A remarkable 'Thai' request not to have to pay fines
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Wirat Joyjinda, the president of the Soi Khopai community, Deputy Police Chief Pol. Col Chainarong Chai-in let it be known that the residents no longer have options to pay fines. Because tourists stay away and closures of the catering industry due to the covid-19 virus, they no longer have an income.
These are fines for not wearing helmets, speeding, driving in the opposite direction of traffic and driving without a license. Joyjinda called these "minor transgressions" despite the fact that, through March 11, more than 3.200 people have been killed on Thailand's roads this year. The majority are riders of motorbikes (more than the corona virus to date!).
Rather than provide road safety education or information that would help them avoid fines and accidents, Chainarong and his deputies declined to comment on the request, saying they would pass it on to their superiors.
Just as before the virus and its consequences, the police are urging residents to wash their hands and wear face masks to prevent Covid-19 infections, traffic measures should also be made clearer and enforced.
However, police and Joyjinda only signed an agreement to create an enhanced neighborhood program, which would focus on tackling loud, modified motorcycles and keeping tabs on strangers within the community who might be involved in crime.
A typical Thai request to stimulate road safety by not demanding fines for lack of money now!
Source: Pattaya Mail
“These are fines for not wearing helmets, speeding, driving in the opposite direction of traffic and driving without a license.”
If you don't do that, you won't have any fines, right? Or maybe I don't think it's Thai enough... 😉
"not wearing helmets, speeding, driving in the opposite direction of traffic and driving without a license".
And Mr. Joyjinda considers these minor offenses, which should go unpunished for the time being. That kind of misconduct in traffic will probably become epidemic if the police honor this request (which I hope not). As a result, extra road casualties in addition to corona victims.
How does such a man come up with that!
Haha I can't come to; free pass for everything pffft good idea !!!
Thailand has its own epidemic called “Constant Denial”. This Thai epidemic is particularly prevalent around Songkran and at the end of the calendar year. It is then called: The Seven Dangerous Days. This Continuous Denial kills at least 2000 people every month. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-countries-with-the-most-car-accidents.html
If the Thai support it en masse by doing it themselves or accepting the risk, then that is much more important than an opinion from someone from outside the country's borders.
Of course the answer is to be expected, such as suppose that it will happen to your wife, child or I don't know within the family, but that is not the case.
Life is full of risks and the one who doesn't accept this has a bigger problem than the one who does accept how stupid death can come about like a cut in your hand because of a broken glass in combination with a resistant bacteria.
No one says that losing is fun, but being anxious in life has never brought anyone any further, but yes, if you are like that, then that is of course not good for yourself …..and the environment.
In my experience, Thais are less concerned with loss and even less with venting it. They are right because it cannot be changed anyway. And that the same can happen to someone else is irrelevant because they won't help you when you need them either.
Personally, I find this kind of coverage over the edge.
Why a Thai is less concerned with loss, I do not agree.
Their experience of loss is processed differently.
We as Westerners show our emotions more.
The Thai processes it more without the outward emotions, but with loss and long after, the loss of a loved one means just as much.
Being anxious about life?
So if irresponsible driving can lead to an accident or a traumatic experience, then I shouldn't react anxiously or emotionally to reckless driving?
Because that wouldn't be good for my environment.
That makes no sense at all.
Venting an opinion is always allowed, but in the country where people are sighted blind it makes little sense and in addition I think the light-hearted way people deal with life suits me better than the politically correct stuff and so everyone has their own truth.
In Thailand it is constantly denied that it does not matter to get on a moped with a lot of alcohol. This phenomenon is especially manifest during 2 annual moments. Of course it is also your choice to deny that taking responsibility could be a solution and for the sake of convenience you will reason that Thais accept risks more easily. But once we had the same kind of figures in the Netherlands, which were eliminated through information and enforcement. But yes, what does it matter? Everyone likes to believe their own right.
And the Thai are only too happy to believe that they are right. Look at the numbers and the barely any improvements.
I'm not a cultural anthropologist, but you can't deny that the Thai deal with life differently than a Dutch person?
The here and now is more important than the past and the distant future. Maybe that's why it always clashed so much when I was still living in the Netherlands.
Patronization from birth to grave with the sole purpose of being safe and doing work so that the super rich become even richer. They provide healthcare and pension as pocket money, but yes, that's another discussion hhh
I think that due to the almost lockdown there will be many fewer traffic fatalities every day. This is undoubtedly about saving more lives than the number of 5 corona victims. That would argue for a permanent lockdown in Thailand.
The country will of course be much, much better from a permanent lock down: no traffic accidents, no burglaries, no drug trafficking, street dogs are dying out, no tourists, no scams, no som tam pala, no beggars, no more poorly paid work, no more monks early morning, no go-go girls, no more air pollution, no more water pollution, no more money, no more adultery, no murder and manslaughter, no 90-day notice, no more visas, no more corruption, no government, no army, only Thai soaps and football on TV 24 hours a day. Looks like heaven. I will stay here.
It is an illusion to assume that only those who can afford a fine commit an offence. And of course a violation of the speed of a few kilometers per hour or driving against traffic for a short distance does not automatically imply that an accident with (fatal) victims will follow. I agree with Lodewijk that traffic education should take place in schools, among other things, and that driving tests should be scaled up, but offenders will always be kept. Some consciously and others unconsciously. For example, some streets in Pattaya have a ban on turning left and a parking ban for scooters at certain times, on even days on one side and on odd days on the other side. Not everyone, and not just tourists, notices the sign in the maze of traffic signs and the scooters are regularly removed by the police by truck and moments later the owner is dismayed to find his means of transport. Now that more and more Thai residents are less and less able to make ends meet financially, I am in principle not disapproving of minor violations, which hardly compromise road safety, temporarily more often with a warning instead of a fine. And don't think that traffic is only driven against traffic in Thailand. Nowadays, about half of (moped) cyclists in Dutch cities ride on the wrong side of the cycle path and they do not think it is necessary to use lights at night. BramSiam names 5 corona victims. If only it stayed with that number! It goes without saying that the lock down will cause a lot less traffic deaths, but to argue for a permanent lock down now is ridiculous.
5 corona victims is the "official Thai" count! (in hospitals)
It is not said how many uncontrolled corona deceased are cremated.