Thai social media has gone ballistic about plans to massively increase fines for not having a driving license.
Thais have deemed it nothing short of highway robbery, an excuse to rob money from the poor.
In addition they have slammed the proposals as playing into the hands of the police giving them an excuse to extort more money from road users.
While people including a top online lawyer are demanding:
Have any studies been done? Will it work in reducing road accidents?
And,specifically, will it stop drunk drivers?
The message is clear: the answer to all these questions in the hearts and minds of a weary Thai public is a resounding “No way!”
Protest banners were going up everywhere on social media, they said, saying that plans to fine people 50,000 baht rather than the current 1,000 baht were robbery pure and simple.
Demanding fines of 10,000 baht for being unable to present a license were just as bad, Thais were saying.
People were complaining that the police would just extort more money.
Others were complaining more about the long and misguided process in getting a license. Yet more said it would have zero affect on road accidents.
And it would have a similar lack of effect in deterring the real menace – drunks on the road.
Online lawyer Ratchaphon – who runs the Sai Trong Kotmai page – said that the new laws were an attempt to scare the public into obeying the law.
Bangkok’s top traffic cop agreed that it was a scare tactic in an earlier interview revealed on Thaivisa. But unlike the Thai public he denied it would lead to more bribery and corruption and defended his “honest and upright” officers.
Lawyer Ratchaphon wondered if it was really going to work or whether like countless campaigns in the past it would flounder due to “interpretation” and lack of viable enforcement.
He also joined in the chorus of complaints asking whether any study had been done to see if it would actually have any effect in reducing accidents.
His message and that of thousands of others was clear.
No it wouldn’t.
Times comment:- We pointed out the obvious pitfalls in the original article but yet again people continue to miss the point. Going on about drink driving is never going to lower the accident rate. Most accidents occur between 4pm and 8pm, not popular drinking hours with working Thais. It is the poor standard of driving and speed that are the root cause of accidents.
Not having a license does not help either. There is no excuse for not having a driving license.
If you want to avoid getting fined ………GET A LICENSE ! The lawyer mentions “open to interpretation”, how is that true? It’s seems pretty black or white. You either have a license or you don’t.
As we have stated, the fines are too high but there is no excuse for this moral indignation. EVERYONE who drives should have a license.
(Source:-Daily News)