Police Box Police Officers

[Big Boy]

I'm talking about the little McDonalds take-away boxes that you find at traffic lights on busy junctions. Why are they manned, and what are the duties of the officers camped inside? I have always thought they were there to ensure smooth traffic flow at busy junctions.

I'm talking specifically here about the box opposite the Tessebahn. I was travelling South through town this morning. On the Northbound carriageway there had obviously been an accident (nothing serious, just a shunt). Of course, in Thailand if you have an accident, vehicles have to be left where they are until an insurance assessor has done his/her thing, or a police officer has assessed the situation, and has said it is OK to move the vehicles.

You can imagine the chaos on the Northbound carriageway (2 lanes of traffic into one). The police officers just stayed inside their box. So what are they doing inside that box?

[PeteC]

Perhaps the switch controls for the stop lights are in there?

[buksida]

The traffic police here are only there to clean up the mess and ensure traffic starts moving again. They don't care who was at fault or who broke the law ... unless there is money involved.

I once witnessed an accident right in front of us on Petchkasem road, a pickup hit a bike. Luckily there was a cop waiting at the intersection who saw the entire thing. He rode around the mess like it didn't exist, and carried straight on. There was a bag of food hanging off his handlebars though so I guess a warm lunch took precedence over doing his job.

I'm sure I'll be told things are different in Issan - but my experiences are similar to yours BB, they are a complete waste of space.

[Big Boy]

The traffic police here are only there to clean up the mess and ensure traffic starts moving again. They don't care who was at fault or who broke the law ... unless there is money involved.

That is my point, I expected them to come out and get the traffic moving. They didn't budge.

Perhaps the switch controls for the stop lights are in there?

So are you suggesting they aren't automated, and an officer is driving them?

[Nereus]

Perhaps the switch controls for the stop lights are in there?

Yes, the lights are switched from inside those boxes. Either manual or automatic.
The "traffic police" are a separate division and turf wars will start just like the monkeys in Lop Buri if one division encroaches on the other.

[PeteC]

If it's one of the more modern boxes (with enough room) there should be CCTV monitors in there as well for the cameras recording activity at that intersection.

[HHTel]

So are you suggesting they aren't automated, and an officer is driving them?

When they get bored with their phone games, they play with their buttons.

You can usually tell when they're on manual. The traffic is worse!

[Big Boy]

Actually, I've often wondered about that. I usually turn right up towards the station. A few times I been sat there ages, with my turn just not happening for a couple of cycles

[Edit[ FFS if they can't automate traffic lights, how on Earth do people expect them to devise these huge all singing, all dancing Big Brother systems people are often scaremongering about?

[Dannie Boy]

The traffic police here are only there to clean up the mess and ensure traffic starts moving again. They don't care who was at fault or who broke the law ... unless there is money involved.

That is my point, I expected them to come out and get the traffic moving. They didn't budge.

Perhaps the switch controls for the stop lights are in there?

So are you suggesting they aren't automated, and an officer is driving them?

I don’t know what time you went by the accident but I passed it about 9.45 and there was a traffic cop taking photos, so albeit he may have taken his time, he did eventually do what you would expect


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[Big Boy]

About 9:30, and it had happened before I got there. I've seen them run out of their box to fleece a Farang for no helmet, so I'm sure one of them could have done something about it sooner.

[PeteC]

I laugh at the lights with the automatic timers and the countdown clock displayed. Inevitably the direction with little traffic gets 1 minute plus of green, and the grid locked direction gets 20 seconds. It's not rush hour related where we have them in action, but usually the long green is the route to city hall or the major police station.

[HHTel]

Back in the day in the UK, when traffic lights broke down, a policeman was put there on 'point duty'. That always caused queues of traffic waiting to be waved through. Switching the traffic lights to manual is the modern equivalent.
The development of traffic light systems cost millions but the average Thai cop knows better!

[migrant]

I think they are there for the busy officers to take a nap