Thailand speed limits to be halved?

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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by Spitfire »

You can make the speed limit whatever you like, but until there is meaningful enforcement on the roads and society as a whole starts to give a shit about anything like this, then the authorities can whistle for it.

It's not just one subject like this...it applies to a wide spectrum of things here.

As for this topic though, I agree that the main problem here are motorbikes. Yes, cheap transport for the masses, but woefully unregulated by the authorities, parents plus individuals themselves and through that it's a major red flag when it comes to peoples' safety.

Thing is though, any government that introduces something that is a little too safety minded (like the attempt to restrict how many people are allowed in a pickup etc.) instantly draws the ire of those who inhabit such worlds (often they have large populations too) that rely on exactly being like that. Safety is relative here and doesn't take on the same importance that it does elsewhere, many Asian countries are like this. Many people shun change and we are living in a world of that nature where that [change] is happening fast all the time (even the mafia taxis can't handle something like Uber and just want everything to go along as usual instead of making their service better).

Thailand is not short of laws...just enforcement. There simply isn't the will to do it as it will create too much discourse. Yes, some Thai ministry jobsworth can announce this policy or that..but in reality, once the sound-bite has gone through the media cycle it is just consigned to history and forgotten.

This news story sounds like another offering from "The Ministry of Grand Plans and Lofty Ideas" to me.

Edit - Typos
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by Big Boy »

RCer wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:15 pm
Big Boy wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:52 pm
kendo wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:45 pm They also need to get serious about tackling drink driving.
They need to do a lot of things, but it won't happen until there's a proper police force, and proper deterrents. I was genuinely caught speeding once (many times where it's been a figment of the BIB's imagination). The fine was 400 Baht, paid at the Post Office. I don't normally drive fast anymore, but 400 Baht is a joke.
BB,

To you 400 baht is a pittance. To my wife who earned 10,000 baht a month and was actually considered a skilled and therefore highly paid worker in Phetchabun, it would have been more than a day's wage.

Try taking a day's wage away from a minimum wage worker in the US and the Liberals will lose their minds.
Yes, it's not much to me. Problem is, it isn't really that much to Thais either.

A day's wages if they're caught. However, I can predict with great accuracy where the revenue collection points are in Hua Hin, and at what times. I'm not a genius, so I guess most Thais know as well. If a Thai sees a road block ahead, they'll normally turn around and drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid the fine. A local has to be pretty stupid to get caught. In the unlikely event they are caught, it will be a lot, but not enough to make them think twice about doing it again.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by buksida »

Surely the speed restrictions proposed in the OP should be for cars/pickups on the highways where most of the horrific life ending accidents occur, and not really relevant to mopeds poodling around towns.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by oakdale160 »

Of course it should Buksida, would you stop torturing yourself with logical thinking, and stop calling us all Shirley!
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by Takiap »

Big Boy wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:48 pm
RCer wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:15 pm
Big Boy wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:52 pm
They need to do a lot of things, but it won't happen until there's a proper police force, and proper deterrents. I was genuinely caught speeding once (many times where it's been a figment of the BIB's imagination). The fine was 400 Baht, paid at the Post Office. I don't normally drive fast anymore, but 400 Baht is a joke.
BB,

To you 400 baht is a pittance. To my wife who earned 10,000 baht a month and was actually considered a skilled and therefore highly paid worker in Phetchabun, it would have been more than a day's wage.

Try taking a day's wage away from a minimum wage worker in the US and the Liberals will lose their minds.
Yes, it's not much to me. Problem is, it isn't really that much to Thais either.

A day's wages if they're caught. However, I can predict with great accuracy where the revenue collection points are in Hua Hin, and at what times. I'm not a genius, so I guess most Thais know as well. If a Thai sees a road block ahead, they'll normally turn around and drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid the fine. A local has to be pretty stupid to get caught. In the unlikely event they are caught, it will be a lot, but not enough to make them think twice about doing it again.
Well said BB. I doubt there are many Thai driving around in cars/pickups who only earn 10,000 baht per month. Maybe up in the sticks, but most Thais in and around cities earn more than that these days.

Also, as you have said, locals are pretty good at avoiding fines lol. A good example would be the days when the police gather outside HH Commercial College to fine kids arriving with no helmets. On such days, virtually every student arrives with their helmet on - mobile phones are great. :laugh:

Personally, in the 16 or 17 years I have been here, I have never seen anyone being stopped for speeding, although I do know that it does happen at times.

Despite the way things are here, I would hate Thailand to become a police state like most countries in Europe. I would however like it if they clamped down on underage drivers, particularly school kids on motorbikes.

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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

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Big Boy wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:48 pm
RCer wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:15 pm
Big Boy wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:52 pm
They need to do a lot of things, but it won't happen until there's a proper police force, and proper deterrents. I was genuinely caught speeding once (many times where it's been a figment of the BIB's imagination). The fine was 400 Baht, paid at the Post Office. I don't normally drive fast anymore, but 400 Baht is a joke.
BB,

To you 400 baht is a pittance. To my wife who earned 10,000 baht a month and was actually considered a skilled and therefore highly paid worker in Phetchabun, it would have been more than a day's wage.

Try taking a day's wage away from a minimum wage worker in the US and the Liberals will lose their minds.
Yes, it's not much to me. Problem is, it isn't really that much to Thais either.

A day's wages if they're caught. However, I can predict with great accuracy where the revenue collection points are in Hua Hin, and at what times. I'm not a genius, so I guess most Thais know as well. If a Thai sees a road block ahead, they'll normally turn around and drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid the fine. A local has to be pretty stupid to get caught. In the unlikely event they are caught, it will be a lot, but not enough to make them think twice about doing it again.
If you were stopped for speeding at a road block, you had to be really going fast and not noticing the line of cars in front of you jamming on the brakes.

When you said "proper police force", I thought you were referring to police in cars and on bikes stopping people for violating traffics. Using high tech stuff like their own certified speedometer to determine how fast their target is moving and then writing it on the violation. Then the violation would be addressed in a traffic court.

No paying fines on the spot.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by Big Boy »

RCer wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:47 am If you were stopped for speeding at a road block, you had to be really going fast and not noticing the line of cars in front of you jamming on the brakes.

When you said "proper police force", I thought you were referring to police in cars and on bikes stopping people for violating traffics. Using high tech stuff like their own certified speedometer to determine how fast their target is moving and then writing it on the violation. Then the violation would be addressed in a traffic court.

No paying fines on the spot.
Apart from the one genuine time I was caught speeding - every other occasion has been a figment of the officer's imagination at a police road block. It got to the stage where Mrs BB was starting to take the BIB side and call me stupid. I then set my SatNav to sound an alarm if I was speeding. I momentarily broke the speed limit to demonstrate the alarm. After that I stayed within the limits. Sure enough, about 50 miles later I was stopped for speeding - this time Mrs BB really chewed the officer up, and no fine was paid. I have never paid the toll fee for driving too fast on Thailand's roads since. However, there was apparently one time the police had supposedly tracked me driving on the hard shoulder from Hua Hin to Bangkok :? . They confiscated my licence, and held it ransom until a fee was paid. I wouldn't dream of blocking the hard shoulder here or anywhere else.

I must say, I've never had a problem with Hua Hin's police.

By proper police force, I mean a force that goes out to prevent crime, not just sit at a road block waiting for the crime to come to them.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by Spitfire »

I don't drive fast here ever as it's asking for it. However, I've not had any problems at all from the police farce since I installed an obvious dashcam on the inside of the windscreen...just get waved through every time (probably as none of them want to end up on YouTube).
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by STEVE G »

I think when they are talking about city speed limits, they're referring to Bangkok or somewhere because it's very hard to get up to 40kmh in Hua Hin, let alone 80.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by sateeb »

I may well be wrong but it may also refer to small villages etc, you often see signs that state "City limit, please reduce speed" or along those lines. The definition of City may well be "lost in translation" as I do remember an ex girlfriend constantly referring to her home town as a city when in fact it was a small village.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by HHTel »

I remember the sign going past Puktien a few years ago. It said:
"City Limit.
Please Induce Speed"!

I pointed it out to the local police box who initially didn't believe me. However 'Induce' was changed to 'Reduce' some weeks later.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by StevePIraq »

One reason it will not work to enforce speed limits and other issues in Ting Tong Land is the government and ALL of it's agencies do not wish to hurt the citizens, i.e do not want to hit them with big fines or confiscating vehicles etc.
The majority of Thais are poor and have no way to pay large fines and taking away there only means of transport would inflict too much harm on the people.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

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STEVE G wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:00 pm I think when they are talking about city speed limits, they're referring to Bangkok or somewhere because it's very hard to get up to 40kmh in Hua Hin, let alone 80.
Having just renewed my driving license I had to endure the video, ding dongs and all. According to the video there are only two cities with defined speed limits and they are Bangkok and Pattaya all other cities, towns, villages are classed as outside of BKK and Patts
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by STEVE G »

sateeb wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:08 pm I may well be wrong but it may also refer to small villages etc, you often see signs that state "City limit, please reduce speed" or along those lines. The definition of City may well be "lost in translation" as I do remember an ex girlfriend constantly referring to her home town as a city when in fact it was a small village.
Yes, I meant speed causing a problem but I've seen those signs, somewhere out to the west off the Pulau U road, there are two "City limit" signs either side of about ten houses at one place.
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Re: Thailand speed limits to be halved?

Post by T.I.G.R. »

"You can make the speed limit whatever you like, but until there is meaningful enforcement on the roads and society as a whole starts to give a shit about anything like this, then the authorities can whistle for it", I quote Spitfire.

***********************************************************************

No need to go further! There isn't one stinking cop on traffic enforcement in this area. You can see it clearly in the way IDIOTS drive here. I won't speak for the rest of Thailand but I can't imagine other than Bangkok and the larger metropolitan areas it is any different.

As I drove into Cha Am this morning from seven miles south, doing about 104 kmh, I was the slow one.....not unusual and not unexpected. People are seemingly driving faster and faster; with no -one stopping them, why not? There must be a million of Thailand's "best" waiting around to close the roads and manage traffic when the Royal Family drives back and forth to Bangkok..........where the hell do all those people go once the caravan has passed them?

If the government was smart, even one of them, they could count up the potential speeding and reckless driving and following too closely ticket revenues beyond anyone's wildest expectations.......enough for all the high speed rail projects of their dreams.

Again: IDIOTS. And I really mean that.
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