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Chaos on 2 Wheels!!
Somewhere underneath this shop there’s a motorcycle!
‘Caution: Long Load’. But without the warning sign. |
Who cares about a red light when there’s no police around? |
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Two passengers without helmets. And the licence plate shows it’s a police bike! |
Yes, a picture tells a thousand words and it would all be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic. Thailand has a ‘highway code’, very similar to the British version, but few have ever read it. Chiangmai has traffic police, but few ever see them apart from sporadic daytime checks on helmet wearing.
Across the nation almost 250 people die on the roads every week and over 1,500 are seriously injured. And those are the figures from government hospitals only.
Parents ride along with babies in their arms, people of all ages make and take mobile phone calls at up to 100kph, the sensible one way street system of the city is now virtually ignored and riding without lights at night is commonplace.
Late breakfast? Eating, reading and sleeping passengers are commonplace. |
Why use the road when the sidewalk is empty? |
A biker died againt the tree on the left, and the monks are encouraging the spirit to depart in peace. |
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AT LAST! A policeman strolls across the road to stop a biker, too late to pull his helmet from the basket. |
‘Road-closed’ barriers are invisible to some riders. |
It’s no laughing matter. A night time fatality on Moon Muang Road late last year when 2 bikes collided.
Going so fast along Changklan that he was able to knock over a tuk-tuk and still slide10 meters, it’s unlikely that the rider of this bike would need his sandals any more.
What an example! The motorcycle traffic cop has ridden south on the northbound Moon Muang Road and now turns across the moat.
‘Ordinary’ police have no jurisdiction over traffic and ignore helmetless bikers in Loi Kroh Road late at night.
“It’s a miracle that the figures are not much worse” remarked a member of the British Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents who wishes to remain anonymous.
“I’ve driven cars for thousands of kilometers in Thailand and ridden a motorcycle in Chiangmai for several years. The main danger here is from other motorcyclists who ignore red lights, fail to read the road far enough ahead and never use their mirrors, always assuming they have them.”
“The aspect that shocks me most is the mix of aggression and lack of attention on the part of teenage girl riders. I have the feeling that only very painful accidents will ever grab their attention and, if they survive, help to change their ways.”
The realm has almost all the laws it needs for safe traffic management, but little or no education or enforcement. At a recent conference for foreigners seeking a place in south east
Asia for retirement homes, this topic was cited by 3 resident speakers as being the least attractive aspect of Chiangmai.
So in addition to the grief, pain and misery of the accident victims, the situation risks losing income from abroad in addition to the massive cost to the nation in terms of healthcare and absence from employment.
Road works on Mae Rim road near the Provincial Hall meant that northbound traffic from the ring road had to
U-turn (left of photo) as high speed traffic (background) approaches from the city. Worse! The rider circled in white has driven southbound down the northbound lane and is now crossing 2 lanes of traffic to get to the southbound side. Like most others pictured here - no helmet of course
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Tailpiece. Pity the poor pedestrians!
“If people want to encourage the traffic police to be more active, I’m afraid I can’t help them” says Chiangmai’s popular Lord Mayor, Boonlert Buranupakorn. “They do not come under the control of any other branches of local police, only the head office in Bangkok.”
The address for your letters:
Head of Traffic Police,
National Police Office,
Rama 1 Road,
Pratumwan,
Bangkok 10330.
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