorder installed in their car can send footage of bad behaviour on the road to the police, so officers can use it as evidence to punish traffic offenders,” he said.

 

Because drunk driving is the most prominent cause of traffic accidents and the number of cases increases every year, Probation Department director-general Prasarn Mahaleetrakul also revealed plans to increase the penalties for this offence and announced the introduction of a new method of probation involving electronic monitoring bracelets.

 

Prasarn said most people on drink-driving charges were first-time offenders and they generally did not reoffend. However, the monitoring bracelet would be used on those persons who had a high risk of reoffending.

 

“The department has ordered 4,000 more electronic monitoring bracelets for this task. However, this measure won’t be ready to implement in this New Year period, as the order will arrive around the middle of next year,” he said.

 

Director of the Academic Centre for Road Safety, Thanapong Jinvong, said monitoring of public behaviour during New Year holidays in previous years had shown a discernible change in the last two years. More people were using private cars than public transport, and they tended to leave earlier to attend celebrations and return later than usual.

 

“This shows that people have more time to celebrate – be it in their hometown or at a tourism destination – and that increases the risk of accidents through drink-driving,” Thanapong said.

 

“Therefore, we should focus more in monitoring local roads and campaigning against driving while drunk.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30334707

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-25

[Thaiwrath]

So 7-7-7 ain't working ? What a surprise.

Happy Christmas, and stay safe.

[Dave67]

I'm sure this is being carried out with the best of intentions but these practices should be applied every day with the appropriate penalties. 

 

Not really got anything else to add that hasn't been brought up before 

[smedly]

message to police

 

do your (deleted) job if you even know what that is instead of going out around the town and .........................in your pockets

 

As has been said here many times by people that know what they are talking about.................start to actually enforce traffic law and if you don't know what that means then time for either retraining or sacking.

 

The public (road users) will do exactly what they can get away with and right now that is pretty much anything they like.

[ezzra]

2 minutes ago, smedly said:

message to police

 

do your (deleted) job if you even know what that is instead of going out around the town and .........................in your pockets

 

As has been said here many times by people that know what they are talking about.................start to actually enforce traffic law and if you don't know what that means then time for either retraining or sacking.

 

The public (road users) will do exactly what they can get away with and right now that is pretty much anything they like.

What he said, took the words out of my keyboard...

[Jip99]

10 minutes ago, smedly said:

message to police

 

do your (deleted) job if you even know what that is instead of going out around the town and .........................in your pockets

 

As has been said here many times by people that know what they are talking about.................start to actually enforce traffic law and if you don't know what that means then time for either retraining or sacking.

 

The public (road users) will do exactly what they can get away with and right now that is pretty much anything they like.

 

 

 

+1

[PatOngo]

“The department has ordered 4,000 more electronic monitoring bracelets for this task. However, this measure won’t be ready to implement in this New Year period, as the order will arrive around the middle of next year,” he said.

 

Absolutely clueless!

[akampa]

10 minutes ago, smedly said:

message to police

 

do your (deleted) job if you even know what that is instead of going out around the town and .........................in your pockets

 

As has been said here many times by people that know what they are talking about.................start to actually enforce traffic law and if you don't know what that means then time for either retraining or sacking.

 

The public (road users) will do exactly what they can get away with and right now that is pretty much anything they like.

This pretty much applies to Thais`s,  foreigners  who get caught they pay through the nose.

[simoh1490]

73%, wow, if ever there was a sound argument for not riding a motorbike in Thailand, there it is.

[assayer]

Additionally, the highway police will arrange special routes for motorists during peak periods to relieve traffic congestion. A total of 92,746 police officers will be stationed at traffic checkpoints and at about 2,000 accident black spots around the country, he said.

 

Can anyone tell me how sitting at a checkpoint is going to help find drunk drivers or speeders. That can only be accomplished through activily monitoring the traffic by going out there and looking for the ones doing these offences.

[simoh1490]

19 minutes ago, assayer said:

Additionally, the highway police will arrange special routes for motorists during peak periods to relieve traffic congestion. A total of 92,746 police officers will be stationed at traffic checkpoints and at about 2,000 accident black spots around the country, he said.

 

Can anyone tell me how sitting at a checkpoint is going to help find drunk drivers or speeders. That can only be accomplished through activily monitoring the traffic by going out there and looking for the ones doing these offences.

In the North at least, police at checkpoints actually do some checking, sometimes it's just a wave through but always with a look at the driver first, suspicious ones are pulled over and checked. We'll drive from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai on 29th to visit family and chances are we'll pass through five or six of them during the three and a half hour drive, some are police, some army and they're checking for a number of different things but booze is certainly one of them. That, combined with the proliferation of speed camera's, does seem to be having an effect on driving behaviour over and above say ten years ago. 

[mercman24]

Beach Road  JOMTIEN last night 12-30 am, scooters roaring up and down the road with no front light, no rear lights , no helmets, and 5 cops sat in a <deleted> awning, oh i forgot the law only applies to Bangkok

[smedly]

53 minutes ago, assayer said:

Additionally, the highway police will arrange special routes for motorists during peak periods to relieve traffic congestion. A total of 92,746 police officers will be stationed at traffic checkpoints and at about 2,000 accident black spots around the country, he said.

 

Can anyone tell me how sitting at a checkpoint is going to help find drunk drivers or speeders. That can only be accomplished through activily monitoring the traffic by going out there and looking for the ones doing these offences.

because they have absolutely no concept of crime prevention, there is no money in it

 

crime prevention in the west is number one closely followed by crime detection, nobody wants to attend a scene on the roads when these first two principals have failed, add to that the mechanical worthiness of all vehicles especially those involved with public transport and Heavy goods........plus the training of the drivers of such vehicles..........then lets get into roads planning  .............. well lets not go there, all I will say is ...............U-turn versus roundabout - the latter costing too much money and people actually having to use them properly which comes right back to ......enforcement of traffic law 

 

[smedly]

51 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

In the North at least, police at checkpoints actually do some checking, sometimes it's just a wave through but always with a look at the driver first, suspicious ones are pulled over and checked. We'll drive from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai on 29th to visit family and chances are we'll pass through five or six of them during the three and a half hour drive, some are police, some army and they're checking for a number of different things but booze is certainly one of them. That, combined with the proliferation of speed camera's, does seem to be having an effect on driving behaviour over and above say ten years ago. 

well yes checking for drunk drivers is a start but checking for helmets - licence - tax - insurance at a static checkpoint does not prevent accidents

[smedly]

1 hour ago, akampa said:

This pretty much applies to Thais`s,  foreigners  who get caught they pay through the nose.

checking for helmets - licence - tax - insurance at a static checkpoint does not prevent accidents

[anon537687643]

All window dressing ! When are the punishment and penalties that are “meaningful” going to happen ! Like NEVER

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

[simoh1490]

31 minutes ago, smedly said:

well yes checking for drunk drivers is a start but checking for helmets - licence - tax - insurance at a static checkpoint does not prevent accidents

I disagree: reduce the number of people not wearing helmets and that reduces the number of people being killed in accidents; reduce the number of drunk drivers on the roads and that reduces the number of accidents; reduce the number of people driving without tax, insurance and license and that reduces the number of accidents, because those people haven't learned how to drive properly and likely haven't taken a driving test.

[cardinalblue]

Appealing to the public is a confession that the police have no control over driving behavior.....sad and tragic

[simoh1490]

Just now, cardinalblue said:

Appealing to the public is a confession that the police have no control over driving behavior.....sad and tragic

I disagree on this point also. Appealing for public cooperation is a viable  alternative to imposing the will of a nanny or police state.

[Borzandy]

Pedestrians 8%: surely a style of suicide.

 

[mikebell]

2 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

73%, wow, if ever there was a sound argument for not riding a motorbike in Thailand, there it is.

It's alarming that pedestrians stand an 8% chance of death. I can't believe they are all suicidal tourists using zebra crossings in Pattaya.

[simoh1490]

Just now, mikebell said:

It's alarming that pedestrians stand an 8% chance of death. I can't believe they are all suicidal tourists using zebra crossings in Pattaya.

Zebra crossings are considered to be a motoring aid in Thailand, they assist the driver in lining up on their targets.

[mikebell]

Shouldn't the headline read 'Public appeal to police ....'?

[AlphMichaels]

2 hours ago, PatOngo said:

“The department has ordered 4,000 more electronic monitoring bracelets for this task. However, this measure won’t be ready to implement in this New Year period, as the order will arrive around the middle of next year,” he said.

 

Absolutely clueless!

And, of course, Thai time comes to mind immediately after inept planning and management.  Liars all.  

 

[jenny2017]

The New Year period is among the most fatal for road users.

 

Each day is among the most fatal for road users. 

[lucjoker]

think more possitif........

66 alcoholics stop drinking permanently every day ........ 

[simoh1490]

Statistically, the death toll during the Songkran holiday is lower than the daily average. So whilst the numbers get published at Songkran and everyone is awed at how high they are, they are lower than normal, presumably because of the extra enforcement.

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, mercman24 said:

Beach Road  JOMTIEN last night 12-30 am, scooters roaring up and down the road with no front light, no rear lights , no helmets, and 5 cops sat in a <deleted> awning, oh i forgot the law only applies to Bangkok

I don't know if this is being done already, but if there was a website where people could post videos from their mobile phone, anonymously, that would 1) identify road users driving dangerously, as well as 2) identify police sitting around letting these transgressions carry on, it might have some effect by shaming the powers to be into some (half-hearted) action.

 

I read there's the chance for the public to shop drivers directly to the police, thereby receiving a share of the fine.

Surely publicising these examples would be even better? Social media is so popular here.

Now whether it would work, especially if the police were filmed not doing their job, is another matter.

[soistalker]

Please don't drive like <deleted>?

Yeah...this campaign will work.

[connda]

Police appeal for public help to lower holiday road toll 

 

Which is essentially saying the the police and the government who funds them are both unwilling to take the steps of putting police in patrol cars and adopting Western traffic policing and judicial standards which would drop the carnage statistics. Instead they will concentrate on issuing the same press releases and dancing around the real issues like they have done all these years, and obviously will continue to do ad-infinitum.......