In between not solving the ever-increasing number of murder cases, eating platefuls of somtam, and sneaking out for a cigarette behind the police station, the boys in brown are fully occupied in making Pattaya a safer place by hiding on street corners and leaping out to spot-fine anyone not wearing a safety helmet.
I would not want to criticise the police for enforcing a law that most certainly could save lives, but there are two problems. The first is that the motorcycle helmets available here sell for a couple of hundred baht and when it comes to a helmet meets road situation, the helmet comes a poor second, as does the head inside it. The second problem is that the police do not enforce this law through any sense of public duty, rather it is a very easy way of making cash. Just stand anywhere (preferably somewhere close to a somtam shop) and stop passing motorbikes. No effort required.
Still, it is always good to see a policeman leading by example, and here PC Somchai demonstrates how he would like the public to ride (in order to maximise the income of the boys in brown).
(sorry for the strange colour, shot through my tinted windscreen).
Being public spirited, I pulled him up, demanded to see his licence, and fined him 400 baht for not wearing a helmet. Alternatively I offered him the opportunity to pay cash of 100 baht on the spot for the benefit of the Spike beer fund. Not really, he had a gun.
Comments 🔗
2009-06-18| Camberley saysA photograph from the driver’s seat of a moving car?
2009-06-18| Billy saysYep, congrats all round on that - and trust you were calling SWMBO on your mobile with your other hand while you did so … steering a car with one’s penis is a much underrated skill in my view …
2009-06-18| Spike saysOh lighten up, this is Thailand. Yes, I was on the phone, but I was almost using the headphones. And I had one hand on the wheel most of the time, except when changing gear or picking my nose. And I never took my eyes off the road, apart from checking the F stop for a while. And my penis played no part in the proceedings.
I thoroughly recommend P.J. O’Rourke’s “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink” as guidance towards a more creative way of driving. Although the bastard is a depressingly good writer.
2009-06-18| The Son saysMan, i’d forgotten about PJ.O. That extract had me choking on my coffee at my desk, superb.
Time to buy the back catalogue - seems like he is still regularly releasing books!
2009-06-18| Spike saysHis latest book Driving Like Crazy:
brings together thirty-some years of journalistic cornering on two wheels, none of which has been reprinted before. Or almost none of which. P.J. did include his classic “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink.” And he’s written an appendix to that piece of sage advices for those who, like himself, are thirty years older now: “How to Do Ditto While the Drugs Are Mostly Lipitor.”
2009-06-18| Billy saysThe man is an inspiration, however will wait until I get a bigger car …
2009-06-18| Spike saysRent one.