Thai driving standards: Will raising training from five hours to 15 make any difference?

[rooster59]

Thai driving standards: Will raising training from five hours to 15 make any difference?

 

Image: Thai Rath

 

A Thai Rath feature has raised the whole issue of government attempts at improve Thai driving habits and questioned the effectiveness of insisting new drivers do more training before getting a license.

The government says that people must complete 15 hours of training before taking a test compared to the previous 5 hour requirement. This will now all be farmed out to private driving schools registered with the relevant ministry. The "one stop shop" will also see driving schools responsible for testing and issuing of licenses.

Thai people have been complaining especially online that this extra training is unfair and many of the public are angry that the recommended cost ceiling is too much at 6,000 baht.

However, Thai Rath quoted experts in the field that strongly disagreed with these public moans.

They said that 15 hours was very little especially compared with requirements in foreign countries with better standards than Thailand and 6,000 baht was really very little to gain proper driving skills.

Thai Rath posed the main question regarding the hour changes from 5 to 15: Will it raise driving standards?

Thanapong Jinwong who represents a road safety group said that in his opinion 15 hours was not enough to make any difference even if the training was excellent which would be doubtful.

"When compared to foreign countries that place a greater importance on road safety and driving skill this is not enough," he said.

He suggested that if they were to stick to 15 hours then the authorities had to make sure that driving centers taught what was really necessary in terms of making people understand the risks involved in driving and getting them to adjust their attitudes accordingly.

Knowing the rules of the road is certainly important but how drivers applied them is equally important. If people carried on ignoring the rules any training would be pointless, he said.

And with just 15 hours courses needed to focus on what would be practical and useful, he added.

Woraphon Singkhiawpong, an expert in the field of training, said that it needed to be impressed on the public that a car is a dangerous weapon that can kill. He too said that 15 hours was not enough but agreed that if the training was good it was a step in the right direction.

"Even a 1% improvement in driving skills is better than nothing," he said while accepting that much more needs to be done.

He said that if he were running a course it would cost much more than 10,000 baht so people who were complaining about 6,000 baht were off track. He said that learning good driving habits was vital and people should realize that acquiring such a skill was something worth paying for.

He said that improvements need to be made in testing centers and it should not have been handed out to the private sector en masse. There should still be testing facilities within the government sector and the timeframe for completing the training should be expanded to a year from the current three months.

But perhaps most telling of all were the comments of Phrommin Kanthiya who represents a road safety group who said: "Even raising the bar to 15 hours and raising driving standards will be a total waste of time if those that break the law are not fined and dealt with properly.

Phrommin said that licenses need to be taken away from repeat offenders. Proper sanctions need to be in place so that good driving is seen to be rewarded and bad driving is punished appropriately.

This involves not just the people following the law but the police enforcing it.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-04-29

[colinneil]

Will increasing driver training from 5 to 15 hours make any difference? 

No nothing will change 1 bit, still have daily carnage on the roads.

[jaltsc]

"The government says that people must complete 15 hours of training before taking a test compared to the previous 5 hour requirement." 

 

Shouldn't take any more effort to ignore the 15 hour training requirement than it did to ignore the 5 hour requirement. When you see a number of motor vehicles with no license plates or insurance stickers every day, one wonders why they even go through the motions of setting standards that will be ignored and never enforced.

 

Perhaps they should do what most countries with better driving habits do. Require to person to learn to drive BEFORE allowing him to buy the vehicle and get on the road. I shudder every time I encounter a driver going 10-15 km per hr and still weaving from one side to the other. It appears that in Thailand, if you have enough money to buy a motor vehicle, then you are a responsible driver. Go figure.

Edited April 29, 2017 by jaltsc

[Ceruhe]

Soooo, a midweek rant complaining about foreigners bashing Thais and stuff....and a few days later a low hanging fruit like this. I'm not saying "this is too easy" but at least make the game a little more challenging. I'll let you flip flop on this without laughing, promise!

[ezflip]

Happy to see that there are some smart Thai people who recognize the problem and are willing to speak out about it. Unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears as nothing will change for the foreseeable future.

[shady86]

Driving is all about mentality, alertness and experience. Even going 100 hrs driving school won't make a difference. Only law enforcement and self discipline make the difference.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Dmaxdan]

It isn't just about the training, it is also about the me, me and me attitude. Until that is all but eradicated, and people start driving within the letter of the law then nothing will change. 

[MaprangHolmes]

16 minutes ago, ezflip said:

Happy to see that there are some smart Thai people who recognize the problem and are willing to speak out about it. Unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears as nothing will change for the foreseeable future.

Not sure about putting Smart & Thai people in the same sentence.

[PatOngo]

Will raising training from five hours to 15 make any difference?

It may help if they raise the law enforcement officers training to 5 years!

[petermik]

Absolutely,I can see in a few years time Somchai winning the Formula 1 drivers championship

[jollyhangmon]

9 minutes ago, shady86 said:

Driving is all about mentality, alertness and experience. Even going 100 hrs driving school won't make a difference. Only law enforcement and self discipline make the difference.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

Well put.

Now, forget 'self discipline' here - so it boils down to enforcement and really nasty fines.

That way it worked pretty much anywhere else where it, well, 'works' now ... 

[Crossy]

The problem in Thailand and many other developing countries is that students are taught to operate the vehicle, they are not necessarily taught to drive. Things like road sense, anticipation, reading the road etc. just don't get the attention they should.

 

Even 5 hours of training should be enough, if performed on actual roads with a decent instructor.

[fruitman]

6000 baht is too much? After that they buy a new car for at least 500.000, all BKK girls have one.

 

so 1% of the cost for drivinglessons is already too much? The insurances will make more profit than 1% if the Thai learn to drive better.

[clockman]

They say that there is a direct connection between road deaths and how corrupt a country is!

[Geordie59]

My wife did a 10 hour course in The Philippines. The first 4 one hour lessens were OK. Then the instructor was due to go on holiday so he got her 1 1/2 hours north of where we lived and 1 1/2 hours back and logged it as the full 10 hours. That drive north was on a relatively quiet road with no passing through towns, no traffic lights, very few junctions and almost no need to ever change gear. It is not the number of hours spent behind the wheel but what is learned that is important.
How about introducing a proper testing system that needs to passed with honesty and bribes are not accepted. That is how other countries get decent drivers.
And once the test is passed penalise bad driving by taking away their licence and locking them up if they drive without a licence. 

[chainarong]

The short answer is No.........................................

[Pdaz]

Many simply don't have the attention span. Worse there is little chance of failure so there is no consequence of not paying attention.

 

Think back to when you were 16 and taking driving lessons. Remember how motivated you were to pass ? Remember how hard you practiced at any opportunity ? Remember what a challenge the test seemed at the time ?

And remember the feeling of sucess when you passed ?

 

There appears to be none of that here.  It is nothing more than a rubber stamp exercise.

 

A fews years back my friends wife drove his truck to the test center.

Paid for a licence and drove home. She never had a formal lesson, received a test with the answers marked in pencil and never did the practical exam.

If it wasn't for the fact that most cars here were automatic she never would have made it to the test center.

[Pdaz]

On a daily basis I see dozens of simple driving mistakes ( mamy of which have a high potential to cause an accident ) All of these mistakes are either evidence of poor training or of just sheer laziness to follow the rules of the road.

 

Cutting corners at junctions

Changing lane without checking mirrors

Not checking blindspot before turning into a side road

Not indicating or checking mirrors before moving off

Failing to accelerate to the speed of the traffic

Changing lanes at junctions

Not maintaining adequate distance between vehicles

Driving against the flow of the traffic

 

The list is never ending... All can be witnessed in a twenty minute drive to the shops. 

 

There is simply no simple way to re-train and instil good driving habits in pretty much the entire population.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Pdaz

[leeneeds]

Baby steps are still just that, and a step in the right direction,

 

Instructors need to have the road sense as well,

other wise more of the same dum teaching,= incompetent

new licensed driver 

 

[richard_smith237]

Its a step in the right direction and at least recognition that there needs to be improvement. 

 

That said, the greatest singular improvement to Thailands traffic woes could be made with better enforcement of Thailands existing laws... 

 

....enforcement itself is education... at the moment people break traffic laws and take risks because they can, because they so readily get away with it, as such the concept of the 'greater good' is lost and the poor driving standards and poor congestion become self perpetuating as frustration creeps in and people revert to a fundamental selfishness ultimately costing the country billions in lost time alone... 

[CGW]

47 minutes ago, Geordie59 said:

How about introducing a proper testing system that needs to passed with honesty and bribes are not accepted. That is how other countries get decent drivers.
And once the test is passed penalise bad driving by taking away their licence and locking them up if they drive without a licence. 

Would you not need a functioning police force to enforce the law?

[eddie61]

as long as 200 baht buys the police, no amount of training will be enough.

[CGW]

1 hour ago, Dmaxdan said:

It isn't just about the training, it is also about the me, me and me attitude. Until that is all but eradicated, and people start driving within the letter of the law then nothing will change. 

I reckon you have summed the situation up in one sentence! well done...

[Farang hunter]

all they need is to teach them not to operate automobiles under impaired judgement, alcohol..drugs .. falling asleep etc.

[1337markus]

The focus is on the wrong group; future drivers. The problem is the current drivers who cant drive. Now what is the government intending to do with that issue. Oh too hard basket, move on , next.

[norbra]

My TGF went to sleep behind the wheel during her 6th driving lesson on Rama II. No problems...end of story and driving lessons

[RandG]

Until such time as traffic laws are fairly and consistently enforced, with realistic sanctions for transgressors, then nothing will improve. Just look at the fiasco with helmets. 4 million motorcyclists in Ho Chi Minh City and in a week, we saw 2 without helmets. In Phuket, despite so many campaigns, probably 70% without.

[Borzandy]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Will raising training from five hours to 15 make any difference?

No because the driving school instructor doesn't even know how to drive.

[franklnooner]

All the training in the world will mean nothing without enforcement of moving violations.

The carnage will continue 

 

[anon467367354]

I don't think more training will make any difference at all.

Considering 30+/100,000 people die on Thailand's roads every day with 73% of them being motorcyclists, it's time to change the laws that kill.

This law where motorcycles must ride on the left side of the road, the most dangerous part of the road I think is the real issue.

This idea that motorcycles are slower than cars is ludicrous. What motorcycle today cannot do 80km/h? Motorcyclists can't use the overpasses, they have to deal with congestion and dangerous intersections. They have to deal with cars pulling out in their paths because of illegally parked cars, many of them taxis, vendors, loading and unloading because they can't see the oncoming traffic.

It's the laws that kill, not the roads and not always the fault of the people.

Everybody has the right to safe road conditions, except motorcyclists. They are the easiest to extort by the police. The police do not have to show ID. They do not have to show you which law you broke. This is like an open cookie jar to a child, it invites corruption.

The laws do not benefit the people, it benefits the police. Personally I'm tired of it. I know way too many people, Thai people that have just given up riding a motorcycle because of the daily harassment. If you ride a motorcycle, you can either pay with your life or your wallet.