NEW SPEED CAMERAS ON hIGHWAY 24

[NongKi bloke]

This man is not a bastard, just doing his job of reducing the already massive toll of accidents on Thailands roads

How does what he is doing reduce the massive death toll accidents on Thai Roads?
The vast majority of the people who will have fines dropping through their letterbox will not even have seen him.

The thing about mobile speed cameras world wide is they are about revenue raising not reducing road toll, despite what spin they put on it.

[secosteve]

They may not have seen him this time but they will know for their next journey along that road. A  least he is doing something, maybe not be a lot, but every little helps.

The trouble with most Thais is that they drive looking at the end of the bonnet, they do not look ahead and they do not anticipate, these are thing that are instilled in most foreign drivers. It is probably too late to start a course of education and the videos in the driving licence centre are pointless.

[nookiebear]

This man is not a bastard, just doing his job of reducing the already massive toll of accidents on Thailands roads

How does what he is doing reduce the massive death toll accidents on Thai Roads?
The vast majority of the people who will have fines dropping through their letterbox will not even have seen him.

The thing about mobile speed cameras world wide is they are about revenue raising not reducing road toll, despite what spin they put on it.

PLUS 1

[nookiebear]

They may not have seen him this time but they will know for their next journey along that road. A  least he is doing something, maybe not be a lot, but every little helps.

The trouble with most Thais is that they drive looking at the end of the bonnet, they do not look ahead and they do not anticipate, these are thing that are instilled in most foreign drivers. It is probably too late to start a course of education and the videos in the driving licence centre are pointless.

The 24 around here must be the most policed area in Thailand,you can hit 4 speed cameras in a 50km stretch..........still they drive like Morons with a death wish........A new speed camera was in operation last Friday just outside Prasat!

[Prakhonchai Nick]

I don't believe speeding in itself is the problem. The dual carriageway of the 24 is fine for speeds in excess of 90kph. The problem is lack of education of driving ability. Pulling out and u-turning without looking. driving the wrong way, hogging outside lanes of dual carriageways etc etc.  Far too late to educate those already driving, and regrettably the schools do not teach future drivers, preferring to teach other unnecessary subjects.

The only way to improve standards is to fine HEAVILY, for all infractions, confiscate vehicles for a limited duration, and ban/imprison drunk drivers. All sadly pie in the sky!

[Freddy]

Agree. The  improvement in overall driving standards throughout the western world over the past 30-40 years have not come about through a self disciplined moral responsibility by the individual driver/rider.
It is education combined with real consequence ( both lacking in this country) that forces people to drive more safely. As Westeners we like to preach about driving standards and safety however years ago we all had to be dragged kicking and screaming into that mindset.
40-50 years ago the UK & USA had the same amount of drunk drivers on the roads,
What goes terribly wrong here is that the driving population is increasing at significant rates but the training, legislation and law enforcement hasn't kept pace. Add to that the widespread corruption and weak government, nothing is likely to change.

[smoooth2]

A little off topic ... but here goes. About 2 years ago my wife obtained her first ever car drivers licence.

I was back in Australia at the time, so I don't know how she got it, or what was involved. I think it was done via BRY Honda (near Ekachon Hospital in M.Buriram). I didn't even know she was taking lessons.

Anyway, she was proud as punch to show me her new licence. "Can we go for a drive ?"

I drive us out into the boonies 15km from M.Buriram. Picked a nice quiet back road, and she jumped into the driver seat. She was a bit nervous, and didn't know the buttons etc, but that's understandable.

Away we go. Cautious, steady. That's my girl. No hurry. No need to be rash. Cruising through 15kmph now .... buffaloes grazing by the roadside were keeping pace with us, 2 schoolkids on bicycles overtook us, the fuel economy gauge was showing that we were achieving 97 km per litre ................

All good, until horror of horrors !!!!!!!!!!

An "S" bend in the road !!!

It's an interesting experience sitting in the front passenger seat, whilst negiotating a blind S bend completely on the wrong side of the road. At 15kmph, it seemed to take forever.

We survived.

Three more country drives over the next few weeks, led me to the conclusion that as a car driver, she is a terrific scooter rider.

It would be absolute suicide to let her loose on the open highway, or even around town. Yet, she has a 100% valid driver licence issued at M.Buriram DLT. It's ridiculous, crazy and stunningly dangerous.

Oh .... speed cameras ? More chance of being fined for loitering than speeding.

[Adam]

My wife is a pretty good driver and obtained her license via the test that Thais have to. She always tell the police when stopped that she didn't buy her license!!

But she does get quite aggressive with other drivers sometimes.

I am sure we all think we are good drivers, but I do speed when making the regular trips to Swampy as 90kmph seems so pedestrian. We have all seen poor driving on Thai roads, if only they would learn to look in the mirrors that would cut down many accidents.