"Digital Age!": No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January

[webfact]

"Digital Age!": No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January

 

 

The Department of Land Transport proudly announced yet more technological innovations on Saturday. 

 

From mid-January motorists in Thailand will no longer have to have a physical driving license with them. 

 

They can simply show their credentials via a new app. 

 

Cops will be able to check details - like outstanding fines or bans - by scanning a QR code.

 

Important information such as location, blood type and allergies will also be contained in the driver's information profile that would prove useful in the unlikely case of an accident.

 

"We are all systems go for a start in mid-January," announced an upbeat Pheeraphon Thawornsupcharoen of the DLT. "Thais will not need to carry a license any more. Just show your smart phone". 

 

The scheme has been heralded as a "digital license". 

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-12-17

[BigBadGeordie]

7 minutes ago, webfact said:

Important information such as location, blood type and allergies will also be contained in the driver's information profile that would prove useful in the unlikely case of an accident.

OK, I was with you up to this point.

But come on guys enough of the comedy.

[Dmaxdan]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Thais will not need to carry a license any more. Just show your smart phone". 

Farangs also? Or has that yet to be decided? 

 

 

[DM07]

 

 

"Digital Age!": No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January

 

Here!

Fixed that for ya'! 

[NCC1701A]

so the cop keeps your phone now?

[petermik]

How many thai,s actually have driving licences....

[darksidedog]

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Thais will not need to carry a license any more

A fairly large percentage of them don't carry one now.

[NCC1701A]

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

contained in the driver's information profile that would prove useful in the unlikely case of an accident.

unlikely? more like 80/20 every day.

[wgdanson]

So the Thai police/government assume that EVERY driver has a phone with permanent internet connection and carries it with them 24/7. As do the banks.

 

And is carrying your phone easier than a card in your wallet?

Edited December 17, 2018 by wgdanson

[Thaijack2014]

13 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

So the Thai police/government assume that EVERY driver has a phone with permanent internet connection and carries it with them 24/7. As do the banks.

 

And is carrying your phone easier than a card in your wallet?

Not EVERY driver, but in my opinion more drivers carry a phone then their drivers licence.

[ThreeEyedRaven]

2 minutes ago, Thaijack2014 said:

Not EVERY driver, but in my opinion more drivers carry a phone then their drivers licence.

That is because more Thai drivers have a phone than have a driving licence.

[mercman24]

thais dont carry a licence as they do not have on for starters. so NO VALID INSURANCE,  as they should not be on the road in the first place, same this weekend kids riding scooters and sidecar up and down beach road Jomtien, cant be anymore the 12 years old. 

[Pattaya46]

"No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January"

And again an article wrong by ThaiVisa 

This will be true only for those who have a very recent DL with a QR Code on the back.

Mine is less than 3 years old and doesn't have this code...

Edited December 17, 2018 by Pattaya46

[crickets]

always a barrage of negativity from the farang know it alls. 

[silverhawk_usa]

10 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

"No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January"

And again an article wrong by ThaiVisa 

This will be true only for those who have a very recent DL with a QR Code on the back.

Mine is less than 3 years old and doesn't have this code...

Thank you for actually adding a comment with USEFUL information.

[bluesofa]

5 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

"No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January"

And again an article wrong by ThaiVisa 

This will be true only for those who have a very recent DL with a QR Code on the back.

Mine is less than 3 years old and doesn't have this code...

Thanks for explaining about the QR code, that is news to me. How long has this been on licences?

I've just found an image of one:

[smedly]

I will carry my licence, I will not be installing any apps on my private phone and cops will not be getting access to it

 

be very careful what you install on a smartphone and permissions such apps request, my phone is for private use not government use and I will keep it that way, it is my choice to have one and also what I use it for

 

if it doesn't involve an app and just a photo of said QR then not a problem

Edited December 17, 2018 by smedly

[sfokevin]

Will I have to use a different phone for my car and motorcycle? 

[PatOngo]

46 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

so the cop keeps your phone now?

Kidnaps it and lets you negotiate for it back, lucrative business.

[fruitman]

46 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

A fairly large percentage of them don't carry one now.

Loads of them even have no license plates on their vehicles....

 

Why didn't they make this system using iris scans?? That's what china has now....The app can be easy copied from a brother/friend.

[GarryP]

51 minutes ago, DM07 said:

 

 

"Digital Age!": No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January

 

Here!

Fixed that for ya'! 

I was up country a couple of weeks ago and was stopped at a police check point. My wife and I were not wearing helmets so had to queue up to pay a fine.  This was okay with me as we were clearly in the wrong. We had borrowed the motorcycle from family and and they did not have spare helmets.  But of the 5 or 6 people ahead of us in the queue to pay their fines, not one had a drivers license, so some were fined for not only not wearing a skid lid but also not having a license. There was even a car driver who was stopped and fined for not having a license.

 

I was shocked.  

[DM07]

25 minutes ago, crickets said:

always a barrage of negativity from the farang know it alls. 

5 words for you, Mr. Iloveeverythingthai: Deadliest Roads In The World!

[Vacuum]

31 minutes ago, smedly said:

my phone is for private use not government use and I will keep it that way

Presumably you're are not using a 'smartphone'.

[neeray]

What's the advantage? Seems to me like this is just a way for the government to have more of your personal information.

A licence takes less pocket space to carry than a phone.

And. Road safety and carnage reduction should rate much higher than this nonsense !

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Pattaya46 said:

"No longer necessary to have a Thai driving license with you from January"

And again an article wrong by ThaiVisa 

This will be true only for those who have a very recent DL with a QR Code on the back.

Mine is less than 3 years old and doesn't have this code...

My DL is two weeks old and has the QR code. Scanned it with my phone............just a jumble of letters and numbers came up, nothing similar to any of the numbers on the licence. .

Edited December 17, 2018 by wgdanson

[Prissana Pescud]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

unlikely? more like 80/20 every day.

They had me up until they said in the "unlikely event of an accident"

In the "probable event of an accident" would have totally won me over.

[richard_smith237]

Ouch!!!!  I'd better go and pay those outstanding fines!!! 

 

It'll be interesting to see this in play, the average 'cop on the street' is usually the last to learn of these changes in policy, which, in truth is not a legal change in policy at all but a media announcement....  A change in the law (if it is a legal change) has to pass parliamentary approval. 

 

[Prissana Pescud]

1 hour ago, fruitman said:

Loads of them even have no license plates on their vehicles....

 

Why didn't they make this system using iris scans?? That's what china has now....The app can be easy copied from a brother/friend.

If you see a new vehicle or a newly purchased second hand vehicle, the chances are that the paper work is done.

But the plates take some time to be delivered. They drive the car, bikes or scoots with the paperwork but not the plates.

 Not condoning. This is a tiny poor country with 90 millions. Give them some slack with the admin details.

[BestB]

I think it’s an excellent innovation but now need to hear from police if they wouod accept it.

[tingtong]

yay! smart move!

the driving licence has really limited use.

but the phones!!!

a driver can use to chat, text, call, selfie....all when driving! 

duh, need to say more?