Crackdown On Traffic Offenders

[StefanBBK]

How about giving tickets for not using indicators? Also a good idea would be to impoud cars trucks etc that are in desolate condition.

Unfortunately these steps would be very unpopular with many voters.

Anyway nothing is going to happen.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Gweiloman]

It's just amazing the amount of scepticism on this board. I for one say it's a great thing that the cops are cracking down on traffic violators. Even if they only catch one person breaking a traffic law, that's better than none. And I don't even care whether the fine / bribe goes into the police coffers or to his mia noi. Either way, the violator pays!

Anyway, they are out in force today. One posse at the start of Rama IX coming from Suvarnabhumi and another on Ratchadapisek (just in front of Caesar's). I was on my PCX, properly helmeted, jacketed, shoe'd (ok, trousered also) so no problem as I didn't break any of the above five rules (or any of the other thousand made up ones) so was not even stopped. But I see lots of other motorists and motorcyclists stopped - if they had broken any of the rules, then som na na!

[Thaddeus]

"This picture my sister, you like?"

[cup-O-coffee]

Too many flaws in this psychological approach to motivate workers to fulfill their sworn responsibilities and duties. Where does one choose to begin?

[Bpuumike]

"This picture my sister, you like?"

Is she '500' years old?

[somtampet]

The first farang that gets nicked with this clampdown will swear its police harrassment on farangs

Edited February 13, 2013 by somtampet

[Bagwan]

I thought that riding on a motor cycle if the streets were busy was permitted.

I'd love to see one of the many cops I see every day for not wearing a helmet ticketed.

[Globeman]

100 tickets a day....guess this means they will have to actually issue the tickets versus negotiating an on-the-spot payment to not issue a ticket.

Exactly, but since they can hand out 100 legitimate tickets within an hour or so, but have an officially sanctioned roadblock for the whole day, they can mix and match tickets and bribes with the blessings of the top brass.

[Globeman]

Too many flaws in this psychological approach to motivate workers to fulfill their sworn responsibilities and duties. Where does one choose to begin?

Monthly ticket quotas are not unusual in many police forces around the world.

[Valentine]

A couple of days ago I saw a speeding ticket issued after the driver was caught via camera. It was sent to her registered address. If they had cameras at traffic lights they would surely catch hundreds per day. Ok, I realsie many will simply ignore the payment or they wont be at the registered address but there are other ways to ensure payment like not allowing renewal of yearly car registration if fines not paid.

[laurentbkk]

what about a ticket for those talking on their mobile phone while driving , those who dont put any safety belt ? those who drive like maniacs , that include also bus drivers .... 100 tickets per day ..another blablablabla between many others .

[belg]

dam_n, 100x tea money gone (x200) = big loss for BIB... i guess they have to go visit more shops for whatever reason to give them a donation, hope caught on a lot of CCTV and put public

[circusman]

How many of you nay sayers have studied criminal law or law administration.? Your downplaying of every try to improve a country does nothing positive.

So easy to laugh every attemp off. But not one attempt at a solution.

[Jim walker]

Once the 100 tickets are issued it will be working twice as hard for the under pressure Police and then having to stopping double the number of motoring mugs to collect the daily tea money for the karaoke bar at night.

[SICHONSTEVE]

OK I know they could easily meet those targets honestly, but it reads like target setting.

This is dangerous territory!!!

We all know what happened when Thaksin set targets of effectively murdering a quota of drug related criminals - otherwise the responsible officials would be dismissed or demoted if they didn't achieve their quota whereas those exceeding their given numbers were rewarded or promoted:

For those who don't know, 2,500 people lost their lives with over 50% of the number being innocent bystanders shot mistakenly or caught in the crossfire!!!

Can you anticipate what the police will be doing if they are way off their quota with time running out???

Best you are not in the area when this situation arises.

I applaud the crackdown on people breaking the laws of the road as it is plain dangerous. But setting targets is a highly dangerous and irresponsible way to go about achieving this aim.

[SICHONSTEVE]

How many of you nay sayers have studied criminal law or law administration.? Your downplaying of every try to improve a country does nothing positive.

So easy to laugh every attemp off. But not one attempt at a solution.

I've got a solution!!

Do everything mentioned to stop people flaunting the law - BUT DON"T SET TARGETS!!!

[spectre324]

We'll see...

how are they going to know about the violations from a standing point? that's like the fool who wanted to give me a speeding ticket when I pulled up to a traffic light, I asked him how he knew, no answer, gave him 50 baht for "food"

[khunken]

How many of you nay sayers have studied criminal law or law administration.? Your downplaying of every try to improve a country does nothing positive.

So easy to laugh every attemp off. But not one attempt at a solution.

This will improve the country? You are very naive.

These 'crackdowns' have been going on for years & they do absolutely nothing to improve anything except the BIB's bank accounts. I've never seen a motorcyclist stopped & fined for driving on the pavement. All they do is target motorcyclists not staying in the left-hand lane & the odd one without a helmet.

I've watched them many times next to On Nut BTS station & most locals know when to take alternative routes to avoid them. Go up country and spend a few minutes - even on a main road - watching how every type of traffic law is violated, quite often by the police themselves.

[stoli]

All sarcasm aside, in reality, 100 a day is a little unrealistic. Assuming they are actually at their post for 8 hours (I don't know what their shift actually is), that is one ticket approximately every 5 minutes (4.8). If they are expected to do their job properly, they would have to get the rider to stop, check their license, check their sticker or book, exchange a brief conversation with the rider and write and issue the ticket.

I guess with the usual overstaffed checkpoints, they could set up a "production line", but that is not what I would call good policing. Don't they also have some other duties in there somewhere?

They can easily do this and tow the bikes to the yard as well. They can have the tickets started before the bike stops. They do in Pattaya.

[mogo51]

are they kidding, how can they rob the motorist and give out fines as well, I know which one will win.

[ppmacready]

This Tuesday morning whilst running with Jazz my daughter 9 years old ,she fell over and blooded her knees.

I felt a little bad about that, as maybe I was pushing her to hard.

But I made light of it, picked her up and made her finish the run to the house.

Then we went on my bike to buy some food around 8am .

As I waited for the traffic, I see a gap and headed for the other side of the rd.

Out of know where on the wrong side of the rd going against the traffic,came the tattooed thug Thai guy speeding.

The traffic hadn't slowed down for him cos I guess like me they hadn't seen him.

and our front wheels collided and we all came off.

Us in a semi controlled fall as we wernt going fast.

I helped Jazz to the kerb.

The girls in the shop where we buy food, helped Jazz who was crying, whilst I fended of the Thai.

Having just run around the block with Jazz and seeing the crowd of taxi drivers arriving, I didnt feel like a fight or a good hiding, so I tried to talk to him.

He was a big lump, around 25 -30 shouting and screaming it was my fault.

Im 52.

I warned him to stop lunging at me or I'd have to hurt him.

Aware of the Taxi drivers and crowd forming around us and not wanting them to join in, I appealed to them,if they understood me, to warn him if he came at me again I would hurt him.

He carried on screaming and threatening me.

The Taxi drivers forming behind him. Maybe that was giving him the confidence.

I looked at Jazz on the kerb crying , felt I had no choice and as he lunged at me again, I side stepped and landed a good hard right hook with a lot of heart, on his jaw and it was all over.

I looked at the taxi drivers who just stood there.

So I walked over to Jazz and asked was she hurt?

No daddy.

Why are you crying then?

I don't know daddy she smiled.

Then the police pulled up.

The Thai guy found his voice again.

He insisted I hit him first and wanted money from me!

I had 10 witnesses who amazingly told the truth, that he tried to hit me first a couple of times.

And I assume, that I gave him ample warning before I struck.

Look at my daughter on the kerb I said to the police.

Jazz was crying and those blooded knees looked the part.

I even felt sorry for her.

He insisted he wanted money for the face injury, which was already swelling nicely.

My hand hurt, so I knew he must be hurting too.

I said I wasn't going to pay anything!

So they should arrest me and lets sort it out down the police station.

I volunteered I want to be breathalysed and him too, cos now up close I could smell the drink on him.

And I suggested we could check our pee,both of us, for drugs.

The police took him to one side and explained I guess, it didn't look good for him.

He actually apologised and we went out separate ways.

My bike was undamaged.

When we got home, I told Jazz I was glad she hadn't told the police that, actually she had just fallen over before the crash, and

she laughed, I'm not that stupid daddy!

The police had a guy drunk, maybe on drugs driving on the wrong side of the rd causing an accident with at least 10 witness's, and they did nothing!

Had I off been in the wrong I think this story would of had a VERY different ending!

[remobb]

Was it not just recently where they instructed police not to obstruct traffic flow with check points?

Yet another about turn.

Mind you, I think I could see 100+ traffic violations in a day.

[Udox]

Tons of comments and viewpoints but sadly we all know - nothings gonna change.

If there is no fear of getting caught then people will continue to break the law

When people see the police themselves breaking the law - what incentive is there for them to follow the law. Hypocrisy at its finest.

And as long as the police bosses continue to accept their officers doing nothing but sit in air-con boxes pressing a button every 5 minutes - sure, nothing will change.

[masuk]

I'm waiting to see a "cutting in front of other vehicles from close range" checkpoint.

Me too! I experience about 5 of these incidents every time I drive into the city.

I've seen a few near-misses and often wish I was driving a tank (armed of course).

What the 'ell is the hurry with these guys? they swerve in and out of traffic, fill the 'safe' gap between me and the car in front, and then rush off to do the same to the next car. I often see them waiting at the traffic lights, about 2 cars in front of me.

[kimamey]

All sarcasm aside, in reality, 100 a day is a little unrealistic. Assuming they are actually at their post for 8 hours (I don't know what their shift actually is), that is one ticket approximately every 5 minutes (4.8). If they are expected to do their job properly, they would have to get the rider to stop, check their license, check their sticker or book, exchange a brief conversation with the rider and write and issue the ticket.

I guess with the usual overstaffed checkpoints, they could set up a "production line", but that is not what I would call good policing. Don't they also have some other duties in there somewhere?

They will collect 100 without breaking sweat.. I could sit for 1 hour and see more than 100 driving offences commited

I think there's a difference between seeing an offence and actually stopping someone and doing the paperwork. A lot of offences take place at speed and require police in vehicles to stop them as in other countries. I can't remember the last time I saw a checkpoint in the UK.

Another point is if for instance they stop an old bike with no lights, no licence plates, no test certificate and faulty brakes ridden by a guy with no licence, insurance or helmet what do they do? Here I assume they would issue a fine and let him on his way. What should happen in most cases is the bike should be impounded and not allowed on the road without being fixed and the rider kept off the road until they take a test. There's no point letting them ride off committing the same offence.

Of course better testing would be a help as well.

I think the figure of 100 has been clarified in another post.

Edited February 13, 2013 by kimamey

[kimamey]

Yeah, rereading it, you're probably correct. I am used to a country where police officers actually work alone and don't use swarms of officers at checkpoints.

I think the problem is you come from a country where they have a police force in the true sense of the phrase.

[silverhawk_usa]

Yeah, rereading it, you're probably correct. I am used to a country where police officers actually work alone and don't use swarms of officers at checkpoints.

I think the problem is you come from a country where they have a police force in the true sense of the phrase.

I would like to think so anyway. Actually, in the U.S. checkpoints are illegal as they were deemed an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of the innocent individuals.

[kimamey]

Yeah, rereading it, you're probably correct. I am used to a country where police officers actually work alone and don't use swarms of officers at checkpoints.

I think the problem is you come from a country where they have a police force in the true sense of the phrase.

I would like to think so anyway. Actually, in the U.S. checkpoints are illegal as they were deemed an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of the innocent individuals.

I think in the UK they're sometimes used for things like checks on heavy goods vehicles or other specific targets. Speeding is usually through mobile or static cameras. Patrol vehicles which are sometimes unmarked are used a lot. These have cameras which give evidence of violations including speed. Of course this means there's almost no opportunity for corruption and it's not just your word against the police.

[sirchai]

These are driving against the traffic flow, driving on footpaths, double-parking, cutting in front of other vehicles from close range and running a red light.

Police precincts that fail to meet the goal would have to explain why directly to Worasak.

You could be hammered like a cockroach, don't need a driver's license. I'm wondering how many cops will get a ticket.....

[Card]

Well, I have installed a car cam to automatically record all sights and sounds through my windscreen and, if necessary after a quick swivel, record all that goes on from the driver's side window. You never know when it's likely to come in handy. It's brilliant.