The year began with the usual spike in holiday traffic crashes, leading policy-makers and activists into a fresh debate over road safety.
Cars prepare to enter the obstacle course at the Land Transport Department’s driving test. Few drivers pass at their first attempt. (Photo by Thanarak Khunton)
The debate has renewed the focus on driver's licences for private, four-wheeled vehicles, which make up much of traffic on the roads. Driver licensing, despite improvements in the process, appears to fall short of making the roads safer.
Figures for vehicle registrations in the kingdom show just how large is the portion of private vehicles on the roads.
There were 35.7 million registered vehicles in November. Of them, 7.2 million were private cars, and 580,727 of those were registered last year.
There was a time when a driver's licence for private vehicles as well as motorcycles could be processed in one day in a system where the judgement of state officials determined who passed or failed licence application tests.
The process was criticised by some for not being tough enough to produce qualified drivers, while state officials' discretion in testing could open a loophole to corruption.
The Department of Land Transport (DLT) apparently took stock of the criticism and tightened the process. But it remains to be seen whether the improvements are enough to keep licences out of the hands of unskilled drivers with poor street judgement.
Before the new licence-granting system was launched in 2004, successful applicants were issued with a licence the same day they applied.
They sat for a written test in the morning and if they passed it, they went on to take a driving test in the afternoon. Earn a passing score, get a provisional licence.
The written portion of the exam mainly tested applicants on their knowledge of road rules and signs and basic traffic laws.
The practical test puts applicants through several obstacle courses; successful completion was left to the discretion of the DLT officials.
Often, the officials used rulers to measure the distance from the parked vehicle to the kerbside. If it was too far, the applicant would fail.
Now, the driver's licence application contains three segments: The written and practical tests were preceded by a mandatory four-hour, pre-test briefing to educate applicants about the dangers of unsafe driving.
The briefing is done in the morning and spills over into early afternoon, to be followed by a written test.
If the applicant passes the written test, he or she will be given a driving test the following day.
If he or she fails the written test, the applicant will have to book a time for a re-test. It is a wait of at least three days for a re-test if they fail the driving test. Gone are the days of a one-day licence issuance.
Unlike the paper exam of the past, the written test is now computerised. They use a touch screen monitor to key in their answers for the 50 questions.
An applicant must answer 45 questions, or 90%, correctly, up from 75% last year.
For the practical exam, the DLT has introduced the so-called e-drive method where the obstacle courses are equipped with sensors, which override the supervision of officials. The system delivers an instant result and announces aloud whether the applicants have passed or not.
According to the DLT, only about 15% of applicants pass both written and driving tests in their first attempt.
Driver’s licence applicants sit a written test of multiple choice questions. The test is computerised and applicants know if
The adoption of machines may have taken over much of the human work and made the application process faster, more efficient and less susceptible to graft.
However, both the written and practical tests currently gauge applicants' driving knowledge and skills but not their attitude and decision-making ability on actual roads.
Chairat Pornsavat, chief of the driving division, Bangkok Transport Office, said the DLT plans to make more changes to applicant screening.
The written test will in the future incorporate an extended session where applicants sit through a simulated program which subjects them to a variety of road hazard situations.
They will be scored based on how well they handle the simulated events. The program could be introduced as early as 2017.
Ideally, a driving test on a real road, which is compulsory in many countries, should be made a requirement as well, Mr Chairat said. However, that may not be ready for launch any time soon.
He said the DLT is not confident enough to put untested drivers on real roads, even if they are accompanied by an examiner.
"There are limitations. What roads should the applicants take? How congested will those roads be? What if the applicants were involved in an accident? These must be taken into consideration," he said.
But most crucial of all, Mr Chairat said, was how the public would react to a real road driving test being added to the application process.
He said people should feel a sense of pride from earning a licence.
Striking a balance in tests
Varameth Vichiensan, of the Faculty of Engineering at Kasetsart University, said earning a driver's licence represents the first step towards road safety.
"The driver's licence is only one of the mechanisms conducive to a safer road," he said.
There are other crucial elements, such as roadside spot checks of drivers and tests of their driving quality.
Mr Varameth agreed the driver's licence application should be more exacting. Currently, the process tests only limited aspects of driving proficiency.
He said applicants should be put through a hazard perception exam, in which they are subject to a series of simulated road safety response tests.
For example, they may be confronted with an image of children crossing the road in front of them. The applicants have a split-second decision to make, which could mean life and death for pedestrians and others.
Mr Varameth said the current provisional licence, issued to new drivers before it is upgraded to a one-year and five-year one, should come with conditions such as a requirement for provisional drivers to be accompanied by a full licence-holder when driving.
However, many experts say the test cannot assess perhaps what matters most, which is the driver's good conscience.
Mr Varameth said conscience is the hardest to fix. In Japan, basic road rules and understanding of traffic safety are taught in school at a young age, which helps instill in people a sense of driving responsibility as they become adults.
Road safety can be greatly enhanced with strong punitive action and strict enforcement of the law, Mr Varameth said.
Steeper traffic fines are needed. Some offences such as changing lanes without indicating can attract a fine of just a few hundred baht, even though the result of getting it wrong could have serious consequences for those on the road.
Demerits for offenders must be swift, while faster prosecution of traffic offenders will compel people to be more fearful of the law.
However, to expedite proceedings in traffic cases, a traffic court must be established, which would require new legislation.
Both Mr Chairat and Mr Varameth say making the exams too difficult is likely to deter people from getting a licence, which would inevitably increase police bribes.
Unlicenced drivers who commit traffic offences feel they have no choice but to offer police money to avoid being booked.
"They must strike a correct balance somewhere," Mr Varameth said, referring to the difficulty of the driving exam.
Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of the licence, which is to ensure that drivers have met legal standards in driving safely.
No penalty database
Demerits can help penalise and even keep repeat offenders off the road.
Police can demerit road offenders, but not suspend or cancel their licence.
The Criminal Court can order a licence be suspended or revoked. The DLT, meanwhile, can both demerit offenders and revoke their licences.
Police are the front-line authority who decide who should be fined or demerited. At present, however, the police's demerit database is not linked to the DLT, Mr Chairat said.
If the same drivers repeat an offence, the DLT has no easy way to run through the data and decide whether the driver's licence should be suspended or revoked.
The agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding to create the information link-up, though policy-makers have not put aside money for it.
Mr Chairat said agencies must recognise that a common database is a high priority and free up portions of their budgets for it.
Once technology permits, police could tap into the database via a mobile phone app, for faster access to information.