Phuket’s vice governor reported that over 500 bike accidents have occurred in the space involving overseas tourists in the past two months. Phuket Vice Governor Anuphap led a gathering on the increasingly urgent concern yesterday.
Anuphap mentioned lots of the accidents concerned international vacationers who had rented motorbikes. He said…
“Eighty percent of them don’t have driving licenses, some were sporting swimsuits, driving at excessive speed, and never familiar with routes. From January to February there have been more than 500 accidents involving foreign vacationers.”
Anuphap added that the rental businesses had been additionally contributing to the problem by renting motorbikes to tourists without correct documentation.
This information comes after a quantity of incidents in Phuket, mainly involving foreign racing bikes in Patong, have made headlines this month.
On the evening of Wednesday, February eight, cops busted a large group of French motorbike racers in Patong. Footage of the racers went viral on native social media platforms, inflicting outrage amongst residents. The residents complained that the racers had been disturbing them when they have been making an attempt to chill out, and doubtlessly posing a menace to the safety of the people. According to of the riders weren’t sporting the required protecting motorcycle helmets as per Thai legislation, the residents added.
The incident turned so highly publicised that on February 10, the Head of the French Consulate in Phuket met with Patong Police and Phuket Tourist Police to address the problem. During the meeting, the Head of the French Consulate received a letter of cooperation from the Patong Police, which requested the consulate to inform French vacationers visiting Phuket and Thailand in regards to the country’s traffic legal guidelines and the requirement for valid driving licenses.
The Head of the Consulate promised to pass the letter to the French Embassy in Thailand and request better communication of these guidelines and regulations to French vacationers.
But the issue didn’t stop there. On the night time of February 15, a video went viral of a fight involving overseas motorbike racers on Bangla Road. Patong Police arrested 5 folks in reference to the struggle, including two Swedish nationals and three Thais..