Busted Drink Driving

[tommyj4]

I hope the police gave him a kiss & a cuddle at the same time as taking his money........I always like kissing while I am being F*****D

[simon43]

... and usually have a few beers.Not mao 3-4 beers.

[\quote]

If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you.

Simon

[huggybear]

... and usually have a few beers.Not mao 3-4 beers.

[\quote]

If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you.

Simon

Oh c'mon Simon,way overboard here, I'm 90 kilos and 3 or 4 beers plus some dinner and I might as well have been drinking sprite.

[Jared]

I got caught 4 months ago drink driving. It was a random police check in the early hours of the morning on a main road leading away from a new night club that had just opened. I was breathalised and it read 83 and 50 was the limit. I had hardly been drinking and was not drunk in the slightest. Spent a day and night in the cells, went to court the next day and got an 8k fine with 18hrs community service and I have to go and sign in at the beginning of the month for 6 months. This is in Nakhorn Ratchasima (korat)

[starkey_rich]

Quote

"I was breathalised and it read 83 and 50 was the limit. I had hardly been drinking and was not drunk in the slightest"

This is the point I was trying to make if I have 3-4 beers over the night , how have they calibrated their machine?To catch anyone who has any amount of alcohol in their system or what?

Quote

"If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you."

Yes do think it's ok to drive after drinking 3-4 beers over the space of about 4 hours and my response time is probably 100% faster than most Thai's. Have you taken the the thai driving test and watched the Thai's trying to do the brake response test at least 50% needed 3 try's and the depth/space perception test if they didn't have help from the sidelines.Well who knows.Sorry I digressed there

Simon was that you handing out the War Cry around the bars the other night

[OxfordWill]

Jesus some real scare stories here! Ive been driving a friend's car after a couple of drinks without a license for a while now! Reality check! Its not like indonesia

[lazeeboy]

for all that is said on this thread good or bad ,if you drink and drive you deserve what you get ,i for one drink and drive and everyone i know does too ,and most if not all on this forum do as well ,drinking a couple or three beers is drinking and driving regardless of size ,people should be more truthful and stop bashing the brave ones that openly admit it ...........

[LivinLOS]

drinking a couple or three beers is drinking and driving regardless of size

Disagree there.. At my size, 3 beers over an hour or a bit more.. I think that would be very marginal, probably OK.

I have past a breath test far worse.

[jts-khorat]

If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you.

Simon

Deported and business and family destroyed for the drinking of 3 beers; a new LOW on Thai Visa... would hanging him right up on the next tree not be a much fairer treatment?

Maybe we should have a poll on this.

[sibeymai]

Rolled my pickup across the highway after falling asleep. Had drunk a few beers prior. Local BIB turned up, checked I was ok, organised the towing of the car and then got me a room at the best local hotel. No paperwork, no breathalyser.

Sure was worthwhile to make a donation during the annual BIB charity golf day a few months before. Take care of the BIB and they take care of you. Simple really.

Now how many of you expats here ever spend time to get to know your local BIB ? It's worth it.

[madjbs]

So you people don't care that you're risking the lives of innocent people?

[PhilHarries]

probably only happens to the old brits that seem to have to scream and act obnoxious when they are drunk

I know so many people around here that drink everynight and none of them have ever been stopped. most of those 'roadcheck' spot are just a reason for police officers to sit down outside of the station and throw down some cigs/beers

have to be really obnoxsious on your car/motorbike to be seen by them

Hey little goat, or should that be old goat (or do you prefer little cheese?), you got a phobia for the Brits? This is the second thread where you come in making anti Brit posts where nationality has not been mentioned. Or do you get lonely down there in that dank dark cesspit you call home? I think you have an inferiority complex.

[jojothai]

If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you.

Simon

Deported and business and family destroyed for the drinking of 3 beers; a new LOW on Thai Visa... would hanging him right up on the next tree not be a much fairer treatment?

Maybe we should have a poll on this.

No not enough - should be sent to the bkk hilton for starters then hung drawn and quartered and fed to the crocs.

Why take such issue when millions of thai (and there are some farangs - but not as many) motorbike drivers drive around very drunk causing the majority of accidents and deaths (including their own).

Can they deport the thais also please??.

Many other things can affect your ability to drive, not least being able to drive - which very often seems to be sorely lacking here. People also drive with impaired vision. Do they get deported for that?

.... No Officer I'm not drunk ... just cant see where I'm going .

There are laws and 3 to 4 beers may well be within acceptable ,limits over the appropriate time period and with eating. But the system of breathalyzing appears to be incompetent and responsible people who keep within the legal limit may well be wrongly arrested / ripped off.

Whilst the ideal of no drink for driving is very good, many people who drink late night could be over the limit if they drive to work the next morning. So what do you do ? Bar all the people who drive to work from drinking at night. Presume that will happen next in Big Brother Land.

Perhaps our principals here will get to the idea first. No doubt the bar owners will all love it.

Ultimately we wont be able to drink alcohol if we have a driving license. Perhaps instead you will have to get a license to be able to drink alcohol. A familiar theme?? . Wow right up our street, great idea stops the minors, pleases the religious fraternity, and just think how much extra revenue it will generate!!

By the way those in Pattaya / Jomtien be aware that checks are made sometimes late at night on the hill thappraya road between Pattaya and Jomtien. Go out on the town by baht bus, There is no need to drive.

jojothai

[jojothai]

I understand the points system on Thai licenses is country wide.. Vary rarely do points go onto the license, I think thats when you go to court and not when you pay 'on the spot' payments, hence not often.

Interested to know if it is countywide.

There is one in Bangkok and it is for real. Outside I dont know.

I was booked in a speed trap at toll gate a few years ago.

( Bang Na elevated - they put the speed cameras up in the siding east bound opposite the nation tower.).

My thai license was taken and I had to go to the station afterwards to collect it. There I paid the fine, all well handled and no problems. There were many thai retreiving their licenses also ( I was the only farang at the time) . I was shown the documentation in thai that indicated I had penalty points against my license. Furthermore I asked to see what the system was.

I was shown papers with some english and it was clear that it took only 3 bookings of certain types to lose your license. If I remember correctly it was 4 points for my speeding and at 13 points you lose your license.

I noted at the time that one of the offences with points related to illegal parking and was something that could happen easily. So dont think that getting booked is a minor issue, especially if you have been booked a few times. Might be better to settle up on the spot.

You need to find out if points are registered but how do you know?

Can anybody clarify the law and rules on penalty point system or give a link?

jojothai

[LivinLOS]

Dont know but it does make me think passing over the international license if I was breaking the law makes sense. Hadnt considered the implications before.

[Yahooka]

So you people don't care that you're risking the lives of innocent people?

Not really !!

[adgroom]

do the same rules apply for motorbikes as they do for cars?

I know a fair few people who regularly go out locally from bar to bar on their motorbikes and have never had any problems in nearly a year.

where are the main check points in Phuket?

[Singha Gold]

It is especially bad in Kamala atm. From what I hear we have a new police chief that is flexing his tea-money muscle. Not only are they regularly manning the police checks ready to escort you to the nearest cash points, but they are also hitting up bars for "Illegally downloaded music". Whether you can prove you have the originals or not. The last week has seen 6 bars stung for between 30 and 100K in fines and the removal of laptops/computers. These are Thais and Farangs. They have no official papers that anyone can determine. It's not happening anywhere else on the island and the music companies in Bangkok know nothing of it.

Kamala is a place to keep your head down just now.

[LivinLOS]

It is especially bad in Kamala atm. From what I hear we have a new police chief that is flexing his tea-money muscle. Not only are they regularly manning the police checks ready to escort you to the nearest cash points, but they are also hitting up bars for "Illegally downloaded music". Whether you can prove you have the originals or not. The last week has seen 6 bars stung for between 30 and 100K in fines and the removal of laptops/computers. These are Thais and Farangs. They have no official papers that anyone can determine. It's not happening anywhere else on the island and the music companies in Bangkok know nothing of it.

Kamala is a place to keep your head down just now.

Do you mean they are busting bars who dont have music licenses ??

That happens all over (Patong / Karon / etc) and is a well known existing law.. Get the license or pay the fine.

[Singha Gold]

It is especially bad in Kamala atm. From what I hear we have a new police chief that is flexing his tea-money muscle. Not only are they regularly manning the police checks ready to escort you to the nearest cash points, but they are also hitting up bars for "Illegally downloaded music". Whether you can prove you have the originals or not. The last week has seen 6 bars stung for between 30 and 100K in fines and the removal of laptops/computers. These are Thais and Farangs. They have no official papers that anyone can determine. It's not happening anywhere else on the island and the music companies in Bangkok know nothing of it.

Kamala is a place to keep your head down just now.

Do you mean they are busting bars who dont have music licenses ??

That happens all over (Patong / Karon / etc) and is a well known existing law.. Get the license or pay the fine.

They're walking into bars and busting people for copy CDs or music on a computer, regardless of what licenses you may or may not own. And as I scroll down the page I read that it is starting to pop up in other areas in Thailand. Seems to be another flavor of the month money making scheme in progress.

[jojothai]

Do you mean they are busting bars who dont have music licenses ??

That happens all over (Patong / Karon / etc) and is a well known existing law.. Get the license or pay the fine.

They're walking into bars and busting people for copy CDs or music on a computer, regardless of what licenses you may or may not own. And as I scroll down the page I read that it is starting to pop up in other areas in Thailand. Seems to be another flavor of the month money making scheme in progress.

It has been happening in Pattaya/Jomtien for quite some time now.

And as you say it has nothing to do with your music license.

What they are claiming is that the copies are illegal. Even if you have the original at home how do prove it , that the copy was made from it, that you are entitled to copy it, etc..

Since many bars anyway have the music on pirate cds, or copied from them, or from the internet it is Easy money for the taking.

jojothai

[LivinLOS]

They're walking into bars and busting people for copy CDs or music on a computer, regardless of what licenses you may or may not own. And as I scroll down the page I read that it is starting to pop up in other areas in Thailand. Seems to be another flavor of the month money making scheme in progress.

Not the case in Patong..

If you have your music license and you have a legal non copy version of all your CD's then theres no problem with having an MP3 server, an Ipod, or any other digital copy of your own music.. If you dont have a legal version of the CD then of course its pirate music (they dont trust / cannot check itunes type digital downloads).

As long as you have both the license and the legit non pirate CDs then you can have the lot on MP3 (Checked in last couple of days with the licensing people and local police).

Edited August 21, 2008 by LivinLOS

[jojothai]

Getting back to drunk driving, the following must take the biscuit as best ever.

22 august 2008

NANCY, France (AFP) - A blind journalist was given a month's suspended jail sentence and fined 500 euros (750 dollars) by a French court Friday for driving while drunk and without a license.

The owner of the car, who was also drunk as he sat next to the blind man when he drove the vehicle, was given the same sentence and had his license suspended for five months by the court in the northeastern town of Nancy.

The pair were arrested on a country road in the early hours of July 25 by police who spotted their car zig-zagging suspiciously and moving at a very low speed.

The police were astounded when the 29-year-old driver informed them that he was blind, and when they breathalysed him and his passenger, a 52-year-old photographer, they found they had drunk twice the permitted level of alcohol."

Quite a coincidence I mentioned impaired vision like I see here (or not, pun intended), but this is taking it to extreme.

But that is todays society, - the "X" factor.

Note they were moving at low speed and given a very lenient sentence.

And not sent to the foreign legion - viz... deported.

regards

jojothai

[BusyBee123]

woken me up this thread, only come for 2 weeks every 3 months, can pay a driver for the 2 weeks to take me everywhere for the potential fine i might get if caught never mind the hassle

[sangfroid]

When will you all get your heads around the fact that 30,000 baht is a huge amount of money for a Thai, even a lowly cop. That amount is insane, and when one of you pays it, everyone pays it because now it's the status quo. However, serves you bloody right for driving pissed out of your heads. Som nom na.

Well said Jitagon, 30,000B is around three months pay for a lowly ranked copper.

[sangfroid]

There are electronic signs over the roads in many parts of Bangkok. They are traffic advisory signs and sometimes they show the number of drivers breathalysed during the previous 24 hours, and the results of the tests. Quite often the number of drunks caught whilst driving is over 40% of the total!

[onnut]

A guy I know living in Phuket with his Thai wife and baby boy used to get plastered and drive home at 6am. One morning he drove straight over the top of a motorbike rider, killed him of course.

Two weeks later this same guy was moaning because he had to pay 300k to make it all go away. This money would have shut the family up and the BIB.

What an arse, he is still alive and well and he is moaning about having to pay this money out.

I would never have more than 2-3 beers if I was driving; there is no reason for it, plenty of other ways to get home.

Drive safe.....

Edited August 24, 2008 by onnut

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Had a farang mate caught drink driving at the Kamala police check.

Out of curiosity, what is the standard practice re payment? It cost him 30,000bht. Which to me sounded a lot. Is it automatic deportation if convicted through the courts?

And yes, he knows he shouldn't have been drinking and driving, and yes, he should have caught a taxi or paid a driver. So please spare me the goodie two shoes replies. What's done is done.

Thai caught few days ago at police check, 20000 bail thb and 5000 thb fine the day after at the court after spending one night at police station in Bangkok.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

Rolled my pickup across the highway after falling asleep. Had drunk a few beers prior. Local BIB turned up, checked I was ok, organised the towing of the car and then got me a room at the best local hotel. No paperwork, no breathalyser.

Sure was worthwhile to make a donation during the annual BIB charity golf day a few months before. Take care of the BIB and they take care of you. Simple really.

Now how many of you expats here ever spend time to get to know your local BIB ? It's worth it.

Do they give a special sticker to put on your car when you give to cops charity ?

[frenchFARANGbkk]

... and usually have a few beers.Not mao 3-4 beers.

If you seriously think it's ok to drive after 3-4 beers, when your speed of response is definitely reduced and your judgement impaired, then I would be the first to applaud any police officer for arresting you, fining you and deporting you.

Simon

You are so right! I still don't understand how people educated in the west with western laws can still think this way, so stupid, and especially in a country where taking a cab back home cost 100 thb ... pfff... they deserve all night punishment in a jail with 3 ladyboys before going back home... Pulp fiction style !