Police discuss harsher driving offence penalties

By SURIYA PATATHAYO 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

TRAFFIC police are discussing with other agencies amendments to the penalties for drink-drivers and repeat offenders on Thai roads.

 

There are calls for harsher punishments in line with the Japanese model that penalises both the drink-driver and any passenger who “abetted the wrongdoing”, said Maj-General Ekkarak Limsangkatt, a member of the committee reviewing of traffic-law enforcement. 

 

Ekkarak was speaking after a meeting earlier yesterday at Royal Thai Police headquarters in Bangkok. 

 

Among proposals discussed were the issuance of traffic tickets and harsher sentences for repeat offenders based on evidence gathered by Police Ticket Management (PTM) over the last three years. 

 

The PTM collates information on traffic offences and provides recommendations that enhance road safety measures. 

 

Yesterday’s meeting, presided over by Lt-General Roy Inghapairoj, assistant to the National Police Commissioner, was told that 11.7 million traffic tickets had been issued in 2018, a 39 per cent rise on the 8.6 million the year before. 

 

Among those ticketed was the driver of a cargo truck who received no less than 144 tickets in a single year, for repeatedly speeding and failing to stay in the slow lane reserved for trucks. He was caught by traffic cameras. 

 

A total of 1,507 drink-driving repeat offenders were arrested in the past four years, the meeting was told.

 

Ekkarak said the findings showed drivers were insufficiently afraid of the law and the consequences of breaking it. He said a legal amendment to the 1979 Land Traffic Act, which should soon be in effect, would introduce a points system to deter motorists from re-offending. 

 

He said such a points system would not have worked in the past because all drivers’ licences were paper-based, meaning the police and Department of Land Transport could not cooperate to catch offenders. 

 

“This new law will require the two agencies to link databases and online information so the driving-licence points system is implemented effectively and practically,” he said.

 

The meeting also heard a proposal that motorists with multiple tickets be allowed to pay them off in a lump sum for a discount, in order to clear the backlog of unpaid tickets, 

 

However, Ekkarak said police officers could not take that decision themselves so the proposal would need to be discussed by their superiors and the Cabinet.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30366258

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-22

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by 4MyEgo
Cartoon

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

Among those ticketed was the driver of a cargo truck who received no less than 144 tickets in a single year, for repeatedly speeding and failing to stay in the slow lane reserved for trucks. He was caught by traffic cameras. 

Major failure, why hadn't the police gone around to his place, cancelled his licence, put him in jail, heads must roll, start sacking the cops who sit idol from the top to the bottom, bring in the army and start afresh, fines, jail time, no excuses, get tuff like in other countries, this is laughable, and probably just scratching the surface of the BIGGER problem out there.

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by 4MyEgo

Police discuss harsher driving offence penalties...... Shock horror.

Total waste of time, the lazy bar stewards dont enforce current penalties, so why bother with harsher ones?

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police discuss harsher driving offence penalties

Same sh*t, different day.

Expect the same headline after the Songkran carnage.

Bureaucratic noise and nonsense.

 

If the police want to see safer roads in Thailand, then they need to get out of their air conditioned offices and patrol the roads.

 

Nothing else will be effective.

 

"...Police discuss harsher driving offence penalties..."

 

Stop talking and go do your job!

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by Samui Bodoh

The only reason for harsher penalties is to increase the amount of the backhander.

Mo money, mo money, mo money......The cops are licking their chops!!!

 

Solution.

not necessarily a good idea where police get a share of the fine

The fact that this may also lead to harsher backhanders could be the catalyst for doing some policing???? 

Drink driving.. Is that the same as Drunk Driving?????

Police discuss harsher 

driving offence penalties. 

 

Equals higher on the spot, no receipt, in the pocket fines. A windfall for them. 

57 minutes ago, webfact said:

There are calls for harsher punishments in line with the Japanese model that penalises both the drink-driver and any passenger who “abetted the wrongdoing”, said Maj-General Ekkarak Limsangkatt

...because it is much more convenient to cash in on a single pay improvement opportunity, with one drunk pickup driver and a dozen passengers on the load bed. 

How do you assign points to stupid?  When you work that one out try selfish. 

"Among proposals discussed were the issuance of traffic tickets..." - So what have you idiots been giving all this while - McDonald's Happy Meal vouchers?

 

You can call for harsher punishments based on any models - heck, bring on the death penalty if you wish, but nobody is going to pay any attention, because all you idiots do is talk, talk and talk. They KEY, you pillocks, is ENFORCEMENT! Why is that so hard for your little brains to comprehend?

 

Edited March 22, 20197 yr by outsider

32 minutes ago, Jeffrey346 said:

Drink driving.. Is that the same as Drunk Driving?????

I remember being breathalysed in the UK (passed on that occasion) and asking the copper what was the limit. He replied, "The opinion amongst police officers, and we see the results of drinking and driving every day, is that the only safe limit is zero alcohol in the system." Point taken by me.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 20197 yr by Spidey

thailand and rules

 

if only they applied the one's they had

 

hit & run should mean :  car impounded, sold

person in jail, no bail

Doesn't make a difference to me, as long as the "under the counter" penalties remain unchanged.

Nothing will EVER change the death tolls in a country that turns blind eyes on 12 year olds and younger riding motor bikes to school along with parents travelling with babys clinging on .

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Bureaucratic noise and nonsense.

 

If the police want to see safer roads in Thailand, then they need to get out of their air conditioned offices and patrol the roads.

 

Nothing else will be effective.

 

"...Police discuss harsher driving offence penalties..."

 

Stop talking and go do your job!

 

 

 

No! Getting out of their air-conditioned offices and patrolling the roads in their air-conditioned cars will not work.

 

The police need to get out of their cars at every infraction of the law and do their job - which is called "policing'! This means, upholding AND enforcing the law, without bribery and kow-towing to the influential.

 

EVERYONE treated the same - including the politicians, the so-called HI-so's AND the police themselves.

 

THAT is what it will take.

 

Nothing less.

Police should start to discuss to ban from the road people driving without being entitled to. But who should enforce this? Pol... Ehm no.

Discuss, discuss, discuss!  Instead of 13 police arresting 1 street walker in Pattaya perhaps if they were out and about and visible on the highways and byways of the nation actually doing there jobs there would be fewer issues to discuss! 

 

Stop the discussions and take positive actions to alleviate the slaughter!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

11.7 million traffic tickets had been issued in 2018,

An oft-quoted figure is that 92% of these tickets are never paid so increasing the fine just means the cost of a bribe goes up.  I got a ticket for going through an amber light last year.  In the UK this is not illegal.  I paid up and the policeman seemed pathetically grateful for my contribution.  What's the penalty for going through a red light outside two police stations on Suk in Pattaya?  I count six offenders per change of colour.  

18 minutes ago, Liverpudlian said:

Nothing will EVER change the death tolls in a country that turns blind eyes on 12 year olds and younger riding motor bikes to school along with parents travelling with babys clinging on .

I certainly agree!  I sit and watch these happenings each and every school day, dreading the day I will have to help scrape them off the pavement.  Parenting does not just entail handing over 20 baht to the kid for junk food it also includes looking after the safety, health and well-being of their offspring.  Failing that, they should be neutered!

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He said such a points system would not have worked in the past because all drivers’ licences were paper-based, meaning the police and Department of Land Transport could not cooperate to catch offenders. 

 

“This new law will require the two agencies to link databases and online information so the driving-licence points system is implemented effectively and practically,” he said. 

Will require?

So there is no law/regulation linking the two right now.

 

Only a couple of months ago in a press release, the Land Transport Department launched an updated driving licence with a QR code on the back.

There was also an app the LTD was promoting, letting drivers upload it and avoid having to carry the paper licence, but letting the police check the QR code on the driver's app.

This was to allow the police to scan the QR code and the check drivers details online as well as updating the system in real time with traffic violations committed.

I seem to remember at the time the police were quoted as saying the system was not yet in force.

 

I think the phrase 'arse about face' springs to mind.

 

 

Edited March 22, 20197 yr by bluesofa
grammar

2 minutes ago, mikebell said:

An oft-quoted figure is that 92% of these tickets are never paid so increasing the fine just means the cost of a bribe goes up.  I got a ticket for going through an amber light last year.  In the UK this is not illegal.  I paid up and the policeman seemed pathetically grateful for my contribution.  What's the penalty for going through a red light outside two police stations on Suk in Pattaya?  I count six offenders per change of colour.  

I got a ticket for driving through an intersection when the light was flashing green - before it turned amber.  I paid since there was a distinct language barrier so any discussion would have been a waste of breath! 

11.7m tickets issued last year That sound quite a lot. Imagine if the police actually did their jobs? They'd probably be averaging around 3 tickets per head of population!

 

I'd hazard a guess that the majority of the tickets are issued at the roadblocks for no helmets and/or licence, followed by offences caught by camera with moving violations caught by regular traffic police a very, very distant third.

 

 

Just now, Prairieboy said:

I got a ticket for driving through an intersection when the light was flashing green - before it turned amber.  I paid since there was a distinct language barrier so any discussion would have been a waste of breath! 

You'd have probably got away with it if it was red!????

1 hour ago, webfact said:

TRAFFIC police are discussing with other agencies amendments to the penalties for drink-drivers and repeat offenders on Thai roads.

Strange country where the police are involved in making laws and regulations.

In my country the police are supposed to be the executive power, not the legislative power.