Cut the roadblocks and get police out on the road

I’ve stated it before, I’m stating it again: Create a highway patrol force and train it to move about rather than sit under a tarpaulin at a joke of a roadblock. Enforce every law with fines so significant that the entire country will be abuzz with the news and understand the cost of non-compliance.
Speeding: Bt1,000.
Exceeding speed limit by more than 20kph: Bt2,000.
Riding on wrong side of road: Bt1,000.
Tailgating: Bt2,000.
Motorcycles passing on left side: Bt1,500.
Overtaking on bends: Bt5,000 plus 30-day driving ban.
Crush commercial transport services with restrictions that mean non-compliance has a direct and heavy impact on revenue and profits. From monthly vehicle road-worthiness inspections (failed brakes?) to regular sobriety checks, GPS/speed detection devices on all vehicles with feeds to highway patrol plus automatic ticketing for each infraction. Imagine the cash-cow revenues that could be realised. 
Now must go drive a friend to Big C in my inimitable white-knuckled, 180-degree-bobblehead fashion. 
AlphMichaels
Shocking and disgraceful that despite the government’s “best” efforts the numbers killed keep rising. Aside from the obvious total lack of traffic law enforcement, the article is entirely correct in asserting that Thai people have totally the wrong mindset when it comes to driving. Laws don’t apply to them and they will drive fast, recklessly and drunk, and fat chunks of them think that it is fate that kills people not poor driving. It is that attitude that needs to change, but it is unlikely to do so quickly, if ever.
darksidedog
I think there is still some confusion regarding the under-reporting of statistics. For example, they may only be counting those found on the road dead (FORD) and not those who subsequently pass away from injuries.
On the plus side, the percentage of people who believe road survival/death is up to “fate” (the “add more amulets” crowd) is down to 32 per cent from 50 per cent just a few years ago. So that’s progress.
mtls2005
I presume a large percentage of accidents are motorbikes colliding with cars or pickups. Maybe a step in the right direction would be to separate them. Bikes only for small sois and suburbs plus dedicated bike lanes on major roads. It works on the expressways as bikes are not allowed.
Peterw42
When I travel long distances, I don’t see a police presence on roads – either on bikes or in vehicles. When I do see them, they pay no
mind to the traffic around them, meaning you can fly by them speeding and you’ll not get stopped. A lot more police cars and bikes are needed to patrol the roads keep drivers honest, stopping and searching for alcohol and drugs use, and imposing heavy fines on the spot for badly behaving drivers. Put the fear in the hearts and minds of all drivers: a show of force is urgently needed, not just the occasional roadblock.
ezzra
Congratulations, PM Prayut, for this deplorable achievement. Take a bow!
The self-appointed PM has made himself responsible for everything in Thailand. As such the buck stops with him for the road toll, simply because he has NOT enforced that those with the authority do something positive to reduce the toll. 
If the police spent more time doing their jobs instead of gazing at their smartphones or posing in groups for self-congratulatory photo-shoots then maybe some lives would be saved.
Cadbury 
It is not just PM Prayut – this has been going on long before him and has become part of Thai culture. What is needed is a much better approach than just road checkpoints. Police should be out patrolling the roads in cars and on bikes, with much higher fines imposed and paid to a central authority and not to individual officers who can pocket the money. 
There are two separate issues here.
1: The lack of police on the roads patrolling and issuing tickets. 
2: Corruption in the police force. Both these issues need to be fixed and then the numbers might drop.
YetAnother