Police crack down hard on drunk driving

By The Nation

 

 

With highways and roads congested with holidaymakers heading upcountry for the New Year celebrations, senior police officers instructed subordinates to get tough on drunk drivers – which were said to be a key contributor to road accidents.

 

Deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsipramanakul, during his inspection of police checkpoints and other road safety measures in Sara Buri’s Khaeng Koi district on Thursday night, warned that if drunk drivers were found within a one-kilometre radius of a police checkpoint, the officers staffing that checkpoint would also be punished. 

 

 

On the same night, deputy national police chief Pol General Weerachai Songmetta inspected police preparedness at a checkpoint on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road in Bangkok. He also observed officers handling an unnamed 26-year-old suspected drunk driver who refused to undergo a breathalyser test – for which a new rule allows police to assume that those drivers refusing the test are drunk and to lay a drunk-driving charge against them. 

 

A police search of the man’s car found a half-empty bottle of whiskey, leading police to file three charges against the man – resisting an on-duty officer’s order, drunk driving and failing to carry a car registration document.

 

Weerachai said that this year the punishment for drunk driving became hasher. Those found to be drunk driving will face a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to Bt20,000 and a six-month driver’s licence suspension. Those who caused an accident while drunk will face a jail term of one to five years, a fine of up to Bt100,000 and a one-year suspension of their driver’s licence. If a crash involving a drunk driver led to a death, the drunk driver will face 3-10 years in jail, a Bt60,000-Bt200,000 fine and a life-long suspension of their driver’s licence, said Weerachai.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30335047

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-30

 

Yes. Get tough. Demand they pay higher fines on the spot. Then let them drive away. Excellent!

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1 minute ago, rooster59 said:

Police crack down hard on drunk driving

Good!

 

Throw the book at all the idiots who drink and drive. 

 

This is the worst sort of crime; people's lives are endangered because the idiots want the convenience of getting to their destination easily at the expense of everyone else. 

 

As far as I am concerned, the police are welcome to take them out back for a beating as well.

Finally Thailand has caught up to Western countries where refusing breathalyzer equals guilty of drunk driving. There is hope yet.

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2 minutes ago, jerojero said:

Yes. Get tough. Demand they pay higher fines on the spot. Then let them drive away. Excellent!

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Where does it say they will let them drive away?

The punishments look on par with what we would see in the UK. Maybe they are finally getting the message. 

Suspension is naturally dependent on the driver having a licence in the first place !

43 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

...if drunk drivers were found within a one-kilometre radius of a police checkpoint, the officers staffing that checkpoint would also be punished. 

 

Who, pray tell, is going to catch them if all the cops are at the checkpoint?

Passed a Check Point on Canal Road in Chiang Mai last evening.

 

All the cops sitting around laughing enjoying their overtime payment for doing s..d all.

What's the point is those measures are only going to be enforced in

the holidays period and once they over, it's back to normal or near normal,

we have seen it all before, zeal, fortitude and vigor for a few days, and than,

all fizzles out in whimper....

16 minutes ago, ezzra said:

What's the point is those measures are only going to be enforced in

the holidays period and once they over, it's back to normal or near normal,

we have seen it all before, zeal, fortitude and vigor for a few days, and than,

all fizzles out in whimper....

more cars means more people caught/money to be made 

51 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

 

Who, pray tell, is going to catch them if all the cops are at the checkpoint?

Exactly. How do you get to such an exalted position in the police force when you can come up with statements like these?  It was a rhetorical question - I know how.  The same way drunken drivers get away with their dangerous and stupid behaviour every day of the year.

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Good!

 

Throw the book at all the idiots who drink and drive. 

 

This is the worst sort of crime; people's lives are endangered because the idiots want the convenience of getting to their destination easily at the expense of everyone else. 

 

As far as I am concerned, the police are welcome to take them out back for a beating as well.

Crush the car or motobike too!

Give police commission on all drunks unsafe vechiles  etc. That they take off the roads.

2 minutes ago, Colabamumbai said:

Give police commission on all drunks unsafe vechiles  etc. That they take off the roads.

thats a good idea!

If I were criminally minded and wanted to pull a heist of some sort, I would have an accomplice pull out a camera and every cop on the block plus a few more would gather for a photo op.

 

Job done.

3 hours ago, davehowden said:

Passed a Check Point on Canal Road in Chiang Mai last evening.

 

All the cops sitting around laughing enjoying their overtime payment for doing s..d all.

You should be grateful they were not stopping EVERYONE and breath testing them. You would be stuck there 2 hours in the queue while they were processing the drunk drivers!

Given that most vehicles involved are bikes, they should be targeted...and pickups carrying people in the back. Hit them hard and slash the road toll by 70%. Yes, there will be drunks in sedans, but they are more likely to survive in an accident. If it's just numbers, pull over bikes - drunks lose their licence (if they have it) and lose their bike....and / or a large fine.  

There's going to be standing space only in prisons ,IF they actually charge,sentence,

DUI drivers,but thats what its going to take,people have to realise that you cannot

drink and drive,its anti social,extremely dangerous,and ruins so many lives,not only

those killed or injured,but their extended families.there has got to be changes to attitudes

regards worgeordie

Anyone arrested for drunk driving during New Years or Songkran should go to jail for a year. After two years of this most people would know one of these people and the population would smarten up.

Weerachai said that this year the punishment for drunk driving became hasher. Those found to be drunk driving will face a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to Bt20,000 and a six-month driver’s licence suspension. Those who caused an accident while drunk will face a jail term of one to five years, a fine of up to Bt100,000 and a one-year suspension of their driver’s licence. If a crash involving a drunk driver led to a death, the drunk driver will face 3-10 years in jail, a Bt60,000-Bt200,000 fine and a life-long suspension of their driver’s licence, said Weerachai.

 

Well, unless you are a puuyai like an important doctor.  Then you can run someone over, drag them under your car, refuse to take a breathalyzer test, lawyer up, deny evidence from witnesses that you'd been drinking and within a day or so your problem disappears from the new cycle and all is forgotten.
Now if you're just a regular plebe, you get the book thrown at you.
Gotta love the two-tiered justice system that protects the rich and connected, the ones who feel above the law and drive however they please. 

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

and a life-long suspension of their driver’s licence, said Weerachai.

Seriously ? They think they will pay heed to that ? Wait for the 'riding in the back of a pick-up' outcry. 

They seem to be having thunderous success!!! 

Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said on Friday (Dec 29) that on Dec 28, the first day of the campaign, a total of 477 cases of traffic accidents were reported with 41 people killed and over 500 injured.

 

He said drink driving accounted for 42.77% of total cases, followed by speeding 26%. Motorcycle is the vehicle that involved in most fatal cases, he said.

"Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith

AKA Pinocchio ... said on Friday (Dec 29) that on Dec 28, the first day of the campaign, a total of 477 cases of traffic accidents were reported with 41 people killed and over 500 injured."

 

Well what a surprise the numbers are significantly down, NOT... 

Not working to well if 42.77% caught first day of 40 odd deaths on the road 

Given that most vehicles involved are bikes, they should be targeted...and pickups carrying people in the back. Hit them hard and slash the road toll by 70%. Yes, there will be drunks in sedans, but they are more likely to survive in an accident. If it's just numbers, pull over bikes - drunks lose their licence (if they have it) and lose their bike....and / or a large fine.  

Drunks on bikes are far less harmful than drunks in sedans. At least the drunks on bikes will kill themselves those in sedans will kill people on bikes.

Just logic.

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58 minutes ago, robblok said:

Drunks on bikes are far less harmful than drunks in sedans. At least the drunks on bikes will kill themselves those in sedans will kill people on bikes.

Just logic.

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Yes but I'm thinking of the overall death toll. 

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1018064-new-years-eve-i-will-drive-after-drinking-what-about-you/

6 hours ago, Searat7 said:

Anyone arrested for drunk driving during New Years or Songkran should go to jail for a year. After two years of this most people would know one of these people and the population would smarten up.

 

I do not believe. Even if all families would have someone dead on the road, they would still drive like idiots because they do not even know what they are doing.

 

 

Good, now give exactly the same punishment to those using their phones whilst driving.