Thai PM orders crackdowns on drunk driving

[Wookie]

I worked in the UAE for a few years. If you were stopped at a random police checkpoint or were involved in the slightest accident they would give you a breath test. If there was ANY alcohol in you then straight to jail for one month and deported on release. Needless to say there is now no drink driving problem in the UAE !

[Stupooey]

Statistics produced after the Songkran holiday showed that 39% of accidents "involved alcohol", which implies that at least one person involved was over the legal limit. To say that alcohol caused all these accidents is the same as saying that lack of alcohol caused the other 61%. It is reasonable to assume that many (61%?) of the 39% would have happened whether alcohol was present or not. The proportion of accidents directly attributable to alcohol consumption is therefore nearer 15%.

The true "major cause" of accidents is not drink driving but poor driving, which can of course be caused by excess alcohol, although I would argue that the safest drivers on the road (at least in countries which are adequately policed) are those who believe they may be over the legal alcohol limit, as they realise the consequences of minor indiscretions or of being involved in an accident. In fact this was borne out some years ago in the UK, when police decided to stop drivers randomly rather than because they were driving erratically, and they were surprised to find that a higher percentage were over the legal drink/driving limit.

The focus should therefore be on improving the standards of road users, "cracking down" on m/c riders who ride down the wrong side of the road or ignore traffic signals, motorists who drive on the hard shoulder or ignore road markings, etc. A few judiciously placed cameras would help, as of course would rigorous driving tests. A knock-on effect of this would be that if good habits are hard-wired into drivers and riders, those who do choose to flaunt the drink/driving regulations are more likely to drive safely. Simply focusing on drink/driving is an easy option (as it is measurable) and makes good headlines, but is really just scratching the surface of the problem.

Incidentally there are signs that things are improving here. During 40 years of driving in the UK I was never breathalyzed or caught by a speed camera: in 5 years in Thailand I have experienced both.

[mercman24]

TRAFFIC LIGHT JUMPERS.today i was at RAMA 4 road - Suk road,junction waiting to cross, 2 minutes,waiting time, just for the crack i counted the motorbikes/scooter jumping the red light, i kid you not, i counted 47,, yes 47 could not wait 2 minutes.and that is just one turn of the lights, i wonder how many that would be in 24 hours, the mind boggles

[Rhys]

The "hub" of check points..

[FredNL]

The RTP is going to love this PM. Another crackdown on drunk driving means more income for those corrupt MFs. Don't want to do the test, just hold up 500 THB. Seen it often lately in Bangkok.

[BestBitterPhuket]

It's about time, but what will the useless Thai police do? Drinking and driving is ALREADY illegal. Sack the police first. If this is going to have any effect, they need to have soldiers present at the roadblocks, to whatch the police.

Edited May 4, 2015 by BestBitterPhuket

[Jim walker]

Ill drink to that idea, so I presume that you will have to pay police a bigger bribe to ignore that you are drunk in the car.

[rijit]

This really is something thats an issue in thailand and its time drivers knew there were severe consequences if caught. Good on the pm but tbh not b4 time and lets hope its not just another throw away knee jerk reaction.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[spidermike007]

Another hysterically funny post. This is a man who cracks down, then does not see fit to follow it up. A crack down a day repairs society in his mind. Follow it up. Man up. Only in this way do we see positive change. Make the penalties severe enough. Then less people die on the road. Only then. 1,000 baht fines deter no drunk. Confiscate the vehicles for a month. 25,000 baht to get it back. Hugh fines. Etc. Otherwise, just alot more jawboning.

[bbbbooboo]

ahh...the flickering light of insight in Thailand

[cookee68]

This will never change unless they start locking these people up, words is cheap

[captspectre]

The question isn't how belated the directive is, or how many needless deaths have occurred before.

The question is... will the g.d. Thai police actually do anything on a sustained basis in response to the PM's directive.

in a word, NO! thai's will never give up their booze! it's in their genes you can see it everyday! I watch these fools sitting by a roadside cafe getting drunk and then going "somewhere on their motor bikes!

[kerrysum]

My Thai father's truck.....

Years ago my father-in-law had his first truck.... Some how his sons would get drunk, and wreck it. It was an old Datsun pickup truck. So as the norm I , I would spend money, and get it fixed. Once done, I found a repeat of over and over again, I would go home and the truck was wrecked again. The father-in-law finally put his foot down, and said no more... That then began the best relationship... Just a thought....

[RasiMike]

Most of my Thai friends and family insist they are better drivers with a few drinks under their belt and think I'm a pussy for not driving once I've had a couple of beers. One or two (or more) individuals regularly stop their car outside our place, day and night, and stagger in to have a chat and one more for the road. The reality is the main offenders are government employees, professionals and enforcers with first hand experience of the aftermath of drink driving, so if they still drink and drive there is no point in arguing.

[NongKhaiKid]

My Thai father's truck.....

Years ago my father-in-law had his first truck.... Some how his sons would get drunk, and wreck it. It was an old Datsun pickup truck. So as the norm I , I would spend money, and get it fixed. Once done, I found a repeat of over and over again, I would go home and the truck was wrecked again. The father-in-law finally put his foot down, and said no more... That then began the best relationship... Just a thought....

i'm not criticising or getting into family relationships but didn't you ever think that the drunk sons didn't give a stuff because they knew you would pay for repairs ?

[rijit]

My Thai father's truck.....

Years ago my father-in-law had his first truck.... Some how his sons would get drunk, and wreck it. It was an old Datsun pickup truck. So as the norm I , I would spend money, and get it fixed. Once done, I found a repeat of over and over again, I would go home and the truck was wrecked again. The father-in-law finally put his foot down, and said no more... That then began the best relationship... Just a thought....

i'm not criticising or getting into family relationships but didn't you ever think that the drunk sons didn't give a stuff because they knew you would pay for repairs ?

Yeah cost him a few quid, but in the long term, sounds like it"s paid off.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[kiwikeith]

Another drunk driving "Thai crackdown?"

This is the Wild Wild West , you can do what you like in Thailand on the RD, Virtually anyway, on day they might see the huge revenue they can get from breatherlisors and random stops.

One day when hell freezes over, they might crackdown on the ten seater maniac suicide kamikaze vans and introduce speed cameras and highway patrols.

They are missing out on a multi billion Bhat industry that would save lives. WAKEY WAKEY!

[Beng]

Sigh!!! Again?

[bkkgooner]

How many crackdowns had he ordered now?

And how many has he actually implemented?

Drunk driving is not that difficult to enforce if you setup a proper system to monitor people and arrest those breaking the law, the fact that you can be pulled over by the police and STILL get out of any situation by calling a mate in the police is just insane.

[hugh2121]

Hm, Bike lanes.

In Pattaya, on a side road beside Big C Extra there is a disabled lane on both sides of the road. It is unusable due to parked cars and motorbikes and vendor's stalls occupying it. So what use will bike lanes be without enforcement. We all know the chances of that happening.

[mercman24]

a sad day a couple of days ago, and dont forget the drink drive clown, who killed his whole family and himself and it takes the boss of a country to tell the police to do their job yeah right !! ok we are mostly cynical on here because we all know what the outcome will be, more money in cops pockets , this will go the same way as the 24 hour no helmet crackdown sad to say but true. (what did happen to that one) ??

[Praematura]

About 9pm on my way home there were police stopping motorists in two new places so could be this is not just a headline. I had license and registration handy and the cops are courteous with no hassle.

[mercman24]

ok a bit of a tangent < re ; policing, outside my condo they have painted red chevrons to denote a fire hydrant in case of fire , and sure enough most days there is a cop bike parked on it, (perhaps he thinks it is his private parking space)

[Iamemjay]

" Prayut ordered police to set up road checkpoints regularly to check blood alcohol level of motorists." This implies that there exists a statutory maximum blood alcohol level. Does anyone know what this is? ie What actually constitutes "drunk driving"??

[billd766]

Nothing will happen!

As always!

I know, it is a crazy idea, Mr P...but you have laws against drunk driving!

Read up on them and try to enforce those!

Hub of useless and ineffective crackdowns!

So you want the PM to stop what he is doing and personally enforce the laws.

Would it not be a better idea to MAKE those whose job it is to enforce the laws actually DO their job?

One way might be for every drunken driver who gets past the police and causes an accident then every policeman or traffic policeman who was on duty at the time pays a fine to the victim, the higher the rank then the higher the fine. Starting at say 2,500 baht for the lowest paid up to perhaps 250,000 baht for the police chief.

[billd766]

There's one thing the police doing the job they are paid for, in arresting drunk drivers and taking them to the station, and quite another when their case comes to court.

Sentences are generally abysmal even when they get to court. My brother in law was stopped at 2am very drunk, driving from Bangkok to Isaan. Police wanted 15,000baht to let him continue. This was negotiated down to 7,000baht, and since there was no money left, the "kind" copper gave him back 1,000baht! He (my bil) should have been locked up for a minimum of 2 years in my book! And a policeman taking money should also be locked up for double the time!

There should be specific sentences for drunk driving, enforced in every court of the land, and they shoud NOT be fines.

this is why it doesn't work

and cut the kid a break

remember when you all were young and indistrutable 40 50 years ago -it.was heads up who was the least.drunk would.drive.home

About 15 or so years ago when my son was you but not totally stupid, he and his mates would go out at piss it up Friday and Saturday nights. However each night they went out one guy was nominated as duty driver and he NEVER drank any alcohol and the duty driver was changed every night out.

I remember sitting in the High Street at Petersfield one freezing cold winters night at 2 am waiting to pick up my son and some of his mates. He is now 37, married and a father of two children.

When I was much younger some 50 years ago and in the RAF we were out in the wilds of Norfolk and after eleventeeen pints of Tolley Cobbold ale you couldn't drive fast or stupidly because the roads were crap.

[horsewell]

If they have more bike lanes it will have to be like I've seen in Bangkok with a fence of some kind around them. It seems if something is possible it will be done, by enough people to make it a problem. They should probably mandate that all new cars need a breathalyser as well as a key to start. That would sort out some of the drunk drivers... There are aways around this. Making bars responsible for the actions of their patrons? It all starts sounding like a nanny state. I would rather people do what they want as long as they don't hurt anyone else. The saddest thing is that innocent people get murdered when intoxicated people have an accident in a car.

[DM07]

Nothing will happen!

As always!

I know, it is a crazy idea, Mr P...but you have laws against drunk driving!

Read up on them and try to enforce those!

Hub of useless and ineffective crackdowns!

So you want the PM to stop what he is doing and personally enforce the laws.

Would it not be a better idea to MAKE those whose job it is to enforce the laws actually DO their job?

One way might be for every drunken driver who gets past the police and causes an accident then every policeman or traffic policeman who was on duty at the time pays a fine to the victim, the higher the rank then the higher the fine. Starting at say 2,500 baht for the lowest paid up to perhaps 250,000 baht for the police chief.

Noooo, I want him personally to go out and make it stop, Bozo...ahm...Bild!

[ronwparker]

She should be jailed and then banned from driving+ go on a rehab course

But this is Thailand......

These things happen every day

Thailand is the 2nd most dangerous country for road deaths in the world!

[Gonzo the Face]

Oh please, Why is TV giving this guy any press at all .. He just issues these meaningless statements and that's it, maybe a few cycle lanes for the cameras.

The answer is - nothing will happen - to every one of these directives. So why give it coverage.

The clown can't even look directly into the camera on a Friday night to address the people.

Its obvious that you have a problem with the PM. But I don't think you are in any position or status in life to be disrespectful. Grow up . There are ways to deal with problems but this is not one of them.