New Year Road Safety Campaign 'a Failure'

[george]

New Year road safety campaign 'a failure'

PHUKET: -- Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), yesterday called the provincial road safety campaign over the holiday period a “failure”.

Between December 29 and January 4, one man and one woman were killed and 90 people were injured in road accidents on the island.

The PPHO had set “targets” of a maximum of four dead and 69 injured for the period.

“We have failed with our anti-drunk-driving campaign. We need to continue the fight against motorcyclists not wearing crash helmets and against drunk drivers. Almost all of the accidents occurred on main roads and were alcohol-related, and 78.94% of accidents involved motorcycles,” he said.

According to the latest statistics compiled by the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, some 2,751 road users were charged with committing tr affic violations over the holiday period.

These included 1,900 found to be driving without valid licenses; 522 motorcyclists fined for not wearing crash helmets and 194 car drivers charged for not wearing seat belts.

In addition, there were 86 drunk driving charges and 36 people were fined for driving illegally modified motorbikes. Thirteen people were charged with exceeding speed limits.

--Phuket Gazette 2006-01-06

[sierra01]

My hat comes off to Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong for his honesty, all too often I read about the 'success' of these campaigns, which I take with a big pinch of salt. Until the Govt/plod get off their backsides and tackle the problem seriously, not just pay lip service to it, there will continue to be carnage on the roads in Thailand.

Imagine the money that would pour in if it cost 1000bt for jumping a red light (via cameras), impound the vehicles of drunk drivers/riders for 6 months (while making them pay storage costs), no helmet, the bike stays there until you have one, and a big fine.

Pie in the sky? Yes, sure it is, as I'm always hearing...TIT, the ultimate get out.

[penzman]

As long as they don't have policemen patroling the roads and catching drivers commiting infractions and dangerous manoeuvres, these campaigns are close to useless.

Standing on the corner handing out tickets only works for KFC...