A guide to Thailand’s new rules of the road

[richard_smith237]

For a lot of this week in Bkk so far; 

 

Rules of the Road: Give way to the boat on the right ! 

[Purdey]

Motorists will start to feel the pinch when they go to renew their road tax or license and the guy at the counter says, "you owe us 20,000 baht in speeding fines and cannot renew your license/tax until you pay."

Fines for driving without a license will rise to garner more money. 

Yes, tea money will rise from 100 baht to 1,000 baht because the alternative is very much more. It will hurt the poor pickup drivers first. Farmers will complain and there will be protests.

Then the government will quietly reverse its position because it needs the votes. 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Purdey
typo

[garzhe]

These are maximum fines. Does that mean the police have discretion as to the amount? I see dual pricing coming. Farang 4000 baht Thai 500 baht

[twizzian]

So they are prepared for an awful lot of road deaths and accidents within the three month grace period.

First sign of weakness and laziness under the new road laws

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Purdey said:

Motorists will start to feel the pinch when they go to renew their road tax or license and the guy at the counter says, "you owe us 20,000 baht in speeding fines and cannot renew your license/tax until you pay."

The obvious answer is to not bother paying for a driving license, tax, insurance or a road test.

[itsari]

6 hours ago, EricTh said:

Thai people are notorious for breaking all these traffic rules. Let's hope that there will be enough enforcement this time or else it's just on paper and nothing improves.

 

 

How can you say they are breaking the law when they don't know what law they are breaking?

Ignorance of the law is more the way to put it.

They have no idea why the double yellow lines are painted on the middle of the road . Little idea why lanes are marked . The list is so long of there ignorance regarding traffic rules

[richard_smith237]

Just now, itsari said:

How can you say they are breaking the law when they don't know what law they are breaking?

Ignorance of the law is more the way to put it.

They have no idea why the double yellow lines are painted on the middle of the road . Little idea why lanes are marked . The list is so long of there ignorance regarding traffic rules

Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. 
 

Honestly, I didn’t know I couldn’t stay in Thailand for 3 years on my visa exempt entry !!! 
 

 

 

[EricTh]

11 minutes ago, itsari said:

How can you say they are breaking the law when they don't know what law they are breaking?

Ignorance of the law is more the way to put it.

They have no idea why the double yellow lines are painted on the middle of the road . Little idea why lanes are marked . The list is so long of there ignorance regarding traffic rules

 

How can they not know if they have a driving licence? To get their driving licence they need to also pass the theory part.

 

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

32 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

How can they not know if they have a driving licence? To get their driving licence they need to also pass the theory part.

 

 

 

Wait you need a license to drive, I thought you just needed to play follow the leader and all was good.

[kickstart]

lines from ,The Who's record . Won't get fooled again.

The new boss .Is same as the old boss.

Or now, The new rules,

Are as same as the old rules.

They will get enforced,unless the BIB are short of money.

You can Imagen the scene ,police stop a helmetless motorcyclist ,and says 2000 baht fine ,motorcyclist says I do not have 200 baht ,then what ,frantic phone calls home ,asking for the fine money or what ,no one has 2000 baht ,then what one impounded motorcycle.

i would a lot of other people will have the same problem.

 

[MrJ2U]

Fines are way too high for Thailand.  Keep them around 200-500 baht. 

 

I agree with the drunk driving.  

 

Only the cops will benefit with tons more road blocks resulting in the usual cop handouts.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by MrJ2U

[Confuscious]

It has been proved in several countries before that increasing the fines is NO DETERRENT for not obeing to the rules.

Only a change of attitude towards these rules makes people accept them and obey (more).

This whole charade about increased fines fall into deaf ears when the gross of the population deant's even have a Driver License or gives more to superstitious beliefs than to actual traffic rules.

[IvorBiggun2]

1 hour ago, Confuscious said:

It has been proved in several countries before that increasing the fines is NO DETERRENT for not obeing to the rules.

I think you'll find yourself to be wrong. Hence why Thailand is increasing traffic fines by up to 4 fold.

 

Quote

 

A 2016 meta-analysis indicated that fine increases between 50 and 100% are associated with a 15% decrease in violations

 

 

[Confuscious]

2 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

I think you'll find yourself to be wrong. Hence why Thailand is increasing traffic fines by up to 4 fold.

 

 

In order to fine somebody, he/she needs to be caught first.

And when caught, the police will need to write a ticket.

So, the Thai people (if caught) will need to do the double of push-ups and the foreigners will have to pay the increased fines.

[Dont confuse me]

A 500 Baht fine = 200-300 tea money.

A 4000 Baht fine = at least 2000 tea money!

And who's going to be in a position to pay a 2k kick back?

[IvorBiggun2]

1 hour ago, Confuscious said:

And when caught, the police will need to write a ticket.

And that is correct. But if no ticket is issued then you do not pay. Get the ticket first. Pure and simple. Stop writing tosh.

 

1 hour ago, Confuscious said:

So, the Thai people (if caught) will need to do the double of push-ups and the foreigners will have to pay the increased fines.

No wrong again. All tickets issued come with the value and you can't be treated any differently than to a Thai person.

 

Quote

 

Here is the updated tariff for some offenses:

Traffic violations	Fine
Driving without a license	200฿
Illegally stopping in restricted areas	300฿
Using an unroadworthy vehicle	400฿
Reckless driving	400฿
Failing to stop for an emergency vehicle	400฿
Negligent or "scary" driving	400฿
Parking on the bridge	400฿
Using a cell phone without auxiliary equipment	500฿
Speeding	500฿
Driving without license plates	500฿
Disobeying traffic lights	500฿
Failing to comply with traffic signs on roadsides	500฿
Driving on roadside pavements	500฿
Parking or leaving stalled vehicles to obstruct traffic	500฿
Driving without helmet (each person)	500฿
Driving wrong-way	500฿
Overtaking on the left (a practice known as undertaking)	500฿
Changing lane over solid white line	500฿
Contravening emissions regulations	1,000฿

 

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s new traffic laws took effect on September 5. However, police have decided to be lenient for the first three months to give motorists time to adjust their road behavior.

Adjust their road behavior in 3 months.. fantasy.

 

[hotchilli]

What happened to the points system on your licence... all I see are opportunities for fines?

[morrobay]

16 hours ago, ebean001 said:

i actually honor Thailand for their driving behavior. there has never been a police stop of an individual car that i have seen in 15 years i have lived here. in USA there has been mulitple murders at traffic stops. huge fines. The drivers here are well discipline compared to other countries. i guess i am missing something in my 15 years here.  

I thought trolling was against forum rules 

[Orinoco]

Hit the bad people of the roads in the pocket .Big time.

Then work the way down from  there.

Money is all they chose to understand. You will get there attention in time. 

 

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, CM Dad said:

First they need to post speed limit signs on roads, especially highways.  I recently asked several people, both Thais and non-Thais what the speed limit was on major highways around Chiang Mai and received a wide variety of answers such as 80, 90, 100. and even 120 KPH.  There are few, if any, signs on the roads here.

Good that despite the fact that many did not know, it did not prevent them telling you. 

[Canuckluck]

13 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Driving down to Hua Hin you have spots where the left lane is 80kph, the middle lane is 100 kph and the right lane is a max of 120 kph with a minimum of 100 kph.  Maybe designed for the different sized vehicles, but every time we drive to the house from BKK there is always a bus or a semi-truck in the right had lane doing 80.....kind of defeats the purpose and causes a huge back-up.  Then you have the wannabe speed racers who cut in and out at 160kph.........still no highway police in sight except at a checkpoint they may or may not be using.

Then there's the cheater lane, first time i seen it <deleted> lol.

As for checkpoints both times they waved me thru,wife said "you farang,they don't stop"

[bluejets]

Farang need to keep their opinions to themselves and remember it's not their country.

Grovelling around complaining about this and that won't change anything.

Abide by what is required and smile.

Fairly simple to me at least.

Edited September 14, 2022 by bluejets

[ThailandRyan]

5 minutes ago, bluejets said:

Farang need to keep their opinions to themselves and remember it's not their country.

Grovelling around complaining about this and that won't change anything.

Abide by what is required and smile.

Fairly simple to me at least.

I wish I had the laughing emoji for this post but wait.....here you go.....

 

????

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, bluejets said:

Grovelling around complaining about this and that won't change anything.

Well probably not, but it will achieve far more than simply laying down and putting up with it. What do you think brought about these 'new rules of the road', or the removal of the cable tangles?  The offhand comments of Russel Crowe and Bill Gates had their impact.....

Venting here makes people feel better.... and every now and again, I suspect the sentiment leaks out and someone reacts. 

[dingdongrb]

19 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Just wonder. Are people so retarded, that a grace period for not breaking the law is necessary? That´s sad.

I thought 'retarded' was a second grade word that was no longer acceptable to be used?

[IvorBiggun2]

1 hour ago, bluejets said:

Grovelling around complaining about this and that won't change anything.

As ferangs it's in our nature to complain. By moaning and complaining we work off a little steam and we feel better for it. As they say 'get it off your chest'.         

[Gottfrid]

15 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

I thought 'retarded' was a second grade word that was no longer acceptable to be used?

Who have told you that? The Understanding All People Army or MeeToo?

[actonion]

Waste of time talking about it..... most people  who know Thailand  know   the answer 

[Orinoco]

On 9/14/2022 at 7:17 AM, bluejets said:

Farang need to keep their opinions to themselves and remember it's not their country.

Grovelling around complaining about this and that won't change anything.

Abide by what is required and smile.

Fairly simple to me at least.

Just for your silly post. 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by metisdead
Over-sized emoji removed.