Police crackdown on use of phones, TV by drivers

[buksida]

People who watch movies or talk on their mobile phones while driving may face negligence charges, police said yesterday.

Metropolitan Police deputy chief Pol Maj-General Worasak Noppasitthiporn said: "The police plan to launch a campaign against watching TV and talking on mobile phones while driving in order to cut down on road accidents."

Worasak said the law prohibiting the use of mobile phones while driving had not been strictly enforced, and police often turned a blind-eye to motorists who watch television.

"These habits distract commuters and cause accidents," traffic police chief Pol Maj-General Uthaiwan Kaewsaard said. "There is no law against watching TV while driving, but motorists can be charged with negligent driving.

"The traffic police plan to revise and amend traffic laws that have been in force since 1979," he added.

A motorist known as Kai said: "I agree that if they fix the laws it will benefit everybody, helping them drive safely."

Kai's car has a DVD player, though he says he only uses it to listen to music. However, he did admit to watching movies sometimes during long journeys.

"The police should strictly enforce laws and not take bribes. Then the laws will be effective," he advised, referring to the prohibition on using mobile phones that has been in place for a long time, but drivers could still be seen talking on the phone while behind the wheel.

Source: The Nation

Thought: Good news, though how they are going to enforce this is beyond me.

[Terry]

Yep

Great idea but methinks just another nice little earner for the BIB

[Takiap]

Well, I can't see them following through with this, but it would be nice if they did. TV/DVD screens in a car should be illegal if you ask me, and if you get caught using a mobile phone while driving, they should just confiscate the car and sell it at auction, or put it through the crusher. I've had a few near misses because of drivers that were yapping away on their phones, both Thai and Farang.

[dtaai-maai]

Thought: Good news, though how they are going to enforce this is beyond me.

Exactly.

[STEVE G]

Thought: Good news, though how they are going to enforce this is beyond me.

Exactly.

Ask for money, the same as every other motoring offence? Catching people watching TV in Bangkok traffic jams will be really easy!

[usual suspect]

Yeah right..will the police still be turning a 'blind eye' to drivers of BKK registered cars in HH as is the norm when they double-park outside Starbucks, Pizza Express, or RIGHT on a junction where the kerb is painted red/white etc, do U-Turns next to the prohibition-sign at red-lights, while the MIB look on.. will this 'new law' come under the same 'new' police ruling that says RICH speeding drivers will not be tolerated on expressways when they are racing each other..??
Have the police got some new gizmo that can see thru' black glass..is that not the prime reason for darkened windows..annomosity?
Is it not amazing what promises & new rulings come to light when elections are looming..??

[margaretcarnes]

Is it not amazing what promises & new rulings come to light when elections are looming..??

Same same anywhere US - I think Cameron trained in Thailand

[Takiap]

No, not easy to enforce laws like this, but it would be nice if they could. Of course police could check your phone to see when last you made or received a call. If you got to the end of a toll road and your phone shows you made a call three minutes ago, you obviously made that call while driving.

Of course that's never going to happen though, but I have read mention of car manufacturers adding in gizmos that would essentially block calls except those being made to emergency services. TV/DVD monitors on the other hand, should simply be banned in vehicles. In fact, I can't believe they were ever allowed in the first place.

[advocate]

I'm ok with TV in a vehicle, but only if it is in a fixed position so only rear seat passengers can see it. The crazy idea that it should be for driver use just boggles the mind. They should be towed away on the spot, and the TV removed and confiscated.

I would never ride in a taxi if the "driver" was also watching TV.

Phone use is bad enough in a car, but to use one on a motor bike is lunacy.

[dom77]

As if anything will be done! I have seen several near misses due to the fact that the songtiews park on red and white stripes blocking the view of cars and pedrestrians trying to exit a condo in Takiab. The so called police station is only a few metres away and they(police) do sweet FA

[kendo]

Why do they sale car radio's with pop up TV's our friend Toy has one in his mini van but told me he only watch it when he is not driving.

I only see this as a money spinner for the cops Thai's have very little regard for safety and even less compassion for their fellow humans.

My brother in law was hit from behind off his moped and the car did not stop he was just left for dead in the road, the only thing that saved his bacon was the fact that i had given him a full face crash helmet from the UK.
He told me he was only wearing it because he did not want to get any darker skin.

A monk told the police a description of the car and they caught him 2km up the highway with a flat tire, the man in qestion was a school teacher, he was so drunk he could not even stand up properly.

Kendo.

[VincentD]

They've been trying to implement the mobile phone thing for years.

What happened was that people went to using earphones (the so-called hands-free at the time) and now those bluetooth thingies you stick in your ear. I myself got a wired hands-free for my Nokia 101 (yes, it was that long ago). Apparently making a call while driving and using a hands-free attachment is not illegal to do.

Re the in-dash TV fad.
Apparently everything these days is touch-screen activated - flavour of the month so to speak. It probably doesn't cost the manufacturers much more to include TV and video playback capability, especially if said function will help sell more sets. So you see a proliferation of these aftermarket add-ons.

I think it's more a matter of getting the collective mindset together. Banning alcohol, for example, does not reduce drunkeness, any more than restricting sales to certain hours prevents it. Same with watching tv while driving. The mindset needs to be changed.

Kendo - sorry to hear about your brother in law, but I think the accident was due to drunk driving rather than mobile phone usage? Bugger should have the book thrown at him.

As an afterthought...
Was actually considering buying one of the in-dash displays that has GPS capability. The one I have stuck on my windscreen has this bad habit of becoming unstuck at the most akward moments. Unfortunately the system comes with the ability to watch tv and play dvds and isn't much use if the map screen can only be viewed in the back... Decisions, decisions...

[PeteC]

It is a mindset thing. The Pajero Sport we have has a rear seat DVD player but the DVD goes into the front dashboard Alpine unit and then plays on both, you can't avoid it playing in the front if the kids want to watch it in the back. Doesn't bother me at all and not even tempted to glance at it. It's kind of like listening to a radio story. Now, if it was something like "Debbie Does Dallas" or similar, I'd probably drive into a pole within the first mile. Pete

[VincentD]

Showing your age, Pete? That was back in the Sony Betamax era...

[av8er]

When I was working in Bangkok a few years ago, there was a running theme that my Thai colleagues wanted me to give them a comical English nickname.With some people, the nickname just seems to find them: tall people called "tiny" for example.Other people somehow just don't inspire anything immediately. I had one colleague who had a DVD player in the dash of his car, but thought that wasn't enough, so he installed a karaoke machine as well. He hardly drank at all, so alcohol wasn't a factor in the 6 crashes he had in 4 months. the nickname? "Crash!!"