Thailand to set up institute for driving specialists

BANGKOK, September 13 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Transport plans to set up a new institute for driving specialists to increase road safety and reduce road accidents and casualties nationwide. Chirasak Yaowatsakun, President of the Transport Co., Ltd., under the Ministry of Transport, told journalists of the plan, saying that his company has, thus, cooperated with College of Logistics and Supply Chain, Suansunandha Rajabhat University in Bangkok, to first develop curricula for training programs on professional driving of public buses and manuals on road safety. Chirasak explained that the curricula will be used to train his company's drivers of inter-provincial buses in four levels, including those graded at the standard or approval level, the professional level, the senior level and the specialist level. Chirasak revealed that his company will then select driving trainees graded at the senior and the specialist levels to become trainers for drivers in their following batches. Besides, the state-run Transport Co., Ltd. will seek an official approval of the curricula from the Department of Skill Development, under the Thai Ministry of Labour, to pave the way for the establishment of the planned institute in the future. According to the company's president, a project on developing bus simulators used for the training programs will also be developed to save costs and to enhance efficiency of the training programs. Meanwhile, the president of the Transport Co., Ltd. has signed an agreement on the cooperation with executives of both College of Logistics and Supply Chain and Suansunandha Rajabhat University. (TNA)