Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher, said that US motorists would never car pool, because the commute to work was the only time they were ever alone, however the coiner of the phrase ‘the medium is the message’ never foresaw the invention of the cell phone, which allows drivers to reach out and touch somebody, although usually the bumper of the nearest car and the Bangkok Metropolitan Police are warning motorists as of May 8 any mobile phone use while mobile will incur fines ranging from Bt400 to Bt1,000.

Obviously the 1000 baht fine is part of their double-tier pricing system against farangs, but neither 400 baht or 1000 baht will deter people from speaking on the phone from behind the wheel, if only to prove they can do more than one thing at a time without driving off the road,

Problem is that most people concentrate more on their phone conversation than the road as proven by the increase of accidents after the introduction of mobile phones to Thailand and the rest of the world. Most people will obey the ban as long as there are police about the streets, otherwise they will ignore the law or find ways to circumvent it such as using handless sets, so that the police will have to ban people from speaking when they’re driving.

A few will pull to the side of the road to communicate with friends, family, and lovers, although this safety measure is no guarantee of accident prevention, because a friend’s father parked on the breakdown lane of a New York Highway to complete a phone call and another motorist rear-ended him. My friend’s father was killed instantly. The other motorist was charged with vehicular homicide after police determined he had been talking on his cell phone.

He got a $5000 fine.

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