Traffic Offences: Shock Therapy For Offenders

[george]

TRAFFIC OFFENCES: Shock therapy for offenders

Court, probation officials plan to take young violators on morgue visits

Young traffic offenders will be treated to court-ordered tours of morgues, autopsy rooms and prisons if judges and probation officials can agree on proposed radical measures aimed at discouraging them from road racing, a senior judge said yesterday.

Probation and court-ordered community work alone have proved insufficient to deter daredevil road racers from quitting the habit, said Adisak Sornthanarat, chief justice of the Northern Bangkok District Court.

The court and probation officials are discussing the shock treatment as a possible deterrent, he said.

Young traffic offenders would be led into morgues, watch post-mortem operations on victims of road accidents and tour prisons in order to get first-hand experience on the negative and often lethal consequences of road racing, the judge said.

He also warned that with the Children Protection Act coming into effect since March 30, parents and guardians would also be held responsible for the harmful acts of children under their care.

"The parents of the young [repeat] offenders may be summoned to provide money guarantees to be paid as fines for their future violations," Adisak said.

"They may also be considered by a court as encouraging their children in offences, which could result in them being fined for up to Bt60,000 or jailed for three months," said the judge. There are as many as 500 cases of drunk driving each month, "which is a lot", he added.

At Ramkhamhaeng University, a "Roads Safe from Drunk Drivers" fair was opened yesterday by Justice Ministry permanent secretary Somchai Wongsawat.

A number of anti-drunk-driving campaigners and celebrities were among those taking part.

They included actor Willie Macintosh, who became a presenter for the Don't Drive Drunk Foundation after he was ordered by a court to carry out community service for a drunk-driving offence.

--The Nation 2004-04-04

[NedKelly]

Why not build a good safe raceway for these young guys to race their bikes. It could all be done in a controlled manner. I think most be take up the opportunity if it was appraoched in the right manner. I am sure its been done before with cars in other countries.

In Thailand how many times do you see cars hurtling donw the road witha small child standing between the front seats or even on the front passenger seat.........ready to become a scud missile as papa breaks suddenly to avoid another car that runs a red light !!!!!!