COMMENT: What does it take to change driving habits?

[Justfine]

What parent lets underage kids ride a bike on a road without a helmet?

 

The parents are to blame.

[Aupee]

18 hours ago, 473geo said:

Then we saw today a video of a 50+ year old adult pulling out in front of a truck and dying, his passenger also survived, no helmets - so is age as relevant as some would have us believe?

The problem is caused by an refusal to abide by the Law and a total lack of enforcement by an ineffective inefficient force which people believe are actually policemen. In Pattaya I believe the saying is no money no honey!  On the roads its no money! no money for me!? Why stop them

[Confuscious]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

None of them were wearing bike helmets.

I don't think a helmet would have been a big help when a bus drives over your head.
Surely not the cheap China made helmets that they are using here.

[brommers]

It is not about laws, it is not about driving lessons and it is not about policing. It is all about the cultural norms that is " I will do whatever I like irrespective of others".

 

Until Thai people discard the attitude of selfishness that is ingrained in their behaviour nothing  improve. But that means the teachings of Buddhism related to being focussed on selfishness, and being absolved from responsibility by karma will have to be changed. And that ain't going to happen.

 

So death on the road will continue.

[soistalker]

1. Fire all police officers in the country.

2. Replace them with police officers recruited and trained by a first world country's police force.  

3. Actively root out, arrest, and convict with lengthy sentences any police officer committing a crime, even those collecting 100 baht in tea money.

4. Enforce all traffic laws. 

5. See tens of thousands of people not die in road incidents.

[Borzandy]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

12 year old Chinnarat Kajatroka who fell off the motorbike

Who bought the motorbike, who is responsible???

[essox essox]

19 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

Not showing the photos?  There's your mistake.  The cops should make poster sized copies of them and show them in every school.  Then again, if you had REAL cops, who actually enforced the law 24/7, there wouldn't be any kids driving motorbikes, and everyone on a bike would have a helmet.  But that will only happen in an alternate reality, not in this one. 

Solutions:
1) under aged and driving a bike?  Confiscate the bike permanently, plus 10k baht fine for the parents, and a charge of "Child Endangerment".
2) no helmet? 5k baht fine. 

3) more than two on a bike? 5baht fine for EACH of them, and impound the bike till it's paid. 

more than two on a bike? 5baht fine for EACH of them, and impound the bike till it's paid.

ONLY a five baht fine ......you must be joking with this??????!!!!

[Stargeezr]

Once again. Thailand is a third world country where the police force does not get paid a lot.

Maybe 9000 US a year for a salary after they have been in the force for a couple of years.

They do not get great training, etc.  The attitude they have is standard at best as there are

many examples that they do that proves it. Even they do not wear helmets all the time.

They park in handicapped areas and break the laws daily and, this is the police and military

I am talking about. The Thai parents have a generally worse attitude about safety than the

police, and you can see it every day by the teens and adults with no helmets, riding 3 or more

on a motorcycle with only the face masks to keep the pollution out of their lungs. 555.

The following pictures do not help the Police cause as well..

Geezer

[quandow]

These fools think they're making money from the small-time graft they extort by pulling over motorists and truckers when the mood hits them. If they REALLY got focused there is SO much more money to be made in driver training then making the laws stick. Too bad they have to look further than their nose to do this.

[Somchai Logic]

Impossible.

First, have to remove this Abortion and complete Abdication of Responsibility version of Buddhism.

Next, remove this Superiority complex in order to learn from any and all foreigners.

Remove the Military and Socially Elite who are keeping the indigenous so poorly educated as to not pose a threat to the 'Status Quo'

Next... Wait, who the hell am I kidding - NOTHING (of the above) will EVER change 

 

[digger70]

Nothing can and will be done If the Government don't get of their High horse and MAKE  The Police do their job and employ a few more Million Police so the can do the job 24/7 ,,,,,,,, Only Dreaming,,,,,,

[LawrenceN]

About the time I was learning to drive in the early 70s, CBS (TV network in US) put on a series of programs they called "The National Driving Test." Anybody else remember that? They would describe a scenario and ask a question about it, then give the answer, after the commercial break, I suppose, with discussion of the legal, logical reasoning. I don't think that would work in Thailand, but they could do something like it, such as 60-second public service announcements during the evening soap operas. Concepts like right-of-way or the etiquette of lane changes could be explained, or testimonials from people whose lives were saved by helmets or seatbelts. I think that CBS program helped to change the driving culture in the US. Could something similar work here?

[Psimbo]

10 hours ago, madmitch said:

We read about crackdowns on this and that all the time but I don't recall ever hearing of a crackdown on underage motorcycle riders. Why?

'Papa is Mafia or 'powerful person'- police scared is the excuse where I live! Also there's no money in it.

 

There should be a joint venture to stop this to include the schools (oops- the education department is the 4th largest group for corruption in the country- back to the drawing board!).

Edited May 17, 2018 by Psimbo

[a977]

23 hours ago, madmitch said:

We read about crackdowns on this and that all the time but I don't recall ever hearing of a crackdown on underage motorcycle riders. Why?

Children don't have any money no kickback = no get off ass to do anything about the problem. As mentioned in an earlier post police not paid enough, but if they were to do their job properly in the first place there would be enough money in consolidated revenue to pay them a decent wage. But all to hard cannot think that far ahead. 

[jvs]

It is in the blood!!!Same as French people shooting a lot of small birds

same as Dutch people sharpening their skates when it gets cold,same as Americans loving their guns same as Chinese people eating protected animals to give them power.

Some people call it their right and some call it culture,you decide.

I have no idea how to fix these things.

Edited May 18, 2018 by jvs
hoping to avoid the grammar police.

[JAZZDOG]

19 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

About the time I was learning to drive in the early 70s, CBS (TV network in US) put on a series of programs they called "The National Driving Test." Anybody else remember that? They would describe a scenario and ask a question about it, then give the answer, after the commercial break, I suppose, with discussion of the legal, logical reasoning. I don't think that would work in Thailand, but they could do something like it, such as 60-second public service announcements during the evening soap operas. Concepts like right-of-way or the etiquette of lane changes could be explained, or testimonials from people whose lives were saved by helmets or seatbelts. I think that CBS program helped to change the driving culture in the US. Could something similar work here?

What changed the culture was radar, cameras, enforcement, severe fines, jail time, increased insurance premiums, revoked licenses. None of which occur here plus mainly no education and absolutely zero respect for the rule of law. Law and legitimacy are two entirely different things

[lonewolf99]

After 13 years of witnessing the carnage and madness and reading about it in the press and social media I can only conclude that.....

 

The only thing to change driving habits in LoS is crippling  injuries or death - this results in the driver being incapable of taking to the roads again.
Grazes, scratches, pitiful fines, killing and maiming others just lets them carry on as before...some things are ingrained in the DNA and nothing will alter it.