Thailand: In response to a chain of attacks by Taxi drivers on foreign tourists in Bangkok, the government is proposing measures such as Global Positioning System (GPS) to track the location of Taxi vehicles and apply tougher screening for Thai taxi drivers

If the proposed measurements are approved by Thailand's government, then Bangkok's 86,000 taxis will soon be required to display stickers in English language, giving information about the registration number of the Bangkok taxi and its driver, deputy government spokesman Torpong Chaiyasarn said.

Bangkok taxis may also be outfitted with a global positioning system (GPS) to keep track of the vehicles, he said, while the Bangkok Post reported that a government hotline and tougher driver screening should also part of the new measures.

Since October 2002 in Thailand, there have been 5 reports of foreign passengers being attacked and injured by Bangkok taxi drivers, while 68 assaults without injuries have been reported.

The new proposals regulating the taxis in Bangkok will be submitted to Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and, if approved, could take effect within three months from now, Mr. Torpong said.

A Chinese woman tourist was seriously injured on Monday when she was attacked and run over by a Bangkok taxi driver, while a Japanese flight attendant was shot in the stomach by a taxi driver in late November.

On Wednesday, police reportedly arrested a taxi driver at Bangkok's Don Muang international airport for trying to defraud a Sri Lankan man of 3,000 baht (US$ 75).

Although the tourist decided not to press fraud charges, tourist police officer Lieutenant-Colonel Warat Worapratchayakul said that Thailand's Land Transport Department would be asked to revoke the taxi driver's license as the same driver had been arrested twice before on the same charges.