Drivers face blood tests for alcohol

[webfact]

Drivers face blood tests for alcohol

By The Nation

 

Deputy National Police chief Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan inspects 200 police officers, soldiers and volunteers outside Lumpini Park yesterday.

 

RECKLESS DRIVERS TO UNDERGO BLOOD TESTS THIS NEW YEAR PERIOD

 

DRIVERS suspected to be drunk will be forced to undergo blood tests for alcohol especially during the festive period.

 

The Transport Ministry and Road Safe Fund have earmarked Bt69 million to cover these tests, as drunk driving has been found to be one of the most common causes of road casualties. 

 

The World Health Organisation’s recent report on road-safety revealed that Thailand has as many as 60 road deaths daily. The fatalities are in addition to a much larger number of victims getting injured and maimed on the roads. 

 

“Blood-alcohol concentration tests aim to ensure that drunk drivers are prosecuted,” Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said yesterday.

 

He issued this warning as the government prepares a major road-safety campaign during the New Year holidays.

 

 

Since millions of people hit the road during the festive period, the risk of road accidents increase. In recent years, Thailand has been designating seven days of the New Year period as “Dangerous Days” to remind road users that they need to be careful. 

 

This year, the seven dangerous days run from December 27 to January 2. Blood-alcohol concentration tests during the seven

dangerous days associated with New Year 2018 found that nearly 60 per cent of the drivers exceeded the safe blood-alcohol level. 

 

Drivers involved in accidents could be asked by police to undergo a blood test, said assistant National Police chief Pol Lt-General Damrongsak Kitti-prapatr. 

 

“If they refuse, they will be considered as driving drunk,” he said. 

 

Meanwhile, Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s manager Supreeda Adulyanon called on people to refrain from giving gifts of alcohol for New Year. 

 

Public Health Ministry’s permanent secretary, Sukhum Karnchanapimai said more than 166,000 staff will be on duty to provide emergency medical services during the holiday period. “They will be based at 8,583 units with support from 20,741 vehicles,” he added.

 

Piyasakol, meanwhile, said people could call the 1669 hotline for urgent medical help. “Our team should be able to reach victims within 10 minutes in at least 80 per cent of the cases,” he said. 

 

The quicker victims reach medical workers, the better chance they have of surviving and avoiding disabilities, he said. 

 

Source:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30361061

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-25

[z42]

Well considering how long Vorayuth Yoovidhya's blood test relating to his episode of appalling driving took to come back as "nobody even knows yet", I have my doubts about how wise this 69 million baht scheme is.

 

Frankly it looks stupid, and that they are trying to reinvent the wheel here to justify some soundbites and have a nibble at that big juicy 69 million baht cherry

[Thaiwrath]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been designating seven days of the New Year period as “Dangerous Days” to remind road users that they need to be careful. 

 

I think they need to remind road users that EVERY day on the road in Thailand is a "Dangerous Day" !

Happy Christmas all, and be safe.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

DRIVERS suspected to be drunk will be forced to undergo blood tests for alcohol especially during the festive period.

Good

[leeneeds]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

they will be considered as driving drunk,”

Some of the drivers on these roads I have seen,

 this looks like an every day occurrence.

[doremifasol]

 

 

Blood test? What's wrong with a breathalyzer?

 

 

 

[bluesofa]

8 minutes ago, doremifasol said:

Blood test? What's wrong with a breathalyzer?

Too drunk to blow into a breathalyser.

 

 

[holy cow cm]

Breathe test, blood test, pee test, but if they stop me sober they will get a crap test sample on their table. 

[bkk6060]

45 minutes ago, doremifasol said:

 

 

Blood test? What's wrong with a breathalyzer?

 

 

 

They need to be calibrated and some try to cheat and not complete the test properly.

Blood tests are much more accurate and no cheating by the driver.

Glad to see they are doing this.

Hope all you DUI's enjoy having a needle stuck in your arm and a Thai jail cell....

[BigBadGeordie]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Piyasakol, meanwhile, said people could call the 1669 hotline for urgent medical help. “Our team should be able to reach victims within 10 minutes in at least 80 per cent of the cases,” he said. 

Clearly this statement was produced by the PR team at TAT.

Professional services in the 1st world, in general, cannot achieve that standard.

When will they realise they do nothing but destroy what little credibility they have when they make statements like this.

[Chippy151]

DRIVERS suspected to be drunk will be forced to undergo blood tests for alcohol especially during the festive period.

 

But if they are driving an expensive car, they will be given a big wai and a smile. 

And no blood test.

[BigBadGeordie]

1 minute ago, bkk6060 said:

They need to be calibrated and some try to cheat and not complete the test properly.

Are you refering to the testing equipment or the RTP operator?

 

[oztaurus]

2 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

I think they need to remind road users that EVERY day on the road in Thailand is a "Dangerous Day" !

Happy Christmas all, and be safe.

I'm too lazy to look up the relevant posts but I am sure I have seen statistics that these "dangerous days" actually have a lower rate of fatalities per day than the normal daily average .... possibly due to the roads being so jam-packed that people can't travel fast enough to kill themselves (though total accident and non-fatal injury rates are probably higher)

[Youlike]

Why do those policemen wear bulletproof vests? It seems there's another deadly problem in BKK...

And they wear vests of all colors, why not all the same so we know it's them?!

 

And why no policestickers/colors on the motocycles?

 

Also i thought the police had camera's on their helmets, where are they?

[bluesofa]

21 minutes ago, BigBadGeordie said:

24 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

They need to be calibrated and some try to cheat and not complete the test properly.

Are you refering to the testing equipment or the RTP operator?

The test equipment needs to be calibrated, the RTP operator needs to be inebriated.

[bluesofa]

16 minutes ago, Youlike said:

Why do those policemen wear bulletproof vests? It seems there's another deadly problem in BKK...

{snipped}

How can they wear them? A bulletproof vest is regarded as a war weapon - at least that what was decided by a court when a journalist in Bangkok wore one for protection earlier this year.

[Phuketshrew]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

DRIVERS suspected to be drunk will be forced to undergo blood tests for alcohol especially during the festive period.

It's a shame that there isn't a blood test for stupidity.

[PEE TEE]

Why only festive times. should be standard practice 24/7   

[quandow]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been designating seven days of the New Year period as “Dangerous Days”

Shouldn't it really be the Dangerous 365 days?

[Justgrazing]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

In recent years, Thailand has been designating seven days of the New Year period as “Dangerous Days”

Never mind 7 deadly sins , over here its 7 deadly days .. But what about the other 358 .? 

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

If they refuse, they will be considered as driving drunk,” he said. 

And then what .? 

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Piyasakol, meanwhile, said people could call the 1669 hotline for urgent medical help. “Our team should be able to reach victims within 10 minutes in at least 80 per cent of the cases,” he said. 

Best not be in the other 20% then if you're unfortunate enough to get mangled up .. 

 

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, z42 said:

... Frankly it looks stupid, and that they are trying to reinvent the wheel here to justify some soundbites and have a nibble at that big juicy 69 million baht cherry

Introducing blood tests that eliminate the non-impaired driver, nail those that really are over the limit and shuts down a corrupt and long-standing revenue stream like they do in more modern, developed and progressive countries?

 

Absolutely stupid.

 

Your comment I mean.

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

How can they wear them? A bulletproof vest is regarded as a war weapon - at least that what was decided by a court when a journalist in Bangkok wore one for protection earlier this year.

I would guess it's because the Royal Thai Police aren't journalists?

[Badrabbit]

What a big joke this country is, the police can't even stop non crash helmet wearing, running red lights, driving the wrong way, speeding and so on and on, how can you expect them to do something difficult?

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Cadbury]

1 hour ago, Youlike said:

Why do those policemen wear bulletproof vests? It seems there's another deadly problem in BKK...

And they wear vests of all colors, why not all the same so we know it's them?!

 

And why no policestickers/colors on the motocycles?

 

Also i thought the police had camera's on their helmets, where are they?

Presumably the kevlar vests are needed because the country has become so violent and dangerous with so many guns about it is necessary for the police to protect themselves. It's almost got to a stage where all citizens should be wearing them and putting them on every morning like they do their shirt.

They might also save ordinary people's lives when policemen are shooting at them.

 

[stanleycoin]

I'm sure this will be very beneficial to the pockets of some.

will it solve any problems with the Thai attitude to riding and driving , 

Nah.

Just one more platform for rich people to do the ATM shuffle thai style. 

 

[bluesofa]

20 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

How can they wear them? A bulletproof vest is regarded as a war weapon - at least that what was decided by a court when a journalist in Bangkok wore one for protection earlier this year.

I would guess it's because the Royal Thai Police aren't journalists?

I'd guess you're right.

I keep making the mistake of thinking of the way the law of precedent works (in the UK for example), so the police would be subject the same law. But this is Thailand, so that one's probably out of the window.

[evadgib]

3 hours ago, doremifasol said:

Blood test? What's wrong with a breathalyzer?

And what protections are there re equipment calibration?

[outsider]

Here we go again. Hunting season (i.e. blatant extortion) for the brown clowns is now open.

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, outsider said:

Hunting season for the brown clowns is now open.

i see one now. This one must be off duty, wearing those yellow civvies:

[evadgib]

7 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

What protections exist to ensure the blood testing equipment is calibrated properly?

The ones in the manufacturers manual to which Plod and Courts elsewhere must adhere in order to secure a conviction & prevent an appeal succeeding.