A majority of people say they never try to avoid showing their driving licence when asked to do so by traffic police and disagree with anyone trying to use their rank or influence to do so, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on May 15-16 on 1,251 people of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country.
A majority of respondents -- 68.75% -- said they have a driving licence, while the rest do not.
Asked what they do when asked by traffic police to show their driving licences, a large majority of licence holders -- 88.49% -- said they comply with the request; 10.93% said they first ask the officer about the alleged offence before deciding whether to show their driving licence; 0.34% said they ask about the offence and refuse to show the licence; and 0.12% said they either refuse to show the licence or show only a photocopy.
Asked whether they had ever used their rank or position to avoid getting their driving licence checked, 98.61% of the licence holders said they had never done so; 0.81% admitted they had; and 0.58% said they had never been asked to show their docoments.
Asked to comment on the practice of claiming special privilege by stating their rank or position, 52.04% said it was malpractice; 25.26% said it condones favouritism; 17.11% said the practice is normal in Thai society, but not acceptable; 16.39% said the practice puts law-enforcement personnel in an awkward position; 6.31% viewed it as an acceptable, normal practice in Thai society; and 4.56% said it is a wrongful use of rank and position used for convenience's sake.