Speeding Fines (yes That Old Potato)

[Andyfez]

Being a reasonably careful driver I've got through nearly two years of driving in Thailand without incident. Until last week that is. Last week I got stopped for speeding twice in one day.....

I wasn't going particularly fast, and they didn't know I was a Farang when they stopped me, but the misleading information they gave got me wondering.....

They told me that if I didn't 'pay for their lunch' I must go to the police station some miles away and probably pay a thousand Baht fine.

I was doing 98 on a highway which I understand to be 90 KMH?

I thought that if they issue me with a ticket I pay there and then - is it true they can insist I go to the police station?

Does anyone know what the official fines are?

Of course I ended up paying in both cases without receiving a ticket.

Can anyone tell me what the legal situation is?

Edited March 11, 2005 by Andyfez

[glassdude007]

dont know the answer but you got of easy...

if you were here in usa (MASS) and just got a speeding/moving violation

ticket you pay the fine plus your insurance rates go up for seven years...

id rather buy the cop a chilli pet pad thai lunch and hope he gets the poops..

sounds like another case of...TIT...cost of living there you lucky bugger...

goodluck from glassman007....

[PvtDick]

The correct procedure is for the cops to take your license and issue you a ticket. You then take the ticket to the police station at your leisure, pay the fine, receive a receipt, and get your license back. I do not know what the official fine is.

[Jai Dee]

Of course I ended up paying in both cases without receiving a ticket.

Just out of curiosity, how much did you contribute to their "mia noi fund"?

[Andyfez]

Of course I ended up paying in both cases without receiving a ticket.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just out of curiosity, how much did you contribute to their "mia noi fund"?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

200 Baht the first time, 500 Baht the second.

[Ajarn]

The correct procedure is for the cops to take your license and issue you a ticket.  You then take the ticket to the police station at your leisure, pay the fine, receive a receipt, and get your license back.  I do not know what the official fine is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

According to something I read recently, but can't remember where (maybe Phuket paper) minor traffic offences are officially 2,000 baht, but police stations are allowed to adjust downward if they choose.

And, it is also correct procedure to collect fines on the spot, too. Supposed to be a receipt, too

Last I read, the cops can officially collect 25% of the fine...

[Ajarn]

On the major hiways upcountry, there are always a few 'checkpoints' that double as Speeding Ticket Payment Centers. I've become aquainted with perhaps 6 of them between Chiang Mai and Bkk...

Quite civilized process imo, and always the same price for me... 200 baht. Stamped receipt, polite and friendly cops... No sweat

I was doing 98 on a highway which I understand to be 90 KMH?

98 is still faster than 90, and 155 is waaay faster. If you're going to speed dude, show some more gumption than a puny 8kph

[Jai Dee]

Of course I ended up paying in both cases without receiving a ticket.

Just out of curiosity, how much did you contribute to their "mia noi fund"?

200 Baht the first time, 500 Baht the second.

Ouch!

I've found that the former is the norm for an falung stopped by the boyz'n brown, but you were ripped off on the latter. The standard "official" fine for any speeding offence I believe is 400 baht payable at the station.

[Ajarn]

Of course I ended up paying in both cases without receiving a ticket.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just out of curiosity, how much did you contribute to their "mia noi fund"?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

200 Baht the first time, 500 Baht the second.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ouch!

I've found that the former is the norm for an falung stopped by the boyz'n brown, but you were ripped off on the latter. The standard "official" fine for any speeding offence I believe is 400 baht payable at the station.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

25% of 500 baht is certainly better than 25% of 200 baht, if you can get it, na'?

[Jai Dee]

25% of 500 baht is certainly better than 25% of 200 baht, if you can get it, na'? 

Chai leaow!

"On-the-spot" fines/payments for Thais though are considerably less... from 20 baht to 100 baht... so my future father-in-law tells me. He's a farmer in Isaan. A cold bottle or two of "gratingdaeng" (Red Bull) also helps.

It also depends on the type of vehicle you drive.

Have you noticed that a speeding Mercedes Benz never gets stopped?

[Diggerbasher]

The wife normally sweet talks them into taking 100 baht "lunch money".

[taxexile]

what is the speed limit on the highways here ?

i never see any signs other than on bends and before built up areas.

i have been stopped a few times for speeding in prachuap khiri khan.

i always speak english and find that the police out of bangkok wont or cant speak english and just grin and let me go , except for one time when they called a colleague out from inside the hut , he could speak english and he took 300b off me and gave me a ticket which stated that it was a 300b fine for speeding. i asked him what the limit was and he said 90. is that correct.

they had someone with a radar gun down the road zapping everybody and they radio ahead to the checkpoint with details of who to pull over.

Edited March 11, 2005 by taxexile

[EVO]

I got stopped on my way to Samui not so long ago.

200 Baht changed hands. That suited me fine, and im sure it suited Mr. Officer. We shook hands and went our ways.

[PvtDick]

Lovely how corruption suits everyone just fine when it goes in the direction of their convenience.

[Insight]

Nowadays I don't bother with the tea money - I'll happily surrender my licence and get a messenger to pay the fine at the cop shop.

Two paid so far - one so far for turning right at the lights when it's not allowed (although there's a lane there for turning right and a traffic light indicating when it's safe to turn ) - 100 baht.

The other, not displaying an up-to-date insurance certificate - 400 baht, providing you show a copy of the correct insurance certificate when you go to the cop shop (1,000 baht without).

I think if you pay 500+ baht for speeding you're getting a bit swizzed. Saying that, the biggest "fine" (tea money) I've ever paid is 1,000 baht from those @@#$@!!!! at the toll booths near Don Muang airport, back in my early days of driving here.

[Ajarn]

25% of 500 baht is certainly better than 25% of 200 baht, if you can get it, na'? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Chai leaow!

"On-the-spot" fines/payments for Thais though are considerably less... from 20 baht to 100 baht... so my future father-in-law tells me. He's a farmer in Isaan. A cold bottle or two of "gratingdaeng" (Red Bull) also helps.

It also depends on the type of vehicle you drive.

Have you noticed that a speeding Mercedes Benz never gets stopped?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can't speak for everywhere, but every speeding payment que I've been in was mostly Thais, and we all paid the same 200 baht... No sign of any 'farang' nonsense. Just civil and polite (and fair) cops. And yes, I've seen benzes and beemers and audis stopped in these places, too.

Outside of these hiway 'rest stops' though, the fines for other stuff varies a lot, according to friends. I can't remember paying a 'street fine' except for a 500 baht clip in Bkk a couple of years ago (and another incident almost 20 years ago), and that was only because my wife was too quick on the draw with a 500 note, and the cop quick enough to grab it while the grabbing was good...

Edited March 11, 2005 by Ajarn

[Darknight]

they had someone with a radar gun down the road zapping everybody and they radio ahead to the checkpoint with details of who to pull over.

Sure about that ???

i was stopped and the cop just showed me his self written speed indication on his notepad..

,,,125 kmh,,,

Don't think their ever was a speedgun. but i passed a roadblock a few miles earlier , maybe they just radio-ed in "Fat farang coming in black pick up "

[Ajarn]

they had someone with a radar gun down the road zapping everybody and they radio ahead to the checkpoint with details of who to pull over.

Sure about that ???

i was stopped and the cop just showed me his self written speed indication on his notepad..

,,,125 kmh,,,

Don't think their ever was a speedgun. but i passed a roadblock a few miles earlier , maybe they just radio-ed in "Fat farang coming in black pick up "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've confirmed a radar gun once, but 2 other times it was a cop on the side of the road about .5 to 1 kilometer before getting stopped. Usually I just see a person standing in the middle of the hiway, too far away yet to be identified as a cop, but, still, it doesn't take but a moment to get the idea that you're going to have to stop. They often hide their cars and stuff just over a long rise, so you can't see them until it's (likely) too late.

[taxexile]

Sure about that ???

not 100% sure , on the occasion that i had to pay i was told it was a radar gun ,

my wife rides shotgun and watches for the radar stakeouts , it's a competition between us as to who can spot them , but that time we hadnt spotted one before we were stopped.

there are often one or two on the road between hua hin and chumphon , especially at weekends.

[Jai Dee]

there are often one or two on the road  between  hua hin and  chumphon , especially at weekends.

Usually at weekends there's one on the downhill strech of road on highway 36 out of Pattaya, just before the highway 7 to BKK turnoff.

Not usually there in the afternoon though... no shade for cover.

[Erwin1011]

I bought my driver a nice convenient present, it detects speed guns and al. He's very happy with it and sofar has avoided some 10 shots. saves him alot of money.

[PeaceBlondie]

Maybe I'm lucky, or they don't care. Through today (I'm off for long vacation holiday), I've spent most of the last two years speeding down the same superhighway at speeds between 120 and 150kph, usually in the passing lane. But my bike, insurance, registration, helmet, etc. are all legal. I come to a full stop when the officer is standing bravely in the middle of the road. They could have nabbed me at least 300 days, both ways, and they never did. Same at all those stoplights on the superhighway going around CMai (when there were stoplights) - no officer has even said 'sawadee' to me, although I ride that sportbike like a teenager. No prejudice against a farang, either. And I don't think they can tell I'm a very old ajarn. Am I just lucky, or are they waiting to scrape me off the pavement?

[PvtDick]

Nowadays I don't bother with the tea money - I'll happily surrender my licence and get a messenger to pay the fine at the cop shop.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same for me. I will not bribe a police officer because it's too "inconvenient" for me to pick up my license from the station.

Anyway, in over 15 years of driving the highways and biways of Thailand, I have never once been stopped for speeding (although I tend to have a lead foot). I've been stopped for lots of other things, though -- all of them legitimately my bad.

[Ajarn]

Same for me. I will not bribe a police officer because it's too "inconvenient" for me to pick up my license from the station

What makes you think they're bribes, just because you pay away from the station? You've already read that this is allowed under the law, so ignorance isn't your reason, it seems.

If you get a stamped receipt, then consider it legal, because that's what the law says. If you choose to waste your time and pay more at the station, what kind of sense does that make? Sounds quite foolish and pointless, to me. The cop who stops you gets his (legal) cut, no matter what you do, as long as you pay.

[Thaiboxer]

A cop once got me for having the front tires on the zebra crossing. He was rather rude when he spoke to my wife and he issued me a ticket...40 points! The max you could get..and I wasn't even moving. For all that trouble of having to wait THREE weeks for them to send my license to the main facility downtown, send it back to the suburbs, and have me pay the 300 baht fine, I should have driven through Big C. My brother-in-law simply slips them 100 baht each time they pull him over for speeding or gambling money.

[Insight]

Ajarn, I really enjoy your posts - they've usually got a "well balanced" tone about them, with a positive outlook, but...

Same for me. I will not bribe a police officer because it's too "inconvenient" for me to pick up my license from the station

What makes you think they're bribes, just because you pay away from the station?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's just a hunch

[PvtDick]

I have never heard that cops have authority to receive cash fines on the spot. And I've never seen a cop carrying a book of receipts to issue.

In any case, when a cop asks you to "buy him lunch" and requests that you palm him the money out of sight, it's a BRIBE. I think that's what we're talking about here, and I won't do it.

[Thaiboxer]

PvtDick...I know it's a bummer when they are clearly trying to extort money from you, but given the choice between an on the spot "fine" and having to possibly retrieve your license from another province/amphoe (if you're travelling), I would rather hand over 100 baht and get on with it. It's a tough decision for us foriegners since the guy could really stick to the rules or perhaps he'll accept your "fine" and wave you on by. I'll bet most would take the money given their low wages and your eagerness to pay them off.

One of my Thailand books suggests either A.)giving them an expired international driver's license and driving off or B.)pretending not to speak any Thai which may cause them to wave you on out of frustration. I don't have an international driver's license so I guess option A is out for me.

Edited March 11, 2005 by Thaiboxer

[Ajarn]

I have never heard that cops have authority to receive cash fines on the spot.    And I've never seen a cop carrying a book of receipts to issue.

In any case, when a cop asks you to "buy him lunch" and requests that you palm him the money out of sight, it's a BRIBE.  I think that's what we're talking about here, and I won't do it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's what you're talking about, but speeding tickets on the hiway are what much of this thread has been about I think, and there has been a clear distinction, at least by me, that this is completely legal when a stamped receipt is given..If you are ignorant of the law that allows cops to collect fines on the street, then maybe you should educate yourself so you at least have a better clue, and don't waste your time and money- if they ever catch you

If you haven't ever seen a cop with a ticket book and you've been driving here for 15 years, then I can't understand why you haven't seen what I see on at least a weekly basis at various police checkpoints I drive through. Maybe you don't really drive that much, really?... You won't see the receipt until you pay, but it will be the same one you'll get at the station after you've wasted your time and money going there to get your license back...

We all know there are the cops that stop you for bribes on the street and try to hide the money, etc.. I agree with your general feelings about that. But to take the same tack with the legit police stops, with receipts given, really is foolish, in my book, but, to each their own..

[Ajarn]

One of my Thailand books suggests either A.)giving them an expired international driver's license and driving off or B.)pretending not to speak any Thai which may cause them to wave you on out of frustration. I don't have an international driver's license so I guess option A is out for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I keep a 'throw-down' (license that expired many many years ago) just in case, but I've never had to use it. I would use it if I hadn't done anything wrong, and if I couldn't convince the cop I wasn't guilty and he still insisted on an unfair fine... If it was 50 baht, I might pay just for the fact I'd still have my throw-down to use when I might need it more...

I also agree with never speaking Thai to a cop if it isn't clearly perceived by you as being in your best interest... No sense pushing your luck