Phuket police smash drunk driving quotas

Phuket police are continuing their campaign to rein in drunk driving on the island. Photo: US Navy

PHUKET: The crackdown on drunk driving on some of the most deadly roads in the world saw Phuket police arrest more than 200 people for driving under the influence (DUI) last month.

Though individual police stations on the island were given specific DUI quotas, the goal for the entire province was to arrest at least 150 drivers.

“The policy shift in how police target drunk drivers saw every station surpass its quota,” Phuket's Deputy Police Commander Sakchai Limcharoen told the Phuket Gazette yesterday. “However, what is more exciting to see is that the arrest numbers increased over the previous month and the total number of accidents slightly decreased.”

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-police-smash-drunk-driving-quotas/62545?desktopversion

-- Phuket Gazette 2015-12-06

That's assuming accidents are only attributable to drink driving. And aside from prosecuting those dumb enough to drive through the checkpoints, what have the local authorities done to educate drivers about safer driving in that time I wonder

That's assuming accidents are only attributable to drink driving. And aside from prosecuting those dumb enough to drive through the checkpoints, what have the local authorities done to educate drivers about safer driving in that time I wonder

Very easy to write cynical and critical comment.

Why not detail your plan which will somehow miraculously "educate drivers about safer driving" ? What time scale are you intending to work to ?

Very commendable as drunk drivers do cause a lot of accidents. It would also be nice if they patrolled for other road violations. No lights at night, speeding, jumping/running red lights, etc, etc, etc.

After reading the headline I thought the police was given a quota of how many of them could drink and drive ,apparently that is not true

That's assuming accidents are only attributable to drink driving. And aside from prosecuting those dumb enough to drive through the checkpoints, what have the local authorities done to educate drivers about safer driving in that time I wonder

Very easy to write cynical and critical comment.

Why not detail your plan which will somehow miraculously "educate drivers about safer driving" ? What time scale are you intending to work to ?

I am not the Thai authorities so its not my job to do it.

But i woulf create a range of materials and workshops for all age groups in an attempt to get the message across.

So many here seem to have no inkling of why safety items are there. Look at percentage of helmet use. I would guess around 30% at most. And seatbelts, a fraction of that.

I'd start there

I think they could raise that target a bit.

I would like to see some more information on how the police process DUI's, particularly locals, and also convictions and sentencing.

They should target the morons who reckon they can drive and use a mobile telephone clamped to one ear.

Or the proud mum bike rider I saw a month or two ago swerving around at a slow speed on a main road with a small kid clinging to her back.

She was trying to steer and dial a number on her mobile.

That's assuming accidents are only attributable to drink driving. And aside from prosecuting those dumb enough to drive through the checkpoints, what have the local authorities done to educate drivers about safer driving in that time I wonder

Since accidents are directly attributable to drunk driving why not focus on that first? Why spread police resources thin going after a laundry list of moving violations? Get drunk drivers off the road and accidents will go down ... that is axiomatic.

That's assuming accidents are only attributable to drink driving. And aside from prosecuting those dumb enough to drive through the checkpoints, what have the local authorities done to educate drivers about safer driving in that time I wonder

Very easy to write cynical and critical comment.

Why not detail your plan which will somehow miraculously "educate drivers about safer driving" ? What time scale are you intending to work to ?

I am not the Thai authorities so its not my job to do it.

But i woulf create a range of materials and workshops for all age groups in an attempt to get the message across.

So many here seem to have no inkling of why safety items are there. Look at percentage of helmet use. I would guess around 30% at most. And seatbelts, a fraction of that.

I'd start there

Yea, And how would you get the people to come to those events? Free beer/Drugs/Smokes/PornFlicks?

Great job 200 drunk driving fines in one month. That is like arresting 7 1/2 drivers a night. With that number they could easily be in bed by midnight. Day and night but only 7 drivers cited if i was a police officer i would not be proud of these numbers! Maybe a little low because of tea money!

when i read that headline i thought, "oh good, so the cops have stopped drinking then "" he he

The more they check, the more the more drivers they will find that are driving while impaired.

Everyone knows they could chage thousands of drivers every month if they were motivated.