Sports and Tourism Minister orders new regulations for speedboats in Pattaya

[webfact]

Sports and Tourism Minister orders new regulations for speedboats in Pattaya



PATTAYA: -- Following the death of two Chinese tourists in a speedboat accident off the coast of Pattaya on Wednesday, the Minister for Sports and Tourism has ordered an immediate change in regulations relating to the use of speedboats and other commercial vessels in Pattaya.

Khun Somsak, the Minister for Sports and Tourism, visited Pattaya on Thursday and began by inspecting the heavily damaged speedboat. He was then given a full briefing of the accident and what caused the death of 2 and injuries sustained to 8 other Chinese Tourists who were returning from Larn Island to the Bali Hai Port in South Pattaya.

Khun Somsak then visited the Chinese Tour Group who were on the boat at the time of the accident which was caused by the boat being driven over an anchor line of a moored boat approximately 100 meters off the coast of Pattaya.

GPS devices will now have to be fitted to all vessels, and boating lanes for incoming and outgoing vessels will be created along with speed limits. The Minister has also ordered a radar system to be installed at the Sea Rescue Center to allow for easy tracking of vessels and the collection of data prior to accidents to determine who is at fault.

Full story: http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/100828/sports-tourism-minister-orders-regulations-speedboats-pattaya/


-- Pattaya One 2013-08-30

[arthurboy]

Enforcement, anyone?

Sent from my GT-I9070 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rinteln]

The new regulation should be simply "ban them".

I wish the minister the best of luck but its not going to be easy to take a multi million baht business away from the Pattaya police and City Hall who both benefit from these scams.

[arthurboy]

The new regulation should be simply "ban them".

I wish the minister the best of luck but its not going to be easy to take a multi million baht business away from the Pattaya police and City Hall who both benefit from these scams.

Beautifully summed up.

Sadly, we know that nothing will be done, unless, of course, various embassies and their respective countries put pressure on the Thai authorities to really do something about problems of this kind and the myriad other scams operating in the LoS.

We live, as usual, in hope.

[laurentbkk]

why waiting for such tragedy to impose some changes ? its like the roads , do they need to wait for 50,000 dead per year to act also ?

[Emdog]

How about genuine licenses for operators and (haha) enforcement? That perhaps a small level of skill and sense are in order for those guys? GPS? as if they would use them, or take the time to learn to use them, and besides, what do they need them for anyway? Lanes for boats would be good. Notice how well Thais do with lanes on the highways..... They haven't figured out (yet) how to drive their boats down the sidewalks, but that day is coming.

[webfact]

Speedboat accident case goes to tourism court
By English News



CHON BURI, Aug 30 – Thailand's Tourism and Sport Ministry will set up a tourist safety centre to supervise speedboats which offer service to tourists.

Tourism Minister Somsak Pureesrisak and senior officials inspected the Bali Hai pier in South Pattaya yesterday for first-hand information on Wednesday’s accident off Pattaya’s Lan Island in which two Chinese men died and several other tourists were injured. A Korean tourist lost his leg.

The propeller of the speedboat hit the anchor rope of the other boat near Lan Island, the minister said.

Boats for tourists will be equipped with global positioning system (GPS) equipment to monitor their speed and routes.

He said the speedboat accident would be the first case on trial in the tourism court which directly handles tourism cases. The injured driver of the speedboat was charged with negligence. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-08-30

[TackyToo]

To solve the problem in Thai-style- why not sending a 20 member commitee to a civilised country, where not every Tom Dick and Harry high on yaba is allowed to operate a speedboat? In Europe it takes weeks of learning ending with a practical and theory test to optain a license.

But then again- to come back with a good proposal does not mean it will work or could be successfully implemented and enforced in LOS.

Sometimes I feel too many people over here take advantage of the fact that dead victims of preventable road and sea "accidents" don't complain much.

[Halion]

If wishes were horses,then beggars would ride. Nothing remotely constructly will come from this . Talking is whatey do and they are not even accomplished at that.

[clockman]

What nationality was the driver?

[drdoom6996]

why waiting for such tragedy to impose some changes ? its like the roads , do they need to wait for 50,000 dead per year to act also ?

Why wait? Read the other news. Vans operating recklessly, trains derailed, and so on and so on. It is ain't, broke don't fix it. Everybody is waiting on the 2.2 trillion loan to get the big payoff.

[Ulic]

Words,words,words,words,words. Done, all good now.

[Basil B]

Just another Thai politician "All Mouth And No Trousers".

We all know nothing will be done, it will just be forgotten in a few weeks...

until the next time.

I wish my predictions would be proved wrong but sadly TiT.