[ChrisGoldstein]

I know that sometimes my wording is pretty plain and I appoligise to those I have offended, I have never been a real diplomat but a construction worker and with to much sugar coating some workers do not understand the true meaning of things, but will try to do better.But it is said that this site is for those that want to know more about Thailand incase they want to come and visit, so why not tell it like it is.
I have only been in Turkey one time and that was years ago and never drove there as it was just a stopover, but did work in Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and Saudi. and their driving does leave something to be desired.
As to Thai Traffic law enforcement, They already have the infastructure in place, They have many policemen that do nothing but set at the policebox and play cards, once in a great while they will put up a roadblock and check a few drivers licenses and registerations but that is not traffic control. They might have a speed trap and you will get a ticket at the next roadblock but never ever is there roving cars checking on infractions altho they do have hyway patrol cars but the only time you see them is when they are running as a blocker for a van load of VIPs and never for the control of people breaking the printed laws.
When ever there is a bus wreck, the driver leaves the scene if he is still alive and can run,And mostly no one is ever sure who was driving, so the control of that is out.
They pass or make new rules all the time, but never enforce them,
Helmets are mandatory on motorcycles, But here only the driver has to have one, In Pattaya everyone on the cycle has to have one, and I bought one for my kid when she goy her drivers license, she wrecked it the first week with another kid on with her, the kid hit her head on the street when they went down, while at the cop shop I asked why the rider as well didnt have to have a helmet, the cop said that they are supposed to have one, BUT they do not enforce that law HERE.
There is 2 new pieces of 4 lane divided roadway between my village and town, there is the regular right turn thrus every few hundred meters with a turn lane on the far right and a safety zone at both ends of the divider where the traffic has already merged into 1 lane, but cars will slow down in this right lane to U turn thru the safety zone and go back, people are running to fast when this happens and have to go over on the left shoulder to get past, and sometimes it is a cycle that wants to turn, traffic is still trying to merge and they will run over the cycle and kill a couple of people or cars will hit light standards and tear them down as they pass, all this has happened right in front of the policebox here at our village, killed 3 people on 1 cycle as they were rammed under the front of a pickup and shoved 200 feet up the road and across to the right shoulder, I asked the cops why the safety zones were not protected, and they said that they did not enforce that law and there has been a lot of wrecks right in front of said box. Plus if someone wants to stop on the other side of the hyway between the turn thrus they will just drive thru to the other side of the divider and drive again traffic for a few hundred meters, This happens all the time, right in front of policemen playing cards at the table outside of the box.
With policemen already hired and on the payroll they should have them working, if they would enforce the laws then there would be fines to pay their wages, which could then be increased if all fines were turned in instead of in the pocket, More on this next time if anyone is interested, but if you live here or have driven here then you know what I am talking about. Thanks