Public backlash as Thais slam new pick-up passenger rules

[dcnx]

8 hours ago, colinneil said:

For years police have been trying to enforce the wearing of helmets on motorbikes.

That hasnt worked, neither will this 1.

So let them die, crash after crash, just like they do on bikes.

 

Maybe in a few generations from now they will wise up, but I won't hold my breath. 

 

Wikipedia should show a photo of Thailand and some of these people when you look up Natural Selection.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

 

And even though the vehicle they came out of is utterly wrecked, the seat belts will still be effectively brand new and unused!

I suppose the only thing you have to worry about is if the cop is up to speed with regard to the comment, "they were not built to have passengers in the back", I suppose if you argued your case nicely with the cop and said, common I went to a lot of trouble to put the seat belts in and slipped him a couple if he wasn't listening would be better than the full blown fine each time ?

[dcnx]

17 minutes ago, Miaow said:

..I  don't comprehend which right you have to come to a foreign country and despise its population, you chose the easy Thai bashing way to express your logic.. Which says enough about you...I'll leave name calling aside, since i believe it is the tool of a fool ..

If we have to share the roads with the locals, we have every right. Don't like it? Learn and implement proper road saftey. 

[dcnx]

1 hour ago, DSJPC said:

this law? was written by affluent politicians who have never  been poor enough to have to use this form of transportation...riding in a pickup bed is simply a very efficient and inexpensive way of life for poor rural Thais...requiring them to ride sitting down and not standing up might be a more reasonable law...but then when was reasonableness ever a criteria for legislation here???...T.I.T.

Cheap transportation for lives with no value. That's who rides in the back and the politicians know this better than we do. They also know nothing will change. But they can claim that they tried.

[TEFLKrabi]

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

It is so very obvious to us that traveling in the back of a pick up is dangerous and yet 76% of Thais object.  If this is indeed enforced, I predict the number of deaths on the roads here will drop dramatically.

Problem is many Thais have bought pick ups as the tax is lower.

As much as it's not really safe, the issue is more the drunk driving and speeding which causes the accidents and kills people. People in the back of a safely driven vehicle are very unlikely to die!

[Miaow]

1 minute ago, dcnx said:

If we have to share the roads with the locals, we have every right. Don't like it? Learn and implement proper road saftey. 

I actually love road safety and as a foreigner driving thousand of kilometers a year in this country, i would love to see it improve..However, when someone comes on this forum and call Thai people stupid , i found this very rude.. It is not our country, and never will be. And if Thai people are the way they are, i find it even more rude when a foreigner comes here and acts like they own the place, with their imperial entitled attitude that people should be the way they think...You don't like the Thai way,  have the decency to have constructive remarks about it, if not, go back home..No one's forcing you to stay here..

[thailand49]

8 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

the worrying thing is that the Thai community reads Thai Visa!

also how does this relate to 4 door pick-ups?

You must have missed the part.... two rolls of seats are excluded.  Pickup 4 doors with two rows of seat have a while license plate like regular cars two doors and extra cabs are a different color.

[samsensam]

7 hours ago, onemorechang said:

Ha Ha

Suck it up. boys.

If you lot were not such bad drivers,   on the roads this may have not have ever come into play.   ( think its a good idea myself but un workable ) Any rules that clamp down on bad  Driving  practices of the Thais i'm all for it.

Lets have a load more rules brought in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes,    It's time to call time on the roads of Thailand

it may even save a few lives.

 

Maybe start with the Police arresting themselves,   as they don't where seat belts and they  travel in the open back of pick up. Maybe it will be ok for official police business. ?

 

Think this will be a nice little earner for them.

Amazing Thailand.

 

 

 

you're missing the point, you can bring in a million rules but they are a complete waste of time unless they are effectively and consistently enforced. and yes, the police need to set an example, but  i'm not holding my breath.

[Wilsonandson]

I think the police will be Peeved off too with these new traffic regulations. What are they going to do with all those pickup vehicles now? They need to replace them all with proper police transporters.

[Old Salt]

AS someone already mentioned, they have to start somewhere.

For all of those negative folks, think about this... if the UK, Canada, US, Australia, NZ, and others, reduced the number of well trained traffic police per capita to that of Thailand, those countries could well revert to the same disasters we all see here everyday... and yes, this is a daily thing not just focused on Songkran and NYears holidays.  The government no doubt knows they need more well trained, better paid traffic police.  They must also know that without them, trying to implement this latest batch of laws will be nigh impossible.

 

Aside from the many already mentioned characteristics of the local drivers (driving on the wrong side, speeding, impatience, etc) I have to also mention these:

1.  Non-standard vehicle lighting - Blue tail lights(?), flashing red tail-lights(?).  If a standard hasn't been established, establish it and during annual licensing/insurance checks, check these as well.  Many countries call these a warrant of fitness.

2.  Darkened windows.  Recommend no more than 40% heat/privacy/security (?) film on the windscreen and front side windows of ALL vehicles.  Its time for Thai drivers to be able to observe their fellow citizens behind the wheel, and be able to acknowledge them, wave them into a lane, etc.  Yes, if you are trying to hide a girlfriend from your wife, have her sit in the back seat.

3.  Up the standard of driver training - including oversight of the same.

[CharlieH]

"you can bring in a million rules but they are a complete waste of time unless they are effectively and consistently enforced"

AND there are REAL Consequences to not following the rules, not a stupid 200baht fine.Make it 5000+ they'll soon learn.

[Old Salt]

36 minutes ago, Miaow said:

I actually love road safety and as a foreigner driving thousand of kilometers a year in this country, i would love to see it improve..However, when someone comes on this forum and call Thai people stupid , i found this very rude.. It is not our country, and never will be. And if Thai people are the way they are, i find it even more rude when a foreigner comes here and acts like they own the place, with their imperial entitled attitude that people should be the way they think...You don't like the Thai way,  have the decency to have constructive remarks about it, if not, go back home..No one's forcing you to stay here..

You couldn't have said it better... well said.

[ujayujay]

Not only for Songkran: Sitting on the loadingfloor of pick-ups should be banned forever. Everything else is stupid, but ban People from sitting in the 2. Row is the Joke of the Year........

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2017 by ujayujay

[inactiveposter]

Wife just showed me a picture someone posted on Facebook in protest. People riding on the hood, roof and hanging on the sides of a pickup, but nobody in the back.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[whatawonderfulday]

7 minutes ago, inactiveposter said:

Wife just showed me a picture someone posted on Facebook in protest. People riding on the hood, roof and hanging on the sides of a pickup, but nobody in the back.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Sure it was not a picture from India ?

[Salerno]

Postponed 555

 

 

[brewsterbudgen]

Not only for Songkran: Sitting on the loadingfloor of pick-ups should be banned forever. Everything else is stupid, but ban People from sitting in the 2. Row is the Joke of the Year........
       

Now enforcement postponed until after Songkran....

[BEVUP]

Have a Vigo as well

Even though the back doors open it is bloody damn hard to get out of if someone in the front is wearing a seat belt

I'm glad a poster has checked for the anchorage points (as i am going to do tomorrow ) because from what i have read ( if correctly ) they only introduced rear belts from 2009 Vigo (not sure if that is Smart Cab ) 

You may find that retractable seat belts are a universal fit so could probably fit your own

You just take measurements from your front ones & ensure it is engineered to take 1.5 ton (going of safety harness specs & have googled where they actually add anchor points to imported vehicles to various countries )

Also youcan only put a waist belt in the middle but they may not like that or whether it s worth the drama

[thaiguzzi]

I note that this topic and the very sad story about the two young kids killed in the tragic sidecar accident is bringing all the (many) usual haters out of the closet again.

ThaiVisa ThaiBashers...

Very sad expats who live here (really - ?) but cannot accept it's not like "home" and in many situations like road safety, home made contraptions, noise, lack of regulations, law enforcement etc etc wish it was, and in other situations like cheap lifestyle, women, weather, freedom etc etc are glad it is'nt.

[Miaow]

1 minute ago, thaiguzzi said:

I note that this topic and the very sad story about the two young kids killed in the tragic sidecar accident is bringing all the (many) usual haters out of the closet again.

ThaiVisa ThaiBashers...

Very sad expats who live here (really - ?) but cannot accept it's not like "home" and in many situations like road safety, home made contraptions, noise, lack of regulations, law enforcement etc etc wish it was, and in other situations like cheap lifestyle, women, weather, freedom etc etc are glad it is'nt.

Like i said, hypocrisy at its best...

[little mary sunshine]

1 hour ago, Miaow said:

..I  don't comprehend which right you have to come to a foreign country and despise its population, you chose the easy Thai bashing way to express your logic.. Which says enough about you...I'll leave name calling aside, since i believe it is the tool of a fool ..

You have difficulty understanding common English.  No where is there

any Thai bashing in my post, only common sense.  You probably

have had to many cheap beers.  Go sleep it off

[Miaow]

1 minute ago, little mary sunshine said:

You have difficulty understanding common English.  No where is there

any Thai bashing in my post, only common sense.  You probably

have had to many cheap beers.  Go sleep it off

I actually can afford very good beer sweetcheeks...;)

[Miaow]

4 hours ago, little mary sunshine said:

Finally an attempt to make people a little

safer on the Thai highways;   and it's being

rejected by the public....." You can't cure stupid"

[weejun]

5 hours ago, brain150 said:

Rightfully the people will continue what they think is rkght for them !

It's the will of the people !

 

Only brainwashed peole who constantly repeat what Governments tell them will think the will of the people is worth nothing.

What an odd argument. Just because one happens to agree with the Government enforcing this law doesn't mean one automatically supports everything else the Government is doing.

 

 

The will of the people, eh? As if the People are a single organism sharing the same thoughts and ideas. And what about the will of ignorant people who don't know their own good? Which leads me to the next part:

 

Quote

 

If you think it's good or bad, right or wrong is irrelevant !

The people have the right to chose for themselves !!!

 

Btw: It's a stupid law !

Next they do is to make a law telling everybody to eat more broccoli ... because it's healthy and as such good for the people !

 

Wearing a seat belt or not does not harm anybode else and also does not make traffic more safe !!!

Just like not wearing a helmet affects the safety of the traffic.

 

People generally have the right to choose for themselves. And they should have that right. Generally. But in many cases it is not wise to leave the choice up to the individual, such as with traffic safety. Traffic safety affects everyone. You can say "sucks for the victim" if someone gets himself killed for not using a seat belt, but the whole thing doesn't affect just him. It affects other people who were involved in the accident.

 

What about the guy in the other car who has to live with the fact that he killed another human being (even if the accident wasn't his fault)?

 

What about the family of the dead guy? Does their grief not matter? That they lost a loved one, and will miss him for the rest of their lives?

 

What about the first people on the scene? Maybe a young girl who saw the bloody, mangled body of the victim and is now mentally scarred for life?

 

Apart from the monetary cost (treating injuries that could have been prevented, emergency responders, etc.), there's the human cost.

 

Furthermore, your argument ignores the group effect. When there's no enforcement in place, people may become lazy and ignore the rules. And as more and more people ignore the rules, they affect others and make them more likely to ignore the rules as well. It becomes self-reinforcing. No one cares about the rules, and no one cares about staying safe in traffic because no one else does. In these cases, people need someone to guide them in the right direction. When voluntarily following the rules, or doing the right thing, doesn't work it's time for someone with authority to see to it that the people are guided.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.  Another post using ALL CAPS has been removed, please turn off your Caps Lock button when posting. 

[carbine1125]

9 hours ago, thequietman said:

GK, any ideas where we could buy restraints?

I had a ford ranger smart cab. The bolt holes for the restrains where there in the back below the carpet and behind the plastic trim at the sides. I bought seat belts from a breaker and fitted them.

Edited April 5, 2017 by carbine1125
Spelling error

[onemorechang]

1 hour ago, samsensam said:

 

you're missing the point, you can bring in a million rules but they are a complete waste of time unless they are effectively and consistently enforced. and yes, the police need to set an example, but  i'm not holding my breath.

If you say so.

Try and breath out your be fine.

 

Quote

complete waste of time unless they are effectively and consistently enforced.

Do we need to state the obvious on here ?

[oldlakey]

8 hours ago, hgma said:

I just come back from the police station and asked if my Mazda B50 2 by 2cab doors was illegal as well.

Clearly the second back cab door was designed to let personal in&out.

They explained to me that it was illegal as well, they were not amused by this ruling , i can tell you.

Anyway......i carry on taking my kids from school and will install 2 new seat belts at the back!!

Noted

Well thats big of you going to all that trouble for your kids

[thequietman]

8 minutes ago, carbine1125 said:

I had a ford ranger smart cab. The bolt holes for the restrains where there in the back below the carpet and behind the plastic trim at the sides. I bought seat belts from a breaker and fitted them.

So, I have a Ranger. I see where the plastic trim shows the space for a seat belt. I will look for the bolt holes tomorrow under the carpet. Tell me please, how do the seat belts work. They are not connected to the brake system like the front ones are??

[carbine1125]

9 hours ago, thequietman said:

Just checked under seat for smart cab. There is no where to bolt a restraint ! <deleted> !

Mine had plastic plugs in the bolt holes under the carpet at the sides. You need to remove the plastic trim at the sides of the back window to find the side bolt mounts. At least in my ford ranger.

Edited April 5, 2017 by carbine1125
Spelling