OPINION

Call them to account

Re: "Horror crash spurs action", (BP, Sept 30).

My heart goes out to the loved ones of the 13 Sisaket Technical College students killed last weekend, and the five seriously injured. This tragedy was easily preventable, however, as riding on a pickup tray is illegal to begin with, and the driver apparently was not only speeding but drunk. Despite this he was able to drive from Sri Sa Ket to Samut Prakan without any cop stopping him.

Citizens must be politically aware and active, constantly pressuring the government to do their duty if they are to stay in power. The House of Representatives has a transport committee, whose members include Nikorn Chamnong, a road safety advocate -- contact him.

Who is the top cop in charge of road safety? What are the leading Thai NGOs on this subject?

The vast majority of road fatalities involve motorcycles and drinking under the influence of alcohol. What ideas do these organisations have, including those learned from elsewhere? Publicise what's worked, and learn from what hasn't. For example, in 2016, the junta suddenly banned riding on pickup trays shortly before the holidays. This unsurprisingly triggered a strong backlash -- not targeted at the order itself, but at the very short notice. So, this year, why not give, say, six months' notice, and enforce the ban vigorously?

Give lavish (but inexpensive) public recognition to precincts with the greatest improvements in road safety records, and ensure the accident rate is a key performance index for the people involved.

We citizens reap what we sow; hence, we should be constantly politically active in backing our NGOs and representatives to make our roads safe.

Re: "Plight of 'little ghosts'", (BP, Sept 29).

According to the article, over "140,000 of the 200,000 illegal workers in South Korea are Thais". Further, a mere 25,000 of Thais are in the aforementioned nation legally.

After reading this, one can only say "wow". Thais complain about us foreigners making trouble in their country; well, let me tell you, this pales in comparison to the problems that they have created in South Korea.

A lot of the problems can be attributed to the fact that Thais are now able to stay in South Korea for three whole months upon arrival. This makes me wonder why Thai Immigration cannot let us stay here for the same period of time, rather than for only a month?

It should also be noted that South Koreans are able to stay here for six months upon arrival, so the reciprocal visa agreement between the two countries is hardly fair. And it would not at all surprise me if the South Korean government eventually moves to lower the visa-on-arrival period for Thais to only one month if things do not improve quickly, which would probably cause the Thai government to respond in kind and lower the amount of time that South Korean tourists can legally stay here in the kingdom.

Re: "Trains can remedy city's ills, says Prayut", (BP, Oct 1).

Yes, "Trains can remedy city's ills", as Prime Minister Gen Prayut says. But the key factor is the cost of a ride, which is higher per kilometre than in other countries. Unless the fare system is lowered to a limit and regulated and kept low, Bangkokians and others who might ride these trains will instead opt for buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, or walking. So build on, Gen Prayut. Have a grand public rail transit system in Bangkok. It will be beautiful, but hardly used.