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odd thai driving laws


Royrex

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recently bought a new mirage and took it out of bangkok with the red plates for its first trip ti isaan. got stopped at the first police checkpoint, received a 15 minute lecture about driving in the farthest left lane with a small car. at the next police stop got a $400 baht fine ( with receipt) for not filling out the page in front of the handbook saying when i departed bangkok and where i was going and the times. after that every day we filled in the book. on the way back to bangkok i got waved over at the first police checkpoint and asked for the book, again got a 15 minute lecture because during the red plate usage time the car can not be used at night or driving in the rain (no fine this time)

I wonder how many more of these unique laws I will encounter in the future ( I think every time I drive)

also for the first time driver in Thailand it is the biggest game of vehicular chicken as to who will flinch first. ( I have seen mexico and the middle east)

5 lanes of traffic driving on road marked for 3 and oncoming passing cars, trucks, buses literally running you off the road

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Red plates are for temporary use in the province of issue. IMHO said between hours of 6am to 6 pm....I thought it was 7pm.

The police are usually pretty good in Thailand but there are some shady characters amongst them. Just keep smiling!

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Red plates are for temporary use in the province of issue. IMHO said between hours of 6am to 6 pm....I thought it was 7pm.

The police are usually pretty good in Thailand but there are some shady characters amongst them. Just keep smiling!

BSJ, You are very generous. I thought it was more like the police are shady but there is one or two good ones among them.

The OP is the first time I heard red plates in the rain is a no no? That must be inconvenient.

The history behind red plates morphing from dealer use to the norm for new cars for the first 3 months or more would be interesting.

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Didn't a thread a while ago state that taking the red plate off is more convenient than having it on? Less obvious at a distance and therefore less likely to be stopped was the conclusion I think.

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Driving Laws in Thailand???

I thought there were only "Check Point Laws"

1) Where is helmet?

2) Registration?

3) Licence? Is it international? ( no licence? it's o.k., pay 200 thb and get a note so you can continue to drive without a licence for the rest of the day!)

I have heard that it sometimes happens, but, I have never seen a vehicle pulled over for unsafe driving or any moving violation.

Only get violations if you are unlucky enough to be caught at a check point..

ie. Check Point Laws.

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maybe I've Been lucky but I've just been stopped once in 12 years. I've probably covered 250K kms here. Cops can be fussy about red plates but if you follow the rules regarding the, there should be no problems. Not sure why the cop would tell you to drive on the left if you have a small car - the you need to do battle with the trucks and that chewed up lane.....the time I got stopped was when i was going to Pattaya and was in the right lane. No fine just a warning.

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I do not know about thai laws being strange but in Australia I once saw a car pulled up and ticketed for going through an Orange light. Here everyone knows that a red light means go through for the first 5 seconds.

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maybe I've Been lucky but I've just been stopped once in 12 years. I've probably covered 250K kms here. Cops can be fussy about red plates but if you follow the rules regarding the, there should be no problems. Not sure why the cop would tell you to drive on the left if you have a small car - the you need to do battle with the trucks and that chewed up lane.....the time I got stopped was when i was going to Pattaya and was in the right lane. No fine just a warning.

Same stupid reason as for bikes to stay in the left. The law never states such a thing just that slow traffic should stay left (ike in any normal country)

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@spoonman, that is what the law says, i even had a copy of this and in Thai to argue with a cop. I was going faster as the rest of the traffic. I was on a big bike he was not having any of it.

They don't follow their own laws as in the land traffic act there is no difference between a bike and a car. Unless they define that all bikes are slow traffic witch of course with current bikes is not true.

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@spoonman, that is what the law says, i even had a copy of this and in Thai to argue with a cop. I was going faster as the rest of the traffic. I was on a big bike he was not having any of it.

They don't follow their own laws as in the land traffic act there is no difference between a bike and a car. Unless they define that all bikes are slow traffic witch of course with current bikes is not true.

Yes, a bike is a bike and all are slow traffic.

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@spoonman, that is what the law says, i even had a copy of this and in Thai to argue with a cop. I was going faster as the rest of the traffic. I was on a big bike he was not having any of it.

They don't follow their own laws as in the land traffic act there is no difference between a bike and a car. Unless they define that all bikes are slow traffic witch of course with current bikes is not true.

Yes, a bike is a bike and all are slow traffic.

That might be it if it says so in the law, but so far I have read the English translation and it says slow traffic (same as thai) but no explanation what is considered slow traffic. Anyway its a dangerous law that i will break to stay alive.

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The issue is not whether traffic is slow or not... it is simply that all traffic should drive in the leftist lane, unless to overtake other cars. Period. No "fast or slow" traffic and it is certainly illegal to hog the so called "fast lane". Although in some areas, the road on the leftmost lane is so badly damaged by trucks that it is almost undriveable.

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The issue is not whether traffic is slow or not... it is simply that all traffic should drive in the leftist lane, unless to overtake other cars. Period. No "fast or slow" traffic and it is certainly illegal to hog the so called "fast lane". Although in some areas, the road on the leftmost lane is so badly damaged by trucks that it is almost undriveable.

That was my understanding too but even armed with a translated copy of these laws, the officer kept insisting this did not apply to bikes. I have so far not seen the traffic law stating bikes have to stay in the left.

However if this was not true why do all the Thais accept it as true. I pay as arguing with a guy with a gun is not that smart. I was certainly always keeping up with the rest of the traffic if not going faster.

It does gets on my nerves, not the fine but the fact that often you have to pay the fine somewhere else and get your drivers license. Time wasted is the problem.

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maybe I've Been lucky but I've just been stopped once in 12 years....

Maybe I've been unlucky, but I've just been stopped 365 times in one year.

Our town has a regular police block every day on my way to work. Yes, it's a huge traffic bottleneck and there are few detours available.

After 10 years of this, they know me by sight, but still have to stop, show them my registration, license, and tax tab. I just build it into my regular timetable/routine. They're just waiting for the day I forget one of the three, and they can nab me for the obligatory 200-400B. T.I.T.

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maybe I've Been lucky but I've just been stopped once in 12 years....

Maybe I've been unlucky, but I've just been stopped 365 times in one year.

Our town has a regular police block every day on my way to work. Yes, it's a huge traffic bottleneck and there are few detours available.

After 10 years of this, they know me by sight, but still have to stop, show them my registration, license, and tax tab. I just build it into my regular timetable/routine. They're just waiting for the day I forget one of the three, and they can nab me for the obligatory 200-400B. T.I.T.

Have you considered by purpose to forget one of the items pay the 200 baht and maybe be left alone for perhaps a year?

Beautiful post. Sage advice. clap2.gif

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maybe I've Been lucky but I've just been stopped once in 12 years....

Maybe I've been unlucky, but I've just been stopped 365 times in one year.  

Our town has a regular police block every day on my way to work.  Yes, it's a huge traffic bottleneck and there are few detours available.  

After 10 years of this, they know me by sight, but still have to stop, show them my registration, license, and tax tab.   I just build it into my regular timetable/routine.   They're just waiting for the day I forget one of the three, and they can nab me for the obligatory 200-400B.   T.I.T.

 

Have you considered by purpose to forget one of the items pay the 200 baht and maybe be left alone for perhaps a year?

I would believe that the 200 thb would only worsten the issue... as they would then be sure that this guy pays.

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....my friend, a westerner.....told me how a policeman once told him......"We can see when there is a foreigner driving from 100m away...."

....make your own conclusions about 'enforcement of law' in thailand......

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Red plates are for temporary use in the province of issue. IMHO said between hours of 6am to 6 pm....I thought it was 7pm.

The police are usually pretty good in Thailand but there are some shady characters amongst them. Just keep smiling!

BSJ, You are very generous. I thought it was more like the police are shady but there is one or two good ones among them.

The OP is the first time I heard red plates in the rain is a no no? That must be inconvenient.

The history behind red plates morphing from dealer use to the norm for new cars for the first 3 months or more would be interesting.

I must agree with Jitar.

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