losworld Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) I constantly read on Thai Visa about members being frustrated with roadside tickets costing a few hundred baht all designed to get revenue from the unsuspecting. This week I made a rolling right turn in my Western hometown and received a ticket in the mail in the amount of $440. Yes that is right $440. At 200 baht payoff per ticket that would equate to approximately 75 tickets in Thailand. Has anyone on this board received this kind of blackmail in all their days in Thailand via road tickets? Plus here in Los Angeles there is an additional $70 payment for traffic school or the insurance rates go up. I am sure many Europeans are suffering the same fate with these easy grabs by their local governments who have mispent and are looking for further revenue. And it is only going to get worse. Ironically one half of the ticket price goes to the lovely Lockhead military company who are quietly putting these money machines at intersections across the city. The good company urged the city to start fining rolling right turns as well as direct runs through a red light. Doing this triples their revenue. And to boot they changed the fine from 250 in the past to 440. At least in Thailand it goes into the pocket of the cop who is likely only earning 300 dollars per month. Here it is feeding a greedy military industrial company and an incompetent and corrupt city government. Things may not be so bad in Thailand after all? Edited October 20, 2009 by losworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
way2muchcoffee Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) I guess the difference is that, by using cameras, they are simply catching more people who violate traffic laws. Here it seems to have very little to do with any sort of traffic violation. Pure extortion. While the cost comparison is worth noting, the comparison is invalid for many reasons. Cost of living, salary differentials are a part. But the main difference is that you are guaranteed that you won't be ticketed by a camera unless you actually violate traffic law. Edited October 20, 2009 by way2muchcoffee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) I guess the difference is that, by using cameras, they are simply catching more people who violate traffic laws. Here it seems to have very little to do with any sort of traffic violation. The cost comparison is worth noting, but the comparison is invalid. They are both simply ways of extracting revenue. In fact many yellows have been shortened here definitely not in the interest of safety but in the interest of revenue. I'd sooner pay a few random fines even if not deserved in a petty amount then pay a fine that is double what it should be to simply pad some official's pockets. That is the point of the post. http://photoradarscam.com/revenue.php Edited October 20, 2009 by losworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
way2muchcoffee Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanForbes Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 It all comes down to the price of being on the road. There are so many tax grabs in so many countries it's all a nasty joke. The traffic cameras HAVE proven to slow down traffic and make people aware, but the actual reality of the situation is just another example of our rights eroding. In some cases in Thailand it is cheaper to pay the occasional fines than to pay for the proper credentials and documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed. If traffic is slow or non existent find me a driver who does not do a rolling right turn (I guess in England rolling left). Remember this is a turn that flows with traffic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanForbes Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed. If traffic is slow or non existent find me a driver who does not do a rolling right turn (I guess in England rolling left). Remember this is a turn that flows with traffic. It is similar to a rolling stop... where you don't actually stop. I've seen it all the time, but after a while people start ignoring the rule altogether and get careless. That leads to accidents. I was given a ticket (my only one in Thailand) for taking my motorbike across a road where pedestrians could walk, but people in/on vehicles were supposed to turn right right three times and drive 2 km out of their way just to travel 50 meters to their destination. That is the situation in Chiang Mai when you cross from the moat to Loi Kroh road. No use fighting it. The police are always right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanook2me Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I guess the difference is that, by using cameras, they are simply catching more people who violate traffic laws. Here it seems to have very little to do with any sort of traffic violation. Pure extortion. While the cost comparison is worth noting, the comparison is invalid for many reasons. Cost of living, salary differentials are a part. But the main difference is that you are guaranteed that you won't be ticketed by a camera unless you actually violate traffic law. May i ask where you get this information from that innocent motorists are stopped here and cash demanded for being totally legal? It appears that the majority of postings on here complaining about scams blah blah are farangs knowingly breaking the law but also playing the percentage game of cheap fines aka no helmet, u turns, jumping lights....etc..... We should have a poll. What motorists have been fined in Thailand and for what reason? The truth would come out then...... yeah i had to pay 100 baht but i had no seat belt on! etc .... what a scam! but i am innocent because i am farang! Me personally. Never fined when i have been driving but have been stopped in a taxi after asking him to break a law to cross some solid lines to miss a traffic jam...i paid it....50 bhat to the BiB.... anyone else care to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattayaParent Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed. If traffic is slow or non existent find me a driver who does not do a rolling right turn (I guess in England rolling left). Remember this is a turn that flows with traffic. I don't think this concept is prevalent in UK unless the laws have changed while I've been away, we always followed the lights. Edit: In Pattaya there are some lights which indicate that a free left turn is permissible. Edited October 20, 2009 by PattayaParent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2oDunc Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I get your point. But it still remains, if you don't violate a traffic law back home, you won't be ticketed. Out and out utter tosh. In the Uk with more cameras than anywhere else in the world cloning number plates has become a big thing. You simply find a car that is the same make and colour and bingo. You can then drive through cameras and park where you like happy in the knowledge you are not going to pay penny. Also cameras are not fool proof. The radar systems they use can register speed from another vehicle and you get the ticket. They call them safety cameras back home yet they do absolutely nothing to address safety. They are simply revenue generaors. Speed is a small cause of accidents. If as these clowns tell you that Speed kills etc why can you have a camera send tickets to 40,000 cars in a small time frame yet have not 1single accident there. Their own logic lets them down. I'm quite happy to pay the BIB a couple of hundred baht occasionally. Better than a large fine, points on your license and you insurance premiums going through the roof all for going a few MPH over the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryLH Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 "...but the actual reality of the situation is just another example of our rights eroding." We have, or had, the right to break the law? I must have missed that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samran Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Perspective? Heres some.... Been driving here since 1997. Have driven from Vientiene to KL and Back, to the border with Burma and the border with Cambodia. Drive regularly in BKK. Been pulled over twice...both times my fault. As for a ticket, pay it at a time of my convinience... Lesson? Know the road rules, stick to them. Driven through many a roadblock while others were getting pulled over. I wonder why? Edited October 20, 2009 by samran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt1591 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Riding a bike around Bangkok, I have gotten stopped often. Usually it's a fishing expedition and I am let go after showing my license and registration. Sometimes I am actually breaking a law, such as riding outside the far left lane. When this happens, it can usually be settled by offering the cop a little something to handle it for me. Other times, the cop will cite me and hold my license until I return with a receipt for the fine. I hate when that happens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
way2muchcoffee Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 May i ask where you get this information from that innocent motorists are stopped here and cash demanded for being totally legal?It appears that the majority of postings on here complaining about scams blah blah are farangs knowingly breaking the law but also playing the percentage game of cheap fines aka no helmet, u turns, jumping lights....etc..... We should have a poll. What motorists have been fined in Thailand and for what reason? The truth would come out then...... I've been fined 5 times. Twice I had done something wrong. That means I was extorted 3 times (two of those were on a single trip). That was a bad day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjclark1 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Out in CM last week with the GF and her kid on a separate m/c, kid had no helmet. Straight into the police checkpoint at the moat, 4 of em strung out across the road. They were stopping loads of Thais for no helmets, but just winked at the gf. "My brother", she says and laughs. Try that one in the UK! Edited October 20, 2009 by pjclark1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Out and out utter tosh. In the Uk with more cameras than anywhere else in the world cloning number plates has become a big thing. You simply find a car that is the same make and colour and bingo. You can then drive through cameras and park where you like happy in the knowledge you are not going to pay penny Really, so your not going to pay a penny, well I'll disagree, there's a little thing you forgot to mention, ANPRS, "Automatic Number Plate Recognition System" and there all over the country, and not just in the UK, so I'll say that the chances of getting caught are pretty high and the person committing the offence won't just be paying the fine for the original offence, they'll be having other charges thrown at them.. By the way I have never once paid a fine in Thailand for any driving offence but my day will come I have no doubt and I'll probably pay up with no argument as long as the fine is not too way over the top. Edited October 20, 2009 by MB1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartempion Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 What motorists have been fined in Thailand and for what reason? Get stopped a few times/month normal checks, cops look and waive, no problems just annoyingly dangerous how these idiots set up their road blocks. Got stopped twice on 304 (road over the mountains Sattahip to Khorat) for so called speeding needing to pay tea money. Both cases refused to pay because I was not speeding: I know the idiots simply are trapping drivers and I see Thais in front of me just paying. Both cases they tried to convince my wife the farang should pay, she simply ignores them, she considers these cops being thin air, does look the other way, doesn't answer their questions. First time I clearly understood the cop talking to my wife asking her: Haven't you told your farang what he needs to do when we stop him??? No she hasn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaimite Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 IBut the main difference is that you are guaranteed that you won't be ticketed by a camera unless you actually violate traffic law. Of coursse this story may have just been a fluke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyww Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 Near my London house there is a long straight stretch of road which has a bus lane. This operates in peak hours. Except for one short stretch of the road which the bus lane is enforced 24 hours a day. That section has a camera which reels in hundreds of drivers a week, who are fined and get 3 license points. This is an example of the kind of legalized extortion which goes on. Dont even get me started on parking in London... I love the freedom of driving in Thailand and have to admit that I enjoy driving like the locals, (ie badly). A shameful thing to admit I suppose... Every time I turn right into our soi, across the oncoming 3 lanes of Lad Phrao traffic, thus forcing the oncoming traffic to slow down (the only way to achieve this feat), I think about the reactions I would get doing this in the UK. I have never once had any overly negative reaction from any Thai driver when doing this. I particularly like being stopped by the police when my wife is in the car, because when she shows her ID card, her family name is recognised as belonging to people high enough up the class system that the police just let us go. Wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakhar Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 Put things in perspective? http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw....html?nTar=OPUR Apparently the cops in the US are giving out tickets for not speaking English. If the Thai cops get wind of this, I am toast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asia_pilot Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 I constantly read on Thai Visa about members being frustrated with roadside tickets costing a few hundred baht all designed to get revenue from the unsuspecting. This week I made a rolling right turn in my Western hometown and received a ticket in the mail in the amount of $440. Yes that is right $440. At 200 baht payoff per ticket that would equate to approximately 75 tickets in Thailand. Has anyone on this board received this kind of blackmail in all their days in Thailand via road tickets? Plus here in Los Angeles there is an additional $70 payment for traffic school or the insurance rates go up. I am sure many Europeans are suffering the same fate with these easy grabs by their local governments who have mispent and are looking for further revenue. And it is only going to get worse.Ironically one half of the ticket price goes to the lovely Lockhead military company who are quietly putting these money machines at intersections across the city. The good company urged the city to start fining rolling right turns as well as direct runs through a red light. Doing this triples their revenue. And to boot they changed the fine from 250 in the past to 440. At least in Thailand it goes into the pocket of the cop who is likely only earning 300 dollars per month. Here it is feeding a greedy military industrial company and an incompetent and corrupt city government. Things may not be so bad in Thailand after all? If you fight it, you might end up with a $30.00 parking violation and no insurance increase or traffic school. I never paid any traffic tickets in full in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 Put things in perspective?http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw....html?nTar=OPUR Apparently the cops in the US are giving out tickets for not speaking English. If the Thai cops get wind of this, I am toast. No problem Dakhar. I'm sure you speak perfect English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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