In a bid to curb traffic fatalities during the forthcoming New Year holidays, the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has launched a centre to ensure road safety and accident reduction.
The launch was on Tuesday, ahead of the special holidays, officially beginning today until Jan 4, when the New Year exodus takes place as people return home to provinces to stay with families, or tourists go on holiday. Heading the centre is Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.
The Covid-19 pandemic that hit the country hard earlier this year prompted a lockdown, with the government postponing the Songkran holidays, also known as "seven dangerous days," which gave the impression that traffic fatalities had dropped. That may not necessarily be the case.
In fact, a study by the Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI) published last month demonstrates Thailand's roads are still the deadliest in Southeast Asia and among the worst in the world.
The researcher said the Covid death toll in the last six months, then 60, was equivalent to the number of traffic deaths in just one day.
Although the country has experienced a new surge of Covid-19, the government is reluctant to declare another lockdown for fears of an economic downturn like the previous time. There is little, if any hope, that such an ad hoc centre could make a difference.
Gen Prawit said "the rules would be strictly enforced over the New Year", which is the wrong approach to dealing with this long-standing problem. In fact, traffic rules must be strictly enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There is no exception if the government really wants to make Thailand's roads safer, preventing unnecessary losses which, given that many of those fatal traffic accidents involve people in the workforce, adversely affects the economy. A 2016 study by the TDRI found that traffic deaths resulted in 1.5 billion baht in economic losses.
In fact, a number of accidents over the past several months point towards the recklessness of drivers, as well as Thailand's unsafe road designs which create blind spots that can cause road accidents.
Illegal train crossings that are used by locals are an example. If fixed, the loss of lives can be avoided.
Gen Prawit's guidelines that vehicles "should be checked to see if they are roadworthy and pickup trucks must not carry too many passengers in the bed of the vehicles", are passive suggestions that could prove useless.
The Land Transport Department needs to revamp the way it does things to make sure all poor vehicles, private or public, are safe at all times. The advice regarding the number of people in pickup trucks is too vague, and open to the police's discretion.
At best, the unclear advice would cause headaches, and at worst, allow some bad officers to fatten their wallets.
The sad fact is there are too many loopholes that weaken the government's endeavours in curbing traffic deaths. A number of studies have been made on this matter.
Gen Prawit should take a look so that his centre can make a commitment and map out a comprehensive strategy, integrating work by different agencies, to achieve such a goal.