Crackdown On “Wrong-Way” Drivers In Pattaya Who Could Face Prison If Caught

[Rimmer]

Crackdown on “Wrong-Way” drivers in Pattaya who could face prison if caught

PATTAYA:--A crackdown on motorists who drive the wrong way down a one-way street is now under-way around Chonburi Province and for those who are caught a maximum jail sentence of 6 months can be imposed.

Already cases have been through the Courts and these sentences are being given out. Khun Komsan, the Governor of Chonburi chaired a meeting of Police Officers at the Provincial Police Headquarters in Chonburi City on Wednesday to confirm the crackdown.

He requested that all Police Stations should enforce the law to its fullest extent in relation to drivers who are caught driving the wrong way down a carriageway or one-way street. A total of 3,160 road accidents were dealt with by Police around the Province from January to July of this year and the Governor wants this figure to reduce and has identified drivers who drive against the normal flow of traffic as the main causes of accidents.

Full story:http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/61482/crackdown-wrong-way-drivers-pattaya-face-prison-caught/

-- Pattaya One 2012-08-30

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[bkkjames]

most of the time I see BIB on bikes going the wrong way

[londoedan]

Stone me ! they better start building some more prisons !

I can cope with the motorbikes going the wrong-way down the roads and sois and I can cope with them riding on the pavement, its when they do both that I get hacked-off !

[marstons]

Another cash in hand oppurtunity arises for the BIB.

[thenervoussurgeon]

Went to immegration on monday and soi 5 is one way because of roadworks ,that is exept for the bus that insisted on going the wrong way ,f----ing amazing Thailand.

[meatballs]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

[transam]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

So your an habitual law breaker eh ? .............

[londoedan]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

You consider road reg's like one-way streets an indicator of a nanny-state

And there are very good reasons why there are taxes on booze, fags etc.

[smedly]

I agree with enforcing traffic laws and this one is a biggie but it must be measured with some common sense, I have been caught twice driving up a one way street, it was a genuine error on my part but also the sign was hidden by a tree, the BIB were there to nab me and earn some tea money, the police need to be able to identify a genuine error or a blatent disregard for the law, in the west repeat offenders will recieve harsher punnishment, I hope that same pricipal will apply here, the next one they want to stop are traffic light offences especially those that turn left to make a dangerous manouver to join the oncoming traffic doing a u-turn to turn left effectively jumping the lights, I have seen many accidents caused as they filter through the line of waiting vehicles and collide with motorbikes making their way to the front. Also motorbikes driving on the opposite lanes to pass waiting traffic at lights - drivers come across from a side road through the stopped cars to make a right turn and wham some speeding motorbike on the wrong side of the road on the outside gets taken out (seen that one happen many times in the west too but not as bad as here.

as for main roads seen some real stupid stuff going on there just to avoid a 1 minute drive to a u-turn junction

[smedly]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

tbh if you think driving in Thailand is crazy you ain'nt seen nothing yet, cambodia is like the funfair dodgems I kid you not

[JanKlaasen]

If they would give me 5 Baht of every "wrong way driver " I can point out and which they are willing to take action against,I will be rich in less than a week.

[indyuk]

I really do wish that my fellow countrymen would not offer Bribes to Thai Policemen. You are encouraging the police to focus on vehicles driven by westerners. You are giving us a bad reputation. There is no nanny state threatened in Thailand. Most of the so called 'crack downs' are mobilized to reinforce existing Thai traffic law. Generally if what you are doing in Thailand is illegal in the United Kingdom or Canada then it is illegal here in Thailand too. So straighten up chaps and set a good example to our hosts the long suffering Thai authorities.

[Asiantravel]

having just returned from from a visit to Phnom Penh I have to say the traffic in pattaya seems quite civilised

I never thought there could be anywhere where the road users were less courteous than here but there is

[DrTuner]

I've given up on the assumption of there being a right way to drive in Thailand a long ago. Just assume they can attack from any direction and you'll do just fine.

[JanKlaasen]

I wonder if driving the wrong way at overlimit speed on a highway scores double points.

[JSixpack]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

tbh if you think driving in Thailand is crazy you ain'nt seen nothing yet, cambodia is like the funfair dodgems I kid you not

But Vietnam is the absolute worst.

[Slip]

But Vietnam is the absolute worst.

I had the time of my life driving a scooter in Vietnam just recently. I have to admit that NOTHING in my 25 years of driving, 12 years of driving a motor bike in Asia, or many times being driven in cars and on bikes in Vietnam itself, prepared me for the experience. I wasn't even driving in HCM or Hanoi- just Nha Trang. It's quite simply insane!

No-one at all gives way- there are bikes, cars, trucks (and pedestrians lol) coming from every direction. The best policy imo is 'spot a space, make good observation and GO FOR IT'. Just hope that no-one else is planning to occupy that place at the same time. Of course the locals don't seem to worry about the observation bit too much.

So yes Vietnam is bad, but h_ll it's an exciting white knuckle ride.

[fakename]

But I guess that its still ok to drive on a two lane road, in the wrong direction?

[Basil B]

Recall being in Jomtien just days before the infamous Asean meeting at the Royal Cliffs, Jomtien had been turned into one enormous one way system down Beach Road back up the SUK (this was in the days before much of the second road had been started) and it was hell but also noticeable nobody took any notice of the one way signs unless there was a policeman standing there.

I think the most outstanding moment I witnessed was a policeman stopping vehicle's including bikes turning into Thep Prasit Road, the came along a motorbike, young man with big mama type riding pillion, both wearing red shirts, the policeman stopped them, then the woman said something, I presume it was "we know who you are, and where you live" because he then let them through.

[jbrain]

Recall being in Jomtien just days before the infamous Asean meeting at the Royal Cliffs, Jomtien had been turned into one enormous one way system down Beach Road back up the SUK (this was in the days before much of the second road had been started) and it was hell but also noticeable nobody took any notice of the one way signs unless there was a policeman standing there.

I think the most outstanding moment I witnessed was a policeman stopping vehicle's including bikes turning into Thep Prasit Road, the came along a motorbike, young man with big mama type riding pillion, both wearing red shirts, the policeman stopped them, then the woman said something, I presume it was "we know who you are, and where you live" because he then let them through.

No, they probably just told him that they were one of the particpants of the meeting and were late.

[timekeeper]

Thailand - crackdown hub.......

[TongueThaied]

Is Thailand becoming a nanny state like our home countries? Just more laws and regulations everywhere. Taxes on booze, etc.

I'm thinking more and more it's time to head off to Cambodia or somewhere else.

Yeah, this is exactly what I DON'T want to see. You "law and order" folks should go home.

[TongueThaied]

But Vietnam is the absolute worst.

I had the time of my life driving a scooter in Vietnam just recently. I have to admit that NOTHING in my 25 years of driving, 12 years of driving a motor bike in Asia, or many times being driven in cars and on bikes in Vietnam itself, prepared me for the experience. I wasn't even driving in HCM or Hanoi- just Nha Trang. It's quite simply insane!

No-one at all gives way- there are bikes, cars, trucks (and pedestrians lol) coming from every direction. The best policy imo is 'spot a space, make good observation and GO FOR IT'. Just hope that no-one else is planning to occupy that place at the same time. Of course the locals don't seem to worry about the observation bit too much.

So yes Vietnam is bad, but h_ll it's an exciting white knuckle ride.

As a pedestrian in Vietnam, I loved the "two step" method for crossing a busy road. So much traffic that if you wait for a break, you will never cross. So you just take a breath and step off the curb right into the massive flow, one step, two step, and stop, then one step and two step, and stop, then one step and two step, and stop, and so on, all the way across. You develop a certain rythm and NEVER break it. The thousands of horn honking motorbikes screaming passed you on all sides just flow around you like water flows around a stone in a stream. Pretty amazing, and nerve-racking until you get a grip on the method.

[farangme]

Golly gee....I'd just like to not see three female Thai students flying across my car and splatterring on the roadway because they were driving on one motorbike in the opposite direction of traffic on the shoulder at full speed at dawn, thinking legal drivers would know to look for illegal drivers who don't know what the f they're doing.

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[besth]

I agree that the Vietnam driving experience is worth living, although if you don't adapt fast to their crazy style it will be short lived.

Even so, there are some basic traffic rules that should not be that difficult to follow and not driving in the wrong direction ought to be one of them. It is done out of selfishness (and stupidity) to save a minimum amount of time and it endangers others.

In my opinion, it is much worse than driving without a helmet or a safety belt (that can hurt only those who ignore that rule).

A bit more education would go a long way, but I guess the crackdown will be a lot more profitable, let's hope it stays and ends up working.

[OZEMADE]

You only have to be on beach road where the Police Stn is. The street that runs from the beach to 2nd road is one way and the BIB come down it the wrong way all the time.