BMTA action plan needed to cut down on city bus accidents

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) is not doing enough to curb careless driving and, in fact, encourages several practices that make its buses unsafe and costly to operate.

One commentator suggested insurance as a solution; however, requiring accident insurance will do absolutely nothing to reduce the number of accidents. Insurance shifts the financial responsibility for the accident from the driver and concessionaire to an insurance company. In order to get the concessionaire to understand and appreciate his responsibility fully, he must personally suffer a financial penalty, not pass it on to an insurer.

In Thailand it is not the driver who is insured - it is the vehicle. Therefore, as drivers switch between vehicles the premiums do not change and no reduction for safe driving records of individual drivers is possible.

Remove all sticker advertising from bus windows and forbid anything that blocks the driver's vision in any direction. The reason drivers are hitting people and things is because they cannot see them. I seriously doubt the bus driver who hit an old woman on a bicycle last week wanted to kill her - he probably could not see her for all the clutter, stickers and opaque materials on his windshield.

If the BTMA must increase revenues by advertising on the backs of buses, let that advertising cover only non-glass areas of the bus. I agree that buses must be regularly inspected to assure proper maintenance and that safety equipment is in place and working. Pre-drive checklists should be completed by drivers before each trip and an independent garage should regularly check the mechanical condition of the vehicle. Glass and mirrors are the most significant part of the safety equipment of a vehicle. They must be checked by the driver to assure they are clean and he can see everything around him on the road.

Evaluations of drivers must focus on their driving attitude and understanding of safety. All aspects of the driver's vision must be tested regularly. Drivers' physical condition, including reaction time, should be checked regularly.

Above all improvements must be targeted at making the passengers more comfortable and safe. Do not increase the fares - improve the performance of vehicles and their drivers to reduce the costs.

Richard Stampfle

Safe Driver Education Co Ltd

BANGKOK

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TRT did not spare the knives in Chaturon ouster

Re: "Thaksin nominees 'reclaim' TRT from Chaturon", News, July 4.

The seizing of power over the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party on Monday from Chaturon Chaisang by Thaksin Shinawatra's people was anything but gentlemen's politics. Despite Thaksin's appointment of Chaturon as his replacement, the Thaksin loyalists snubbed Chaturon on Monday by gathering at their former headquarters - together with some 300 former ruling party MPs - while Chaturon was scheduled to meet with the press at the party's present office.

The move signalled the end of Chaturon's usefulness for Thaksin. Despite his maverick efforts to fight for the integrity of the former ruling party in a civilised manner (remember him sitting at the Constitution Court ruling on the voting fraud case for 10 hours in Thaksin's place - bearing the brunt of shame for him?), now it's time for Thaksin to show that he is no longer of any use.

Chaturon was wrong on one count, though: he has chosen the wrong political boss.

Chavalit Van

CHIANG MAI

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Thaksin stirring up troubled waters in UK

Anglican bishops in the North of England recently described the region's worst ever floods as God's judgement on the immorality and greed of modern society. The Bishop of Carlisle, the Reverend Graham Dow, stated that people should heed the stories of the Bible - (the very same tome that promotes sexual slavery and murder) - adding that recent British pro-gay legislation, all part of "a general sense of permissiveness", was also to blame for the floods.

One might have expected such high-flying intellectuals to reason further. For example, that maybe the wrath of God was not intentionally directed at the people of the North of England. Maybe God's judgement centred on one man alone. Maybe "The People of the North" were being warned by a compassionate and caring God; maybe it is highly significant that northern England's biggest disaster since World War Two happened concurrently with "The Coming" of Thaksin 'Sinatra' Shinawatra.

Disbelievers of such mumbo-jumbo could be excused for surmising that The People of the North, if their bishops are anything to go by, may be lacking in a brain-cell or two. In fact, that might sufficiently explain why the executive board of Manchester City Football Club has just proudly announced "complete faith" in their owner-to-be.

Whatever one chooses to believe as "The Truth", it seems rational to presume that Manchester City and the ever-dwindling Anglican Church will, together, remain deeply immersed in turbulent and hazardous waters.

John Shepherd

BANGKOK

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City's water is clean, but what about its pipes?

Re: "Put the lid on bottled water", Editorial, July 1.

The article discusses why tap water should be used for drinking rather than bottled water. A great idea, however, the editorial did not raise the issue of the plumbing system that carries the supposedly clean and drinkable water the writer says is available. One of my Thai colleagues, who grew up in Klong Toei, said that everything in the area was dirty, so why should his family expect underground water pipes to be any different?

Does the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority verify that pipes are clean, safe? Does the system meet accepted health standards? I'd like to know.

The editorial didn't broach these points. Perhaps the water is clean at the source, but how about when it reaches one's home faucet?

Another work colleague said this idea to promote drinking tap-water is not a recent campaign; it started two or three years ago. She also questioned the sanitary issue of pipes that deliver the water.

I would like very much to get away from using plastic water bottles, however the article doesn't go far enough to convince me it is safe to drink Thailand's tap-water.

Tom Scott

BANGKOK

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End to compulsory voting would curb vote-buying

Re: "No end in sight to the selling of votes and political sway in Isaan", Letters, July 5.

Egon, the writer of this letter, seems to have taken a minor swipe at me about some previous letter I submitted regarding Thai farmers being basically happy.

It is pointless for me to try and argue happiness with someone who obviously equates the level of income with the level of happiness.

He seems to have come to the conclusion that because some Isaan people will take Bt100 for participating in a political rally, they are incapable of being happy.

I find this interesting because I have always found that no one, be they dirt poor or one of the elite of Bangkok, thinks they have enough money. So it would seem that financial frustration knows no economic or social boundaries.

As for the farmers in Isaan now being dependent on consumer products from outside Isaan, and that being responsible for their debt woes, I don't know what he is talking about. Is he referring to the numerous Mercedes-Benz automobiles on the roads around here? Or the Christian Dior clothing that all the farm kids are attired in?

I have lived with these people for eight years and I assure you they either grow or construct most of what they need for survival. Only the middle class in-town people avail themselves of "outside consumer goods".

Of course a farmer would attend a rally for Bt100. That buys five bowls of noodles, one of the few "outside the village" consumer goods they partake in.

If Egon studied my letters closely, he would also know that I suggested a long time ago that Thailand should cease mandatory voting. Such a move would put an end to voting payoffs because the person offering the bribe could not be certain that the bribe's recipient was even going to vote.

In any event, what this all has to do with happiness is a mystery to me. But its always nice to know that someone with a fictitious name who signs "from Bangkok" has his finger on the pulse of people that I have lived with for eight years and still don't understand. All I know is that they are far more approachable despite their need of that Bt100 for noodles, than the happy people in Bangkok who are need of Bt5,000 on the first of every month for that auto payment.

John Arnone

YASOTHON