THE recent horrific collision between a covered van and a train once again reminds us of the poor road safety situation in the country. There is no doubt that the drivers are mainly to blame in many of the mishaps but our system is also responsible for the vulnerable road safety situation in the country.

It is time the authorities involved in enhancing road safety realises the socio-economic distress that road mishaps are causing and coordinate with each other to resolve the inherent weaknesses in the system that are endangering road safety.

Obtaining a driving license is quite cumbersome and time consuming which is forcing many people to drive without driving licenses or to obtain fake driving licenses. The process of obtaining a driving license should be made transparent, faster and simpler. In addition, drives should be conducted throughout the country regularly to crackdown on drivers driving without a valid driving license. The same is true for fitness certificates.

The law enforcement agencies have stated in the past that due to lack of manpower and tools they are often unable to apprehend the traffic law violators. The authority should increase the resource personnel of the law enforcement agencies such as traffic police and highway police and provide them with necessary tools such as speed guns to measure the speed of running vehicles.

There are many drivers who are speeding and driving recklessly disregarding public safety. Many of these drivers have been responsible for road mishaps in the past but they have never been punished which is motivating them to drive recklessly. These drivers should be brought to justice.

Although the function of a highway is to provide mobility for high speed vehicles or transport vehicles without much interruption, slower and smaller sized vehicles such as rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, vans, tempos etc. are allowed on the highways. This is not only slowing down traffic but making the highways dangerous as drivers of larger vehicles often times have to take evasive action to avoid collisions with slower and smaller sized vehicles; in many instances, they fail, resulting in collision. The authority should ban plying of local transport on the highways and encourage the local people to use local roads.

The writer is Transportation Engineer based in Thailand.