Video: It's all smiles as cop lets six students on two motorcycles do exercises instead of a fine - but the carnage continues

 

Picture: Daily News

 

It was a standard story seen many times in Thailand in recent years that is portrayed in the Thai press as a bit of a laugh.

 

Young students on their way to school without helmets being given daft exercises by the roadside instead of being fined.

 

But as many have pointed out online, and the statistics show, this kind of thing is doing nothing to prevent the appalling carnage on the roads, much of it leading to the death of under 15s on bikes. 

 

Daily News said locals were smiling and other drivers thought it was funny as traffic cop Pol Capt Withaya Butphrom pulled over six students on just two bikes on their way to school in Thung Yai, Nakhon Sri Thammarat in southern Thailand.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

A video showed the cop have the students line up before giving them a bit of a lecture that was indistinct as he was masked.

 

The students listened patiently as if they had heard it all before.

 

They were then given their "punishment" - ten squats and stand up while they held shoulders.

 

Then after a few more words the helmetless girls were sent on their merry way - three to a bike to school.

 

It has been reported that up to 80% of the carnage on Thai roads involves motorcyles with many dying for the lack of a helmet.

 

With 26,000 said to die annually that means upwards of 20,000 people die on bikes.

 

Many are children aged under 15 going to and from school. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

News reports have suggested that for the first time in many years death of young people on motorcycles exceeded deaths from drowning. 

 

Yet the smiles still go on with a police force more interested in getting a few laughs rather than saving young lives, notes Thaivisa. 

 

And the Thai media, and to a certain extent the public, connives in this.

 

For while it is true that Daily News publish the accident figures to raise awareness of the dangers on the Thai roads on a daily basis, not once in this story did they suggest this kind of attitude may be part of the problem.

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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1 minute ago, webfact said:

Young students on their way to school without helmets being given daft exercises by the roadside instead of being fined.

Totally pathetic.

Next time they have a meeting to look at how to reduce the horrendous number of road fatalities here, maybe make looking at the "so called" law enforcement should be a number one priority ?

54 minutes ago, webfact said:

not once in this story did they suggest this kind of attitude may be part of the problem.

because they dont think like westerners; either because they can't or they won't

No surprise this is it .. they cannot get it into their heads that helmets help save your life until they get their's smashed in by which time it's too late .. 

Some say it's a " cultural attitude " to road safety .. that might be ok if they only muller themselves up but it's not cultural when taking out someone else .. it's selfish recklessness and criminal in many cases especially when alcohol or narcotics are indicted .. we will have this debate in a 12 mth and the 12 mth after that as things won't change .. 

7 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

No surprise this is it .. they cannot get it into their heads that helmets help save your life until they get their's smashed in by which time it's too late .. 

Some say it's a " cultural attitude " to road safety .. that might be ok if they only muller themselves up but it's not cultural when taking out someone else .. it's selfish recklessness and criminal in many cases especially when alcohol or narcotics are indicted .. we will have this debate in a 12 mth and the 12 mth after that as things won't change .. 

It is cultural - the government do all they can to prevent kids developing critical thinking, let alone think about safety.

They will end up sticking with their parents belief - it's fate if you die.

 

Having said that, I'm sure the kids have learned their lesson - next time they'll drive down the back roads.

Seen 2 m/c accidents (1 serious and 1 sliding burns) in 2 consecutive days, both involved school kids, and not one helmet between them.

Attitude to road safety across the board is atrocious, example Inter-Provincial bus with red lights on the front and no other lights in use, farm truck only light on display was one strapped to the drivers forehead both at 6:00 am.

 

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

It is cultural - the government do all they can to prevent kids developing critical thinking, let alone think about safety.

They will end up sticking with their parents belief - it's fate if you die.

 

Having said that, I'm sure the kids have learned their lesson - next time they'll drive down the back roads.

Definitely cultural - in schools you are not allowed to ask questions if you think something is not right, Teacher is always right, even when they're not. Critical thinking is OK so long as you agree with me.

so he wanted to watch a few young girls exercising did he, very odd 

2 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

so he wanted to watch a few young girls exercising did he, very odd 

He must have been dreaming about the Tiller Girls:

but the had a mask... that would save them

3 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

so he wanted to watch a few young girls exercising did he, very odd 

Somebody should suggest he goes to Pattaya or Bangkok, he's "allowed" hands on there, I'm reliably informed, but not on the High Street thank you very much.

1 minute ago, ikke1959 said:

but the had a mask... that would save them

Yeah, couldn't see his ear to ear smile

15 years old is nothing, I see kids as young as 8 driving motorbikes all the time at my village. Some of them can barley reach the gear pedal. Absolutely madness. Like these kid will listen to the cops, what a joke. If they were serious about stopping the road carnage in this country then try fining the parents for a change,not the minors.

43 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

because they dont think like westerners; either because they can't or they won't

It's a cultural thing, don't worry about it!

19 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

so he wanted to watch a few young girls exercising did he, very odd 

I regularly go to certain bars to watch the girls exercise on poles, however some do not seem to gyrate much and hence become overweight and less attractive. ???? 

Just look at any School at home time, maybe 5% wear helmets and as for the Teachers I have yet to see one, fancy uniforms with medal ribbons, but helmet , no.
Strict enforcement by Police will not happen,  too dangerous , try living in a village where you have fined everybody 500 baht, do you really think they would survive ?.

Education is the only way but I am certain we will all be gone before anyone with the ability to influence the powers that be appears.

usual simple answer, this is Thailand .

10 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I regularly go to certain bars to watch the girls exercise on poles, however some do not seem to gyrate much and hence become overweight and less attractive. ???? 

hopefully not who look like 15 year olds

anyway the cop has now sent the message to perp kids that they will cop diddly-squat for doing the deed... 

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

so he wanted to watch a few young girls exercising did he, very odd 

Thats exactly what I thought.

 

Fair enough, in the U.K. we have gone way over the top with many things....I can imagine the headlines if anything like this happened in the U.K.  That so called copper would be collecting his P45 pretty rapidly!  Totally pathetic.

 

I know Thailand has its own "culture" and laws rules etc.  Surely to god, somebody in power, must realise the amount of deaths on Thai roads is totally unacceptable in the 21st Century?       (yeah i know its not 2021 in Thailand,  they use their own calendar) ....in a civilised.......... (well in ANY!) country.

 

I love Thailand, cant wait to get back out there, seeing things like this, reading about all the nonsense coming from Thailand though..I imagine many others would be thinking what the hell sort of a country is this?!!

41 minutes ago, PJPom said:

Education is the only way but I am certain we will all be gone before anyone with the ability to influence the powers that be appears.

 

It's pretty well established that punishment is the only way that things like this decrease.

 

Inform everyone that they are going to begin enforcing road laws.  Begin to fine people and confiscate vehicles when they break the laws.  Continue doing it, aggressively at first but, when people start to take notice, start to tone down to simply regular patrols and check points.

 

Once you get to the point where people are so concerned about being fined that it "isn't worth the risk", then it will begin to decrease.

 

None of this will happen of course, it's just not the culture in Thailand, and the deaths on the road will not decrease.

 

People applaud things like this because they think it is the nice thing to do.  It's very "Thai".  It isn't confrontational.  It isn't critical.  It doesn't make people lose face or feel bad.  It teaches that actions do not have consequences, the same way the education system does.

 

TIT.

and they will do exactly the same thing tomorrow and the days after, nothing will stop them until the police get serious and start issuing fines and seizing the bikes and as we all know, that will never happen

 

There is a financial element to all of this.

Helmet- expensive!

Fine - expensive. The policeman probably did this because none of them had the money for the fine (500 baht - 50 baht for Thais).

Easy to laugh. Walk in their shoes for one day.

When idiots and lazy sods pay for their promotions, you end up with idiots and lazy sods in high positions.

 

In 1997, Chavalit Yongchaiyut during his brief spell as prime minister, suggested starting a new police force that would be better trained and better paid. Sadly it didn't get past the thinking stage and later PMs never brought the issue up as far as I know.

32 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

There is a financial element to all of this.

Helmet- expensive!

Fine - expensive. The policeman probably did this because none of them had the money for the fine (500 baht - 50 baht for Thais).

Easy to laugh. Walk in their shoes for one day.

 

When I in my home country get a fine of 200- 500 EURO, for a traffic offence, they don't care if I have the money or not, since they have their means of collecting it any way

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

It's a cultural thing, don't worry about it!

I don’t worry about it, they are the ones dying by the thousands. Not my problem.

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Video: It's all smiles as cop lets six students on two motorcycles do exercises instead of a fine - but the carnage continues

When are they going to learn, this type of softly softly approach does not work, instead of a learning curve it becomes a learning circle .................

That's one of the reasons why I like Thailand.

The surprising thing about this story is that a Thai cop was seen out on the streets.  I have seen precisely two cops in the last TWO MONTHS and they were escorting a VIP.  This child slaughter will go on ad infinitum until Thailand deems a police force would be a handy thing to have.

7 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

There is a financial element to all of this.

Helmet- expensive!

Fine - expensive. The policeman probably did this because none of them had the money for the fine (500 baht - 50 baht for Thais).

Easy to laugh. Walk in their shoes for one day.

motorcycles here don't come for free. petrol they run on isn't free either. tires, parts, ctp, road tax, etc. but sure, helmets and fines are too expensive. 

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Young students on their way to school without helmets being given daft exercises by the roadside instead of being fined.

Given the term “daft” I assume this was written by a Brit. 
 

Kids are not fined in the UK either.