Report Drive Drunk, Lose Your Car: Thailand’s OAG Pushes Tough New Proposal

[Free the 115]

7 hours ago, thesetat said:

In the US. If you are drunk driving, you get arrested and taken to jail and your car gets towed away into storage until you can pay to get it out. That is a daily fee compounded to store your car at an impound yard which can be very expensive if you are unable to get out of jail for your offenses. 

Thailand seeks to take and sell your car for this? I do not see how they can do this, especially when you might not own the car and simply loaned it to someone who drove and drank without your knowledge. 

Thailand needs to follow suit with laws that protect the legal drivers. Arrest those and confiscate their vehicles for driving without a license or for drunk driving or even reckless or careless driving. But they also need to prosecute those people as well. not just ask for an envelope hidden from cameras. 

Where does it say that cars will be sold?

[motdaeng]

31 minutes ago, Ray60 said:

that would be illegal, they can keep the car until you sober or you paid the fine. If they really want to enforce it, then nobody who intends to drive home after dinner and a few drinks (not drunk) will ever buy a new car again for themselves or their Thai wives. Another blow to the car industry, the tax uncertainty has already stopped many Farangs to send money over to Thailand to buy new cars.

 

very strange post ... you defend drinking (a few drinks) and driving and argue that stricter laws would harm the car industry ... 

confiscating (and selling?) the car isn’t illegal if the law change will allows for it ...

 

after a few drinks (you are calling yourself not drunk?) ... do you even know the legal limit in thailand?

if you're over that limit, it's called DUI ... you seem to think it's up to you to decide whether you're drunk or not ... 

 

https://magnacarta.co.th/home/faq-section-2/driving-under-the-influence-dui/

[jesimps]

8 hours ago, thesetat said:

In the US. If you are drunk driving, you get arrested and taken to jail and your car gets towed away into storage until you can pay to get it out. That is a daily fee compounded to store your car at an impound yard which can be very expensive if you are unable to get out of jail for your offenses. 

Thailand seeks to take and sell your car for this? I do not see how they can do this, especially when you might not own the car and simply loaned it to someone who drove and drank without your knowledge. 

Thailand needs to follow suit with laws that protect the legal drivers. Arrest those and confiscate their vehicles for driving without a license or for drunk driving or even reckless or careless driving. But they also need to prosecute those people as well. not just ask for an envelope hidden from cameras. 

It did mention that in the report. Said that if the offender borrowed the car, then the owner could claim it back under certain conditions. I suppose if you lent your car to someone you knew was going on the lash or was a repeat offender, then you wouldn't be able to claim it back.

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

OK, but also true Australians at large (200+ years after Australia being a penal colony for the UK) are serious about such matters and expect the various governments to install serious laws about such subjects.

 

From my knowledge the most serious is Japan. Japanese citizens are very very serious about 'don't drive after consuming alcohol'.

 

I was there on a 2 year work project about 15 years ago. An engineer from Australia joined our team. He insisted on socializing with the Japanese team he was leading.

 

The first time he took his team to a pub (actually a karaoke) after work he got drunk, he had a company issue car, he insisted on driving home, the most senior Japanese man in the team confiscated his car keys and a couple of others drove him home. Next morning at the office the senior western manager scolded him strongly. 

 

A week later he took his wife to a restaurant for a family celebration. Driving home he was stopped by a Japanese police patrol. He was breathalyzed and was well over the limit. He was held at the police station.

 

Female English speaking officer was quickly organized and took the wife home and stayed with the wife until next morning.

 

Early next morning a senior Japanese police officer called the company and advised that the foreigner would be deported the same day for the drunk driving offence.

 

Police also called the female officer (at the wife's rented house) and told her to inform the Australian wife her visa would be cancelled within 24 hrs., and instructed the officer to help the wife pack all their belongings ready for going to the Kansai airport by midday that day. 

 

Early afternoon they flew out, returned to Australia.

 

Why the thumbs down emoji?

[kingstonkid]

11 hours ago, quake said:

Hey a good news thread.

Go for it. 

The challenge is enforcing it consistently.  Look at the rules on helmets not sure of others but I have yet to see cops checking 

[quake]

9 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

The challenge is enforcing it consistently.  Look at the rules on helmets not sure of others but I have yet to see cops checking 

 

Time will tell.

But never say never.

[motdaeng]

11 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

The challenge is enforcing it consistently.  Look at the rules on helmets not sure of others but I have yet to see cops checking 

 

the enforcement will be inconsistent, but it doesn't matter, because every DUI that gets punished is a very, very good thing!

and hopefully, it wiil save some innocent lives or prevents innocent people from being hurt in an accident because of DUI ...

[fredwiggy]

8 hours ago, thesetat said:

In the US. If you are drunk driving, you get arrested and taken to jail and your car gets towed away into storage until you can pay to get it out. That is a daily fee compounded to store your car at an impound yard which can be very expensive if you are unable to get out of jail for your offenses. 

Thailand seeks to take and sell your car for this? I do not see how they can do this, especially when you might not own the car and simply loaned it to someone who drove and drank without your knowledge. 

Thailand needs to follow suit with laws that protect the legal drivers. Arrest those and confiscate their vehicles for driving without a license or for drunk driving or even reckless or careless driving. But they also need to prosecute those people as well. not just ask for an envelope hidden from cameras. 

Exactly, and increasing fines, possible jail and revocation of licenses with each added offense. Driving drunk isn't a good thing, but many drink a little and then decide to drive, which isn't a good idea, but losing your car over a first offense is too harsh, especially if no one was hurt. You can't go from one extreme, doing almost nothing about offenses, to the other end, taking away cars for a first offense. They should have been doing something all along, fines matching the offense.

[fredwiggy]

1 hour ago, Look Chang said:

I have tried to find a sober girlfriend with a driving license to accompany me when I do a bar tour but that's no easy so I prefer to drive a rented car . . . 

Calling an Uber might save you and others lives.

[motdaeng]

 

according to this simplified formula (not considering factors like body weight or an empty stomach),

drinking just one can of thai beer results in 1.32‰ blood alcohol level!!!!!

330ml x 5% ÷ 12.5ml = 1.32‰

 

[Southy65]

If it is not the intoxicated driver's vehicle, let the real owner pay for every day that the vehicle was impounded; that will teach him not to lend his car to friends.

[DezLez]

51 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

but I have yet to see cops checking 

You obviously do not live in a populous are where the cops make their money from "no helmet" enforcement, AKA a brown envelope/500baht in the hand.

[Xonax]

9 hours ago, thesetat said:

Thailand seeks to take and sell your car for this? I do not see how they can do this, especially when you might not own the car and simply loaned it to someone who drove and drank without your knowledge. 

They are already doing it in some european countries - even with borrowed or leased cars. The owner can off course appeal the confiscation, if there is a good reason why the car should not be confiscated, like if someone has used the car without the owners permission - but then there could be added theft charges on top of the reckless driving charges. Even some very valuable supercars have been confiscated, where the owners have lost the appeal.

[Felton Jarvis]

Good reason to use public transportation. Thais would strip you naked and require you to walk around in the nude if the law would allow it. Their only concern is money.

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, Ray60 said:

that would be illegal, they can keep the car until you sober or you paid the fine. If they really want to enforce it, then nobody who intends to drive home after dinner and a few drinks (not drunk) will ever buy a new car again for themselves or their Thai wives.

 

That’s a breathtaking detachment from reality. Enforcing drink-driving laws simply means that, like in any civilised country, most people will plan accordingly - designated drivers, taxis, public transport - just as they do across the West.

 

The notion that “if someone can’t drink and drive, they won’t buy a car” is not only absurd, it’s logically bankrupt. I genuinely struggle to comprehend how anyone could dream up such a spectacular failure of reason. 

 

2 hours ago, Ray60 said:

Another blow to the car industry, the tax uncertainty has already stopped many Farangs to send money over to Thailand to buy new cars.

 

 

And then there’s this gem: the idea that foreigners are some critical pillar of the Thai car economy, and that they’ll suddenly stop purchasing vehicles over drink-driving laws.

 

Another, daft, rather baseless fallacy - its delusional. 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

50 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

 

according to this simplified formula (not considering factors like body weight or an empty stomach),

drinking just one can of thai beer results in 1.32‰ blood alcohol level!!!!!

330ml x 5% ÷ 12.5ml = 1.32‰

 

 

This one is better:   The Widmark Formula estimates alcohol metabolism and Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) over time is based, adjusted to account for metabolic rate. 

 

 

Where:

A_ethanol = amount of ethanol in grams

W = body weight in kg

r = 0.68 (men) or 0.55 (women)

β = average metabolism rate, typically 0.015–0.020% per hour

1 standard drink = 14g ethanol (in the US; in UK, 1 unit = 8g)

 

 

[Purdey]

Try breathalysing the son of an energy drinks company Mr. Policeman and get yourself sent to the South of Thailand.

[TedG]

I'm not a fan of property seizure by the government.   The goverment is always on the up and up.  

[wensiensheng]

It’s perhaps optimistic to call this an initiative at this stage. But anything that brings drunk driving and how to curb it to the fore, is a good thing.

 

Unfortunately they just haven’t thought this through and it’s a single standing idea rather than a comprehensive package of measures to truly clamp down on drunk driving.

 

I give this a 1 out of 10 for content and probable effectiveness, 10 out of 10 for at least talking about the issue.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

This one is better:   The Widmark Formula estimates alcohol metabolism and Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) over time is based, adjusted to account for metabolic rate. 

 

 

Where:

A_ethanol = amount of ethanol in grams

W = body weight in kg

r = 0.68 (men) or 0.55 (women)

β = average metabolism rate, typically 0.015–0.020% per hour

1 standard drink = 14g ethanol (in the US; in UK, 1 unit = 8g)

 

 

 

3x 330ml beers for an 85kg male 1 hour after drinking

 

Where:

A_ethanol = 26.04 g

W = 85 kgW = 85 \, \text{kg}W=85kg

r = 0.68 

β = 0.015%/h

H = 1.0 hours

 

1 hour after 3 beers, the estimated BAC is ~0.0526%   *over the Thai limit.

 

Obviously, it starts to get more complex, as the driving over time: 

1 beer finished at 15mins, another at 30mins, another at 45 mins, another at 60mins.

 

Time since each beer at the 60 min mark

- Beer 1 finished at 15 mins → 45 mins ago (0.75 hrs)

- Beer 2 finished at 30 mins → 30 mins ago (0.5 hrs)

- Beer 3 finished at 45 mins → 15 mins ago (0.25 hrs)

- Beer 4 finished at 60 mins → just finished (0 hrs)

 

Using Widmark formula and subtracting metabolism

 

Subtract metabolism:

- Beer 1: 0.0225−0.015×0.75=0.0225−0.01125=0.01125

- Beer 2: 0.0225−0.015×0.5=0.0225−0.0075=0.015

- Beer 3: 0.0225−0.015×0.25=0.0225−0.00375=0.01875

- Beer 4: 0.0225−0.015×0=0.0225

 

BAC_total=0.01125+0.015+0.01875+0.0225 = BAC is ~0.0675% *over the Thai limit.

[Felt 35]

They could always try this below because an economic blow usually hits most people hard

 

Alcohol fine/ prison / driving license revocation
0.2-0.5‰ 1 ½ months' salary / no prison / 1 year
0.5-1.2‰ 1 ½ months' salary / unconditional prison / minimum 1 year
Over 1.2‰ 1 ½ months' salary / unconditional prison / 2-5 years

[Ralf001]

44 minutes ago, Purdey said:

Try breathalysing the son of an energy drinks company Mr. Policeman and get yourself sent to the South of Thailand.

Khun Boss ?

 

Love the lingering butthurt.

 

[motdaeng]

32 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

3x 330ml beers for an 85kg male 1 hour after drinking

 

Where:

A_ethanol = 26.04 g

 

i just wondering how do get the 26.04 g? thanks ...

(most thai beer have 5% alcohol ...)

 

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

42 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

3x 330ml beers for an 85kg male 1 hour after drinking

 

Where:

A_ethanol = 26.04 g

 

i just wondering how do get the 26.04 g? thanks ...

(most thai beer have 5% alcohol ...)

 

Its a mistake...   it should be 39.06g (for 3x 330ml beers)

Its the calculation o the Alcohol (A_ethanol) content in a 330ml of 5% beer..

 

 

Ethanol in a 330 ml, 5% Beer

We want to know how many grams of pure alcohol (ethanol) are in the beer.

 

Step 1: Volume of ethanol (in ml)

ABV (Alcohol By Volume) tells us the percentage of the drink that is pure ethanol by volume.

 

So, for a 330 ml beer at 5% ABV:

Ethanol volume =  330 × 0.05 = 16.5 ml  \text{ml}Ethanol volume=330×0.05=16.5ml

 

Ethanol isn’t water - it’s less dense. The density of ethanol is approximately: 0.789 g/ml

 

So...  Ethanol mass (g) = 16.5 × 0.789 = 13.02 g per 330 ml beer at 5% ABV