NCPO steps up road safety measures

[webfact]

NCPO steps up road safety measures



BANGKOK, 13 April 2016 (NNT) – The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has asked the public for cooperation in following suggestions from security agents to bolster their safety following the discovery that over 3,000 drunk drivers took to roads during the first 3 days of Songkran.

Deputy Spokesperson for the NCPO, Col Sirichan Ngathong has acknowledged that traffic congestion has increased due to the large number of Songkran revelers traveling across the nation. She stated that military units have been dispatched to assist police in facilitating the holiday travel.

Agents will be strictly operating under the “No Drink and Drive, Vehicle Seizure” concept created by the NCPO to ensure road safety. Col Sirichan urged all members of the public to listen to security officers for their own safety.

More than 3,000 drunk drivers were pulled off roads during the first 3 days of the Songkran holiday. Up to 1,994 have been prosecuted with 255 having their licenses revoked and 75 having their cars impounded. Those whose vehicles were seized will be able to retrieve them only after Songkran.


-- NNT 2016-04-13

[keith101]

this is just a normal thing because drink driving isnt policed every day as is with most countries and why there are so many accidents and deaths

[fdimike]

Keith you're exactly right. The Thai police are much too top heavy (rank) in personnel and don't have enough regular cops to control traffic. This "band aid" approach is not worth a damn and I'm sure it will not lower the death rate (52 dead already). The police just don't get it. They need to be doing this every day!!

[Hawk]

"following the discovery that over 3,000 drunk drivers took to roads during the first 3 days of Songkran."

This only shows the number of drunk drivers caught! Not the number of drunks drivers that were not caught which is vastly exceeds 3,000.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Hawk

[slapout]

What about the 1000 drunks in their count who were not prosecuted? Vehicle inpoundment does not not appear to come close to the 3000 drunk drivers they found?

No matter what the bib are told to do, they have their own agenda, goals and aims, and seem to do things the way they desire or feel at the time. I know they cannot catch all the law breakers but at least get those off the highways when you do catch them.

[fdimike]

Face it the great majority of Thais just never learn from their past mistakes. They'll continue to do the same thing year in and year out no matter what anyone else has to say about it. Heck you can't even get them to pay attention to stop or yield sign much less anything else. It's a sure sign of their "I don't give a damn about any one else" attitude. Quite frankly I would love to see the Bib or military seize more vehicles and don't return them until the idiots know how to drive responsibly.

[joebrown]

When I read the headline I had visions of all those uniformed 'officials' in their roadside tents being ordered to stop playing 'Candycrush' for at least 30 minutes a day, and to actually get off their a###s and do something constructive to reduce traffic accidents and violations! Then I woke-up and remembered I'm in LOS.

Edited April 13, 2016 by joebrown

[amdy2206]

Why 3000 drunk drivers but only 75 cars impounded?

[fdimike]

Why bother with the rest? Everything is for show. Lots of talk but very little action is the Thai way.

[Confuscious]

Thailand.
A country where every day is April fools day.
Happy Songkran.

[ianf]

Road Safety: Drunk driving is one thing. Encouraging kids, small children & teenagers alike, to throw water at passing cyclists and motorcyclists in such a way that people fall off and get injured, is another. What kind of mentality is that? We were cycling at 7am this morning. By 8am the little buggers were out doing their best. And they succeeded with both G and I falling off. Some scrapes for me but G hurts a lot. Response from the Thais? They <deleted> laugh. Tell me, do they have any hope of stopping drink driving and this type of behavior. None at all. They can't get them to wear helmets. They don't teach them to drive. Mai Pen Rai seems to be the attitude. If you seriously want to stop drinking and driving you have to make it socially unacceptable. You see families with kids in the restaurants and the males drinking bottle(s) of whisky. Then the family allows these kwais to drive them home. Something wrong? I think so.

[Tomtomtom69]

Well the police sure weren't anywhere near their booth on Chalong Krung Road in Lad Krabang, right next to the entrance to the Lad Krabang industrial estate when at around 11pm some bozo of a motorcyclist was barrelling down the road in the wrong direction, get this, not on the left hand shoulder trying to avoid traffic but in the RIGHT lane straight into the path of oncoming vehicles!

Was he 1) stupid 2) drunk 3) thought he was in Cambodia or 4) all of the above?