Thai traffic police satisfied with traffic offence enforcement

[Rockhopper]

Nothing has changed in Chiang Mai. After the traffic police stopped being visible things went back to the way they were; totally ignoring traffic signs and rules.

[Halion]

Anyone with on ounce of common sense knows that this is a massive problem and any real improvements will take years of diligent and efficient enforcement. The truth is that there has been little or no change change in the nature of traffic behavior and reports such as this are mere propaganda attempting to vilify an inept and incompetent police force and fool the people into false belief that improvements are being made and sustained.Nothing more than a nursery rhyme.

[JesseFrank]

Be honest, helmet law came into force I think 16 years ago now, yet 90% of Thais are still driving without a helmet.

If they can't enforce such a simple law over 16 years, how they gonna enforce anything else in a matter of weeks ?

[lujanit]

How about the motorcycle idiots who drive at night with no lights on? Every evening I have to go about 5 kilometres and pickup my woman and I always see at least 3 motorbikes with no lights on. What really worries me is the ones I don't see. Recently a car leaving our moo baan at night hit a motorbike with 4 boys on board. Of course the bike had no lights on. Someone told me that many Thais believe that not turning on the lights saves them fuel. Bah jing jing.

Regarding the helmet law I was recently in Vietnam, HCMC and Hanoi and I noticed that 99.9999% of riders had a helmet on. I asked someone about this and he replied that the cops there fine anyone not wearing a helmet 200,000 dong, about USD10. Travelling around I saw many police checkpoints. Maybe the BIB have more lucrative means of income than fining people who don't wear helmets.

[Jim walker]

So does this mean no more road side police checks purely for the purpose of collecting tea money but on the bright side of this any small improvement on Thai driving behaviour is a bonus and a life saver for many Thai people.

[Strangebrew]

Hey knucklehead you missed the guy without helmet ,

[Just1Voice]

How about the motorcycle idiots who drive at night with no lights on? Every evening I have to go about 5 kilometres and pickup my woman and I always see at least 3 motorbikes with no lights on. What really worries me is the ones I don't see. Recently a car leaving our moo baan at night hit a motorbike with 4 boys on board. Of course the bike had no lights on. Someone told me that many Thais believe that not turning on the lights saves them fuel. Bah jing jing.

Regarding the helmet law I was recently in Vietnam, HCMC and Hanoi and I noticed that 99.9999% of riders had a helmet on. I asked someone about this and he replied that the cops there fine anyone not wearing a helmet 200,000 dong, about USD10. Travelling around I saw many police checkpoints. Maybe the BIB have more lucrative means of income than fining people who don't wear helmets.

"...fine anyone not wearing a helmet 200,000 dong, about USD10."

And that's just for the FIRST OFFENSE. Get caught again, you lose you bike.

Vietnam completely turned around the system. The introduced new, mandatory helmet laws, and within one year it went from "99.9999%" of people NOT wearing them to "99.9999%" of people now wearing them. The difference between Vietnam's helmet law and Thailand's helmet law? Vietnam has REAL cops who actually KNOW and ENFORCE the laws. Thailand?

[ratcatcher]

Nice photo. From North Korea?

What a silly thing to say. North Koreans (those that have cars) drive on the right. Thais generally drive on the left. Any fool can see these are Thai motorcycles equipped for driving on the left.

[ginjag]

Be honest, helmet law came into force I think 16 years ago now, yet 90% of Thais are still driving without a helmet.

If they can't enforce such a simple law over 16 years, how they gonna enforce anything else in a matter of weeks ?

To enforce just the helmet law, the police will have to stop them riding away 300 baht less, with a ticket and still no helmet. If you want proof of a franchise, and no action taken here it is.

[ChrisY1]

Of course they're happy with their work.......nothings changed that I can see.........drivers still race alomg at 140kph......motorcycle riders still have no helmets.....cars are still parked illegally......But....they have put in for overtime!

[thrilled]

I do see traffic laws in Thailand being obeyed A little better than 45 years ago.But with so many more vehicles on the road it makes it actually worse.Thailand needs to do more a lot more or you'r going to see a lot more fatalities.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... The police are now focusing on motorcyclists who ignore traffic direction and ride in the opposite direction on the street side of traffic lanes ...' Ignore traffic? They ignore the road. So does 'going against the traffic' also apply to the pavements? Or is that a bridge too far?

'... the number of drivers arrested for texting while driving has declined from more than 2,000 daily to 900 daily ...' Because there is less texting? Or just lax policing?

[thailand49]

Enable to address the problem not for just a month is to first look in the mirror? you got to know exactly what you looking for and embrace it yourself before you can truly enforce and correct the problem. And from what I'm reading here the people in charge are clueless?

When you enforce in cycles or as I call it holidays with the growing number of people and vehicles the result is the problem grows! When you have a culture in driving that lacks patients and consideration to share the road this is what you have.

You might have them line up and wearing helmets, except one, but when the light changes that is when you have problems and this does not include what the cars are doing?