Phuket Opinion: Safe Phuket roads still nowhere to be found

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Safe Phuket roads still nowhere to be found
Phuket Gazette -

Many careless drivers continue to slip under Phuket law enforcement's radar. Image: Gazette Graphics

PHUKET: It is hard to imagine that only two countries in the world have more deadly roads than Thailand.

Yes, Phuket Land Transport officials should take a measure of pride in the reduction of road accident deaths in recent years, but the island obviously has far to go before conditions on the roadways can be considered anything close to acceptably safe.

The “culture of carelessness” that pervades Phuket roads, and Thai roads in general, has been addressed numerous times in this space; yet, it remains the most fundamental and intractable factor in road deaths.

The smiling toddler you see perched tenuously on a plastic chair placed in the sidecar of a swerving, makeshift salaeng will be among the next generation of Thai drivers – if he or she survives to adulthood.

The reason why so many Thai drivers take such a fatalistic view when it comes to road safety, and safety issues in general, is beyond the scope of this column. As such, it came as welcome news when the road-safety seminar last week (story here) attempted to tackle such mental constructs.

At the risk of being branded cynical, it can be expected that the reported decrease in road fatalities on local roads between 2007 and 2013 stems not entirely from better driving practices or road-safety campaigns, but rather from the fact that the increase in the number of vehicles has created more gridlock.

It is increasingly difficult to find a stretch of road where one can attain the speeds most often associated with fatal collisions.

Our once-gorgeous island landscape is being transformed, day-by-day, into a mini replica of Bangkok.

The only elements missing, sadly, are things like metered taxis that actually cruise the streets in search of fares, a regular and reliable system of buses, a light rail system or some other more advanced forms of public transport that could go a long way in both increasing safety and reducing road congestion.

It goes without saying that traffic police are either unwilling or unable to impose order, and the concept of issuing fines or making arrests for moving violations remains a mostly alien concept. Running red lights is routine, double and even “triple parking” is practiced with impunity and motorbike riders talk and even text while riding on the wrong side of the road.

The mind boggles at all the recklessness that can be observed day in and day out.

It seems a driver would almost have to plow his vehicle into a police station, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator before a ticket would be issued or an arrest made anywhere other than at a traffic “checkpoint” or the locations of the new speed cameras.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Phuket-Opinion-Safe-Phuket-roads-still-nowhere-to-be-found-24476.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-02-02

[robertthebruce]

We all live in Hope....

[kingalfred]

Just left Phuket after visiting for 4 days,5 years after my previous time there.It's just one big legalised scam place,with a crazy road culture to top it.Never again want to see it.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[andreandre]

Same old, same old..every man and his dog know the solutions to the high road toll problem,[no need to cover it all again ] but no one in power wants to step up and make the effort......

Maybe they think that by continually talking about various aspects that all will magically come good on the roads?

PS re the car in the police station ...don't see all that many left hand drive cars here..maybe just another problem in the long list of ''causes of accidents in LOS"..near number 100 in the list IMO..

[jocko]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

Edited February 2, 2014 by jocko

[JoeLing]

Safe Phuket roads still nowhere to be found

The mystery of the missing, safe Phuket road.

Did they misplace them or did someone lose them?

Maybe somebody just borrowed them or maybe someone stole them?
Maybe they just run away and went in to exile?

How much reward for the safe return of the missing safe road?

[JulesMad]

"It is hard to imagine that only two countries in the world have more deadly roads than Thailand."

No, it's not...

[LivinLOS]

The obvious end result of when the 'police' are not a force to equally and fully apply the rule of law but a self funding organization whose primary job is to be paid to tolerate minor infractions of any laws.

Doing anything more than end of month roadblocks to collect revenue, actually stopping people when they see them commit crimes, is beyond their remit.

[Felt 35]

If we had the same stringent traffic regulations / system here as home, some very influential businesses here will loose a lot of money.............

[Thaiready]

15 years here in Khon Kaen area. I drive 70km roundtrip everyday to a local Universty to Teach.....never ceases to amase me the idiots behind a wheel or handle-bars.

[andreandre]

15 years here in Khon Kaen area. I drive 70km roundtrip everyday to a local Universty to Teach.....never ceases to amase me the idiots behind a wheel or handle-bars.

For sure!!..Its not just a Phuket problem, its country wide,,this one sentence from OP says it all IMO;

"The mind boggles at all the recklessness that can be observed day in and day out."

Reckless is the key word for sure.

[Phuketpeter52]

Surely the place to start is to take on the Tuk Tuk drivers . They're totally corrupt control of most of the tea sorry merely drives more and more people onto bikes which are the cause of most of the accidents . They totally and utterly take the piss !

[andreandre]

Surely the place to start is to take on the Tuk Tuk drivers . They're totally corrupt control of most of the tea sorry merely drives more and more people onto bikes which are the cause of most of the accidents . They totally and utterly take the piss !

Tell me how bikes can possibly be the cause of most of the accidents please..

[khrab]

Same old, same old..every man and his dog know the solutions to the high road toll problem,[no need to cover it all again ] but no one in power wants to step up and make the effort......

Maybe they think that by continually talking about various aspects that all will magically come good on the roads?

PS re the car in the police station ...don't see all that many left hand drive cars here..maybe just another problem in the long list of ''causes of accidents in LOS"..near number 100 in the list IMO..

That was the first thing that stuck out to me, but on a second thought. Just ask Somchai on which side is the steering wheel of a car (in Thailand). You only would get a puzzled look.

[deecee10]

When you see the way infants are carried on motorbikes and the way teenagers leave school with three on each motorbike, you know that the future of Thai road safety is in the most unsafe of hands.

[Paangjang]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

They don't actually go. My girlfriends cousin is a police officer in Phuket. He gives his boss a third of his salary every month so he doesn't ever have to go into work.

He said that's just the way the way it is in Phuket and it's accepted. He tells us around 50% of the officers hardly ever have to put their uniform on or even go into work. He works as a taxi driver. A taxi driver licensed to carry a loaded gun that is....The only time i ever saw him or his friends in uniform was at his wedding.

[Cylon]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

[They count the money they extort.

[Paangjang]

Same old, same old..every man and his dog know the solutions to the high road toll problem,[no need to cover it all again ] but no one in power wants to step up and make the effort......

Maybe they think that by continually talking about various aspects that all will magically come good on the roads?

PS re the car in the police station ...don't see all that many left hand drive cars here..maybe just another problem in the long list of ''causes of accidents in LOS"..near number 100 in the list IMO..

Who on earth drew the picture, someone who's never been to Thailand or a just a clueless Phuketian from the gazette?

[jocko]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

They don't actually go. My girlfriends cousin is a police officer in Phuket. He gives his boss a third of his salary every month so he doesn't ever have to go into work.

He said that's just the way the way it is in Phuket and it's accepted. He tells us around 50% of the officers hardly ever have to put their uniform on or even go into work. He works as a taxi driver. A taxi driver licensed to carry a loaded gun that is....:thumbsup:The only time i ever saw him or his friends in uniform was at his wedding.

can you believe it.

No wonder they are always saying they are short of cops.

[eezergood]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

They don't actually go. My girlfriends cousin is a police officer in Phuket. He gives his boss a third of his salary every month so he doesn't ever have to go into work.

He said that's just the way the way it is in Phuket and it's accepted. He tells us around 50% of the officers hardly ever have to put their uniform on or even go into work. He works as a taxi driver. A taxi driver licensed to carry a loaded gun that is....The only time i ever saw him or his friends in uniform was at his wedding.

How much did he pay to get the job?

[Paangjang]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

They don't actually go. My girlfriends cousin is a police officer in Phuket. He gives his boss a third of his salary every month so he doesn't ever have to go into work.

He said that's just the way the way it is in Phuket and it's accepted. He tells us around 50% of the officers hardly ever have to put their uniform on or even go into work. He works as a taxi driver. A taxi driver licensed to carry a loaded gun that is....The only time i ever saw him or his friends in uniform was at his wedding.

How much did he pay to get the job?

GF doesn't know and i wouldn't want to ask him. She knows he paid ฿10k to pass the entry exam though. I also found out his salary is 15k per month of which he gives his boss 5k every month so he doesn't actually have to go to work. Mrs says he makes quite a lot from illegal lottery guys and bookmakers, about 20k per month. Can't blame him though, he says around half of the registered officers on Phuket do the same thing, it's not a big secret it's Phuket....

[jocko]

I often wonder what the cops do in the station to pass there time because its not police work

They don't actually go. My girlfriends cousin is a police officer in Phuket. He gives his boss a third of his salary every month so he doesn't ever have to go into work.

He said that's just the way the way it is in Phuket and it's accepted. He tells us around 50% of the officers hardly ever have to put their uniform on or even go into work. He works as a taxi driver. A taxi driver licensed to carry a loaded gun that is....The only time i ever saw him or his friends in uniform was at his wedding.

How much did he pay to get the job?

GF doesn't know and i wouldn't want to ask him. She knows he paid ฿10k to pass the entry exam though. I also found out his salary is 15k per month of which he gives his boss 5k every month so he doesn't actually have to go to work. Mrs says he makes quite a lot from illegal lottery guys and bookmakers, about 20k per month. Can't blame him though, he says around half of the registered officers on Phuket do the same thing, it's not a big secret it's Phuket....

I get it now he is working undercover or under the table.

Good on him i will sleep better now.

[Paangjang]

I get it now he is working undercover or under the table.

Good on him i will sleep better now.

You could look at him that way. Or just as a bent copper who extorts money from people every month and doesn't actually work....

[FireMedic]

I didn't know we were supposed to be looking for any?

[Hugh Geen]

I disagree with most of these comments. I have lived in Phuket for 4 years and I think that although the rules are different from the UK the standard of driving is just as good and that the roads are just as good. If it is easier to get where I am going then I drive my motorbike slowly and carefully along the right side curb against the flow of traffic now and I often turn left at red lights (where there is often a sign saying to 'take care' when doing so). Having said all this I must admit to witnessing the aftermath of 5 nasty road accidents here - about the same number as from 59 years of living in the UK - but I don't know the reason or who was to blame. I suspect that many accidents are caused by farang turning right off a major road because the rules for this are quite different from the US or Europe.

[eezergood]

I disagree with most of these comments. I have lived in Phuket for 4 years and I think that although the rules are different from the UK the standard of driving is just as good and that the roads are just as good. If it is easier to get where I am going then I drive my motorbike slowly and carefully along the right side curb against the flow of traffic now and I often turn left at red lights (where there is often a sign saying to 'take care' when doing so). Having said all this I must admit to witnessing the aftermath of 5 nasty road accidents here - about the same number as from 59 years of living in the UK - but I don't know the reason or who was to blame. I suspect that many accidents are caused by farang turning right off a major road because the rules for this are quite different from the US or Europe.

EXACTLY why we have so many accidents - clueless locals thinking their way is correct rather than the rules of the road!

[eezergood]

Next will be, I always drive better after a few beers! It makes me concentrate more......

[glassdude007]

I have to admit after driving in Thailand in cars and on motor bikes without killing myself or getting killed yet,

Now when I drive back in the real world nothing phases me as it is tame compared to driving here.

[impulse]

I disagree with most of these comments. I have lived in Phuket for 4 years and... the standard of driving is just as good and that the roads are just as good....Having said all this I must admit to witnessing the aftermath of 5 nasty road accidents here - about the same number as from 59 years of living in the UK...

In 4 years on Phuket, you've seen as many nasty accidents as in 59 years back home?

Kind of shoots holes in your contention that the standards of driving and the roads are "just as good" as back home.

[eezergood]

NO doubt our friend doesnt even have a license!