Police Crack Down On Dui

[honestly]

Frida night, Saturday morning a friend got picked up at a check point in Pattaya. D.U.I. Yes he is wrong for driving in a state of non sobriety. But please hear what has happened since:

We tried to bail him out in the morning. We were told to come back in 1 hour, at 9am were told the man who collects bail wasn't coming till 1pm. Long story short -- we got him out at 7:30PM. The guard counting the 30,000 baht bail appeared mored under the weather then the people he was assigned to discharge.

Now the best. Told to come back Monday at 8am soi 9. At soi 9 told to go to the district attornies office out on Sukimvit. There signed paper and told to go to Jom Tien Court House.

\ He went inside and kept us updated sending texts. At 6pm when all Thais were released they discovered a falang was MISSING. Therefore all the falnags were taken to soi 5 immigration where a computer photo would match them up. Now 7 pm and still confined

In the meantime we are asking the police what's next? They are telling us they have up 120 days to give back the bail, 30k. Since most don't stay that long it has effectively wiped the slate on that money. One told us they would have to leave country fore 24 hours to get money.

Does anyone know the TRUTH or FACTS of what happens!

[petercool]

I don't know anything about this case but once at court the fine could be up to 30k so there might not be much change anyway.

[JaiLai]

That all sounds like a bit of a mess - hope it works out.

[lemoncake]

This is what i have seen a few times, however does not mean it works same.

After being arrested and bail is paid, the offender must go to court and be judged.

Fine was 2000 baht , passport returned in the next hour after paying the fine and set free.

Bail would be released once judgement is passed and money fine paid.

HOWEVER.

There is a thread where things went differently, see it here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/627691-caught-drink-driving-in-thailand-and-put-in-prison/

[Gone]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

[kevkev1888]

This is what i have seen a few times, however does not mean it works same.

After being arrested and bail is paid, the offender must go to court and be judged.

Fine was 2000 baht , passport returned in the next hour after paying the fine and set free.

Bail would be released once judgement is passed and money fine paid.

HOWEVER.

There is a thread where things went differently, see it here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/627691-caught-drink-driving-in-thailand-and-put-in-prison/

I think the difference is actually in the thread title.

"Crackdown" when there is a DUI Crackdown on, Xmas/New Year, Songkran, things can be dealt with very differently. No roadside payoffs available as they need their numbers in court, heavier sentences to make an example.

The previous thread linked was over Christmas/New Year.

Don't drink and drive OK, but especially do not drink and drive over Xmas and Songkran.

The same goes for being caught in any Crackdown as opposed to the same offence outside of a Crackdown, can be very different consequences involved.

Edited April 16, 2013 by kevkev1888

[yoslim]

where was the checkpoint he got caught at ?

[Arkady]

Similar stories from Pattaya over Songkran the last two years. All should know that is the worst time to drive around pissed there, although other times aren't necessarily good. The thing with Immigration is an added excuse to detain foreigners longer to check they are all on proper visas and haven't stamped their own passports with a toy printing set. The cops probably made up the story about a farang escaping to give more grief.

I think the max fine is Bt 10k for a first offence and it is usually a bit less.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Arkady

[brummiebob]

the police do seem to try to make a point of making it inconvenient to get bail/hearing especially during the holidays where you might not be able to post bail until the next working day, this happens to Thais in Bangkok too, they could brush off a couple of ten thousands baht fine, but a night and a good part of a day in holding cell seem to do the trick

[Satcommlee]

I read that the immigration thing is normal, it is for immigration to decide whether or not you are still "desirable" in the country after receiving a criminal conviction.

[lemoncake]

I read that the immigration thing is normal, it is for immigration to decide whether or not you are still "desirable" in the country after receiving a criminal conviction.

from reading some reports, 25K makes you "desirable" and even WP worthy

[Potosi]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

[Gone]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

Well originally I'm from Canada and for a local the first offence is very harsh now. One night in the drunk tank followed by long court dates, 1 year automatic suspension, Driving curfews after you get your license back(Cannot drive past certain times at night) along with a machine installed in your vehicle that you need to blow into in order to start your vehicle, HEAVY insurance rises, around $10,000 CAD all together for lawyer and court fees as well as the installation of machine etc.

Not being able to drive in Canada for 1 year does not help your work situation.

Now I don't know for sure but let's say if a Thai tourist (as we are all tourists here) was caught during one of our (Canadian) crack-dows at x-mas etc. driving around pissed I'm very sure that it wouldn't be as easy as the OP's friend has it here and could still walk out after and drive home.

I must say that I can barely understand most of your post anyways.

PS: I don't live in Canada I live here in Thailand. What is YOUR Country?

Edited April 17, 2013 by Gone

[lovetotravel]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

Please tell this to my neighbor who was hit at 7am one morning by a drunk driver. He's almost a quadriplegic. Has some movement in his arms, a bit of talking is possible. But that's about it.

These checkpoints catch many more Thais than farangs.

My wife saw a few yesterday on the dark side.

[somtampet]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

The guy is very hard done to, isnt he,NO.He is bloody lucky they didnt deport him,just hope the stupid man sees,s sense and doesnt do it again.I assume he is an american,due to the DUI comment,so was he handcuffed,and a gun pointed at him to get onto the floor

[somtampet]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

<snip> So u are saying that people come to live here so they can drink and drive,<snip>

Edited April 17, 2013 by raro
removed inflammatory remarks

[raro]

ahemm...a little less inflammatory please.

[raro]

one post removed that was slagging off Thais as well as their police force.

Keep this discussion civil.

[brummiebob]

a jail term for traffic offence sounds harsh, sure

but

being held in a holding cell is not the same as being convicted and sentenced,

it is possible that the actual sentence include jail time as the law is written as either fine/time or both

and drunk driving is a criminal offence, you could ended up killing someone so that's fair.

Most of the dui checkpoint in Pattaya is on the dark side, I think there would be a greater ratio of Thai to Farang that got caught in the net

My Thai friends that got caught had to do community service too, they probably let it slide for the farang due to the difficulty of finding appropriate work.

[smedly]

you guys are talking like this guys is the only lone drink driving idiot in Pattaya

I can assure you that 60% of the falangs I meet in pubs here have either a car or a motorbike with them and they are drinking till drunk, as for Thais - well probably worse than falangs

almost every accident evenings early mornings reported in pattaya were serious injury or death occurred was caused by drunk drivers - I feel sorry for the innocent victims of these idiots but have not one sympathetic thought for the drunk

[smedly]

Lock them up then deport them, not too many comments here - I wonder why

Sent from my Experia Z using mobile app

[Rimmer]

Inflammatory post removed

[Potosi]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

Well originally I'm from Canada and for a local the first offence is very harsh now. One night in the drunk tank followed by long court dates, 1 year automatic suspension, Driving curfews after you get your license back(Cannot drive past certain times at night) along with a machine installed in your vehicle that you need to blow into in order to start your vehicle, HEAVY insurance rises, around $10,000 CAD all together for lawyer and court fees as well as the installation of machine etc.

Not being able to drive in Canada for 1 year does not help your work situation.

Now I don't know for sure but let's say if a Thai tourist (as we are all tourists here) was caught during one of our (Canadian) crack-dows at x-mas etc. driving around pissed I'm very sure that it wouldn't be as easy as the OP's friend has it here and could still walk out after and drive home.

I must say that I can barely understand most of your post anyways.

PS: I don't live in Canada I live here in Thailand. What is YOUR Country?

Germany. Been to Thailand for so long myself that I had to look up what's legal at home now. 0.5 per mille, used to be 0.8 when I was there for the last time. The real repercussions still start at 1.6 per mille. Up to this it's a couple of months revocation of the driving license, and a reasonable fine. A month's worth of income or so. Beyond 1.6 you need to pass a psychological assessment to get the license back. No problem with the insurance unless you caused an accident, and no monitoring equipment in the car, though. No speed limit for offenders, either.

[raro]

one inflammatory post deleted. You can disagree but not call other members names.

[Todd1985]

I tell everybody this is getting stupid, I haven't seen any posts with people agreeing to DUI! This guy same as myself is looking for advice. Grow up! This is not a perfect world and never will be.

[smedly]

I tell everybody this is getting stupid, I haven't seen any posts with people agreeing to DUI! This guy same as myself is looking for advice. Grow up! This is not a perfect world and never will be.

no but there's plenty can be done to improve things - like getting drugged up or drunk drivers off the roads - they kill people

[robblok]

1) He has no right to argue the court's or the Polices decisions. Every case is different here. There no copy and paste cases like back home

2) Som nam na really. If you do something illegal in another country you have to be prepared to pay the toll.

3) Nothing really compared to what HE might have got back in his mother country.

4) Just thank god he didn't kill anyone while driving around pissed.

5) Tell HIM to count his blessings.

I don't know where you are from, please accept my condolences for living under a tyranny. In my country you don't get arrested for drunken driving, or jailed, or held for no other reason than that some other offender is missing.

Think about drunken driving what you want, but that it was possible, and never checked by the police was part of the attraction of Thailand. A careless sort of holiday, freedom from many constraints we have at home. Sexual and other ones. If they start to punish it harshly, more tourists will stay away. If you say now 'please do', note that it doesn't do anything about the drunken Thais who outnumber the drunken Farangs 100/1.

Its a good thing they check more and punish now, of course drunks and people who love endangering others would think otherwise. Deportation would be a good thing i am sure a lot of foreigners would then stop drunk driving. As someone who lost a family member because of a drunk i feel nothing but resentment for people who drink and drive.

[robblok]

I tell everybody this is getting stupid, I haven't seen any posts with people agreeing to DUI! This guy same as myself is looking for advice. Grow up! This is not a perfect world and never will be.

no but there's plenty can be done to improve things - like getting drugged up or drunk drivers off the roads - they kill people

Agree.. Thai and farang of course.

[poanoi]

I had a neighbor pretending to be upset over DUI,

but the old fart had so bad eyes so he couldn't spot a cat sitting 5 meters away,

yet kept driving

Edited April 20, 2013 by poanoi

[robblok]

I had a neighbor pretending to be upset over DUI,

but the old fart had so bad eyes so he couldn't spot a cat sitting 5 meters away,

yet kept driving

Dangerous too of course.. one does not exclude the other. Same like texting and driving. Saying that one thing happens does not excuse other things.

But if you got money to get drunk you can afford a taxi too.