Unfortunate accident
Re: "Motorcyclist dies after falling down drain", (BP, May 7).
More lessons learned from the news after a motorcyclist died after falling down an uncovered drain at an underpass in Bangkok. On top of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration not having a proper sign warning about the uncovered drain after the lid was stolen, the following causes of fatalities should be considered:
1) Most overpasses and underpasses in Bangkok are off-limits to motorcycles, thus the ill-fated rider violated traffic law.
2) The news didn't indicate whether the rider was wearing a crash helmet, which is required by law. Most fatal motorcycle accidents are caused by head injuries.
3) Loose law enforcement by police; if the law was strictly enforced by police, this would prevent such tragedies.
James Debentures
It's called a manhole
Re: "Choice of words", (PostBag, May 7) & "Man dies in tube well fall", (BP, May 4)
The word tube well brings up an altogether different image. It has some other specific name: manhole cover or simply manhole, which was rightly used in the May 7 editorial. Khun Thanin's proposition as "access shaft" (PostBag, May 7) seems also not the perfect "choice of words". Manhole ("Hole of tragedy" as the photo caption of May 7 in Op-ed page puts it) brings out at once the full visual image of the object in point.
Maleka Parveen
Dangerous expansion
Re: "Military to practise nuclear tactical weapons scenario," (World, May 7).
Italy's Defence Minister Crosetto says that if Russian troops were to occupy Kyiv, it would inevitably lead to a clash with other nations which would not accept Russian tanks on their borders.
One would assume this could mean an attack by Nato. What hypocrisy!
In fact this is exactly what Mr Putin warned of in 2008, after Nato had incorporated the former communist Eastern Bloc into Nato (between 1999 and 2005) and, if the West was to expand further on Russia.
Burns (director of the CIA and former US ambassador to Russia), of all people, has been warning about the provocative effect of Nato expansion on Russia since 1995.
Last but not least, objectively imagine what the US would do if Russia would encroach on Cuba, Mexico or Canada. Remember the Cuba crisis?
S de Jong
Think of productivity
Re: "Thai Chamber of Commerce blasts govt wage hike plan", (BP, May 7).
Srettha should boost worker productivity before raising minimum wages. Until then, the Thai Chamber of Commerce's right to oppose boosting minimum daily wages to B400 nationwide -- especially as it was just upped to B330-370 (dependent upon the province) on Jan 1.
Thai worker productivity is low due to our skills crisis. Almost two-thirds (64.7%) of our youth and adults can barely read and understand short texts to solve simple problems such as following medical instructions.
Three-quarters (74.1%) of them cannot perform simple tasks such as finding the price of a product on an online shopping website.
We've long neglected education and training that meet real-world needs, as shown by our steady drop in Pisa scores. In addition, firms cannot absorb added costs without compensating profit rises, as our average factory capacity utilisation rate was merely 63.7% as of end-Q1/2023.
Instead of scattering his B10K handout to the four winds for any product desired, Srettha should use it to multiply productivity in specific sectors.
In particular, a third of our labour force is in agriculture, yet farmers account for only 8% of GDP. Give them coupons good only for items like high-yield seeds, farm equipment, or related training.
Burin Kantabutra
