For safer roads, just get the cops to enforce the law

I have to admit that all 

of the suggestions put for-ward by Sutipunt Bongsununt in his letter to the editor do have merit. However, there was one very large omission in his suggestions. I’m referring to the lack of police presence and the inadequate enforcement of traffic laws. When do you ever see a policeman on the road making sure that drivers abide by the rules? When I travel around Thailand, the only time 

I see police officers is when five or 20 of them are totally screwing up traffic by stopping trucks and motorbikes to check if they are properly licensed or in violation of 

safety regulations. There is also the graft that has recently been exposed in these traffic stops. 

It is ridiculous how the 

traffic laws are disregarded and flaunted by the majority 

of drivers because they know there are no consequences 

to their actions. Everyone knows there is no one enforcing the laws, so they do as 

they please. If the government were truly committed to reducing the number of traffic fatalities, it would be a good idea to re-deploy the police at the useless spot checks to enforce the law on the roads. Surely, with the huge numbers of officers being paid by the taxpayers, there must be some who could be ensuring safer roads.

Robert Townsend