Time for punitive measures on drivers
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What you normally see on the roads are new cars with tinted windows with just one person in the car.
To relieve traffic congestion, the police want to punish old-car owners by charging them the same licence fee as for new cars, and thereby force them off the streets. But that could have the opposite result – older cars now in even worse shape because, after this clever plan, owners have less money for maintenance.
What about going after the real bottlenecks – the terrible result of the first-car scheme and the many cars without passengers? How are you going to tame and civilise people and get them not to fill up the streets with their “one-man cars”?
Should cars bought under the first-car scheme only be allowed in Bangkok on Saturdays and Sundays? Should cars with only a driver in the vehicle be banned? Calculate a fee that is hefty enough to bring a change in behaviour.
The story is the same all over the world: punish or regulate the weaker members of society and let the wealthy go free. Money trumps wisdom.
A Johnsen
Chon Buri
