Thai Authorities to Impose Sobering-Up Areas to Prevent Drunk Driving Amid 4AM Bar Closings

[Chassa]

Are they going to have ladies in the sobering-up areas?

[sammieuk1]

The minister for silly walks will be along any second now to explain how this is going to help, outside of la-la land 🤔

[Tom H]

41 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Let's pretend this is serious.

What happens if a drunk guy walks out of the bar and they ask him where he goes.

He tells them he will walk around the corner where he will look for a taxi or drive with a friend.

But maybe his car is around the corner, and he will drive himself.

Should the bar employees follow him to verify his story? Should they follow for a minute or 5 or 10?

Onemorefarang is very active today in writing early in the morning. He not drunken yesterday night.

 

[bradiston]

A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

[dinsdale]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

sobering-up areas

AKA the gutter.

[klauskunkel]

It's quite obvious that the police's job is not policing or enforcing laws when political committees and other authorities put that burden on private businesses. The message is clear: protect the police from actual work at all cost.

[sqwakvfr]

A new/old idea for soberiing up: Jail Cell. 

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

what legal powers do these people have to detain anyone they think is driving drunk that is a job for police,

No where has it been stated that bar owners, etc., have to detain their drunk customers, they cannot.  It does state that they have to provide areas in which they can sober up or arrange transport home for them. 

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, swm59nj said:

They will need a big space to detain all the drunks.  The bigger issue is actually detaining them when they get confrontational 

Where has it been reported that entertainment venues have to detain over-the-limit customers?

[LALes]

Line em up and turn the hoses on em.

[Henryford]

Why i never drive/ride at night, especially after 1am.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

So they are leaving it up to the person who has been drinking to decide when they are fit to drive?

No, it clearly (and ridiculously) stated that the venue operators are to decide that by way of breathalyser testing.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

What will happen if the "drunk" person is not willing to go to the area?

^{Read the article, it clearly, ridiculously, states that the venue operators have to call someone to take them home or hail public transport for them.}

[WorriedNoodle]

The old adage "Couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery" comes to mind again!

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Andycoops said:

Absolutely ridiculous, so bar staff are now being told to be the medical arbiter's of when someone is too drunk... TiT

No, but, just as ridiculously, as the article states, they are to administer breathalyser tests.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

And then I read the venues should call friends of the drunk people to bring them home in the early morning. Wait for that phone call at 4am.

...and wait for the incredulous response, "You must be fecking joking". Click."

[brommers]

Making bars into surrogate police merely hands a new tea money raising exercise to the real BiB who already extort huge amounts from the nighttime economy. And whoever thinks that bar staff will be able to discipline a drunken customer is dreaming. Who will pay the extra medical bills for staff injured by outraged customers? This whole thing is utterly ridiculous and my partner's bar will definitely not stay open till 4am to sell to the drunken dregs of society.

[grain]

3 hours ago, neeray said:

I'm not a drinker but it would seem to me that much more than an hour or two is required to sober up. That sounds like just enough time to wind down and then fall asleep at the wheel (or on the bike) on the way home.

There have been many cases in Australia of people who had a night on the booze, went home, got a good night's sleep, and the next day got pulled over by the cops and blew over the legal limit in a breathalyzer test. Also it depends what you were drinking the night before too. Beer's not so bad, it wears off faster, but people who get sloshed on Scotch and heavy alcohol are still drunk the following day. A couple of hours rest to sober up is absurd.

[mran66]

They have to create some new requirement to enable police to collect fees based on breaking law as no need to pay any more to keep open 2-4am. But if you don't have this sobering up area (that all parties know nobody will) , can keep open if pay police.  For many clubs that have been open to wee hours since covid based in deal with police, nothing changes in real life, only on paper. 

 

As simple as that, makes full sense. 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Tom H said:

Onemorefarang is very active today in writing early in the morning. He not drunken yesterday night.

 

Does it matter? Even drunk I wouldn't have such stupid ideas. 

[Sydebolle]

Various scenarios possible: 

• retired toilet bowl on a brick basement with a rusty metal bar frame left and right to the bowl so the sobering-up customer can easily puke into the bowl
• comfy old sofa, with torn PU-cover in light blue or smoked-white and the usual array of cigarette burns
• a collapsible Coca Cola chair, left over from the last monks visit during a house ceremony or simply stolen next door from the neighbour. This version has the advantage that it can be cleared upon closing up into the bar/pub/drinking place
• the less fancy HiSo place might feature a flower pot with a dead plant into which the sobering-up result may be released 

On a more so(m)bre note, are these government officials pissing all those ridiculous rules and regulations, followed by even more ridiculous fines and jail sentences ..... for real, honestly? 

[OneMoreFarang]

46 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

...and wait for the incredulous response, "You must be fecking joking". Click."

It's really sad that now we can't bang the telephone receiver down anymore.

 

 

[foreverlomsak]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I know there are beds in those rooms. But I don't know anybody who booked such a room for an hour to sleep. ;) 

If your unfit to drive an hours sleep will do you absolutely no good, even after 7 hours sleep many will still be over the drink drive limit.

Been there and done that, lucky not to have been caught.

[Bangkok Barry]

Don't worry. As with many of the crackpot ideas dreamed up by the authorities those in charge of the lunatic asylum, nothing will be enforced as, often, it is unenforceable. It's just the usual case of someone 'doing their job' while actually doing nothing. The announcement has been made, job done. Everyone knows it will be ignored, especially by bar owners who might be a little reluctant to get a good thumping by any drunk who objects to being breathalysed and/or illegally detained.

[Bangkok Barry]

I've sent this to an Australian travel writer who I think might want to warn Aussie tourists of what they might expect when they come to Thailand.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, stoner said:

 

back home we had M.A.D.D - mothers against drunk driving. was very effective over the years and cut the drunk driving way down. 

 

it was all over tv and advertised a lot. really got grinded into people over time. 

 

I've long thought they should introduce such messages into the nightly dramas that Thais love so much. It might then get through to a few thick heads far better than any advertising would. They could even have Thailand's finest screamers doing their stuff when seeing her dead lover on the road, rather than when she's being beaten by said lover.

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Let's pretend this is serious.

What happens if a drunk guy walks out of the bar and they ask him where he goes.

He tells them he will walk around the corner where he will look for a taxi or drive with a friend.

But maybe his car is around the corner, and he will drive himself.

Should the bar employees follow him to verify his story? Should they follow for a minute or 5 or 10?

 

You tink too mutt, mista.

[foreverlomsak]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Entertainment venues that are set to stay open until 4 AM in line with the Thai government’s policy have been ordered to set up sobering-up areas to prevent patrons from driving home drunk.

So half drunk at 4 am closing time bar go to the waiting area, legless at a 2 am closing time bar no problem as it doesn't have to have a sobering-up area. Another half thought through idea.

[webfact]

Thai bars to establish sobering-up zones to deter drink driving
by Top Top

 

Picture courtesy of Ludlum Law.

A new mandate from the National Alcohol Beverage Policy Committee of Thailand stipulated that entertainment venues intending to remain open till 4am must establish sobering-up zones.

 

This initiative aims to deter patrons from driving under the influence of alcohol. The directive, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, was declared on December 9.

 

Following the committee’s meeting, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Santi Promphat, relayed the announcement and emphasised that bars and nightclubs must adhere strictly to the rules and regulations when they are permitted to operate until 4am, starting from December 15. The objective is to ensure the safety of patrons and diminish the occurrence of alcohol-related incidents.

 

This privilege will be granted to entertainment venues situated in legal zones in Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Bangkok and Surat Thani (solely on Koh Samui). Moreover, this provision also extends to hotels across the nation.

Santi underscored that operators are expected to comply specifically with the Entertainment Place Act and Section 29 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. These regulations prohibit nighttime venues from selling alcoholic beverages to individuals below 20 years old.

 

by Top Top

Picture courtesy of Ludlum Law.

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-12-11

 

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[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

You tink too mutt, mista.

It wasn't my idea to have sober up areas...