FOR THE EXPAT IN ALL OF US! ISSUE 421 17th March 2017
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15 HOURS TRAINING TO BE NEEDED BEFORE DRIVING LICENCE GIVEN
•A •new plan put forward by the Land Transport Department to try and improve the standard of driving THAILAND
in Thailand has been agreed to in principle by the cabinet, and may become law later this year. The plan was outlined this week by Sanit Phromwong, director-general of the Land Transport Department, and requires an applicant for a driver’s licence to have passed a training course of at least 15 hours at a certified driving school. The plan also includes a cap on how much the school may charge for the course, which has been set at no more than 6,000 baht. Previously potential drivers only needed four hours of training, which was increased to five on 1st January this year. Mr Sanit added that there are ninety certified driving schools nationwide where the courses can be taken, and their systems are linked electronically with the department’s. “After the cabinet approved in principle the draft regulation, the Council of State will scrutinise it and returned the vetted version to the Transport Ministry. It will then be published in the Royal Gazette in which the effective date is set, most likely within this year,” he said. While the measure is unlikely to affect foreigners who already hold licences from their own country, it must be assumed that those without any licence will need to take and pass the requisite course, as well as the tests that are part of the licence application process. While the measure is welcome, it has to be hoped that further measures to improve existing drivers’ behaviour will also be undertaken, as well as stricter enforcement of some of the most common dangerous manouevres and practices seen here, such as driving on the wrong side of the road, tailgating, poor lane discipline, infrequent use of mirrors, indicators and eyes, and ignoring red stop lights and signs.