Drunk minivan driver kills Phuket police officer [video]

[ableguy]

We can only hope that this results in a massive crack-down against mini-van drivers.

Never, who do you think own half the mini vans ? Or who gets paid so they can park any where they want to inmost towns waiting for punters. It's part of the fabric of LOS.

[ableguy]

He was only just over the DD limit, so certainly not drunk.

What he was, was driving recklessly and speeding, possibly late, possibly just an aggressive idiot driver

I doubt the alcohol was a factor at all.

When driving there should be a law of NO Alcohol at all, innocent people die every day because of people drinking and driving, the governments of the world should be there to create systems that benefit the people, having a super strict policy against drink drivers would certainly save lives.

How many here drink and drive ?

How many here would drink and drive if the penalties were harsh, not for killing an innocent, but for drink driving, would it stop you if you knew you would go to jail for 6 months followed by deportation and blacklisting if you were caught ?

Population of Farangs in Pattaya would plummet.

How many farangs in Pattaya can afford a car ? Most of the down town drinkers cannot afford a baht bus.

[spidermike007]

There's a certain sad irony to this officer's death -- given that it's the Thai police who simply fail to enforce the existing laws against drunk driving, minivans speeding, and all variety of other life endangering activities.

Normally, it's the regular citizens who pays the price for that in countless deaths and injuries. The authorities could significantly reduce the country's problems with roadway mayhem with serious enforcement, but for whatever reasons, they simply don't. Even when it's a policeman who is killed.

Effective enforcement isn't that easy, and Citizens cannot be relied upon to obey laws. Take the US as an example, effective police force, strict DUI laws, harsh penalties for offenders and generally an educated population, yet they have a huge problem with DUI offenders.

Maybe it's time for ZERO Tolerance, no Alcohol at all in the bloodstream, even a little Alcohol can impair your judgement yet below a certain level it's legal, that's a crazy law, the law should be no mind altering drugs in your system at all, the powerful Alcohol Industry and their armies of lobbyists have blood on their hands for sure, but as the governments get billions in Tax through Alcohol they still allow a certain amount in your system, it's insane !

In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in the USA, with all their policing, harsh penalties and an aware population it still can't be controlled, so what chance does Thailand have ?

Wanna see a massive drop in DUI, have a zero tolerance policy, no drugs in the system at all, but the Alcohol Industry is just too powerful for that to ever happen, so the innocent will keep dying.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

I don't agree with your assessment seeming to suggest that tough enforcement and sentencing doesn't work. I lived in the U.S. before moving here, and dealt a lot with the criminal justice system. Over the past two decades, there has been a major shift in the way drunk driving is perceived and treated in the U.S.

That doesn't mean people still don't drive drunk. Some do. But not nearly to the extent that they used to. And, the real difference is, the society at large began to stop forgiving these kinds of crimes, through the lobbying and education work of organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), whose members organized after getting fed up with too many young lives being lost needlessly.

Over the years, states in the U.S. have significantly strengthened their sentencing for drunk driving and related offenses. What used to get off with a slap on the wrist now results in losing your driver's license and possible jail sentences, especially for repeat offenders. The police too do significantly more drunk driving enforcement these days than they used to in past years.

If only the Thai police did one tenth of much on drunk driving as the police in the U.S. do, there's be a lot fewer people getting killed needlessly on Thai roads and highways. Thailand ranks at the very top of countries in the world in terms of per capita road deaths, whereas the U.S. ranks in the middle, last time I looked at the stats.

Very true. In the states it is an incredibly difficult offense to deal with. The repercussions are immense. It is very expensive to extricate ones self from the DUI conviction. So the deterrent is very powerful indeed. Here, there is little in the way of a deterrent. The police, the judges, the prosecutors, and the entire judicial system is so impotent and weak, as to be terribly ineffective. People simply have no fear of the law, nor the courts. Anyone with cash, knows they can buy their way out. The chances of being brought before a judge who is not compromised is so low. And that is if the police do their work and arrest you to begin with.

The fact that this creton is still driving today, says it all. I killed someone yesterday, it happened to be a policeman, and they are not doing much about it. They are letting me still drive, even though I have shown very clearly, that I am a horribly incompetent, murderous driver.

[Nowisee]

We are now entering a new realm with more people dying as a result of "distracted" driving... i.e. texting, eating... and not included in this category is driving while tired which results in driving falling to sleep while driving.

Here in thailand is another phenomenon, drivers with little to no experience driving recklessly.

Most do not grasp how easy it is to lose control of a mini fan packed full of people going 120kmp and what subsequently happens after the loss of control...and to add to this, these are not forward thinking people.

This is just my opinion and I have nothing to back it up...5555

[johnnytuc]

There's a certain sad irony to this officer's death -- given that it's the Thai police who simply fail to enforce the existing laws against drunk driving, minivans speeding, and all variety of other life endangering activities.

Normally, it's the regular citizens who pays the price for that in countless deaths and injuries. The authorities could significantly reduce the country's problems with roadway mayhem with serious enforcement, but for whatever reasons, they simply don't. Even when it's a policeman who is killed.

Effective enforcement isn't that easy, and Citizens cannot be relied upon to obey laws. Take the US as an example, effective police force, strict DUI laws, harsh penalties for offenders and generally an educated population, yet they have a huge problem with DUI offenders.

Maybe it's time for ZERO Tolerance, no Alcohol at all in the bloodstream, even a little Alcohol can impair your judgement yet below a certain level it's legal, that's a crazy law, the law should be no mind altering drugs in your system at all, the powerful Alcohol Industry and their armies of lobbyists have blood on their hands for sure, but as the governments get billions in Tax through Alcohol they still allow a certain amount in your system, it's insane !

In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in the USA, with all their policing, harsh penalties and an aware population it still can't be controlled, so what chance does Thailand have ?

Wanna see a massive drop in DUI, have a zero tolerance policy, no drugs in the system at all, but the Alcohol Industry is just too powerful for that to ever happen, so the innocent will keep dying.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

I don't agree with your assessment seeming to suggest that tough enforcement and sentencing doesn't work. I lived in the U.S. before moving here, and dealt a lot with the criminal justice system. Over the past two decades, there has been a major shift in the way drunk driving is perceived and treated in the U.S.

That doesn't mean people still don't drive drunk. Some do. But not nearly to the extent that they used to. And, the real difference is, the society at large began to stop forgiving these kinds of crimes, through the lobbying and education work of organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), whose members organized after getting fed up with too many young lives being lost needlessly.

Over the years, states in the U.S. have significantly strengthened their sentencing for drunk driving and related offenses. What used to get off with a slap on the wrist now results in losing your driver's license and possible jail sentences, especially for repeat offenders. The police too do significantly more drunk driving enforcement these days than they used to in past years.

If only the Thai police did one tenth of much on drunk driving as the police in the U.S. do, there's be a lot fewer people getting killed needlessly on Thai roads and highways. Thailand ranks at the very top of countries in the world in terms of per capita road deaths, whereas the U.S. ranks in the middle, last time I looked at the stats.

[johnnytuc]

Totally agree with your post, In the UK drink driving gets no sympathy, enforcement IS the answer, and UK stats are lot lower than the states as are most of the Scandinavian countries, Drink Driving causing death is manslaughter as a minimum, Thailand ... where you can get 15 years for nicking mushrooms, and a few k fine for killing innocents!

[LeungKen]

Duplicate post removed on previous page.

[Tchooptip]

One less to help himself to my money.

I have read a lot Thai bashing posts on TV but this comment of you is simply disgusting!

[lvr181]

No real need to show the video !

I disagree! Sometimes a dose of reality is what it takes to wake up some people to what is going on.

But I suspect it wont. It seems that "thainess" is forgiving of death by whatever cause? A sort of mai pen rai? Sad really

RIP officer and condolences to family and friends.

[callaway]

"as police apply for a extended period of detention as they are only legally able to hold the suspect for 48 hours." Were not people looking for an Irish man who had been missing for 3 days only to be found in a police station. He was only charged for drink driving. This guys kills some one (policeman) while drunk driving and can be held for only 48 hours? Oh silly me. Different nationalities

Edited November 11, 2015 by metisdead
Bold font removed.

[metisdead]

TV editors again asleep at the wheel..., no related pun intended. You guys rock. And you make me laugh almost daily. Thank you.

Thai Visa does not write the news stories, they are copied from the news sources. Phuket News wrote the headline and the news article, perhaps the member should contact Phuket News and make his complaint there rather than on this site.

Thanks.

[cookee68]

Why dont he just blame the police officer instead, isn.t that what they usually do when the other person dies,

[Cook my sock]

A little OT story about drink driving in Phuket.

Phuket roads scared the hell out of me when I was there. That was brought home when a Swiss gangster swiped my ex gfs car with his fortuna and did a runner while we tried to stop him leaving; he was completely pissed. If my ex had exited the car a few seconds earlier she would have been killed or seriously injured. We managed to trace the car to a garage and he was arrested. He then threatened me and tried to find out my identity. The police watched us verbally slug it out at the station and then agreed a figure and they marched him to the cashpoint.

I'm not sure what they were paid separately but it was an interesting experience.

[cookee68]

sad... those " u turns " are a joke anyway. In rawai Phuket the main road is a highway , two lines each side , where you see cars / minivan /bus driving up to 120 Km/h. Now on the side on this road , and i mean literraly 1 meter away from it , you have shops , restaurant ,markets , SCHOOLS. ( what about a low about not having a highway 3 meters from schools instead of the bars ???/./......)

Is there an other country in the world where you could see someting like this ?

The whole thing is a mess with many crossroads all the way. Now like 1 year ago instead of putting circles every 200 meters , allowing people from side roads to get in easy , allowing easy and safe Uturns , and making the average speed go a lot down;

What did they do ?

They put barriers all the way in the middle , increasing average speed and just letting some space for " uturn " where you are litterally waiting in the middle of a highway , half your car in one way ( or on your bike praying each second ) .... and cars driving 120 km/h behind you and in front .

How in the world can you do something that stupid ?

I guess maybe if one day a giant bus driving like crazy fall asleep and go 3 meters on his left , killing 20 kids in one time , they will realise. But they may put the blame on the bar closing hours....

Sadly not even that would make them change it