Bangkok traffic police seek to set up courts to force traffic violators to pay fine

[webfact]

Traffic police seek to set up traffic court to force traffic violators to pay fine

BANGKOK: -- Traffic police are cooperating with other government agencies concerned to seek to set up a special traffic court in Bangkok to force traffic violators to pay fine, a senior police officer said Monday.

Pol Maj Gen Adul Narongsak, deputy metropolitan police commissioner who is in charge of traffic, said a special committee on traffic affairs has sought cooperation from other government agencies to set up the special court.

The committee has sought help from the Office of the Attorney General, the Judicial Office, the Bangkok Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Interior Ministry, the Land Transport Department, the Corrections Department, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Law Society of Thailand.

After opinions and information from all agencies concerned are compiled, the proposal will be sent to Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Adul Saengsingkaew for approval.

If Adul approves the plan, the Bangkok traffic court will be set up next month, the deputy metropolitan police chief said.

He said a lot of motorists have ignored their tickets and refused to pay fines. With the court, they will be required to pay fines within seven days or else they will be summoned to pay maximum fines in the court. Refusing to heed the court's summoning order, they could face six-month jail term, the police officer said.


-- The Nation 2014-03-17

[Costas2008]

So now, instead of, give me 200Baht or I will issue a ticket, it will be give me 400Baht, or I will take you to court, where you have to pay 800Baht.

Edited March 17, 2014 by metisdead
Font

[Crushdepth]

Oh the irony.

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

[PaullyW]

My god. so many courts and committees and meetings, but nothing eve gets done. most basic of stuff like enforcing law to pay fines. What a banana republic

[mrwebb8825]

"Traffic police seek to set up traffic court to force traffic violators to pay fine

BANGKOK: -- Traffic police are cooperating with other government agencies concerned to seek to set up a special traffic court in Bangkok to force traffic violators to pay fine, a senior police officer said Monday."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*in my best hollywood, asian police voice** "Hey! Why you no give me fine?" "I tell you give me fine." *trundles to the bar and calls friends** "We need COURT to tell people give me fine" *mumbling agreement and clinking glasses**

[robertthebruce]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

[chainarong]

The obvious choice of action would be to impound the vehicles concerned, however you need to take into account that Thailand is not affluent society , so the Question is, not who can pay the fine but who has any spare cash , with mainly two levels of Thai society, the wealthy and the poor , the picture doesn't look good to getting fines paid at either level .

[MunterHunter]

At least its now clear how they intend to raise the money to pay the farmers what is owed to them

[PatOngo]

Will the traffic police be obliged to repay all "on the spot" fines?

[Jim walker]

Vehicles impounded and crushed then you would only have 1 outstanding ticket per vehicle prior to the crushing

[Loles]

" DON'T DISTURB MY TEA-MONEY PLEASE ! " - Sgt. Somsak said.

[rubl]

Here in Bangkok I regularly see wrongly parked vehicles with 'high-tech' wheel clamps made from rebar-rods. Soi Yohti leading to PhayaThai and BTS/Victory Monument is such a spot. Stretches of RamaIII same.

I would assume the owners of those vehicles pay before the contraption is removed ?

[Thai at Heart]

Oh the irony.

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

How is the scenery. Indeed. They need a court to get people to pay fines. Its a start I suppose.

[Crushdepth]

The obvious choice of action would be to impound the vehicles concerned, however you need to take into account that Thailand is not affluent society , so the Question is, not who can pay the fine but who has any spare cash , with mainly two levels of Thai society, the wealthy and the poor , the picture doesn't look good to getting fines paid at either level .

Need to impound the police officers concerned. And get new ones.

[sam sen]

He said a lot of motorists have ignored their tickets and refused to pay fines.

yea, because, for obvious reasons, people dont respect the police or judiciary. they also know the police are too lazy to come after them for non-payment.

the courts should sell the fines to a debt collection agency and let them get the job done..

[taony]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

555, why did you put France in quotes?

So what percent of the fine will the cops get?

This is just pr bc their bad reputation has come to light so often in recent months. Every story about the protests mention that no one trusts the police and that's why they look to the army.

-*I typed this myself*-

[GeorgeO]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

555, why did you put France in quotes?

So what percent of the fine will the cops get?

This is just pr bc their bad reputation has come to light so often in recent months. Every story about the protests mention that no one trusts the police and that's why they look to the army.

-*I typed this myself*-

I suspect "France" was in quotes because it is not the France that we once knew ... it's more akin to places like Malaysia and Indonesia now...!!

[taony]

If that's the case, sorry i quoted him. I'll go back to not reading thai visa so often.

-*I typed this myself*-

[GeorgeO]

I didn't have a car when I lived in Taiwan, but I saw countless examples of "tow aways". There was no option of screwing up the ticket and chucking it on the ground...!!

Any car parked illegally parked was quickly snatched by a tow vehicle, with a police car on hand. When the vehicle moved off, the police would write the vehicle Reg. No on the ground in white chalk where the car had been parked along with a telephone number for the owner to call.

A taxi ride to the nearest impound yard, followed by payment of a fine (approximately THB 800, and that was ten years ago) led to the owner getting the vehicle back. However, they also took the opportunity to check over the vehicle for bald tyres, up-to-date road fund licence, etc., so owners often found themselves with additional fines or summonses as a result of their unwise parking.

It would be a great thing to see here, especially as "double parking" is so common...!!

[clockman]

I didn't have a car when I lived in Taiwan, but I saw countless examples of "tow aways". There was no option of screwing up the ticket and chucking it on the ground...!!

Any car parked illegally parked was quickly snatched by a tow vehicle, with a police car on hand. When the vehicle moved off, the police would write the vehicle Reg. No on the ground in white chalk where the car had been parked along with a telephone number for the owner to call.

A taxi ride to the nearest impound yard, followed by payment of a fine (approximately THB 800, and that was ten years ago) led to the owner getting the vehicle back. However, they also took the opportunity to check over the vehicle for bald tyres, up-to-date road fund licence, etc., so owners often found themselves with additional fines or summonses as a result of their unwise parking.

It would be a great thing to see here, especially as "double parking" is so common...!!

Yes, but that would mean using logic!

[surangw]

the rate for tea money just got a boost.

[seajae]

what would be great would be to pay thais to provode the police with date stamped pics of offending cars(double parked etc) so that they catch them all, I am sick of being caught up in a traffic jam because some idiot cannot park his/her car at the curb and walk 5 metres back to a shop so they park it in the middle of the road and block all the traffic to save walking too far, pathetic. Some thais have no regard for anyone else at times and are very lazy when it comes to having to walk any distance, just think of all the extra money poor people could make handing in pics, would stop double parking etc pretty quick I would imagine once all the fines started to be handed out and then followed up with something like car/bike seizures for unpaid fines

[bigbamboo]

what would be great would be to pay thais to provode the police with date stamped pics of offending cars(double parked etc) so that they catch them all, I am sick of being caught up in a traffic jam because some idiot cannot park his/her car at the curb and walk 5 metres back to a shop so they park it in the middle of the road and block all the traffic to save walking too far, pathetic. Some thais have no regard for anyone else at times and are very lazy when it comes to having to walk any distance, just think of all the extra money poor people could make handing in pics, would stop double parking etc pretty quick I would imagine once all the fines started to be handed out and then followed up with something like car/bike seizures for unpaid fines

Steady on. You'll be wanting them to take driving lessons next.

[Chicog]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

Perhaps it's like the UK approach once it's in the system you start getting the bill, don't pay and the bill goes up, don't pay again and you get a summons, miss a summons and you get an arrest warrant.

Easier to get the fixed fine notice and just pay the bloody thing, who needs a receipt when you know you've been caught bang to rights?

[robertthebruce]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

555, why did you put France in quotes?

So what percent of the fine will the cops get?

This is just pr bc their bad reputation has come to light so often in recent months. Every story about the protests mention that no one trusts the police and that's why they look to the army.

-*I typed this myself*-

I suspect "France" was in quotes because it is not the France that we once knew ... it's more akin to places like Malaysia and Indonesia now...!!

France was in the ''Quote'' as i mentioned, I lived there, and not a day passed that i never saw, some ''French Person'' rip the Parking Ticket of there windscreen and chuck it on the ground with the usual ''C'est Fatigant''.... - and if they ever were confronted, That kicked them off as well..

Guess why i left France... , lets not go there..

[klauskunkel]

So now, instead of, give me 200Baht or I will issue a ticket, it will be give me 400Baht, or I will take you to court, where you have to pay 800Baht.

and then the negotiations start:

By the time you get me to court, you will loose out on 1000Baht of potential fines, so I pay you 200Baht and you continue hunting...

(but maybe this is over the BiB's head, since it involves creative forward thinking and proactivity... )

[circusman]

"Traffic police seek to set up traffic court to force traffic violators to pay fine

BANGKOK: -- Traffic police are cooperating with other government agencies concerned to seek to set up a special traffic court in Bangkok to force traffic violators to pay fine, a senior police officer said Monday."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

*in my best hollywood, asian police voice** "Hey! Why you no give me fine?" "I tell you give me fine." *trundles to the bar and calls friends** "We need COURT to tell people give me fine" *mumbling agreement and clinking glasses**

I"m happy you got your funny bone tickled by what you said because I see nothing funny about it.

[GuyL]

Thailand is not the only country with this problem, when i lived in ''France'' on numerous occasions i saw ''Parking Attendants'' giving ''Parking Tickets'' and 99 percent of the time, the Violators would just chuck them on the ground and drive away..

I doubt if there was a follow system, as France has always been behind the times...

555, why did you put France in quotes?

So what percent of the fine will the cops get?

This is just pr bc their bad reputation has come to light so often in recent months. Every story about the protests mention that no one trusts the police and that's why they look to the army.

-*I typed this myself*-

I suspect "France" was in quotes because it is not the France that we once knew ... it's more akin to places like Malaysia and Indonesia now...!!

France was in the ''Quote'' as i mentioned, I lived there, and not a day passed that i never saw, some ''French Person'' rip the Parking Ticket of there windscreen and chuck it on the ground with the usual ''C'est Fatigant''.... - and if they ever were confronted, That kicked them off as well..

Guess why i left France... , lets not go there..

I already have noticed that you never lose an opportunity to bash the French here, but as usual, you are making broad generalisations and untrue statements from a few examples that are clearly in the minority and/or outdated.

In the past, fines collection was indeed very far from perfect, especially in some large cities, but it was pretty long time ago and that is no longer the case anymore. I know quite well the example of a large city in Southeastern France which has computerised the process of tracking the payment of parking fines and other traffic offenses more than 25 years ago. Before computerisation, it is true that nearly 50% of these tickets were not paid and the collection of fines was long, difficult and relatively expensive (although the fine increased in the meantime) for local authorities but since, it is much easier, faster and much more efficient, therefore, very few offenders still try their luck hoping to be "forgotten" if they do not pay their fines.

Previously, some people did not pay their parking fines for various reasons: for example, if the car in which they were fined don't belong to them (rent car, company car, etc.), or if they know a police officer or other local authority (but this kind of "special priviledge" is increasingly difficult to exercise and often not granted nowadays), or if a presidential election would occur in the relatively near future. Indeed, previously in France, a newly elected president used to cancel contraventions of non-hazardous parking once, a couple of weeks after his election, but this had not been the case for over 11 years (the last time was by Jacques Chirac in 2002, but there had been no amnesty for these offenses in 2007 nor in 2012).

Therefore, very few offenders do not pay their fines in France nowadays and those who try not to are exposing themselves to increasing fines and possibly legal proceedings eventually...

Edited March 18, 2014 by GuyL

[robertthebruce]

Lost comes to mind...

[Baerboxer]

In Chennai the police used to have mobile courts set up in converted buses. Every so often they would park these up and then have a purge on traffic laws in that area. Offenders were paraded in front of the magistrate in his nice bus and suitably fined.

Did it achieve anything? Other than raising some revenue not a lot.