Remember the middle eastern motorbike maniacs? Guess what . . .

[Gaybutton]

I'm sure this will put a stop to it - for at least 3 minutes . . .

Regarding who and where the offenders were, anyone surprised?
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Two foreign motorbike racers allegedly arrested for causing noise disturbances around South Pattaya at night

By Tanakorn Panyadee

Thursday, 14 July 2022

Two foreign motorbike racers were allegedly arrested for breaking traffic laws and causing disturbances around the Pattaya areas at night. However, local residents claimed a lot of other racers escaped.

At around 2 a.m. on Thursday, July 14th, Pol. Capt. Sontaya Khansub of the Pattaya Police Station received multiple complaints from local residents about what they described as Arabian and Middle Eastern motorbike racers who allegedly raced motorbikes in Soi Yensabai and Soi Sunee all night and disturbed their sleep.

Officer Sontaya and other traffic police then rushed to Soi Yensabai and Soi Sunee located in South Pattaya to cease the racing, but the racers reportedly dispersed immediately after seeing the officers. According to the residents, some racers pretended to be customers of an Arabian restaurant and ordered soft drinks to evade the police’s eyes, but two of them were ultimately arrested.

Initially, officer Sontaya reportedly confiscated their bikes and fined the racers for breaking traffic laws and causing disturbances. He would also carry out an investigation to find the owner who lent these bikes to foreigners.

The names of the foreigners arrested were not released, but they were both from middle eastern countries and had no license, registration, insurance, helmet, vehicle tax, or other required documents to legally drive in Thailand, according to police.

Residents of this area have been urging police for weeks to crack down on foreign motorbike racers in South Pattaya.

This comes after frequent recent complaints of the unsafe and disturbing driving behavior in the area.

https://thepattayanews.com/2022/07/14/t ... -at-night/

Two previous stories:

June 29: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/06/29/g ... 1657783605

June 30: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/06/30/p ... abai-area/

[Undaunted]

Hopefully this will be the first of many arrests to come!

[Jun]

Hopefully this will be the first of many arrests to come!

What matters is what happens after the arrests. If they just collect a modest bribe, it's unlikely to solve the problem.

What they should do is arrest them & fine them heavily, followed by jail or deportation. In case of any attempts at resisting arrest, be sure to use excessive force.

If the motorcycle rental company has rented the motorcycles out to unlicensed riders, just send the motorcycles direct to the crusher.
If the people riding the motorcycles are not the ones on the rental agreement, make sure they spend a few weeks in jail before deportation.

[Gaybutton]

What they should do is arrest them & fine them heavily, followed by jail or deportation.

I disagree. I think it should be jail and deportation - with at least a 10 year blacklisting.

As long as the penalties are minor - and that's when there is any enforcement at all - I don't know what would make anyone think they will stop. I am in favor of harsh penalties for this - the harsher the better - because what they are doing is not only annoying, but very dangerous. And why should pedestrians have to constantly dodge these scofflaws? If some innocent person merely trying to walk on the soi gets hurt by one of these motorbike drivers, who do you think will end up paying for the medical care? Don't hold your breath if you think it will be the driver who was responsible for it in the first place. I have no sympathy for people who obviously couldn't care less about anyone other than themselves.

[Dodger]

I cruised Soi Yensabai this morning and nothing's changed.

It's becoming obvious that the BIB don't want to get involved any more than they have to.

[Gaybutton]

It's becoming obvious that the BIB don't want to get involved any more than they have to.

Which leads me to the next logical question - Why is that?

They're always talking about trying to prevent anything that might harm Pattaya's "good image". Do they think allowing this to continue unabated enhances Pattaya's "good image"?

Would anyone be surprised if the same people the police arrested and fined yesterday are already back on motorbikes doing the same thing today?

I don't have a clue why the police seem to be so reluctant to enforcing the rules with this nonsense. It's definitely on my "I Don't Get It" list. And if they ever let us know their reasoning as to why they're not enforcing it, that too is very likely to end up on my "I Don't Get It" list.

[Undaunted]

I don't have a clue why the police seem to be so reluctant to enforcing the rules with this nonsense. It's definitely on my "I Don't Get It" list. And if they ever let us know their reasoning as to why they're not enforcing it, that too is very likely to end up on my "I Don't Get It" list.

Are you really that naïve? The fact that only 2 riders were detained says it all as I’ve seen 40 or 50 on any given evening. The police only did this as a show as they must be receiving some financial aid from the shops that do the rentals! How long have you lived in Thailand?

[Gaybutton]

Are you really that naïve?

I guess I must be . . .

[Jun]

The police only did this as a show as they must be receiving some financial aid from the shops that do the rentals!

I'm not 100% sure if that's the exact explanation, but whatever the answer is, the relationship between bribes and effort to collect those bribes will have a lot to do with it.

For instance, it's got to be more difficult to chase and fine some fast moving hooligans than set up routine roadblocks to collect tea money off civilized road users that just happen to not be wearing a helmet (etc).
Also, I like to stay as far away from the obnoxious arab tourists as possible. Perhaps the police have the same idea.

[Gaybutton]

I like to stay as far away from the obnoxious arab tourists as possible. Perhaps the police have the same idea.

Naive as I may be, I don't buy either yours or Undaunted's explanation, especially since neither of you have anything but your own suspicions and opinions to back it up. My own belief - not fact, merely belief - is there is something more than just tea money from the rental shops and finding easier ways to collect tea money going on.

What usually happens is when complaints go public and starts to get media coverage, that's when the police start going into serious action. That happens very often. And yet in this case despite more and more media coverage, there is still almost total inaction from the authorities. Does anybody truly believe tea money is the answer? Who is being naive?

I believe - again emphasis on believe since I have nothing to back it up - for whatever reason someone is preventing the police from taking serious action. If I'm right, I'd like to know who that someone is and why. These motorbike maniacs are what might be labeled a clear and present danger and as far as I can tell nobody in authority is giving a damn or intends to do anything serious about it. Why? What really is going on?