Lane-changing offences nearing 100,000 after four days of camera work

[Lucky mike]

100,000 by 1000 = 10 mill in 4 days very good business ?

[Seeall]

16 hours ago, darksidedog said:

You sir, I suspect, have not seen as much poor driving here, as I and many other posters have. While for those who know how to drive, and to understand such subtleties as unbroken white lines, good driving is simple to understand.

Given that drivers here tend to just go where they please, with things like traffic lights and road rules, or one way streets thought of as a guideline, and with enforcement of anything, previously, close to non existent, to get pulled up for this will be a serious shock to many local drivers. They will be like "What? Who did I kill?" The fact they didn't hit anyone, will in their minds justify the poor driving.

They simply, do not know how to do it properly and safely to socially acceptable standards of the modern world. I hope the cops keep it up. Letting drivers know this is not allowed, might get them thinking about other aspects of their driving too.

Possibly the one time you won't hear me "bitchin" about the cops getting some coin.

The cops are poorly trained and most likely don't know either...

[robsamui]

2 hours ago, neeray said:

I was just having a PM conversation with another member relative to the "Blocking Ambulance" thread.

It caused me to search the "hurt in their wallets..." number for blocking an ambulance (or any EMS vehicle) in Canada. First offence, $400 to $1,000, second $1,000 to $2,000, third, see you in jail. Plus demerit points against license, license suspension and even jail time. $1,000 CDN = 24,000 baht). But sad to say, still we have "me-firsters" who fail to yield.

Personally, I like the camera idea. It will slowly start to change Thai driving habits.

I received my first ticket in 7 years recently. Seems like I pushed the end of a changing traffic light. A camera got me. And our government got $350 of my money. Proof that the camera idea works is that I am now much more aware of changing lights!!!

Once again someone makes the mistake of assuming that things in Thailand work the same way as back home. 

There is no infrastructure here. Firstly there is a 30-70 chance that the name and address in the registration data base is invalid - it's common to buy a car and not register it in your name, and nothing to prevent you using it and taxing it (or not!) each year.

Then, when one million people simply don't pay the fine, it's not like Canada. There's no system of common courts here. And nobody's  going to serve a warrant anyway, especially not at an address that's incorrect, to appear in courts that don't exist.

There is no system in place for revoking the driver's licence (even if you can find who the driver is) because over half the drivers don't have licences (and if caught driving with no licence only pay a spot fine of a dollar or two).

And there is no system (as in other nations) in which the unpaid fine is then attached to the cost next time the vehicle is taxed and insured - in fact many vehicles are not taxed and insured and 'policing' in Thailand is not required to check this as a matter of course.

Finally, together with all this, the Thai Ministry of Silly Ideas simply does not even have the infrastructure, never mind the resources, to collect hundreds of thousands of fines every month from just these cameras alone. It's backfired in their faces and I suspect that very few people caught and ticketed will even bother opening their wallets - never mind 'being  hit in them' by these new lane rules.

Edited May 15, 2018 by robsamui

[Seeall]

TIT

[farcanell]

4 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, to my knowledge, the car in the picture isn't doing anything wrong.
In the picture (a dotted line + a straight line) it is allowed to cross the line from the left to the right but not from the right to the left.
Or not?
Strange rules.

Lol... you got a lot of answers on that one... here’s one more

 

Obviously the road authority was too lazy to remove the older broken line, when a new unbroken line was installed to “prevent” lane change so close to a road division, as noted by others

 

that said... regards changing lanes when a broken and unbroken line appear together.... this configuration is used to signal to drivers coming from both directions at once... not for drivers that are all traveling in the same direction

 

it means that a driver traveling in the direction with the broken line, can overtake, whereas the driver traveling with the unbroken line, cannot overtake, and is usually found in area either side of a crest, or approaching a curve, where overtaking might result in a head on collision with folk coming the other way

 

There is no situation that I am aware off, that markings like this, are ever used, for same direction travel, which is a red flag.

 

re OP in general.... excellent. I hope they make a fortune, and install more and more cameras, perhaps tasking inactive police officers with licking the envelope seal face.

 

[NoshowJones]

5 hours ago, phetpeter said:

Looking at the photograph here the courts would throw out most of the fines, due to the poor road and street signs. They need to get there and repaint the markings so they are very clear. secondly to help force drivers to obey would be to install plastic barriers extending from the fly over or tunnel. Sure it would cut back on these cash cows, but, its about safety education isn't it?

"its about safety education isn't it?"  Is it?

[connda]

19 hours ago, mercman24 said:

i did ask this before, can someone explain the reason for the no lane changing law,  i must be a THAI as i am totally baffled by this. and the  VALID reason is ???

Look at the picture below as an example.  The average Thai driver will drive in the 'thru' lane on the left until the last moment, stop their vehicle in the 'thru' lane creating a road hazard, and then force their way into the merged traffic on the right creating potential accidents.  When you have 50 morons trying the same thing during rush hour, they essentially shut down the 'thru' lanes on the left and everyone is stopped and trying to force their way into the right hand lanes. 
It's illegal to cross solid 'barrier lines' in the West and it's enforced.
It's illegal here too for the same reasons, and maybe if the morons getting the tickets accrue enough tickets for merging violations, perhaps, just maybe, it might have an effect on their future driving - although I doubt it.

 

[Shackleton123]

2 hours ago, AsiaCheese said:

 

In many countries with proper markings, you would be right. But the dotted line in the picture is probably just a left-over from earlier construction work, just like there is one lane over to the left of the arrow. That said, one could probably get the fine thrown out in a court.

The lines are converging, which is a clear indication that this is not your normal centre of the road marking scheme. The junction on the left has obviously been problematic, with traffic cutting straight across - hence the cones, and the queue cutting annoys the hell out of everyone who waits patiently in the correct lane because the queue jumpers hold the legitimate lanes up. Happens everywhere in Thailand, and deserves to be the subject of Police action. Well done the cops! Well done the Authorities! Any comments here to the contrary  must be coming from non-drivers.

[GarryP]

4 hours ago, gr8fldanielle said:

What begs the question is crossing solid white lines the cause for so many deaths on Thai roads? Thailand has the most dangerous roads in the world, the most deaths, and crossing the white lines the reason. If so, how did they come to this conclusion?

Is this going to prevent more deaths? Is the car in the picture doing something that may be fatal? Considering the police make commissions every time they write a ticket, safety is not nor ever will be an issue. Nothing will change, the easiest vehicle to pull over is a motorcycle. The corruption continues as does the pre-election campaigning.

It is about improving traffic flow - not preventing road deaths. I would have thought that was obvious.  

[khunpa]

My wife got her driver license in 5 days and it cost her around THB 5.500. She passed her last test with excellence...

 

The day after, she wanted to go for a drive and called me to ask which pedal she should step on to break.

 

She has not driven since and never will.  Just to show the quality of new drivers here.

[The Teacher]

19 hours ago, Briggsy said:

You cannot change lanes where there is an unbroken line dividing lanes. They occur within a certain distance of a potential hazard such as a set of lights or a u-turn. In the photo, it is the entrance to an underpass.

Thanks , at last someone else with common sense 

[JungleBiker]

5 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, to my knowledge, the car in the picture isn't doing anything wrong.
In the picture (a dotted line + a straight line) it is allowed to cross the line from the left to the right but not from the right to the left.
Or not?
Strange rules.

 

This is a still photo, not a video, and you are making the assumption that the car straddling the lines was moving forwards. It may have been reversing! 

 

[masuk]

6 hours ago, phetpeter said:

Looking at the photograph here the courts would throw out most of the fines, due to the poor road and street signs. They need to get there and repaint the markings so they are very clear. secondly to help force drivers to obey would be to install plastic barriers extending from the fly over or tunnel. Sure it would cut back on these cash cows, but, its about safety education isn't it?

A stretch of concrete barriers has the same effect, and gets the message across.

Most Thais think that the white lines are recommendations only.   They're learning the hard way.

Also, a few hundred metres of raised cats eyes also gives an audible warning as well as a few bumps.

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, masuk said:

A stretch of concrete barriers has the same effect, and gets the message across.

Most Thais think that the white lines are recommendations only.   They're learning the hard way.

Also, a few hundred metres of raised cats eyes also gives an audible warning as well as a few bumps.

Will they learn? I imagine that the majority of fines will simply go the way of the majority of any of the other posted fines.... i.e. ignored and not paid. 

 

I'm still not sure if the fines are linked to the vehicle tax... thus must be paid come tax renewal time. 

[fullcave]

5 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, to my knowledge, the car in the picture isn't doing anything wrong.
In the picture (a dotted line + a straight line) it is allowed to cross the line from the left to the right but not from the right to the left.
Or not?
Strange rules.

Yes, very strange indeed. Even stranger is who decided where these lines should go? 

[NextStationBangkok]

4 hours ago, bbz404 said:

On Sundays, traffic is always smooth.

Yesterday was a government holiday so traffic was halved and thus smooth. 

 

Just wait for next week, when everybody is back at work and school.

 

You mean there will not be any space to change the lane ? 

[NorthernRyland]

This is probably the best development in road safety I've seen in Thailand over the the last 10 years. However, I have zero faith they have the will or human capital required in order to implement it throughout the country. I'd be surprised if they could manage it for  more than 10% of Bangkok even. Oh well at least it's a step in the right direction.

[grkt]

This is clearly more important than stopping by any possible way all these idiots on motorbikes who suicide everyday !

 

Of course, it's easier to make money on cars that have a number plate in front than motorbikes that are more difficult to catch.

 

Luckily I will receive soon my plate spray to be sure that camera will be able to detect my numbers !

 

 

[masuk]

22 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Revenue!

It's the LAW!  Same in most modern countries.

[maddox41]

7 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, to my knowledge, the car in the picture isn't doing anything wrong.
In the picture (a dotted line + a straight line) it is allowed to cross the line from the left to the right but not from the right to the left.
Or not?
Strange rules.

You are 100% correct you can change lanes it is legal 

If the solid line was on the other side ie) next to you you can't 

Simple solution here double painted unbroken yellow lines 

 

[PatOngo]

12 minutes ago, masuk said:

It's the LAW!  Same in most modern countries.

LAWS here are negotiable if you have money!

[mdmayes]

22 hours ago, mercman24 said:

i did ask this before, can someone explain the reason for the no lane changing law,  i must be a THAI as i am totally baffled by this. and the  VALID reason is ???

It's common in areas were traffic flow merge is either ahead or was behind the solid white line. It's for safety reasons. It is common in Canada. I didn't know there were change lane camera tech out...another cash cow to add to cities bank accounts.

[DefaultName]

4 hours ago, Lucky mike said:

100,000 by 1000 = 10 mill in 4 days very good business ?

Even better business if their arithmetic is better than yours.  Its 100 million, not 10.  

[Lucky mike]

36 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

Even better business if their arithmetic is better than yours.  Its 100 million, not 10.  

I was just quoting net,....

[beowolf2012]

On 5/14/2018 at 7:25 PM, darksidedog said:

You sir, I suspect, have not seen as much poor driving here, as I and many other posters have. While for those who know how to drive, and to understand such subtleties as unbroken white lines, good driving is simple to understand.

Given that drivers here tend to just go where they please, with things like traffic lights and road rules, or one way streets thought of as a guideline, and with enforcement of anything, previously, close to non existent, to get pulled up for this will be a serious shock to many local drivers. They will be like "What? Who did I kill?" The fact they didn't hit anyone, will in their minds justify the poor driving.

They simply, do not know how to do it properly and safely to socially acceptable standards of the modern world. I hope the cops keep it up. Letting drivers know this is not allowed, might get them thinking about other aspects of their driving too.

Possibly the one time you won't hear me "bitchin" about the cops getting some coin.

Can it have something to do with this also?

Police also break the traffic law. Have see this many time!!!

[bandito]

On ‎5‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 5:10 PM, mercman24 said:

i did ask this before, can someone explain the reason for the no lane changing law,  i must be a THAI as i am totally baffled by this. and the  VALID reason is ???

It's not Lane Changing what's illegal but crossing the continuous yellow line.

Always been illegal with a fine of Bht 1000- issued only now they use cameras to catch one.

 Old laws getting enforced and illegal in most countries.

Also wrong headline.

[bandito]

22 hours ago, Confuscious said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, to my knowledge, the car in the picture isn't doing anything wrong.
In the picture (a dotted line + a straight line) it is allowed to cross the line from the left to the right but not from the right to the left.
Or not?
Strange rules.

You are right about that.

I guess that car got taken because cutting in the way he or she does is not allowed.

But if someone waves you in the queu and takes his or her place then there should be nothing wrong with it.

Ah well, discussing traffic flow in Thailand is fruitless.

Do the best we can especially in Bangkok.

[Keesters]

On 5/14/2018 at 5:10 PM, mercman24 said:

i did ask this before, can someone explain the reason for the no lane changing law,  i must be a THAI as i am totally baffled by this. and the  VALID reason is ???

Anyone who knew the rules of the road wouldn't be asking this.

[bruceamstutz]

It looks legal to me......For crossing a double white line. If the left line is broken as this photo shows you can cross the lines merging to the right, but you cannot cross the unbroken line to merge to the Left...Case closed....

[Redline]

No deterrent if they don’t pay