Tough traffic law enforcement in Thailand

[webfact]

Tough traffic law enforcement Thursday



BANGKOK: -- Police are to implement strict measures to tackle traffic offenders at key 199 intersections throughout the country, 90 of which in Bangkok.

The new measures will begin Thursday under the “5 Joms” campaign.

Police Maj-General Wuthi Liptapanlop, the advisor to the national police chief, led a team of police officers in a campaign to tackle traffic offenders at the Pathumwan intersection in Bangkok.

Beginning tomorrow motorists that have five characteristic that have been classified under the ‘5 Joms’ or five top offenders will be the focus of police attention.

The five main traffic offenders are drivers who dangerously cut across lanes and adjacent traffic at the foot of flyovers, drivers who fail to bring their vehicles to a dead stop at the prescribed distance from traffic light lines, drivers who block off traffic flow by parking at non-parking areas, drivers who violate one way traffic and drivers with fake license plates.

The campaign aims to tackle these violators so that traffic accidents can be reduced.

According to police statistics, the number one offenders of traffic laws are drivers who cut across lanes especially at merging points and these drivers will be given the highest amount of attention.

Police will be strictly enforcing traffic laws at 199 key intersections throughout the country. Of these, 90 are within Bangkok while the remaining 109 are spread out in other parts of the country. Local authorities will be responsible for their respective jurisdictions and the countrywide campaign will begin in earnest tomorrow.

It is expected that these measures will be able to lower congestion, reduce traffic accidents and fatalities. On top of police officers who will be posted at the intersections, technology that are already in place such as Redline and closed-circuit TV cameras will also be employed to tackle traffic offenders.

The general public will be able to keep up on the police’s efforts by logging on into the Traffic Police website.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Police will be giving the highest priority to key intersections within the capital which include Pathumwan, Yomarat, Ratchayothin, Asoke and the Ratchaprasong, and Rama 9 intersections. Of similar interest are also six key flyovers within Bangkok at Yomarat, Ratchathewi, Pratunam, Rama 9, Barom Ratchachonnani intersection and the Thai-Belgium Bridge.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/tough-traffic-law-enforcement-thursday/


-- Thai PBS 2014-07-17

[terryp]

whatever next ...yes another clampdown next week

[NeverSure]

This is the greatest thing since Somchai stuck his johnson in the pickle slicer.

(Somchai and the pickle slicer both got fired.)

[EricBerg]

Let's see how it works. Traffic is a big killer in LOS. Only Lbiya and South-Sudan seem to be worse. I welcome any serious initiative to save lifes.

[selftaopath]

Seems that Thailand - in general - is great at talk, action is something else, and consistent follow through is non existent... except for individual pocket lining and talking out of both sides of the mouth.

Will this time be different? I surely hope so. Thailand has great potential if only the leaders were "public servants" and not "hi-so rulers."

[ezzra]

In a few days, they want to fix the ills and unruly driving habits that persisted for many,

many years, instead of starting slow and concentrate on a few areas, good luck to them,

it's not going to work as most Thai drivers still have the Ma pen rai attitude and they can

drive anyway they like...

[ChrisY1]

Give it a couple of weeks, the traffic police will soon get tired of all the extra duties........mai pen rai

[dcutman]

How about making it 7 Joms and add reckless driving and speeding to the list. That would definitely reduce accidents and save lives.

[Pib]

The campaign aims to tackle these violators so that traffic accidents can be reduced.

Oh give me a break...traffic accidents that occur right at city intersections are few because the traffic is already moving very slowly or at a stop at these jammed up intersections....and I'm know because I'm one of those people in a vehicle helping to jam things up. The traffic police need to be out on the roads where the serious violations and accidents occur. I expect intersections offer more shade and more ticket/donation volume than the open road for the BIB. Plus it's easier to ambush and stop a driver right at an intersection.

[martynsnowmans]

and not a single word about CRASH HELMETS ...... dont get me started ......

[ratcatcher]

and not a single word about CRASH HELMETS ...... dont get me started ......

What about crash helmets?

[cardinalblue]

Just talk...too lazy to maintain any consistency as well as proper enforcement cuts into their salaries...

What topic next for lip service?

CB

[jaltsc]

"Police Maj-General Wuthi Liptapanlop, the advisor to the national police chief, led a team of police officers in a campaign to tackle traffic offenders at the Pathumwan intersection in Bangkok."

Not sure about Bangkok. But where I live it is difficult to take traffic laws seriously when the local police ride around on motorbikes without wearing their helmets.

[kartman]

So drivers won't cut in at flyovers now will stop before waiting for gap in traffic lots of horn blowing i think.

[Pib]

So drivers won't cut in at flyovers now will stop before waiting for gap in traffic lots of horn blowing i think.

Little shade a flyovers...probably won't be many BIB there. Intersections usually have much more shade.

[prakhonchai nick]

Will lining up behind the white line at traffic lights also apply to motorbikes. - the worst offenders!

It annoys me when I am in "pole position" at the lights, only to have up to a dozen motorbikes come in front of me, and either go very slowly away when the lights change to green or worse and frequently, STALL!

Hopefully with the attention being given to the 5 Joms, those that are apprehended will be meaningfully fined (1000baht+) and not just given a slap on the wrist or relieved of 100baht!

[zaphod reborn]

"According to police statistics, the number one offenders of traffic laws are drivers who cut across lanes especially at merging points and these drivers will be given the highest amount of attention."

The most frequent cause of a police traffic stop in Thailand are stops made of commercial truck drivers. Police know that their employers pay their fines, so it is an easy target for them. They usually pull them over and say they have a pollution emission violation.

If the traffic police actually did their jobs, they would find that the most frequent offenses are driving without a license and driving without insurance. But, those offenses take a lot of paperwork and actually have to be reported. When looking for a bribe, unsafe lane change which is completely subjective is the easy choice for the BIB. And, the party of the underpaid police civil servants continues.

[Boinhongkong]

Why not doing like in Singapore, let the public take pictures of traffic offenders (in particular car drivers and motorbike drivers drving against the traffic which can be hard for the Police to get) and publish those images on the Thai Police website so the Police can find the offenders (by seeing the registration plates) and charge them for the offence they have committed?

[Calach]

Chinese drive as bad as Thais, their traffic isn't that bad. The traffic problem in Bangkok doesn't come from drivers behavior, it comes from the construction anarchy.In the center 7% of the city space is occupied by roads and streets, the rest is trusted by condos and shopping malls. In other capitals where there is a bit of regulation and town planning, it would be around 25% for the roads.

So they can very well fine traffic offenders, that won't change a thing as far as traffic is concerned.

Instead they should demolish a couple of shopphing malls, such as Terminal 21 which is totally useless and horrible, a few hundred condos, stop the construction frenzy and make roads instead, then perhaps it will be possible to circulate properly.

[Eliot Rosewater]

Will lining up behind the white line at traffic lights also apply to motorbikes. - the worst offenders!

It annoys me when I am in "pole position" at the lights, only to have up to a dozen motorbikes come in front of me, and either go very slowly away when the lights change to green or worse and frequently, STALL!

Hopefully with the attention being given to the 5 Joms, those that are apprehended will be meaningfully fined (1000baht+) and not just given a slap on the wrist or relieved of 100baht!

By rule of law; EACH and EVERY motorbike has the right to take up ONE WHOLE CAR SPACE. Also, think about how much longer the que would be if bikes didn't snake between cars to the front. I would say about at least 5-10 times longer, as there appear to be more motorbikes on the road than cars.

Be careful what you wish for, if the law was followed by motorbikes traffic would be much, much, much, much worse that it is now.

[ratcatcher]

Why not doing like in Singapore, let the public take pictures of traffic offenders (in particular car drivers and motorbike drivers drving against the traffic which can be hard for the Police to get) and publish those images on the Thai Police website so the Police can find the offenders (by seeing the registration plates) and charge them for the offence they have committed?

Might work well in Singapore, but frankly I don't think Thais would be bothered to get out of the car or even take a photo while in their car. That's confrontational and Thais don't like that. If you, as a farang, decide to start taking pictures, be careful.

The police may well crack down on driving against the traffic flow in major centres, but outside the cities, people do what they want. There must be hundreds of thousands of people without valid licenses and insurance.

[chainarong]

Okay we've got some intersections covered, now the hard part, what about the highway's, with stupid idiots passing on corners , top of hills, going over double lines, as I have mentioned before, Is the rage going to be maintained 24/365 or as par for the course 1 month or less.

[Johnsy]

No mention of a crack down on unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and unroadworthy drivers/riders/vehicles!

Edited July 17, 2014 by Johnsy

[Benmart]

Complain and criticize when nothing was done in the past. Complain and criticize when something is being done in the present.

[Eliot Rosewater]

No mention of a crack down on unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and unroadworthy drivers/riders/vehicles!

Right; this is where the root of the problem is.

Typical here; get a crack team of uniformed personnel to put a band aid on a sucking chest wound; hey....at least it looks like they're doing something.........

[SanSaiExPat]

It would have been nice if the article had included a few of the major cities in other provinces with, for example, one or two targeted intersections in each city. But then this is a nation that thinks and acts like only Bangkok is important and that mind set and attitude is reflected in the news coverage.

[Luk Mhee]

Granted there are many traffic violators that need curbing. However before enforcing stricter traffic control one should first analyze as to why many motorist behave the way they do! Firstly one should look closely at the existing infestructure as it is now, before pointing fingers at the motorist. For example;

1. The protruding man-holes in the road, and the steel covered holes for maintenance sometimes has a sudden drop of up to 10cm this forces the motorist to slow down significantly that ultimately slows the traffic flow down to a complete stop 100 meters back
2. The state run busses that use all three lanes trying to overtake each other and using 1.5 lanes to stop when picking up or dropping passengers, when there is a special lane designated for busses and emergency vehicles, as most of our roads have three lanes this causes a complete blockage of two lanes and if there is a u-turn near where the bus stops, all three lanes come to a complete standstill which in turn contributes to heavy traffic congestion.
3. Sometimes there are u-turns every 100 meters on many of our roads, especially from Victory Monument to Buffalo Bridge do we really need so many u-turns on such a heavily congested road? This causes a huge back-log in traffic, especially when two lanes are used by motorist at the u-turn leaving only one lane free for the traffic flow, then this comes to a full stop too when there are vehicles that queue up to turn left. Or there is a bus waiting for passengers. Shurly one lane for u-turn traffic is sufficient!

All these small things (just to mention a few) add up to heavy traffic congestion, thereby irritating the motorist which in turn causes unruly behavior on our roads, so Mr."5 Joms" consider amending your infustructure first before comming down so hard on the motorist.

[prakhonchai nick]

Will lining up behind the white line at traffic lights also apply to motorbikes. - the worst offenders!

It annoys me when I am in "pole position" at the lights, only to have up to a dozen motorbikes come in front of me, and either go very slowly away when the lights change to green or worse and frequently, STALL!

Hopefully with the attention being given to the 5 Joms, those that are apprehended will be meaningfully fined (1000baht+) and not just given a slap on the wrist or relieved of 100baht!

By rule of law; EACH and EVERY motorbike has the right to take up ONE WHOLE CAR SPACE. Also, think about how much longer the que would be if bikes didn't snake between cars to the front. I would say about at least 5-10 times longer, as there appear to be more motorbikes on the road than cars.

Be careful what you wish for, if the law was followed by motorbikes traffic would be much, much, much, much worse that it is now.

I have been driving long enough in Thailand to know what I am saying. Never mind what motorbikes are allowed to do by law. They can occupy the space behind me, 5,10, 20 motorbikes can fill that space -but behind the front car, and not in front, when they are over the white line and effectively jumping the red light!

[indothai]

Is there a website that foreigners can upload traffic infringements in Thailand, recorded by dashcams?

Riding my scooter to work, I saw 10 traffic infringements per 100 meters. I'm not talking about minor infringements.... I'm talking about riding on walk paths, riding toward the wrong way of one way traffic, jumping traffic lights.

I'm about to buy a dashcam for my scooter and hope to "contribute" to their big master plan!!!!

[indothai]

Granted there are many traffic violators that need curbing. However before enforcing stricter traffic control one should first analyze as to why many motorist behave the way they do! Firstly one should look closely at the existing infestructure as it is now, before pointing fingers at the motorist. For example;

1. The protruding man-holes in the road, and the steel covered holes for maintenance sometimes has a sudden drop of up to 10cm this forces the motorist to slow down significantly that ultimately slows the traffic flow down to a complete stop 100 meters back
2. The state run busses that use all three lanes trying to overtake each other and using 1.5 lanes to stop when picking up or dropping passengers, when there is a special lane designated for busses and emergency vehicles, as most of our roads have three lanes this causes a complete blockage of two lanes and if there is a u-turn near where the bus stops, all three lanes come to a complete standstill which in turn contributes to heavy traffic congestion.
3. Sometimes there are u-turns every 100 meters on many of our roads, especially from Victory Monument to Buffalo Bridge do we really need so many u-turns on such a heavily congested road? This causes a huge back-log in traffic, especially when two lanes are used by motorist at the u-turn leaving only one lane free for the traffic flow, then this comes to a full stop too when there are vehicles that queue up to turn left. Or there is a bus waiting for passengers. Shurly one lane for u-turn traffic is sufficient!

All these small things (just to mention a few) add up to heavy traffic congestion, thereby irritating the motorist which in turn causes unruly behavior on our roads, so Mr."5 Joms" consider amending your infustructure first before comming down so hard on the motorist.

- Public busses stopping willy-nilly and not at their designated stops.

- Ssongtaews stopping willy-nilly and not at their designated stops... they don't have any designated stops so might as well ban them altogether.

- Motorcycle taxis putting up make shift stops that block traffic.

- Traffic signals not positioned correctly or blocked by trees, signs, buildings.

- Traffic signals that have been pushed out of position due to traffic accident or on purpose.

- Traffic signals that do not work.

Wait a sec... what's the objective of this "Tough traffic law enforement"?.. i'm now so lost, feel like swimming in a sea of somtum.