Get tough measures aim to reduce road death toll among motorcyclists by 50%

[Chongalulu]

8 hours ago, ramrod711 said:

A swathe of new measures being introduced next year aim to reduce the death toll among motorcyclists by 50% a year.

 

I don't know if this is possible but The number of riders and passengers wearing helmets has increased greatly in Chiang Mai. That has to help a little.

But they’re not proper helmets,just plastic bucket equivalents. 

Cheap helmets for cheap heads.

[cnx355]

Strange , no mention at all about wearing a helmet.

 

Fine of 5000 B for that would be a start too. including for all police officers on motorcycle.  Probably if the superior officers force police to wear helmet, then they will certainly force the motorcyclist a the passenger to do it. That is what they did in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and it worked. And I forgot, no helmet no driving, bike impounded or you call someone to bring you one.

[bizboi]

…and will the Thai Police be enforcing the new bike lanes or will they let Taxis lorries and cars driven by Thai men on the telephones block them up - proper enforcement by the Police will cut deaths of motorcyclists!!!!

[Esso49]

1 hour ago, Cheops said:

Do you actually engage in traffic in Thailand? If you would, you would know that motorcycle drivers are equally bad as car drivers, but not wearing a helmet isn't in their advantage. If I drive from BKK to about 2 hours north I always see numerous motorcycles passing me while I drive about 100 to 110km/h. Most of those motorcycle drivers don't wear a helmet, don't wear protective clothing and sometimes they are also looking on their mobile phones while doing 120km/h with passengers on their bikes. tok=taai (falling down=death!)

Look on the bright side.  Statistically they will be dead long before you.

[thailand49]

33 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

But they’re not proper helmets,just plastic bucket equivalents. 

Cheap helmets for cheap heads.

I understand, your view but getting past all the lame excuse as to why not to wear one is the toughest task even if they wear a pot on their head once they get use to it the next step is to start to upgrade the quality.

[thailand49]

2 hours ago, kentrot said:

Hmmmm 

 

* Did I miss it or was there NO mention of enforcing Mandatory HELMETS ?

 

* The insurance bureau has calculated that 1/2 of the deaths are drivers under the age of 25. (See chart below)  Let's start there if we are going to change the stats. More driver safety education in schools & more enforcement to "nab" the kids popping wheelies, and racing in gangs on the back-roads.

 

* I can't find any data at the moment . But from the media reports that I see so often , it would seem that most deaths occur late at night, after midnight. -------- Maybe more roadblocks after midnight to check for HELMETS, DRINKING, LICENSES could be carried out to reduce the carnage.....rather than plugging up traffic with road blocks to squeeze a few baht out of people on their way home from work. 

 

 

and this THAI chart on category of deaths - which supports the NEED for enforcement

 

 

 

That might interfere with their soap opera, freelancing enforcement to make a few extra baht or their own drinking?

[anon467367354]

bike lanes? These are not bicycles. I stay as far to the right in the lane with the fastest traffic where I don't have to deal with taxis, buses, cars stopping in the middle of the road, vendors etc. Motorcycles are vehicles, there are no special laws for motorcycles. Maybe banning motorcycles from the safest part of the road is the problem. I'll take an overpass before having to deal with an intersection any day!

[Damrongsak]

11 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Great, more parking places.

For noodle carts.

[Jingjock]

I can't stop laughing, how you going to train 50,000,000 idiots on these roads

[Billy Bloggs]

Yep kids allowed at 15 to ride to school, so why are so many still riding on saturday and sunday and they arent going to school.

How about getting the bikes without rear view mirrors off the road, i love sliding up behind them and revving the motor.

Of course these two along with so many others would require enforcement, a dirty word with the so called police here.

[eisfeld]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

There are 21 million motorcycles on the roads but only 13 million people have licenses.

The 21 million number probably comes from road tax statistics I'd assume. If so, then there's also a substantial number of uninsured/untaxed bikes on the road and the total might well go beyond 25M which means that nearly half of the riders have no license. From what I've seen, driving licenses are a rare thing in rural Thailand.

 

Imho they should not increase the fines so drastically (some people live on 6k salary...) but should instead make it mandatory to attend a riding course and obtain a license within X days. If people don't have any ID card on them then confiscate the bike and wait until someone from their family shows up.

 

If kids ride without a helmet or license, then send the kid AND the parent to a riding course.

[whaleboneman]

14 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

photo caption:

 

"Hey everybody! I'm going to strap huge canisters of highly explosive gas to the back of my scooter and ride around Bangkok! Want to come along?"

Not nearly as dangerous as driving around on a soup kitchen or a flaming bbq.

[Thechook]

They have been setting up these committees every year for decades and nothing has ever changed apart from the food and drinks which are exquisite and money well spent.

[Mad mick]

sad to say nothing will change 'will do nothing to reduce road rip toll  , great in theory choc de cup

[gaff]

5555555555555555555555555555+

 

 

[stanleycoin]

Think Thailand  could reduce it's bull shitting by 50%

that would be a start. 

[chrissables]

19 hours ago, Esso49 said:

Simple.  Parents are responsible for their children up to 20 years of age.  Parents here usually do not care what their kids do. So stop all motorcycles.  Those driving without a license a 10000 baht fine  , responsibility of their parents, or 100 hours of community service leaning drains and klongs.   Also crush the motorcycles of those caught underage or no licence .  Thais put money first so hit them where it hurts first.  After 2 weeks then I suspect there will be queue upon queue at the Land Department offices for driving tests.  Problem is the police are too damn corrupt and lazy themselves so guess what will happen ?

When you were 19 did you follow mummy's orders? Where does this type of thinking come from?

[DM07]

Blah blah blag...getting tough...blah blah...crackdown...blah blah...nothing's gonna happen!

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[jerojero]

And what about the 10, 11, and 12 year olds? Train or ban them...or do nothing about them.

[soalbundy]

22 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I applaud any effort to stop the carnage, but 50%, just like that? Seriously ambitious number. I dont see the good citizens around here suddenly waking up, because Lord knows, they haven't ever done so before. I don't see the cops suddenly enforcing laws everywhere either, so not quite sure how they are going to achieve it.

more money for the BIB, instead of a 200 Baht backhander it will be 2,000.

[Siam Bruce]

22 hours ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

Well, I wish them the best of luck, but I won't be holding my breath. They are good with the words, but not with the necessary sustained action, for any period extending past about three days.

Here in Pattaya they have the occasional stop checks, presently the Thai's have a culture of "We have to where a helmet because the police say so," 

They can often be seen putting their helmets on if they see the police and then putting them in the basket as soon as they are past the check point!

It will take a concerted LONG TERM effort  starting with the school kids and THEIR TEACHERS to get them to understand the importance of the helmets.

An increase in the fine for No licence starting now at 1,000 Baht and No helmet 1,000 Baht with a 6 monthly  increase to eventually 5,000 Baht MIGHT be a good enough incentive. The bike confiscated until the Fine is paid, (daily storage in the police compound I believe is 100/200 Baht + so you need to pay quickly.) 

Concerted Long term effort is not their forte.

[hotchilli]

Don't bother, the average Thai doesn't want the inconvenience of having to pass a test, get a licence or obey any road laws.. they're quite happy with the status quo,  having the freedom to do as they wish, go where they want when they want and are also happy with the consequences of accidents including the chances of an untimely death...

They also know that police are quick to pass knee jerk laws but slow to enforce them.

As we all saw from a recent post watching a helpful policeman tie a young child to it's father & allow them to ride away without even a helmet between them !!!!

Thais don't want road laws, they want to be left alone to as they wish.. aided by a lazy police force!

[metisdead]

Some troll posts have been removed. 

[mikebell]

22 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

More bargaining power for police to not issue a ticket, increasing the bribes, and let them leisurely carry on their journey ! 

Agreed - the laws are already in place; it's the enforcement that isn't.  As long as Thai cops will accept 40 baht to ignore any dangerous practice, there will be no reduction in the daily road kill.

[scorecard]

23 hours ago, Denim said:

He believes better training and better awareness will help meet the target of 4,500 road deaths through the period of the next ten years. 

 

Awareness of anything outside a three foot bubble is an attribute yet to manifest itself in this tropical paradise.

Awareness...

 

I hope that includes much better awareness of the fact there are traffic laws and the actual laws and that includes both police and drivers: 

 

Exchange student at my uni asked why vehicles don't stop at pedestrian crossing?

 

Answers from students:

- There are no traffic laws, don't exist, it's up to you.

- Black & white bars on the roads don't connect to pedestrians, just there to look professional.

- One student called her uncle who is a senior cop; his answer - the actual law is that all vehicles have to stop and wait until the pedestrians are all on the footpath etc., on the other side. But he continued, I will punish pedestrians who disrupt the traffic flow.  

- No need to have a driving license if you have your Thai national ID card.

 

A long way to go.

[Radar501]

In my town, police often set up check points, but they are always in the same few locations, and always only during the day.   It's so predictable.

 

But come nightfall, kids on their motorbikes take over the streets, screaming around town through blind intersections, wrong side of the street, no headlights, on their phones etc etc etc.

 

At about 10 pm, I saw a police pick-up stopped at a red traffic light.   A Yamaha Fino with three school-aged girls, none of them wearing helmets, pulled up right beside.   

 

The two cops hardly glanced, and did nothing as the bike zoomed away when the lights changed to green.

 

Ohhh that's right.   Road accidents are limited to nine am to five pm on weekdays.

[BuckleUp]

22 hours ago, silverhawk_usa said:

Start at the school level.  I watch police directing traffic for the school near me as students leave the parking area, 3+ to a bike, no helmets, and underage. Of course the police do nothing.  No helmet, no license, only 2 to a bike or don't ride to school. Of course school administration and parents would also have to participate.  I know, it is asking a lot.  They did this successfully at a number of locations in Laos already.

 

That's the thing I don't understand -  my daughter are 7 and 8, I will never never ever let them ride a motorbike here. How can any parent willingly put their child at such a high risk of a painful and ugly death of having their head and face smashed on concrete or squashed under a car tire? I don't understand it. I just don't. 

 

Just riding a pushbike my kids have to wear helmets. Never would I let them on a road where there are trucks and utes doing 120 km/h in a 60 zone weaving all over overtaking on the wrong side. Just blows my mind, what is wrong with the parents here???

[scorecard]

46 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Don't bother, the average Thai doesn't want the inconvenience of having to pass a test, get a licence or obey any road laws.. they're quite happy with the status quo,  having the freedom to do as they wish, go where they want when they want and are also happy with the consequences of accidents including the chances of an untimely death...

They also know that police are quick to pass knee jerk laws but slow to enforce them.

As we all saw from a recent post watching a helpful policeman tie a young child to it's father & allow them to ride away without even a helmet between them !!!!

Thais don't want road laws, they want to be left alone to as they wish.. aided by a lazy police force!

  Example: don't worry about safety, karma will take care of everything;

 

- Your karma is to die or live, can't change it, get on with having fun. 

 

 

 

t 

[scorecard]

52 minutes ago, Siam Bruce said:

Here in Pattaya they have the occasional stop checks, presently the Thai's have a culture of "We have to where a helmet because the police say so," 

They can often be seen putting their helmets on if they see the police and then putting them in the basket as soon as they are past the check point!

It will take a concerted LONG TERM effort  starting with the school kids and THEIR TEACHERS to get them to understand the importance of the helmets.

An increase in the fine for No licence starting now at 1,000 Baht and No helmet 1,000 Baht with a 6 monthly  increase to eventually 5,000 Baht MIGHT be a good enough incentive. The bike confiscated until the Fine is paid, (daily storage in the police compound I believe is 100/200 Baht + so you need to pay quickly.) 

Concerted Long term effort is not their forte.

And stop playing games with enforcement.

 

In Vietnam there was very broad education before the introduction of the laws about wearing helmets:

 

- Very simple  - From day one, no helmet and the bike in confiscated on the spot, cannot be recovered, and the police were monitored, any cop caught ignoring transgressors or accepting bribes seriously punished. 

 

It worked.

[BuckleUp]

18 minutes ago, Radar501 said:

In my town, police often set up check points, but they are always in the same few locations, and always only during the day.   It's so predictable.

 

But come nightfall, kids on their motorbikes take over the streets, screaming around town through blind intersections, wrong side of the street, no headlights, on their phones etc etc etc.

 

At about 10 pm, I saw a police pick-up stopped at a red traffic light.   A Yamaha Fino with three school-aged girls, none of them wearing helmets, pulled up right beside.   

 

The two cops hardly glanced, and did nothing as the bike zoomed away when the lights changed to green.

 

Ohhh that's right.   Road accidents are limited to nine am to five pm on weekdays.

The police have no incentive to do anything. Many must not care about their jobs. They should put them on a commission structure. That will clean things up.

I don't know, cops in Melbourne are pretty tight on traffic laws. Just to give an example, take Springvale 607 - a Highway Patrol car out of Springvale who clocks on at 7am. 2 up in there, they position on the Bypass median, about 2-3 hours every day clock speeders on radar gun. Next would be a few hours of patrols, generally they look for expired regos, seatbelts, truck issues, load  issues, etc. Then it's back to another speeding hotspot, usually 60 kmh zone where cars do 70-80. Clock a car every few minutes. A few hours and shift done. 

Problem is, cops here don't seem motivated nor interested. Maybe it's too hot. Maybe it's the religion or culture, I don't know. I just know in Australia, cops are gung-ho about their jobs, rarely do you see someone slacking off or turning a blind eye. Break the road laws, they are onto you. Even divi vans who do the local neighborhood patrols, they generally don't do traffic, but they see you doing something wrong, lights and sirens and $300 ticket.