Stop renting cars, motorcycles to tourists without licences

It is high time these police were stopped from harassing tourists! Why use a lot of money to lure tourists to Thailand and then let the police destroy it all by harassing them in such a way that they never want to come back again?

Given the importance that traffic police attach to international driving licences/permits, car and motorcycle rental companies should be banned from renting to any foreign visitor who cannot produce one. This is a rigorously enforced law in many other countries. But here, rental companies are allowed to cash in by unlawfully renting vehicles to tourists without licences. Then the police and state can cash in by fining these same tourists. 

The authorities must stop this madness, either by cracking down on the rental companies or by accepting national, rather than international, driving licences. Otherwise you risk igniting frustration and even rage among tourists. Harassed foreigners will naturally wonder whether all Thai motorcyclists really have a valid licence gained after driving lessons and an exam. This begs the questions as to who are the dangerous drivers the police should go after, and what traffic problems do an international driving permit solve in a land with the second-highest number of traffic-related accidents and death in the world?

A North Country Man

Chon Buri