43 minutes ago, gmac said:

Ban u-turns, install roundabouts.

 Sorry gmac, that is a good one. Here in Hua Hin they made a roundabout on soi 88. You have never seen such a clusterf*** in all your life. Not one vehicle gives way to traffic on the roundabout, Bikes, and sometimes even cars go round the wrong way, or simply turn right on the wrong side of the road instead of going around........Total mayhem. When you try and use it correctly you are met with glares of disapproval.

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...Central agency needed’ to tackle rising road accidents..."

 

What a pile of crap.

 

What is needed is for the police to get off their asses, get on to the roads and patrol. And, when they see someone driving badly, stupidly, under-age and/or drunk, take action.

 

It ain't rocket science.

 

This is a police problem. If the police did their job, Thailand would have MUCH MUCH safer roads.

 

End of discussion.

 

BTW: this "Central Agency" is yet another case of Bureaucratic BS. Stop wasting everyone's time and money on Bureaucratic empire-building.

 

 

I agree. The absence of trained, equipped, honest and mobile traffic police is a significant contributor to the lawless and dangerous driving habits hereto.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

We have analysed and found two major factors that make Thailand’s efforts to mitigate the problem ineffective: weak law enforcement and the lack of a direct central agency to tackle the problem,” Wittaya said.

So predictably, the headline is to ignore the real problem, which is weak law enforcement due to culture of bribery and corruption, and focus on making a whole new agency full of obedient pencil pushers who will value their job security too much and have too little authority to implement any real changes.  

3 hours ago, webfact said:

weak law enforcement

In a nutshell!  Make cops work nights - at the moment they disappear Friday afternoon till sometime Monday.  Then they become bandit packs and rob poor Thais @ 40 baht a throw or foolish farangs @ 200 baht.  All around them, before and after the road blocks, idiots are speeding/drunk driving & putting others at risk.

2 hours ago, cooked said:

Unfortunately this aspect of Thailand is part of what we love about the place (most of us).

COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!  The deciding factor for my initial move to Thailand was a speeding ticket in New Mexico. HORRIBLE staters, and the one who pulled me over had the Napoleonic complex. Like Sammy said, "I can't drive fifty-five!"

4 hours ago, webfact said:

INTERNATIONAL ROAD safety experts have urged Thailand to follow Vietnam’s example by setting up a central agency to directly mitigate the country’s severe accidents problem

Perhaps a good idea. The next logical move is to set up a committee to look into the possibility of setting up a Central Agency. That shouldn't take more than four years.

That's it!! More big government is the answer! Nothing to do with culture or education, or enforcement, just more government!

Quote

 

'Central agency needed' to tackle rising road accidents in Thailand

7-Eleven will take care of it

Edited November 6, 20187 yr by klauskunkel

2 hours ago, cooked said:

So less talk about police repression please, and start talking about education and prevention, which should also be a part of police work. 

Wow! Yet again same same geat ideas being espoused, BUT, the first major problem, is that currently there is little or NO police work! 

 

And no willingness (from the "top") to make them do their job!

 

OMG "Central agency" just sounds like another rewards job for people who will, like those before them, DO NOTHING! 

 

Edited November 6, 20187 yr by lvr181
Additional comment

What's needed is a 'crack down', well, maybe for a day.

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Been saying the same thing for years here and every chance I get.

Thailand has more agencies label "Transport"  but none of these have the power or authority to do anything except talk plus they are the problem since to teach and fix you must have learned alternatives which none have since they come from the same school of driving.

First, instead of urging, it should be insisted on by the W.H.O., not a dollar until it is done since they have already poured millions of dollars already.

The entire situation the PM should declare Section 44 and give an outside body full control to hire and fire any officials who stand in the way of progress and saving lives.

In other words if you drive on the roads in Thailand you take your life into your own hands. Car dealerships make money selling cars then pay government taxes or surcharges on sales. Government has to spend money repairing and upgrading roads so guess what's not going to change??????

Edited November 6, 20187 yr by Jimdandy
typo correction

34 minutes ago, nursebob said:

enforce the laws already in place, i.e. crash helmets and seat belts.

But that will not prevent or reduce the number of accidents, simply help the idiots who cause said accidents to survive, to do it again !

6 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Wow! Yet again same same geat ideas being espoused, BUT, the first major problem, is that currently there is little or NO police work! 

 

And no willingness (from the "top") to make them do their job!

 

OMG "Central agency" just sounds like another rewards job for people who will, like those before them, DO NOTHING! 

 

I guess you missed my point. The police need educating also, and the only way to get them to do their job is through motivation, ie wages and pride.

Repression is what happens when things are allowed to go too far and nobody has any insight.

Here we go again. The Bull Shit Deparment again. The problem is staring them in the face, but the cleaners on 300 Bt a day cannot keep up brushing it all under the carpet, no room any more.

1: Start paying your Police a living wage. And servier punishment for demanding envelopes with tee money in.

2: Make the road laws and punish the culprits where it will hurt them, because the Thai people know they will get away with it.

4-5 people on a bike and children allowed to ride them. Stop this, as far as confiscating the bike and making the parents responsible also for letting them use their bikes. 

We can go on and on, but the law makers cannot be bothered, to much work for them.

They should look at the western world laws and what they do.

end of the JOKE.

7 minutes ago, roo860 said:

What's needed is a 'crack down', well, maybe for a day.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Hehehe..........the "cracks are down" - RTP sitting on their backsides! Hasn't helped. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 

“Thailand ranks second among countries with the highest deaths from road accidents

Something happened last night, we not number 1 anymore ?

 

5 minutes ago, cooked said:

I guess you missed my point. The police need educating also, and the only way to get them to do their job is through motivation, ie wages and pride.

Repression is what happens when things are allowed to go too far and nobody has any insight.

"I guess you missed my point." I guess I did.

 

Simple answer = TIT. Understand their culture and history.

9 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

But that will not prevent or reduce the number of accidents, simply help the idiots who cause said accidents to survive, to do it again !

Hehehe.............oh ye of little faith. ????

4 hours ago, cooked said:

By past experience this will result in even more policemen living in tents over the holiday period, heavier fines and more opportunities for press conferences. 

Nobody will bother about un-Thai things such as prevention, education Police and public), engineering and corruption.

Things will only ever improve here once corruption is tackled, and when obvious moronic behaviour is stopped, such as driving a bike with an entire family on, with no helmets, and driving a pickup truck with 20 people in the back

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

Today I will drive 200kms home from Chiang Mai. The first 15 towards the city on a 'highway' with U-turns, shops, markets and many junctions will pass without me see any speed limit signs. Whats safe? Who knows and who cares. Some will be doing 100kph+. Nowhere will I come across a highway patrol car looking for speeders. They are solely used for VIP convoys. I will find myself behind at least 10 cars being driven by drivers without the first clue to driving and road use, people who shouldn't be out on the road at all. Yes, just another normal day. Proper speed limits, proper enforcement, proper driving tests. More bureaucrats and agencies will end up just another layer of uniformed wage earners sitting at desks.

How very true, yesterday driving into town I saw the usual beginning of the month road block with all the cops checking registrations and fining drivers for not having their vehicles registered, don't worry about the ones doing a u turn a little further down, no cops to stop them or the motorcycle riders without helmets, yes, make the monthly target and we can all go about doing what we do best, "nothing", all these deaths surely must be blamed on the cops for their lack of road rules enforced, but if the top brass don't give a rats, who ever will.

 

Sack the lot of them and start over I say. Gotta start somewhere.

I can't wait for this year's New Year safety campaign to be released.

 

Something along the lines of -

 

'All parties concerned urge drivers to not drink before driving'. 

“......but also of road users to have more consideration for other people on the road.”

  Enforcement is a big part of the answer. You only have to spend ten minutes on a Thai road to see someone do something stupid. But a large part of the problem is inside peoples heads too.  Everything is “me, me, me” and road rage if I don’t get my way.

Think on the bright side. More economic growth ie: New cars. funerals. Doctors. nurses. Tow trucks junk yards. The lists goes on

8 minutes ago, Stoker58 said:

“......but also of road users to have more consideration for other people on the road.”

  Enforcement is a big part of the answer. You only have to spend ten minutes on a Thai road to see someone do something stupid. But a large part of the problem is inside peoples heads too.  Everything is “me, me, me” and road rage if I don’t get my way.

Ten minutes? 10 seconds will do too........

Enforce the laws that are in place now, stop the roadside "tea-money" fine which does nothing except allow an offender to carry on as usual!

For minor offences offenders are given a ticket which must go to a police station, fines are paid directly by transfer to a central government agency.

More severe offences are taken to court where clearly defined penalties are enacted.

And I thought this would be the job of the Police.
But as long as people still can pass a checkpoint not wearing a helmet bcoz the checkpoint is set up to check licenses, nothing will change...

Here we go again. The Bull Shit Deparment again. The problem is staring them in the face, but the cleaners on 300 Bt a day cannot keep up brushing it all under the carpet, no room any more.
1: Start paying your Police a living wage. And servier punishment for demanding envelopes with tee money in.
2: Make the road laws and punish the culprits where it will hurt them, because the Thai people know they will get away with it.
4-5 people on a bike and children allowed to ride them. Stop this, as far as confiscating the bike and making the parents responsible also for letting them use their bikes. 
We can go on and on, but the law makers cannot be bothered, to much work for them.
They should look at the western world laws and what they do.
end of the JOKE.

Those who think by giving Police a payrise will stop corruption are in cloud cuckoo land


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Thailand just doesn’t take driving seriously as it is not a serious culture....

 

problem solving is just too difficult and painful to do....could you imagine if the police (which lack the ability and skills necessary to do enforcement currently) start to give out tickets for moving violations? The population would revolt not b/c of a few bad drivers but b/c of 20-30% bad drivers...

 

The thai culture avoids difficult complex issues so these issues are allowed to fester and worsen....

Yes agreed we need a seperate agency to tackle the road carnage,but first.We need more cameras,we need positive action from the Police,The COFFEY MONEY Must Stop,if it does not stop then we are blowing in the Wind.All Vehicles should be stopped  at some time or other,to make sure that the driver is licensed and that the vehicle is Insured,All drivers should carry the drivers licence,if a driver does not have the licence with him or her then the vehicle is confiscated and towed and they have to pay and produce the required docs before the release of the vehicle,and only released to the person who was driving at that time,unless that person does not have a licence.