Busted Drink Driving

[jts-khorat]

... 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 !

I am quite surprised what kind of mentality 'education in the west with western laws' breeds. Give me a 3rd world dictatorship or Stalin any day, it will be better than that!

Different opininions about the fairness of being deported or raped by ladyboys as punishment for 3 beers aside; show me a tuk tuk (or even motorbike taxi) that will drive at 02:00 from Patong to Kamala...

[tommyj4]

When in Rome....do as the Romans..........am sure most of us agree that we should try to assimilate into the community

[Royale]

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 ?

Yes they do, it's a bronze official looking badge that clips on to the front of your bumper. I know of a company here in Phuket that donates money to the BIB and has been given a few of these badges for their employees.

I asked what it entitled them to and was told they'd not have any problems with anything to do with driving offences. It's a disgrace!

[taxin]

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 ?

Yes they do, it's a bronze official looking badge that clips on to the front of your bumper. I know of a company here in Phuket that donates money to the BIB and has been given a few of these badges for their employees.

I asked what it entitled them to and was told they'd not have any problems with anything to do with driving offences. It's a disgrace!

Is this a joke ? Or do they really have these badges ?

I wouldnt mind getting hold of one !

[tommyj4]

I wouldnt mind getting hold of one !

Find a car with one & have it off....you wont get caught the police are too busy nicking drink drivers

[LivinLOS]

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 ?

Yes they do, it's a bronze official looking badge that clips on to the front of your bumper. I know of a company here in Phuket that donates money to the BIB and has been given a few of these badges for their employees.

I asked what it entitled them to and was told they'd not have any problems with anything to do with driving offences. It's a disgrace!

Is this a joke ? Or do they really have these badges ?

I wouldnt mind getting hold of one !

I have heard the same..

I also know a guy here who is involved in a business with some generals and senior bangkok police. He has been given a biz card signed by the police guy across the face and firmly believes any trouble on the roads will be cleared up to his advantage. Tho hes not farang (hes not Thai either) and speaks fluent Thai so already has the leg up on most of us.

[jojothai]

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

Yes they do, it's a bronze official looking badge that clips on to the front of your bumper. I know of a company here in Phuket that donates money to the BIB and has been given a few of these badges for their employees.

I asked what it entitled them to and was told they'd not have any problems with anything to do with driving offences. It's a disgrace!

Is this a joke ? Or do they really have these badges ?

I wouldnt mind getting hold of one !

I have heard the same..

I also know a guy here who is involved in a business with some generals and senior bangkok police. He has been given a biz card signed by the police guy across the face and firmly believes any trouble on the roads will be cleared up to his advantage. Tho hes not farang (hes not Thai either) and speaks fluent Thai so already has the leg up on most of us.

what you say rings true.

I know some people with good connections who have calling cards and it has the mobile telephone number. They do seem to get situations resolved very quickly by showing the card and threatening / starting to call the number.

jojothai

[jastheace]

i got stopped at 02.00 (isaan) after 10 bottles of beer,at an official police check,got my licence out ,policeman asked if i'd been drinking,i replied in thai,what?and drive motorcycle,never!!, he answered,ok,off you go then.not that i condone d and d,but someone above was smiling on me.one of the few times they could have called money from me legitimately.

[Lancashirelad]

so what's happened to the community service like Bangkok klong cleaning that was being dished out for drink drive offences a year or so back?

Edited September 3, 2008 by Lancashirelad

[BigSnake]

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.

Yeah yeah, I know you don't want to hear this but I think your friend and any drunk/drinking driver that get off with a Bt30,000 fine should think his/her luck that they didn't kill somebody; then how much to the vitcim family, bt30,000??? yeah right and they are left to suffer for a life time. To the point, standard practice for drunk driving a small fine: Bt2000-5000, maybe point on driving records. If I and think many other had a vote it would be Bt100000 fine, mandatory 5 days in jail.

[típ-yá-jàk-sòo yaan]

I don't get some of you guys. I left the west to get away from a culture based on the lowest common denominator. I have the ability to make my own decisions and the moral backbone to admit and rectify my mistakes - I DO NOT need a governing body to do that for me.

FrenchFARANGbbk says, "I still don't understand how people educated in the west with western laws can still think this way...", but THAT is the point isn't it? We were socialized to believe these ridiculous untruths.

Three or four beers affects my 45 kilo wife a lot different than 75 kilo me or my 120 kilo brother, BUT not in the eyes of our supposedly enlightened posters here. It is a medical fact that every individual metabolizes at a different rate as well - how do we factor that into a system which is fair? Answer, you cannot. So in the west we supplicate ourselves to the bleeding hearts, the moral majority, and mother's against drunk driving and base our decisions on the lowest third of the bell curve of life.

America calls itself the "Land Of The Free" - ha, biggest joke in the world today. The sad part is most of them believe it. Freedom is being able to do what you want when you want, as long as it does not affect the personal freedom of another individual. If your decision is a bad one (read "You screwed up big time") be prepared to pay the piper - either monetarily or through the loss of personal freedom (incarceration) or both! But I firmly believe the no harm, no foul adage - if you've had four beers and get home safe everyday for ten years who the heck cares?

The western/christian culture of fear to control the peons doesn't translate well to SE asian culture (thankfully). If you are desperate to be controlled by western laws and ways - why aren't you living there rather than trying to be a modern-day cultural missionary? Things here are OK the way they are and will evolve in a unique asian way.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, n'est pas?

[madjbs]

^ rubbish excuse, if you kill someone, it's of no use to them that you are "prepared to pay the piper"

who the heck cares?

The people who you could potentially kill the next time you drive after drinking a little more than usual?

[típ-yá-jàk-sòo yaan]

There is what I was waiting for as a response!!

"POTENTIALLY - adjective [ attrib. ] having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the FUTURE" (my emphasis).

There are an infinite number of POTENTIAL ways to kill someone. What is the legal limit for being sleep deprived? What is the legal limit for Alzheimer's? What is the legal limit for incompetence? One cannot and should not expect to be protected from every POTENTIAL calamity in life. Are you one hundred percent positive you will not kill someone next time you are on the road?

30 plus years on the road have given me the ability to know when I can drive and when I cannot. Don't even start with the impaired judgement argument... you and I both KNOW when we are impaired - about an hour prior to that is when you shouldn't get behind the wheel.

When I was brought into this existence no one gave me a guarantee of a long and painless life and in fact I spent the better part of a year convalescing from an encounter with an impaired driver - that's karma baby!!

[madjbs]

You know very well that people don't stop driving once they become "impaired", many drive up until they can hardly walk. That is why there needs to be a legal level, people should also take responsibly and and not drive when they are impaired for other reasons as well. Alcohol however, is such a big part of the problem that the laws naturally focus on that area.

[típ-yá-jàk-sòo yaan]

"You know very well that people don't stop driving once they become "impaired", many drive up until they can hardly walk..."

Sorry madjbs but that whole statement is a crock. Many people don't stop driving when they are too old, when their eyesight is too weak, when their migraine is too intense, when their phone rings, or when their rage reaches a level that if they weren't in a motor vehicle their judgement would be certainly be considered "impaired". There are no penalties or abhoration attached to this behavior... What is your definition of impaired? What about the ganja smoker, the the 'roid popper, mother's little helper? What about ritalin? Tylenol 3 and a cocktail? Three hours sleep in 60 hours and a major caffeine buzz? Where is the line in the sand? You gotta learn you cannot never expect to eliminate these behaviors you can only deal with the consequences.

Again as I stated briefly in my penultimate post - no harm, no foul. Some of our most prolific artists, businessmen, musicians, politicians, clergymen, scientists, educators, lawyers, etc.. ad infinitum... are life-long FUNCTIONAL addicts or blank(you fill it in)-aholics whose behavior you could not distinguish from your own. Give up the vilification of one type of <deleted>-up and get on with the healing.

MANY - "noun [as plural n. ] ( the many) the majority of people". Do you honestly believe that the MAJORITY of people "drive up until they can hardly walk". My circle of acquaintances covers the polar extremes of the bell curve of life and absolutely none of them would believe that to be a true analogy - statistically very, very few people exhibit that type of behavior (less than one percent in recent studies, "...less than ONE PERCENT of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005)".

[Lancashirelad]

ONE PERCENT of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year

blimey, that's a heck of a lot of impaired license holders, more than 1/2 of the whole population it seems.

[LivinLOS]

Three or four beers affects my 45 kilo wife a lot different than 75 kilo me or my 120 kilo brother, BUT not in the eyes of our supposedly enlightened posters here. It is a medical fact that every individual metabolizes at a different rate as well - how do we factor that into a system which is fair? Answer, you cannot. So in the west we supplicate ourselves to the bleeding hearts, the moral majority, and mother's against drunk driving and base our decisions on the lowest third of the bell curve of life.

This is why breath and blood alcohol is a measure not of the amount you have drunk, but the ratio of alcohol in your blood / breath.

I don't get some of you guys. I left the west to get away from a culture based on the lowest common denominator. I have the ability to make my own decisions and the moral backbone to admit and rectify my mistakes - I DO NOT need a governing body to do that for me.

Thats where I agree with you.. If you do wrong, then be punished, if you cause harm, you must pay the price of that harm, but I dont agree that I need to be enforced how to act when I do no harm to others. That applies to all of my thinking, from property rights, to drug legality, to drink rules, to etc etc etc.

[típ-yá-jàk-sòo yaan]

LivinLOS, sorry if that was unclear... I was referring to the previous posters who seemed to be using the 3-4 beers and weight as a yardstick. Obviously breathalyzers/blood tests measure the amount of alcohol in an individual's system. Metabolization of the alcohol is the "factor x" that cannot be easily measured.

[G54]

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

Well as I'm a young Brit, and not obnoxious, that kinda blows your dimwit theory out of the water.

I am a Brit and not a young Brit but I have been stopped by the police several times this year and asked if I have been drinking. Sometimes I reply no and other times say 'nit noi'. How much I have drunk I will not disclose but I will say that each time i was civil to the police and the police were civil in return and waved me on after a brief check and no breath test.

So that also blows your inflammatory remark out of the water.