Issuance of driving licenses to be tightened to improve road safety

[webfact]

Issuance of driving licenses to be tightened to improve road safety

 

 

BANGKOK: -- The Transport Ministry is amending a ministerial regulation to tighten up the issuance of driving licenses and the renewal of driving licenses by making in mandatory for the applicants to attend a training session of up to 15 hours instead of just 3-4 hours as it is the case now.

 

The draft ministerial regulation is now being fine-tuned by the Council of State before it is submitted to the Transport Ministry to be announced, said Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisit, adding he expects the new regulation to become enforced within this year.

 

He said the new ministerial regulation was intended to set a new standard of road safety and to improve the discipline of car drivers.

 

Meanwhile, Land Transport Department director-general Sanit Promwong said, under the new regulation, applicants for driving licenses or drivers who want to renew their driving licenses would be required to go through a training session of up to 15 hours from today’s 3-4 hours and pass both the written and driving tests organized by the private sector.

 

The Land Transport Department will only serve in its capacity as the supervisory body and responsible for issuing driving licenses and renewal of licenses.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/issuance-driving-licenses-tightened-improve-road-safety/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-03-15

[tracker1]

<deleted> 15 hour training session to renew a driving licence ! looks like there will be more unlicenced drivers then there is already. A brilliant Thai Initative a better idea would be to have all drivers and riders licenced and taught to drive correctly !!!!!!!

[jerojero]

Try proper law enforcement to change habits of drivers. Just might work!

[Thailand]

Another non think tank gem!

[onemorechang]

Thailand needs to teach it's children how

to behave,   then in 30 years time you may see the results.

The adults now in Thailand,   are a lost cause on the roads.

Selfish,  Dangerous , murderous  , just to mention a few.

 

 

 

[ezzra]

 

Here's an idea, put many more police on the roads, not those with the

palms starched out and with less than caring attitude to what really

need to be done out there to fix the traffic problems,

I'd like to see those high ranking traffic management's police officers

actually standing on the roads every now and than assessing the situations

and seeing with their own eyes what's

going on instead of hiding in their air conditioned opulent  offices...

and that will be a good start....

[Wiggy]

It simply won't work. Those who 'fail' will simply grease a palm and, hey presto! A driving licence appears. As is the case now. As long as there's corruption things cannot change. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by Wiggy

[trogers]

54 minutes ago, onemorechang said:

Thailand needs to teach it's children how

to behave,   then in 30 years time you may see the results.

The adults now in Thailand,   are a lost cause on the roads.

Selfish,  Dangerous , murderous  , just to mention a few.

 

 

 

Who then should teach the children now when the adults are a lost cause?

 

The babies?

[trogers]

9 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

It simply won't work. Those who 'fail' will simply grease a palm and, hey presto! A driving licence appears. As is the case now. As long as there's corruption things cannot change. 

Easy to counter.

 

Those drivers caught driving badly would be retested and the finances of the tester who signed and passed them the first time would be scrutinized.

 

 

[The Old Bull]

The problem is not about handling a vehicle it's about law enforcement. Road blocks in the morning and afternoon is not good enough. 

Lots of motorcycles with no tail lights, hardly anybody pulls over for an ambulance. Need more patrol cars.

Just sounds like overtime for the boys and more paper.

Quote

 

 

Edited March 14, 2017 by The Old Bull
incomplete

[trogers]

47 minutes ago, ezzra said:

 

Here's an idea, put many more police on the roads, not those with the

palms starched out and with less than caring attitude to what really

need to be done out there to fix the traffic problems,

I'd like to see those high ranking traffic management's police officers

actually standing on the roads every now and than assessing the situations

and seeing with their own eyes what's

going on instead of hiding in their air conditioned opulent  offices...

and that will be a good start....

Forget the BiB.

 

Each province and city should form a new force for policing traffic, including their own traffic courts.

[Wiggy]

14 minutes ago, trogers said:

Easy to counter.

 

Those drivers caught driving badly would be retested and the finances of the tester who signed and passed them the first time would be scrutinized.

 

 

But that's just it.......those who are currently caught behaving badly grease a palm and are waved on their way - often with a smile. Strict enforcement is the answer, I agree with you, but corruption has to be eliminated first, surely. 

[Wiggy]

21 minutes ago, trogers said:

Who then should teach the children now when the adults are a lost cause?

 

The babies?

Ridiculous question......but a very valid and poignant one at the same time. This is why Thailand is where it is. It's almost a lost cause as I feel that nobody really wants change. If they did, they could, and would. The whole system is broken, hence your question. The whole police force needs firing, and then rehiring with good people without preconceptions of what a police office is/does.

[trogers]

9 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

But that's just it.......those who are currently caught behaving badly grease a palm and are waved on their way - often with a smile. Strict enforcement is the answer, I agree with you, but corruption has to be eliminated first, surely. 

That's the answer below.

 

18 minutes ago, trogers said:

Forget the BiB.

 

Each province and city should form a new force for policing traffic, including their own traffic courts.

 

[smedly]

This needs to be looked at again, I can see the benefit for people getting their first licence or for people who lose their licence through a ban - it is a step in the right direction

 

but for people who are simply  renewing their licence this is ridiculous

 

whoever came up with this nonsense needs to think again - utter complete stupidity and not workable 

 

and as already suggested above, you improve road safety through proper law enforcement and heavy punishment for those caught, concentrate on the top known issues like using mobile devices - drunk driving etc etc, also run a series of short educational road safety videos on prime TV

[trogers]

1 minute ago, smedly said:

This needs to be looked at again, I can see the benefit for people getting their first licence or for people who lose their licence through a ban - it is a step in the right direction

 

but for people who are simply  renewing their licence this is ridiculous

 

whoever came up with this nonsense needs to think again - utter complete stupidity and not workable 

 

and as already suggested above, you improve road safety through proper law enforcement and heavy punishment for those caught, concentrate on the top known issues like using mobile devices - drunk driving etc etc, also run a series of short educational road safety videos on prime TV

Not ridiculous. They are simply acknowledging the real state of affair - that presently, a large % of those holding driving licenses paid bribes for them and are actually not qualified to drive.

[jaltsc]

"The Transport Ministry is amending a ministerial regulation to tighten up the issuance of driving licenses and the renewal of driving licenses..."

 

Driving licenses? We don't need no stupid driving licenses. Just get behind the wheel, turn on ignition and go.

Edited March 15, 2017 by jaltsc

[smedly]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Meanwhile, Land Transport Department director-general Sanit Promwong said, under the new regulation, applicants for driving licenses or drivers who want to renew their driving licenses would be required to go through a training session of up to 15 hours from today’s 3-4 hours and pass both the written and driving tests organized by the private sector.

 

The Land Transport Department will only serve in its capacity as the supervisory body and responsible for issuing driving licenses and renewal of licenses.

and lets not forget that this will be a massive money spinner for al those involved  - money money money money, road safety is only a secondary consideration for this nonsense which is why they want to apply this to people renewing their licence also....................money

[Wiggy]

10 minutes ago, trogers said:

Not ridiculous. They are simply acknowledging the real state of affair - that presently, a large % of those holding driving licenses paid bribes for them and are actually not qualified to drive.

I can see the value of doing this as a one-off for those renewing to identify the bad drivers but, again, only if it's a clean system could it work. I'm not holding my breath though. Even during my last renewal people were asleep or playing with their phone during the 'safety;' video.

[LazySlipper]

Hmmm... there goes my vacation.... how many days will 15 hrs be spread over?

 

Great Idea from the DMV... thumbs up!

[smedly]

2 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

I can see the value of doing this as a one-off for those renewing to identify the bad drivers but, again, only if it's a clean system could it work. I'm not holding my breath though. Even during my last renewal people were asleep or playing with their phone during the 'safety;' video.

what they are proposing is not a 15hr video for those renewing their licence, it is a full retake of the written test and taking mandatory driving lessons from a private company and doing a driving test each time you renew

[Wiggy]

6 minutes ago, smedly said:

what they are proposing is not a 15hr video for those renewing their licence, it is a full retake of the written test and taking mandatory driving lessons from a private company and doing a driving test each time you renew

I realise that, and I still think as a one-off (bar the lessons as it's easy to tell during a test whether someone can drive or not) isn't such a bad idea. I would suggest doing the test first though, followed by lessons if necessary. That all said, it has to be done cleanly and fairly.

[KMartinHandyman]

Not ridiculous. They are simply acknowledging the real state of affair - that presently, a large % of those holding driving licenses paid bribes for them and are actually not qualified to drive.

What happens with foreigners like myself up in rice country who was told to get out of the 2 hr seminar room because I didn't speak Thai.

There was no English option for the seminar material or the drivers study manual. Fortunately I had gone online and studied some sample questions posted by Chang Mai Buddies (big thanks), looked at the boards in the building and asked my wife to explain the signs as best she could then took the test.

Took the test and missed one. You know who was a little shocked because recently she had tested a 44 and had to retest then passed with a 46. Our relationship began to improve as she learned life in Thailand isn't all about only being Thai!

[uchibenkei]

I come from Ontario, Canada.  It has the lowest speed limits and highest number of speed traps in North America. Put more cops on the road.  Once the police see how lucrative enforcing traffic laws can be, they'll love it.  Thai drivers might smarten up once it starts costing money to drive poorly.

Edited March 15, 2017 by uchibenkei

[LazySlipper]

Holy Moly,

Did anyone else read this in the article on the Thai PBS full length article?

 

" Mr Sanit, however, pointed out that, under the new regulation, drivers who want to renew their driving licenses and applicants for driving licenses would have to bear the training session costs which will not exceed 6,000 baht each."

 

Every five years?

 

Shiiite...

Edited March 15, 2017 by LazySlipper

[maewang99]

how do you qualify folks to drive...

 

or change a thing at all on safety...

 

if it has to be done with simple rules that apply to all situations....

 

copying and listening wise.... or easy for reading in a 99.9% Phonetically Written Language with Graphemes for Every Phoneme including Duration and Tone and No Spaces Between Words Because That's How We Speak....
 

how do you get folks to always 'maintain an out'..... AT ANY SPEED..... even 10 kph.... if it can't be culled down to platitudes that are easy to read or memorize?

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by maewang99

[holdenbuckner]

15 hour training session to renew a driving licence ! looks like there will be more unlicenced drivers then there is already. A brilliant Thai Initative a better idea would be to have all drivers and riders licenced and taught to drive correctly !!!!!!!

I agree it would be a bad idea for license renewal. They need to focus on initial training. My fiancé took a 10 hour course with a driving school where she could also take her driving exam. After we got her drivers license later that day she couldn't even back the car out of our parking spot. I figured she was just nervous so the plan was for her to drive with me a little bit until she got more comfortable. After a few days of nearly getting us killed And watching her make a very basic driver safety errors . So she has gone back to drivers training for another 10 hours at a different driving school to get a newly license driver proper training.

You always hear that most of the countries issues can be traced back to education or training. Wouldn't make sense that if Thailand is having such an issue with poor drivers and deadly crashes that first they look on how they trained and licensed drivers as well as the training and licensing of commercial drivers?

To be honest I get frustrated with all the requirements are government places on us. Now I realize there is probably reasons I don't even understand why they do it. But I have to say this experience with my fiancé getting her license so quickly, despite the fact that she really doesn't even know how to drive let alone park as opened my eyes.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[trogers]

13 minutes ago, uchibenkei said:

I come from Ontario, Canada.  It has the lowest speed limits and highest number of speed traps in North America. Put more cops on the road.  Once the police see how lucrative enforcing traffic laws can be, they'll love it.  Thai drivers might smarten up once it starts costing money to drive poorly.

That's why I suggested each province and city police their own traffic. All they need is seed money. Thereafter they would be self-financing.

[onemorechang]

1 hour ago, trogers said:

Who then should teach the children now when the adults are a lost cause?

 

The babies?

Get more Foreigners to teach the Thais how to Teach.

How's that ?

Think we all know what a diploma in Thailand is worth outside of Thailand.

How that ?

Think 2 peanuts is the going rate ?

 

 

[djayz]

??????????

Is it 1st April already?