Bangkok: Public van driver fined for speeding, taunting passengers

[kennw]

From press reports he committed three offences, speeding, licence, equipment tampering, and the fine Baht 5000 and 7 days suspension, way way too light. From listening to the video this guy has an attitude problem, this fine will not change it, He is the type of guy that should not be driving public transport until his attitude is changed. Make him an example 5000 each offence, and 3 months suspension. The word will soon spread. We all know lack of enforcement and slap on the wrist,s like this are why things don't change.

[Mudcrab]

Great news. I hope that everybody in Thailand will start recording violations in traffic. Speeding, taunting, driving on sideways, not accepting a fare etc. etc. When everybody is doing this I sincerely believe it will make a difference.

George Orwell would be so proud of you...his prediction comes true.

Edit to add: So would Joe Stalin

Edited December 11, 2014 by Mudcrab

[h90]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

He was driving 20 km faster than the limit. I don't know a single person in Europe who doesn't sometimes drive 20 km/h faster than the limit.

[Gentmartin]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

He was driving 20 km faster than the limit. I don't know a single person in Europe who doesn't sometimes drive 20 km/h faster than the limit.

me neither mate, ive never seen a public transport driver carrying paying passengers travelling at even 5kmh over the limit.........

So now i get my thinking cap on to work out why there is more chance of being killed on public transport here than there is riding the National Express or Megabus in Uk.........Ill get back to you :-)

Edited December 11, 2014 by Gentmartin

[casualbiker]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

He was driving 20 km faster than the limit. I don't know a single person in Europe who doesn't sometimes drive 20 km/h faster than the limit.

Maybe true BUT he was carrying paying passengers, one of whom asked him to slow down to within the legal limit!

There is only one road in Thailand that has a maximum speed of 120kmh. The rest are 110 downwards with the majority of highways being 90kmh.

[RickBradford]

Teerapong said yesterday that Weera also tampered with a device in his vehicle, installed by the Department of Land Transport, that monitors the speed of public vans.

Forget the 20km/hr over the limit and his arrogant rudeness to his customers, tampering with the device is the offence which really shows his disdain for the law and for which he could have been seriously pinged, if they wanted to. In the West, that would be a sackable offence, instantly, no comeback.

Yeah, I know, we're not in the West...........

[dcsw53]

Here is an opportunity for the military to save money. Close down the toothless division of Land Transport that grandly proclaims to monitor minibus speeds.

Anyone who has spent more than 3 days in Thailand knows that the job of a minibus driver is :-

1. To exceed the speed limit by at least 40km/hr

2. To change lanes without signaling and overtake/undertake every 2 minutes ( except in rush hour when it is every 20 seconds ).

3. To treat fellow road users the same way a game keeper treats predators ( kill on sight ? )

4. To ignore the advice of the surgeon who did the lobotomy so he could become a minibus driver, never to drive again.

5. To make many sane, happy, law abiding people who really like Thailand constantly question have they made the right choice to continue taking their lives in their hands by sharing the roads with degenerates like this.

[cgphuket]

5000 baht he will pay off at 100 baht a month, and a week to build up a big grudge before he is back behind the wheel. Hopefully he only kills tourists, so he won;t be charged.

[BangkokHank]

After his suspension is over, he'll have to drive even faster - to make up for the income lost during the suspension - and to pay the fine. I agree with others who said that this man is unfit to drive.

[scorecard]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

when he gets on the driver's seat again in 7 days he will not drive less reckless, but he will take care that nobody in his car takes a movie

Sure, but my bet is on he doesn't stop driving for 7 days.

[kriswillems]

This man got a 5000B fine. He's an exception.

Typical fines in Thailand are 200B or 400B but usually you get away with a 50B bribe. That is (much) less than a day income.

Police is totally lazy and corrupt.

As long as the fines don't raise and the chance to get caught doesn't increase and the police stays corrupt, nothing is going to change.

[HooHaa]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

That's the problem right there eh, no real deterrent for these muppets, not only for driving badly but for every law that's broken in this country, its one of the reasons its in such a state.

500k thb and a quarter of his monthly salary seems reasonable to me for a first offense.

take his liscence permanently if he does it again

[krystian]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

That's the problem right there eh, no real deterrent for these muppets, not only for driving badly but for every law that's broken in this country, its one of the reasons its in such a state.

Yeah and even if they tale away his license and Van he can probably drive and try ti kill other people, this kind of drivers and drunk drivers should not be allowed to operate any motorized vehicle or a bicycle for that matter Lol

[changsinghleo]

Been in Siam 20 years, rode once in a van, once in a bus. That was it. Both times suggested to the

driver to slow down and when he didn't got the driver to stop and exited their vehicle to my

inconvenience but safety and have never ridden in one since. Have taken many long distance trips

since but always by a much safer mode, my motorcycle. Why safer? Because I was the driver, not some

idiot I didn't even know!

[dcutman]

What a joke, he should have been locked up and had the key thrown away

For doing 20 k over the limit?

Hardly a hanging offence.

Settle down and have a cocoa.

Actually the speed limit for licecned passenger van is 90kh, so 50kh over the speed limit. Unless something changed after the coup.

[schnazzy]

So I am assuming he was legally allowed to go 120 and he was going 140. Maybe I read something wrong but if that is the case, a fine, and 7 day suspension seems harsh by western standards but being in those vans, I say, this is great! It's not just the speed but many vans have no seatbelts. Those vans are not built like other passenger vehicles with better crumple zones and many airbags. There is also the driving wherever they want (lane straddling) and some strong need to continue to pass people within feet (at speed).

What I'd like to see is govt. officials help with the buses from the airport to chonburi (vip). 10-30 minutes of loud commercials for real-estate are horrible. the video quality sucks it is too long and too loud. I should be paid to be required to watch it I have also been on the bus when the driver or the sidekick has told people to shut up and stop talking. It seems they can be polite in Thai but not English. I guess we have to pay, listen to loud adverts for some company and then cannot talk for 2 hours on the bus. so aggravating I started sharing taxi's for 4x the cost.

[Ulic]

Does anyone really think he is going to stop driving for seven days.

[Sviss Geez]

What a joke, he should have been locked up and had the key thrown away

For driving 20kph over the limit? That's a bit draconian, he was only speeding, something all drivers here do at some time, and if you deny doing it you're probably a liar.

[Sviss Geez]

Great news. I hope that everybody in Thailand will start recording violations in traffic. Speeding, taunting, driving on sideways, not accepting a fare etc. etc. When everybody is doing this I sincerely believe it will make a difference.

Just keep your fingers crossed that you're not filmed when you commit a traffic offence or are you one of the many ThaiVisa holier-than-thou posters who never transgress the law?

[Sviss Geez]

OH YEH......that's gonna do it.

5000baht fine and 7 day suspended license.

Like he will obey, and not continue to drive during the 7 day's?

What a joke.

He should be in prison for a year, maybe that would change his attitude,

but i doubt it!

12 months for speeding? How would you justify that, have you never driven just 16% over the speed limits, I know I have.

[chooka]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

As if suspending his licence is going to stop him driving

[Big Daddy]

5,000 baht + 7 days suspended license they should've canceled his drivers license, he is a danger to all motorists and passengers!

As if suspending his licence is going to stop him driving

My thoughts exactly. What are the chances of him getting caught?

[casualbiker]

OH YEH......that's gonna do it.

5000baht fine and 7 day suspended license.

Like he will obey, and not continue to drive during the 7 day's?

What a joke.

He should be in prison for a year, maybe that would change his attitude,

but i doubt it!

12 months for speeding? How would you justify that, have you never driven just 16% over the speed limits, I know I have.

It wasn't JUST speeding though was it? He disabled the GPS tracker (kinda proves it's not tracked, but that's another story) He also had no commercial license AND he was speeding 40kmh over the van speed limit.

But ok no problems!

[binjalin]

taking his license is pointless as many don't have one anyway taking away his JOB (or for a month at least) as he works for a company would be much more of a deterrent to these maniacs

[thailand49]

This only the tip of the iceberg! It is a start but what is needed is a education class in a adjustment in attitude that you drive to serve, the customer is always right! basically suck it up and slow down! These same type of guys I run into each morning taking my son to school on Route 7, although you are traveling properly they these van drivers come up behind you within inches to force you off the lane. They use the size of the vehicle to intimidate you to move over when there is actually no where to go! These type of drivers can not even afford a motorbike and get the privilege of driving these vans to serve customer instead they serve themselves and their bad ass attitude thinking they are doing us a favor. As soon as something happens they run away like the cowards they are behind the vehicle!

By the way the speed limit is not 120! it is 90! I've driven throughout Thailand and never seen a sign marking 120! Certainly not from Bangkok to Chon Buri?

Edited December 12, 2014 by thailand49

[casualbiker]

This only the tip of the iceberg! It is a start but what is needed is a education class in a adjustment in attitude that you drive to serve, the customer is always right! basically suck it up and slow down! These same type of guys I run into each morning taking my son to school on Route 7, although you are traveling properly they these van drivers come up behind you within inches to force you off the lane. They use the size of the vehicle to intimidate you to move over when there is actually no where to go! These type of drivers can not even afford a motorbike and get the privilege of driving these vans to serve customer instead they serve themselves and their bad ass attitude thinking they are doing us a favor. As soon as something happens they run away like the cowards they are behind the vehicle!

By the way the speed limit is not 120! it is 90! I've driven throughout Thailand and never seen a sign marking 120! Certainly not from Bangkok to Chon Buri?

The motorway part is 120. Though with the fantastic construction of the Klong bridges it's a bit hair raising .. you can actually get airtime coming of some of them :-D

[binjalin]

This only the tip of the iceberg! It is a start but what is needed is a education class in a adjustment in attitude that you drive to serve, the customer is always right! basically suck it up and slow down! These same type of guys I run into each morning taking my son to school on Route 7, although you are traveling properly they these van drivers come up behind you within inches to force you off the lane. They use the size of the vehicle to intimidate you to move over when there is actually no where to go! These type of drivers can not even afford a motorbike and get the privilege of driving these vans to serve customer instead they serve themselves and their bad ass attitude thinking they are doing us a favor. As soon as something happens they run away like the cowards they are behind the vehicle!

By the way the speed limit is not 120! it is 90! I've driven throughout Thailand and never seen a sign marking 120! Certainly not from Bangkok to Chon Buri?

I must say i had to look at that 120 twice too! if it is 120 then that's madness

the only way most countries stop motorway madness is a strict licence system backed up by speed cameras and fines and it WORKS!

[thailand49]

This only the tip of the iceberg! It is a start but what is needed is a education class in a adjustment in attitude that you drive to serve, the customer is always right! basically suck it up and slow down! These same type of guys I run into each morning taking my son to school on Route 7, although you are traveling properly they these van drivers come up behind you within inches to force you off the lane. They use the size of the vehicle to intimidate you to move over when there is actually no where to go! These type of drivers can not even afford a motorbike and get the privilege of driving these vans to serve customer instead they serve themselves and their bad ass attitude thinking they are doing us a favor. As soon as something happens they run away like the cowards they are behind the vehicle!

By the way the speed limit is not 120! it is 90! I've driven throughout Thailand and never seen a sign marking 120! Certainly not from Bangkok to Chon Buri?

I must say i had to look at that 120 twice too! if it is 120 then that's madness

the only way most countries stop motorway madness is a strict licence system backed up by speed cameras and fines and it WORKS!

On certain segments of route 7, there are cameras now? All the signs I have seen is 90, my brother pick me up at the airport once to take me back to Pattaya, he travels always around 100-110, he got a ticket sent to him with the photo that he was clocked at 110.

[fish fingers]

most of these guys do 160.. so arguably this chap was one of the safer drivers..

[MarkCyr]

Those vans are super cheap, but I have only ridden in one a total of two times. Just too scary, no seat belts, and those vans cave like cheap lawnchairs in accidents.

And it's not just the speed -- it's the 1 meter tailgaiting they do -- plus the lane changes where they narrowly slide by cars they overtake, which is based on the clearly false assumption that the other cars will not slow down and clip them.

DeathWish 2014! No thanks!