OPINION

Warship retrieval

Re: " 'B100m' is needed to salvage warship," (BP, Jan 13).

My questions are: What is the purpose of the operation? Is it to determine the cause of the sinking or an intent to salvage equipment and/or reuse the vessel?

If the intent is to be able to reuse equipment and the vessel, l would suggest this is not a sensible move as all electronic equipment, engines and generators will have been affected by saltwater and given it could be another two months before the salvage operation begins, there will be further deterioration of all such equipment to render it useless.

If the intent is to determine the cause of the sinking, there are methods to perform this activity with the use of underwater cameras used by experienced divers plus the RTN investigation team discussing the matter with the ship's crew.

According to theories shared online, a naval vessel is normally designed to be capable of operating for 40 years.

This assumes all maintenance is performed in accordance with instructions provided by the shipbuilder and various equipment providers. In addition, naval vessels are designed to operate up to Sea State 5 and, in some cases, Sea State 6.

These are defined terms and include such definitions as the height of waves.

The question is, what was the declared sea state on the night of the sinking?

Was the precautionary step, such as the closure of all deck watertight hatches, properly taken? The inquiry body should be able to determine this.

Weedy impasse

Re: "Weed bill sees rivals take high ground," (Opinion, Jan 23) and "Medical weed needed" (PostBag, Jan 20).

I wish good luck to Mateo Hevezi in his Jan 20 letter making a quest to have cannabis legalised in this country for both medical and non-medical purposes.

After all, Veera Prateepchaikul makes clear in his opinion's piece that two main parties, Pheu Thai and Move Forward, along with the Democrats, have now banded together to make sure the bill to legalise cannabis does not pass its second reading.

Whether it's due to high moral imperatives or just plain political manoeuvring, those parties have declared the bill legalising marijuana flawed since it runs the risk of allowing Thai youth to smoke the substance for mere recreational purposes.

Our lawless roads

Re: "Right of Way," (BP, Jan 25) and "Rid roads of unsafe van," (Editorial, Jan 25).

I have just been reading about fines for failing to stop at a crosswalk being increased to 4,000 baht.

How on earth are they going to police the violation and enforce this penalty? The main problem is Thai road users are not educated in road traffic laws.

Another tragic accident this week in Korat where 11 people were killed after a public passenger van crashed and burst into flames.

These public passenger vans should have emergency exits in the centre.