Seven drunk drivers fitted with Electronic Monitoring devices

[webfact]

Seven drunk drivers fitted with Electronic Monitoring devices

By The Nation

 

 

Seven out of the 66 drunk drivers stopped over the New Year Holiday were fitted with the Probation Department’s Electronic Monitoring (EM) devices in front of reporters on January 1, as part of the punishment ordered by the courts over traffic violations.

 

 

Presiding over Tuesday’s ceremony at the EM monitoring center in Bangkok, department chief Prasarn Mahaleetrakul revealed that betwee December 27 and 31, the Thai courts had ordered traffic law violators in 6,253 cases to be put on probation. This figure was made up of 5,766 cases involving drunk drivers, 446 cases of driving under the influence of a narcotic substance, 39 cases of reckless driving, and two speeding cases. 

 

Prasarn said the seven – who were fitted with the EM devices during the press conference – were caught driving while drunk, with blood alcohol levels of 190-200 milligrams, far beyond the legal limit of 50 milligrams - on Vibhavadi-Rangsit and Ramkhamhaeng roads.

 

 

The seven were among the 66 people sentenced to wear EM devices after being found with blood alcohol levels beyond 150 milligrams while driving, he said. In addition to being fitted with the devices, the 66 would be banned from going out between 10pm and 4am for 15 days, must report to probation officers and undergo four sessions of traffic regulation training. They would also have to pay a fine of Bt15,000 each and do 24 hours of community service, namely helping out at hospitals' emergency departments taking care of road accident victims or looking after bed-ridden patients. They would also have their driver's licences suspended for six months, he added. 

 

 

The 4,000 EM wrist-cuffing devices – which resemble smart watches – have been rented by the department at a cost of Bt74 million from a private company for 21 months, according to Prasarn.

 

This year, the department has also introduced a new measure against repeat offenders. Those found to be driving drunk more than twice will be committed to a programme to screen for alcoholism and admitted to hospital for treatment, Prasarn said, adding that the department would assess and evaluate this measure’s effectiveness after one month.

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30361434

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-02

[Somtamnication]

Only seven? Do the rest only drink water this holiday season?????

[stanleycoin]

Just more expensive Tomfoolery. 

TIT. 

 

[mikebell]

Each watch costs 18,500 to rent!  They've got 4000 and used 7!  Does not sound like a very cost effective measure to me - unless you are supplying the watches.

[mok199]

Another pathetic attempt to look global and progressive....

[fruitman]

Better write the text "Drunk Driver" on their forehead with henna ink....

 

If they do it again you tattoo it .

[Thaiwrath]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Those found to be driving drunk more than twice will be committed to a programme to screen for alcoholism and admitted to hospital for treatment

In a civilised country they would go directly to jail, without passing go !

[Aussie999]

What other country, sentences people, without trial, to home detention... seem draconian, to say the least.

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Seven out of the 66 drunk drivers stopped over the New Year Holiday were fitted with the Probation Department’s Electronic Monitoring (EM) devices

That figure I assume relates to just one hour?

What happened to the other thousands who were drunk driving - never mind, eh?

[leeneeds]

15000 bt is way to little

[Bluespunk]

47 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

What other country, sentences people, without trial, to home detention... seem draconian, to say the least.

It’s a slap on the wrist, I’d make them watch their vehicles being crushed and then present them with the bill for it. 

[MARK74]

"The 4,000 EM wrist-cuffing devices – which resemble smart watches – have been rented by the department at a cost of Bt74 million from a private company for 21 months, according to Prasarn."

 

So the bloke fitting the watches and his mates can buy some more gaudy god awful jewelry.

I wonder if this private firm is Chinese? ????

[RotBenz8888]

The coolest guy in gang gets a trophy.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, MARK74 said:

"The 4,000 EM wrist-cuffing devices – which resemble smart watches – have been rented by the department at a cost of Bt74 million from a private company for 21 months, according to Prasarn."

 

So the bloke fitting the watches and his mates can buy some more gaudy god awful jewelry.

I wonder if this private firm is Chinese? ????

If the wrist-cuffing devices are Chinese made, I assume they'll work for up to a week before failing completely. That's based on most Chinese goods I've bought in Thailand.

[ChrisY1]

2 hours ago, mikebell said:

Each watch costs 18,500 to rent!  They've got 4000 and used 7!  Does not sound like a very cost effective measure to me - unless you are supplying the watches.

Would be interesting to know who does rent these devices....whatever...the commissions on 74M Baht would have been huge!

[Jai Dee]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The seven were among the 66 people sentenced to wear EM devices after being found with blood alcohol levels beyond 150 milligrams while driving,

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Prasarn said the seven – who were fitted with the EM devices during the press conference

 

Just clarifying the news report for some of our members who seem to have difficulties comprehending... 

[Hayduke]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Seven drunk drivers fitted with Electronic Monitoring devices

 

Seems the other 3,993 devices have gone missing...

 

 

[Ossy]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The seven were among the 66 people sentenced to wear EM devices

Ossy thinks: In the meantime, the other 59 tagging devices are being mulled by some committee or other and should be available within twelve months, assuming no change in regime . . . I knew one year was too good to be true.

And methinks 7,000 - not a farcical 7 - drunk drivers should get the full treatment, i.e. cars crushed or un-financed, at least a 12 month ban from driving and 240 hours of community service. They and their kind need to know that drunk driving is akin to attempted murder, each time they take to the road, happily 'tanked-up'. The crisis needs stopping . . . not merely laughing at.

[NVass]

29 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Would be interesting to know who does rent these devices....whatever...the commissions on 74M Baht would have been huge!

That works out at 18,000 baht each for 21 month rental! You can buy these trackers on amazon for about 7000 baht each. Nice little earner for someone especially. If you include the resale value for all the unused ones, somebody hit the jackpot!

[Phuketshrew]

1 hour ago, MARK74 said:

"The 4,000 EM wrist-cuffing devices – which resemble smart watches – have been rented by the department at a cost of Bt74 million from a private company for 21 months, according to Prasarn."

Jeez. Wouldn't it have been better to borrow them from Prawit's mate?

[Ossy]

23 minutes ago, NVass said:

You can buy these trackers on amazon for about 7000 baht each. Nice little earner for someone especially.

Too true and just one tiny part of the NCPO Corruption Condo and just another cause of despair amongst the millions of proud Thais who are seeing their homeland not just discredited but dismantled.

[Lupatria]

I saw 7 motorbike taxi guys sitting under a skywalk at a BTS station, waiting for passengers. Next to their bikes on a wooden box: 4 bottles of LEO beer, half dozen full plastic cups, 1 full and one half emptied bottle of Blend 285. In the police box 100 m away 3 cops playing with their phones. So much to law enforcement...

[Oziex1]

It's been said many times I know, effective police patrols would go a long way to help reduce traffic violations.

Maybe next year.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, Aussie999 said:

What other country, sentences people, without trial, to home detention... seem draconian, to say the least.

Really?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

Each watch costs 18,500 to rent!  They've got 4000 and used 7!  Does not sound like a very cost effective measure to me - unless you are supplying the watches.

 If you read the full article, it actually says the courts had sentenced 66 people to wear the devices -- those with tested blood alcohol levels FAR above the legal limit.

 

But for some reason, the article starts off talking only about the 7 who were fitted at some kind of press conference/event.

 

I'm pretty sure one of the articles I read the other day said something like 65,000 drunk driving citations/arrests had been issued in the first few days of the New Year holiday nationwide.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, Jai Dee said:

 

 

Just clarifying the news report for some of our members who seem to have difficulties comprehending... 

 You're right, and I echoed your comments above.  But in truth, the OP article was, not surprisingly, poorly written and, in journalism speak, "buried the lede" by focusing mostly on the 7 at the event, and not on the broader 66 who supposedly have been sentenced to wear the devices.

 

BTW, it also would have been nice if the article had actually said WHAT is being monitored by the bracelets. I'm assuming it's location, to enforce the can't go out at night provisions of their sentences. But the article doesn't actually say anything about what the bracelets actually monitor or who's going to be monitoring them or how.

 

 

[Lobber]

7 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Just more expensive Tomfoolery. 

TIT. 

 

Yes and they will probably wear them as a sign of something to be proud of ...w4nk3rs

[Jai Dee]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 You're right, and I echoed your comments above.  But in truth, the OP article was, not surprisingly, poorly written and, in journalism speak, "buried the lede" by focusing mostly on the 7 at the event, and not on the broader 66 who supposedly have been sentenced to wear the devices.

 

BTW, it also would have been nice if the article had actually said WHAT is being monitored by the bracelets. I'm assuming it's location, to enforce the can't go out at night provisions of their sentences. But the article doesn't actually say anything about what the bracelets actually monitor or who's going to be monitoring them or how.

 

 

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but you will of course know that some many times articles written by Thai media sources contain grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, only tell half the story etc.

 

We also acknowledge this in the Forum Rules as follows:

 

Except as otherwise indicated in the byline, news bulletins are reprinted verbatim from a mass media source which has given TV permission to use its feed. 

Original articles, especially in the Thai press, often have grammatical mistakes or misspellings. ThaiVisa is not responsible for these nor does ThaiVisa have the rights to alter content it is reprinting from another source. Similarly, ThaiVisa is not responsible for any opinions reflected  or quoted in reprinted news stories.

 

Regular readers of Thai news bulletins sometimes need to re-read the full article in order to comprehend as much as possible what has been written. As you say, in general Thai journalistic sources are not well written to a native English speaker.

 

That is why I posted that clarifying note earlier... reversing the order of the sentences so there would be no more/fewer misunderstandings.

[natway09]

Give them 6 years ban from driving, not 6 months.

If they are caught again in this time lifetime ban.

Stop playing games & grow some balls