Seems they were out in force and my wife got stopped 4 times at 4 different check points making our way from town to Hang Dong at 2am I was absolutely PLASTERED passed out on the front seat LOL much to the amusement of the cops, the Mrs don't drink so was my ride home so thank you hunny for getting my drunk ass home safe.

Anyone get busted over Songkran

Yep, I did with 3.9 BAC (g/dL)! I'm now teleporting this post from my new "accommodation" to let everyone on Thai Visa know. Will follow up with own thread about new life.

Edited April 16, 201313 yr by Morakot

Shit so your in the slammer right now ?

Yep, but don't worry! I should be out in no time; Daddy owns an international energy drink company.

Well at least ya got ya phone

Which checkpoints did you get stopped?

I wasn't stopped at all.

Which checkpoints did you get stopped?

I wasn't stopped at all.

Maybe you are a better driver than the ones they stopped.

I went through a checkpoint on Saturday evening around 10 p.m. on the northwest corner of the old city (Ram hospital area). I was sober and had no problem, but it seemed there were a lot of drunks on the road, much more than usual for that early in the evening. That was the last time I drove, I wanted to drink and didn't want to risk driving, so I walked or used a tuk-tuk or songthaew for the rest of Songkran.

I think there was safety (from arrest) in numbers, there were so many drunk drivers the police couldn't begin to catch them all, and wouldn't have had the jail capacity for them anyway. Of course initial estimates of this year's body count indicate the obvious; there is a downside to drunk driving much worse than getting arrested.

Which checkpoints did you get stopped?

I wasn't stopped at all.

Maybe you are a better driver than the ones they stopped.

I do indeed give my route some thought. Can't get too specific on that, because that topic was deemed the "all time low in the history of Thaivisa posting". (Still proud of that, yes.)

This specifically because even though driving drunk (nay: "completely wasted") is rife, the legal limits are actually set really tight, tighter than in Western countries. To the point where you can be over the limit when having two glasses of wine over dinner.

That means there is this zone where I have to make a choice between driving myself after two or three beers, or letting my wife drive... So that's two variables: my own ability, and then my wife's driving skills at night even when totally sober. I could err on the side of not risking police checkpoints, or on the side of 'likely making it home without hitting anything.'. Over the holidays that sometimes means it's better that I drive, but there were two occasions where the equation went towards letting her drive.

Public transport over Songkran late at night to out of town destinations is of course near impossible, with any tuk tuk drivers far more wasted than I could possibly be, ever; so again that decision would be 'do I want to risk police checkpoints, or do I want to risk my life with a wasted tuk tuk driver'.

Edited April 17, 201313 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

One of my customers admitted to driving home seriously under the influence, was stopped by Plod and breathalysed. He took the precaution of only blowing a very little into the bag and so the machine reading was that he was under the limit. This is not the first time I've heard of this. The police don't seem to press farangs to take deep breaths. Too much loss of face?

One of my customers admitted to driving home seriously under the influence, was stopped by Plod and breathalysed. He took the precaution of only blowing a very little into the bag and so the machine reading was that he was under the limit. This is not the first time I've heard of this. The police don't seem to press farangs to take deep breaths. Too much loss of face?

[pet peeve] I don't see what "loss of face" (on the part of the police officer) could possibly have to do with that situation. [/pet peeve]

Interesting information though. My guess is they either don't know how to use it properly, or they don't really care enough beyond being seen to be there, performing checks.

I agree the BAC limits in Thailand are set too low, and in my opinion the police would spend their time better stopping people who are speeding or driving erratically instead of over-manning checkpoints. Unfortunately the police don't ask me for advice on how to do their jobs. Since the first thing I'd tell them is to fire every officer who takes a bribe and prosecute every corrupt police chief, I don't think they'd follow my advice anyway.

I went through quite a few check points didnt get stopped in any of them . While riding around the moat on my motorbike I saw more police than normally seen during Songkran and most of them seemed to be working not just standing around ...

Has anyone ever seen police cross the road and do their checkpoint on the outbound lane towards Hang Dong on the Hang Dong road? (This for the checkpoint near Sarasas School / Ban Wang Tan on the Hang Dong road.)

the stats say chiang mai had the highest figures again.the police must have stopped someone.it is still going on in pattaya so how high will it go

the stats say chiang mai had the highest figures again.the police must have stopped someone.it is still going on in pattaya so how high will it go

Because nobody in this country (and especially not press/media) understand stats. Chiang Mai is one of the most populous provinces. So whoooooa, we got more incidents than Bueng Kan Province.

Surprise, surprise.

One of my customers admitted to driving home seriously under the influence, was stopped by Plod and breathalysed. He took the precaution of only blowing a very little into the bag and so the machine reading was that he was under the limit. This is not the first time I've heard of this. The police don't seem to press farangs to take deep breaths. Too much loss of face?

What kind of breathoes are they using here. Something from the days of "The Sweeney"? "Bags?????"

The ones around these days can't be cheated. Getting breathoed at work every time, I have a lot of experience with the buggers.