D-Day! September heralds the start of less carnage on the Thai roads

[webfact]

D-Day! September heralds the start of less carnage on the Thai roads

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Next month will see nationwide campaigns to do something about the appalling carnage on the Thai roads. 

 

The targets are public transport vehicles of all kinds and the staff who drive them. 

 

More than a million vehicles will be checked and 150,000 drivers will have their eyes tested. 

 

In addition "Checking Points" at gas stations throughout the country will check for public transport drivers driving drunk.

 

The ideas are the baby of new transport minister Saksayam Chidchob who wants to see less road death and more order on his nation's roadways. 

 

The death toll in Thailand is among the highest in the world at around 25,000 annually. Though the majority are motorcyclists many people die while using public transport as a result of faulty vehicles or drunk and incompetent drivers, notes Thaivisa. 

 

Daily News announced two "D-Days" in their story. 

 

On September 2nd - next Monday - Department of Land Transport staff will begin checking 150, 747 vehicles registered with the DLT. This will take three months. 

 

They will also check the capabilities of 1,203,790 personnel for color recognition, reaction times and long and short vision. 

 

The 16th of September is the second D-Day - this is when 245 "Checking Points" will be set up in gas stations.

 

Thai media is using the English term for these check points. 

 

These will be 90 kms apart on 111 roads encompassing 22,048 kms of the nation's roads. 

 

The idea is to have off-road checkpoints to avoid traffic jams and speed things up. 

 

Drivers will have checks for alcohol with a ten minute limit for checking each person. 

 

Passengers will have to exit the vehicle and perhaps go and use lavatories before re-boarding. They will be discouraged from slowing things down by going into convenience stores. 

 

Checking Points will be set up 24 hours a day 365 days a year - no holidays. 

 

Daily News said that the scheme will be widened to include taxi drivers and truck drivers later. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-08-30

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[taichiplanet]

i guess there will be so many checkpoints for 'fines' that you won't get a chance to go fast enough to crash

[tracker1]

I suppose anything is better then nothing ! but I'm sure there will be plenty of baht changing hands to keep things running smoothly !

[vadid]

Yeah! Like every September for the last million years.

[flyingtlger]

I wonder how long this will last???

[kotsak]

3 minutes ago, flyingtlger said:

I wonder how long this will last???

 

Till next September ????

[jerojero]

Yes it's definitely driver's eyesight that caused all the accidents. Forget actual driving skills and a safety mentality. Sheesh!

[ChipButty]

The 16th of September is the second D-Day, Lottery Day get your lucky numbers now!

[sn1per]

Bangkok to samui..760km so eight checkpoints at 10 minutes per checkpoint, as soon as the driver leaves the checkpoint he is gonna drive even faster (if thats possible) to make up the hour and 20 minutes that he has spent having his eyes tested and being breathalysed while his passengers are in the toilet. Maybe they should just concentrate on speeding , lane swapping, hard shoulder driving, tailgating and overtaking on the inside type of offences as they happen.... 

Edited August 30, 2019 by sn1per

[WeekendRaider]

unless drivers 'always have an out'.... any other simple solutions, as well as enforcement, will not go very far at all.  example, 'driving slow is safer' when in fact, for many drivers in Southeast Asia, there is danger at any speed, so that one doesn't help at all and actually doesn't contain any kernel of reality to it either safety wise.  I have never even heard or read in Thailand the concept of 'always having an out', which many times does mean driving very slow.......... but not without thinking going on as to the road situation as well as anything that might happen.  not just driving slow.  but being tired, or on medication or "alcohol" or talking too much are simple rules.  but that also is covered by the 'always have an out' rule because your 'outs' in those conditions mean you can't even be driving.  at any speed.  

Edited August 30, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[CelticBhoy]

It's a 30 day month . . . . should reduce the monthly average by a wee bit . . . ????

[Brer]

As if any of this is going stop the idiot in his red Raptor Ranger doing 120kms in the night on a wet road trying to accelerate past you or the other bloke in his Vios with a boot spoiler overtaking on a blind corner. Even the old farmer on his motorbike with no lights after a skin full of whiskey gets away.

Duh “I can’t go any faster, I can’t stop either”

”It’s cos your aqua planing you idiot”

They will obviously claim it’s a to a roaring success with xxx amount of drivers caught without licences etc. Just don’t mention revenue up.

[worgeordie]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

They will be discouraged from slowing things down by going into convenience stores. 

That could prove even harder than reduce deaths on the roads.

regards Worgeordie

[Fred white]

One way to stop all the carnige take away all motorized vehicles, only bicycles and push carts water buffalo pulled carts for heavy loads lol ????

[stubuzz]

I was traveling during the last crackdown at new year. All vans were examined at bus stations. This involved the driver handing a stack of papers to a man at a desk who stamped them. I did make me feel a lot safer, though.

[RotBenz8888]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

More than a million vehicles will be checked and 150,000 drivers will have their eyes tested. 

How many fingers can you see? Ok, pass.

[Tofer]

When will they ever learn... It's not catching the miscreants that will change anything, it's EDUCATION.

 

Until there is a stringent driving test nothing will change!

 

My wife just took her driving test as the UK licence she holds is invalid as she never changed her name (ID) in Thailand.

 

It was a joke.

 

Whilst the theory section appeared reasonably thorough and poignant, only what I was told, I could actually witness the driving ability test - 55555555.

 

They have to drive around a corner and park next to a kerb within 10" of it and without touching it. Then drive down a straight line and reverse back along the same path, followed by a parking manoeuvre between post to replicate parking between cars on a roadside. That's it......

 

So your newly licensed drivers on the Thai roads may never actually have been on a Thai road previously, as there is no testing under real road conditions of their ability to drive in traffic and no requirement to prove they can actually drive a vehicle whilst acknowledging other road users and pedestrians, reacting to different road conditions and road signage.

 

I saw one guy drive the test circuit quite well, then driving away stalled the car twice and didn't use his indicator when turning into the roadway from the test area....

 

I rest my case!

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

I wonder how long this will last???

Both days.

[sammieuk1]

5 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Both days.

Or until the 3rd D-day when a general is perplexed as to how rich the police have become in two days????

[Justgrazing]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Drivers will have checks for alcohol with a ten minute limit for

for finishing their drinks off .. 

[spidermike007]

It is true. The entire police department nationwide has been reformed. The local franchisees are no longer concerned about their revenue stream, since their salaries have been doubled, and they no longer have to pay for equipment and supplies out of pocket. So now they will devote themselves heart and soul, to the safety, and well being of the people.

 

The highway patrol has added 16,000 new vehicles, at a cost of 18 billion baht, and will now be patrolling the nation's highways, and pulling people over for reckless driving, pulling over trucks who hog the fast lane, at 50kph, arresting people for driving 160kph, and swerving in between one car and another at a dangerously close distance, and will begin arresting people for endangering other lives.

 

It is the dawning of a new age in Thailand! Hooray to the army who are finally doing something that benefits the nation. Prayut has finally woken up to the dangers drivers face on the road. 

Edited August 30, 2019 by spidermike007

[Reigntax]

3 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

I wonder how long this will last???

Until Sept 2.

[outsider]

3 hours ago, kotsak said:

 

Till next September ????

Next September. You have a lot of confidence mate... LOL

 

Snide remarks aside, let's see where this goes. Not really going to hold my breath, but I do hope something good comes out of this, and that it's not another flash-in-the-pan limp-<deleted> scheme after all the razzmatazz has died down.

 

[thailand49]

All talk All show, things will soon go back to being the same!

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmm..... i’m not holding my breath. Remember it is the LOC(land of crackdowns)

[legend49]

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

I was traveling during the last crackdown at new year. All vans were examined at bus stations. This involved the driver handing a stack of papers to a man at a desk who stamped them. I did make me feel a lot safer, though.

did the stamper read the documents like IOs do with every page in my passport?

[legend49]

47 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

It is true. The entire police department nationwide has been reformed. The local franchisees are no longer concerned about their revenue stream, since their salaries have been doubled, and they no longer have to pay for equipment and supplies out of pocket. So now they will devote themselves heart and soul, to the safety, and well being of the people.

 

The highway patrol has added 16,000 new vehicles, at a cost of 18 billion baht, and will now be patrolling the nation's highways, and pulling people over for reckless driving, pulling over trucks who hog the fast lane, at 50kph, arresting people for driving 160kph, and swerving in between one car and another at a dangerously close distance, and will begin arresting people for endangering other lives.

 

It is the dawning of a new age in Thailand! Hooray to the army who are finally doing something that benefits the nation. Prayut has finally woken up to the dangers drivers face on the road. 

How many joints did you smoke whilst constructing your comment?

[zyphodb]

I hope they test for yabba, but somehow I doubt it...

[stephehr]

More traffic jams/hold ups

 

[Teacherduck]

But you can't confiscate their license if they are drunk anyway, give them a ticket and let them drive on. I hope they check for unroadworthy cars and trucks as well, like no lights.