News Forum - Thailand introduces fine for not wearing seat belt in the back seat

[Fanta]

Well... that’s news to me and it explains why some people give me odd looks when I offer them the option of buckling up or walking. 

[KaptainRob]

STOP PRESS:- now available by pre-order, exclusively from our TTOnline shop:-

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Any clamp down on wearing is somewhat negated by a plethora of vehicles with all-around mirror or very dark tinting which no-one can see thru and hides phone users also.

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

7 minutes ago, KaptainRob said:

STOP PRESS:- now available by pre-order, exclusively from our TTOnline shop:-

Left and right designs in all standard sizes from S to XXXL 

Any clamp down on wearing is somewhat negated by a plethora of vehicles with all-around mirror or very dark tinting which no-one can see thru and hides phone users also.

Does that shirt protect you as good as an amulet?

[KaptainRob]

5 minutes ago, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

Does that shirt protect you as good as an amulet?

Well .... it will save you from a fine  but a couple of amulets wouldn't go astray.

[Pj229]

Cars must have seat belts but you  can continue to fill the back of trucks with people without seats or seatbelts 

and motorcycles with side cars will carry more people than the law allows in a regular car to carry

[Bluesofa]

1 hour ago, Pj229 said:

Cars must have seat belts but you  can continue to fill the back of trucks with people without seats or seatbelts 

and motorcycles with side cars will carry more people than the law allows in a regular car to carry

A couple of years ago our esteemed leader 'told' everybody he would no longer allow people to sit in the back of pick-ups.
A day later he backed down due to the nationwide outcry.

[longwood50]

This says all you need to know about Thai logic on traffic safety

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Faz
Image removed.

[thaicm]

I wouldn't get too excited about this law, until the police come out of their air-conditioned sanctuaries and conduct actual traffic enforcement it will simply get tossed on the heap along with all the other traffic laws that are totally ignored.  Too bad, because it's a good law.  I must say however, that there are far more dangerous situations occurring on a daily basis that should probably have been addressed first.  For starters, there's the common sight of an entire family (probably without helmets) riding on Thailand's preferred weapon of death, otherwise known as a motorcycle.

[Mandy]

On 8/10/2022 at 12:47 PM, Venusianhart said:

What about not wearing a condom in the back seat? 

A lifetime of financial pain!

Don't forget the medical expenses for possible diseases 

[Mandy]

I'm an advocate of wearing a seat belt on the roads, my brother wasn't wearing one when the drunk driver crashed, he lost his life, 20 years old, he went straight through the windscreen and into the only tree for miles,  drunk driver walked away and got a slap on the wrist. Yep so I don't drink and drive either!

[petermach]

This law is useless when it is well known that accident and death on road are due to 1)speed  2)alcohol 3) telephone and messaging when driving . Better to  buy speed-radars and breathalyzers and to fine and confiscate temporary vehicles to offenders if recidivist to cancel driving license etc,etc 

[Stevejm]

25 minutes ago, petermach said:

This law is useless when it is well known that accident and death on road are due to 1)speed  2)alcohol 3) telephone and messaging when driving . Better to  buy speed-radars and breathalyzers and to fine and confiscate temporary vehicles to offenders if recidivist to cancel driving license etc,etc 

All that you mention is correct but improvement  overall is achieved by multiple avenues of approach. Rear seat belts primarily affect passenger safety so should be done in parallel with enforcement of laws that work to stop accidents happening in the first place 

[Grant]

On 8/10/2022 at 6:17 PM, TWS60 said:

Interesting to observe Thailand's progression in the public policy/social development spectrum.

Mid/late70s, seat belts weren't a thing in my little world.  Adults in my orbit typically agreed seat belts were useful in the front seat but not the back; common logic being the front seat would restrict/stop the forward momentum of back seat passengers in a collision.  My Uncle man-splained that fact of life as I helped him stuff the lap belts and fasteners out of the way under/behind the back seat.   Riding in the back of an open pick up truck?  You bet!  It was a magical time, back when America was Great, physics was just a theory, and cigarettes weren't the worst thing in the world, yet.

The evil government kicked off their "Make it Click" seat belt campaign, causing wizened adults to scoff about intrusive government overreach at the behest of educated, coastal elites with their fancy university degrees.  Similar moaning about the helmet law.   

Dr. Evil's government brainwashing campaign worked well though.  By the time I was an early teenage sheep learning to drive, fastening seat belts had been programmed firmly into our collective monkey brain.  

Many decades later here in SabaiLand, loaded the wife's parents and a few siblings into our fancy new modern automobile out in the village bubble.  Nobody did the automatic seat belt routine.  Wife told them to buckle up and they all smiled and tittered as they did.   Poor Old Dad was having a hell of a time with his, grumbling about sophisticated Farang know-it-alls and their "so-called" Safety nonsense. 

It was 1970, all over again. 

So is this law for seat belts just a money grab on foreigners?

As Thais ride in the back of Pickups with no belts?

Tuk Tuk’s have no belts?

School children hang outside on buses?

Thais Sit on top of trucks no belts?

what is so important as to making this law without addressing open air vehicles that are more dangerous?

 

 

[Grant]

2 minutes ago, Grant said:

So is this law for seat belts just a money grab on foreigners?

As Thais ride in the back of Pickups with no belts?

Tuk Tuk’s have no belts?

School children hang outside on buses?

Thais Sit on top of trucks no belts?

what is so important as to making this law without addressing open air vehicles that are more dangerous?

More dangerous traffic laws , than back seat belts in cars?

Motorbikes and cars driving on the wrong side of the road?

99% Thais?

Passing on Double lines?

No Helmuts?

Speeding?

why is back seat seatbelts such a thing to concentrate on for safety?

 

 

[Stevejm]

18 minutes ago, Grant said:

So is this law for seat belts just a money grab on foreigners?

The same law applies to foreigners and Thais

[Stevejm]

10 minutes ago, Grant said:

More dangerous traffic laws , than back seat belts in cars?

Motorbikes and cars driving on the wrong side of the road?

99% Thais?

Passing on Double lines?

No Helmuts?

Speeding?

why is back seat seatbelts such a thing to concentrate on for safety?

The things that you mention are all illegal. Enforcement is the issue. If you just stay in resorts you might think that foreigners are being picked on but how many foreigners rent bikes in Thailand and ride like idiots because they have never ridden one before?