Private driving schools 'will be mandatory'

[webfact]

Private driving schools 'will be mandatory'

KORNCHANOK RAKSASERI
SPECIAL TO THE NATION 

 

 

BANGKOK: -- PRIVATE schools may become responsible for the training and testing of people who apply for driver’s licences over the next two years under a proposal being considered by the Department of Land Transport (DLT).

 

However, academics and traffic experts have raised questions of quality control and safety if the plan is enforced and instead urged strict law enforcement and a linked database to promote safer roads.

The national road safety committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Wednesday resolved to amend related laws to promote safer roads under a "Difficult to Get, Easy to Lose" programme. 

Thailand has joined the United Nation's Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which aims to cut road accidents and fatality rates by half. However, Thailand currently has the second worst death toll on the roads with more than 20,000 people killed each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

DLT deputy director-general Nantapong Churdchoo said there was a plan to make it compulsory for people applying for a driver's licence to take driving lessons at private schools starting from 2018. Then the department would step back to take only a regulatory role. 

Applicants would be required to attend lectures and practice driving at the schools, he said. 

At present, besides a physical check-up, eligible applicants are required to attend a four-hour lecture and take an exam at the DLT offices. Once they pass the theory and driving test, they qualify. 

There are currently 81 private driving schools nationwide authorised to train applicants. Some 33 of them are permitted to test students before they can present a certificate from such a school and request a driving licence at DLT offices, without having to take the test again.

During the proposed transition next year, the compulsory lecture that applicants need to attend will be extended from four to five hours. As well, the number of the questions for the written examination will be increased from 50 to 60, Nantapong said. 

Applicants would still be required to correctly answer at least 90 per cent to pass the test. 

Today, 30 million people hold a Thai driving licence and 4,000 people apply for a new licence every day. The changes would make the system more efficient, he said. The DLT will also push for a legal change that authorises it to revoke the licence of people who drive private or public vehicles, Nantapong said. 

It is also improving the database that records the history of violators so it can impose progressive penalties for repeat offenders. The system currently is not linked to other agencies including the police, he said.

Expressing doubts over the proposed changes, Thailand Accident Research Centre Director Assoc Prof Dr Kunnawee Kanitpong said he was concerned about standards and accountability of driving schools that will be authorised to qualify drivers. 

"How can you be sure that they [the driving schools] will only approve qualified drivers, not only a 'pay-and-go' system?" she said.

While E-Driving is currently available at major DLT offices and testing centres, she said drivers should be tested in real traffic situations.

Kunnawee said strict law enforcement was the key to improved road safety but implementation was impossible without a linked information system, otherwise people shrugged off the fine when they received a ticket from police. 

Thai Traffic Police say 1.4 million tickets were issued last year but only 400,000 tickets were paid.

"It needs as powerful authority as a prime minister to order this," she said. "If the prime minister orders relevant agencies, including the Transport Ministry and the Royal Thai Police, to find a way to link the system, the implementation can really happen." 

Naresuan University road safety expert Thaweesak Taekratok said that without a linked information system, drivers could claim they forgot their licence, as the penalty for not carrying one was much lower than driving without a licence or driving while their licence is suspended.

The penalty for not carrying a licence is a fine of up to Bt1,000, while the penalty for driving while a licence is suspended is a fine of up to Bt2,000. Violators could face jail for driving without a licence. So, the national road safety committee agreed last week to increase the penalty for driving without a licence up to a Bt50,000 fine. 

Thaweesak also noted that the lack of certified and well-equipped driving schools in many provinces, as well as the higher cost might prompt some drivers to drive without a licence.

Thanapong Jinvong, programme manager of the Road Safety Group Thailand (RSG) of the National Health Foundation, said holders of driving licences should be classified and their eligibility and penalties should be different. Statistics showed new licence holders had more accidents than other groups.

"Beginner drivers might have to be restricted in some conditions. For example, the blood alcohol level of new drivers should be limited to 20 mg/dL or none, compared to 50 mg/dL allowed for experienced drivers," he said.

Chartchai Chotima, president of the Private Driving Schools Association, said the plan would be difficult to implement as there was a shortage of certified driving instructors nationwide and the DLT could not provide enough training courses to meet the demand.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Private-driving-schools-will-be-mandatory-30294605.html

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2016-09-06

[canuckamuck]

Thailand really needs this. But only if it is a serious effort.

[PatOngo]

Be careful. Serious is a dirty word!

[kartman]

I think the local driving school to me uses it's vehicles for banger racing at the weekends but of course maybe dents caused by students

[lemonjelly]

Private companies testing = licence for sale..... You can bet on that.

[khwaibah]

Two key words MAYBE and PROPOSAL..

[z42]

A very high % of Thais don't care for getting a licence when its incredibly cheap and easy to do so. And I dare say they won't be chomping at the bit to get one when the process becomes drawn out, difficult, and expensive (and where they can lose face more easily).

The problems of bad driving is multi faceted, the problem of having unlicenced drivers galore is less complex in that the licence itself is pretty much optional, there are no real punishments for not having one (outside of BKK at least), and the authorities have no means / desire to enforce the laws and compel people to get one. Hate to be cynical, but the directive is just empty words

[Somtamnication]

A gold mine for the govt. officials who own these schools. It is happening in Phuket already.

[p_brownstone]

It has long been my opinion that the main reasons for the appalling driving standards in Thailand are the Driving "Schools" themselves and the way the "Test" is conducted.

 

The Driving Test here only requires the applicant to drive around an obstacle course without hitting anything, backing up between cones, sometimes a hill start (but rarely) etc., so the Driving "Schools" simply replicate this layout which makes passing the "Test" an easy task.

 

The problem is that in the vast majority of cases the newly qualified driver has never been on an actual road before - never seen a car approaching him, never overtaken another vehicle and so on, but clutching his new Licence he considers himself the equal of all other drivers on the road.

 

Unless and until the Teaching and Testing procedures are drastically changed there can be no improvement in driving standards or safety here.

 

Patrick

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2016 by p_brownstone

[Thian]

And when will the police start fining people who don't drive according the rules?

 

Yesterday on BKK-ringroad...5 girls in schooluniform on 1 scooter driving on the fast lane without helmets.

 

Then a  policecar came with turning red lights on top of the roof, they drove behind the girls for a while to turn left into a fuel stations...The girls didn't even know the police drove behind them..

 

Thailand only....

[craigt3365]

It's all about enforcement.  When you can get away with no license for a 50B backhander, why bother.  Same with no headlights, driving the wrong way, no helmet, a bit more for drunk driving, but not serious.  Make the penalties harsh and you'll see driving behaviors change.  Sadly, this would require a serious overhaul of the police force.

[TEFLKrabi]

I'd really love to see a system that has a one year provisional license and allows the learner drivers to go out onto real roads, under supervision.

[recom273]

Never going to happen.

 

Next.

[gk10002000]

I wouldn't agree to this ever having to be enforced on somebody because that means people will have to pay, and there will be all sorts of ways this can be corrupted.   How about actually enforcing real driver's tests that the Thai examiner's don't currently do?   On the flip side, based on what I see, I wouldn't want the current driver's teaching future drivers anything!

Edited September 6, 2016 by gk10002000

[Thailand]

Gold mines and a carte blanche for corruption, perhaps they could add English lessons as a sideline?

[williamgeorgeallen]

2 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Two key words MAYBE and PROPOSAL..

to be followed by two more words FORGOTTEN ABOUT. but seriously i wonder what the fee will be to not have to bother with doing the training.

[orchidlady]

Anyone know what difference is in the proposed variance of blood alcohol.levels for beg/ experienced drivers. I'm used to seeing these numbers expressed in percentages.

[tominbkk]

Sounds like a great way for the government to make a lot of money via these "driving schools". Hopefully it will create better drivers, though the yahoos on the road that I encounter every day taking so many risks by driving crazy on the road probably will not decrease in number. I actually think a majority of Thai drivers are pretty good, there's just about 10% of them that have no regard for anyone else but their own fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[yardrunner]

2 hours ago, p_brownstone said:

It has long been my opinion that the main reasons for the appalling driving standards in Thailand are the Driving "Schools" themselves and the way the "Test" is conducted.

 

The Driving Test here only requires the applicant to drive around an obstacle course without hitting anything, backing up between cones, sometimes a hill start (but rarely) etc., so the Driving "Schools" simply replicate this layout which makes passing the "Test" an easy task.

 

The problem is that in the vast majority of cases the newly qualified driver has never been on an actual road before - never seen a car approaching him, never overtaken another vehicle and so on, but clutching his new Licence he considers himself the equal of all other drivers on the road.

 

Unless and until the Teaching and Testing procedures are drastically changed there can be no improvement in driving standards or safety here.

 

Patrick

Perhaps it is time for the equivalent of a green L plate for drivers who have just passed their test and to show for one year

 

 

 

[Moti24]

" There are currently 81 private driving schools nationwide authorised to train applicants."........

 

No doubt, in the near future, there will be a dramatic increase in the number of driving schools; the Thais will only see an opportunity to jump on the money making bandwagon.  So, who is going to train the instructors for these new schools?  Moreover, who trained the instructors for the existing 81 driving schools?  I've yet to make a short journey in my car or ride my motorcycle without my blood pressure rising.  And, why wait intil 2018 for the requirement to attend a driving school and have driving practice?  No doubt the 9 hours driving practice will include the 5 hours of lectures.  It'll be just another attendance course, just like the education system.  Another 16 months is going to pass-by before they even attempt to plug the leak.  Meanwhile, we still have over 3000 road deaths a year to contend with.

[digibum]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

It's all about enforcement.  When you can get away with no license for a 50B backhander, why bother.  Same with no headlights, driving the wrong way, no helmet, a bit more for drunk driving, but not serious.  Make the penalties harsh and you'll see driving behaviors change.  Sadly, this would require a serious overhaul of the police force.

 

How serious can you make the penalties.  10,000 baht for driving without a helmet?  100,000 baht?  1,000,000 baht?  

 

First off, traffic fines across the world have the same problem.  If I'm Bill Gates there's absolutely no incentive for me to follow any laws unless they result in imprisonment.  A $500 speeding ticket is a joke to someone who has boatloads of money.  

 

Here we have a similar issue.  If you fine someone making 300 baht a day 10,000 for driving without a helmet, they can never pay the fine.  People will disregard the law because the consequences are unrealistic.  

 

So, now you have to come up with a punishment for not paying your fine.  Assuming you don't have the financial resources to pay a fine, what's next, prison?  Are you proposing they load of the jails with minor traffic offenders too poor to pay?  

 

The real answer is making people give a s**t.  Right now nobody cares if they have a license or don't have a license.  

 

But this is a much, much bigger issue as it goes to the core of a lot of what is wrong in Thailand.  Thailand is a very top-down society.  When the government is perceived as strong, people follow the rules because they fear punishment.  When the government is perceived as weak, people blatantly break the rules because they have no fear of punishment.  

 

This is somewhat different from many western societies where public pressure keeps most people in check.  For instance, most people don't litter not because they fear the government but they fear the public opinion of others.  Yes, people still fear punishment by the government but they tend to obey rules more readily because they fear the opinions of others.  

 

You can see this in farangs who get angry because back home if they saw someone putting their baby in the back of a pickup they would confront them about it.  In Thailand, you're likely to get a beat down for reprimanding someone.  

 

Until Thais start policing each other, this isn't going to change.  It doesn't need to turn into a society where everyone rats on each other but it starts with parents who refuse to let their children ride motorbikes on public roads without a license or helmet.  It starts with people being willing to take down a license plate and report a hit and run driver.  You can't just keep throwing your hands in the air and expecting the government to somehow make people care about their own or your safety on the roads.  

[PremiumLane]

Any good driving schools that have English speaking instructors? Would like to do some lessons

[slapout]

You can not teach a old horse new tricks. You have to teach the kids when they are 14 or 15 how to drive, the laws , etc. This would seem logical to have this done in the formal education system by qualified teachers.

 

The present record of less  than half the private school test being accepted by the driver liscense facility that issues the liscense seems to indicate a vast shortcoming already in place. Dont make it bigger

[georgemandm]

4 hours ago, z42 said:

A very high % of Thais don't care for getting a licence when its incredibly cheap and easy to do so. And I dare say they won't be chomping at the bit to get one when the process becomes drawn out, difficult, and expensive (and where they can lose face more easily).

The problems of bad driving is multi faceted, the problem of having unlicenced drivers galore is less complex in that the licence itself is pretty much optional, there are no real punishments for not having one (outside of BKK at least), and the authorities have no means / desire to enforce the laws and compel people to get one. Hate to be cynical, but the directive is just empty words

Yes very true , the place needs a big shake up.

 

[bark]

4 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Thailand really needs this. But only if it is a serious effort.

I wonder how many of these 20,000 deaths were caused by people with less then one year driving experience ?

It doesn't matter about the first training; as most people change their driving habits.

And what percentage of these deaths were due to motorcycles ?

50 mg/dl is about 1 - 1.5 beers in one hour. Thai's drink 2-3/hour and then drive.

 

[georgemandm]

58 minutes ago, digibum said:

 

How serious can you make the penalties.  10,000 baht for driving without a helmet?  100,000 baht?  1,000,000 baht?  

 

First off, traffic fines across the world have the same problem.  If I'm Bill Gates there's absolutely no incentive for me to follow any laws unless they result in imprisonment.  A $500 speeding ticket is a joke to someone who has boatloads of money.  

 

Here we have a similar issue.  If you fine someone making 300 baht a day 10,000 for driving without a helmet, they can never pay the fine.  People will disregard the law because the consequences are unrealistic.  

 

So, now you have to come up with a punishment for not paying your fine.  Assuming you don't have the financial resources to pay a fine, what's next, prison?  Are you proposing they load of the jails with minor traffic offenders too poor to pay?  

 

The real answer is making people give a s**t.  Right now nobody cares if they have a license or don't have a license.  

 

But this is a much, much bigger issue as it goes to the core of a lot of what is wrong in Thailand.  Thailand is a very top-down society.  When the government is perceived as strong, people follow the rules because they fear punishment.  When the government is perceived as weak, people blatantly break the rules because they have no fear of punishment.  

 

This is somewhat different from many western societies where public pressure keeps most people in check.  For instance, most people don't litter not because they fear the government but they fear the public opinion of others.  Yes, people still fear punishment by the government but they tend to obey rules more readily because they fear the opinions of others.  

 

You can see this in farangs who get angry because back home if they saw someone putting their baby in the back of a pickup they would confront them about it.  In Thailand, you're likely to get a beat down for reprimanding someone.  

 

Until Thais start policing each other, this isn't going to change.  It doesn't need to turn into a society where everyone rats on each other but it starts with parents who refuse to let their children ride motorbikes on public roads without a license or helmet.  It starts with people being willing to take down a license plate and report a hit and run driver.  You can't just keep throwing your hands in the air and expecting the government to somehow make people care about their own or your safety on the roads.  

Very good and I agree with you but one more thing it is the government who need to stand up and change it all .

it will take time but can be done .

[georgemandm]

1 hour ago, Moti24 said:

" There are currently 81 private driving schools nationwide authorised to train applicants."........

 

No doubt, in the near future, there will be a dramatic increase in the number of driving schools; the Thais will only see an opportunity to jump on the money making bandwagon.  So, who is going to train the instructors for these new schools?  Moreover, who trained the instructors for the existing 81 driving schools?  I've yet to make a short journey in my car or ride my motorcycle without my blood pressure rising.  And, why wait intil 2018 for the requirement to attend a driving school and have driving practice?  No doubt the 9 hours driving practice will include the 5 hours of lectures.  It'll be just another attendance course, just like the education system.  Another 16 months is going to pass-by before they even attempt to plug the leak.  Meanwhile, we still have over 3000 road deaths a year to contend with.

Yes very true , but 3,000 road deaths a year .

more like 30,000 not 3,000 .

go read it on google if you not believe me , like 90 people die a day in thailand.

the government needs to take control and care about thai people and fix it up .

[georgemandm]

Just now, Father Fintan Stack said:

Improving safety on Thai roads is a total and utter fantasy.

 

Cases such as the 15yo that killed nine people in a minivan and escaped with only community service, the Mercedes driver that killed two students and the Red Bull heir all have a common theme. They indicate something isn't right at a much deeper level than just the roads. 

 

The whole apple is rotten to the core and quite beyond redemption at this stage.

 

 

Very true, but never to late to start they have to start one day and hop now .

This place is a joke when it comes to driveing on the roads .

I hop one day thailand can fix it up , but will take lots of years to do .

My thai tells me why are the drivers so good back in my home country and I say because we changed the way we teach them to drive and we big fines .

[thai3]

But the test is still not  driving test on the roads, just 3 simple moves and a few questions, can't do get your wallet out!

[georgemandm]

Just now, thai3 said:

But the test is still not  driving test on the roads, just 3 simple moves and a few questions, can't do get your wallet out!

Yes very true I have seen it first hand .

But it needs to change now never to late .

Yes the wallet thing happens I think but not all the time .