New Traffic Fines from 2022 | 2023

[Tripadvisor]

Traffic fines see a hefty price spike from September 05.2022

Bad and disobedient drivers better get it out of their systems quickly over the weekend! On Monday, increased fines for traffic offences – some rather steep – will go into effect in Thailand after the Land Traffic Act is updated. Yesterday, the Director of the Traffic Management Center and Deputy National Police Chief laid out a list of hefty new fines for driving violations. The days of a quick 200 THB on the side of the road for driving without a helmet may be gone.

The new amendments to the traffic laws include fines increasing up to four-fold for infractions such as eschewing helmets and seatbelts, speeding and blowing through crosswalks and red lights, drag racing on the street, souping up motorbikes, reckless driving, and drink driving, with penalties for driving under the influence repeatedly increasing to up to six-figure fines and multiple years in jail. The following penalty increases for traffic violations are outlined below:
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TRAFFIC VIOLATION	PREVIOUS PENALTY	NEW PENALTY
Reckless driving without regard for others’ lives	2,000 to 10,000 THB fine; up to three months in jail	5,000 to 20,000 THB fine; up to one year in jail
Drink driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05 or more	5,000 to 20,000 THB fine; up to one year in jail	5,000 to 20,000 THB fine; up to one year in jail
Drink driving (second offence within two years)	5,000 to 20,000 THB fine; up to one year in jail	50,000 to 100,000 THB fine; up to two years in jail
Speeding above the legal limit	1,000 THB fine	4,000 THB fine
Running a red light	1,000 THB fine	4,000 THB fine
Failing to stop for pedestrians at a crosswalk	1,000 THB fine	4,000 THB fine
Driving a motorbike without a helmet	500 THB fine	2,000 THB fine
Driving a car without wearing a seatbelt	500 THB fine	2,000 THB fine
Driving backwards (unclear if that means the wrong way on a road)	500 THB fine	2,000 THB fine

[Sundance2020]

Hike on traffic fines delayed, but ticket prices will be consistant

Writing news in Thailand frequently means announcing something and then the next day announcing the opposite. And true to form, the new major hike in penalty fines for traffic violations announced before the weekend and scheduled to go into effect yesterday… have been retracted. But when they do go into effect, repeat offenders will be further penalised, and a new system will ensure fines are consistent across all of Thailand. Saying that more time is required to properly get the word out about the new fees, the deputy director of the Royal Thai Police’s Traffic Operations Centre announced that they will not go into effect for another three months. During that time, teams of police officers will set out to raise awareness of the new stiffer fines for traffic violations.

The Land Traffic Act was amended to increase the fines for rulebreakers, hopefully dissuading drivers from engaging in dangerous behaviour, and yesterday the amendments were officially endorsed. But the deputy director announced that police will continue to hand out the old penalties, along with information about the more expensive fees coming soon.

“The new amended traffic law carries fines of up to 4,000 baht for running a red light or violating the speed limit but, during this transition period, officers will issue tickets of no more than 500 baht along with a warning that subsequent fines will be much steeper.”

A new system has gone into effect that will issue all fines through the Police Ticket Management database, which will regulate tickets and make sure the same prices are applied for violations everywhere in the country. Also, for serial offenders, the fines will double, discouraging lawbreaking repeat offenders.

[Sundance2020]

Drink driving offenders will be jailed



New legislation in Thailand means that people caught drink driving more than once will go to jail. First time offenders could go to jail or get a fine. The harsher punishments are intended to act as a DUI deterrent to reduce the overall number of deaths on Thailand’s dangerous roads. Thailand’s roads are the deadliest in Southeast Asia and among the worst in the world. In the first six months of 2022, Thailand recorded 8,624 deaths as a result of road accidents, according to the Ministry of Public Health’s Division of Injury Prevention. On average, 48 people every day died in road accidents between January – June.

• The figures are a slight decrease from the same period last year, in which 8,967 people were killed on the roads in Thailand.
• Motorcyclists account for 82.72% of road deaths, people in cars account for 9.81%, people in trucks and vans account for 4.49% and pedestrians account for 2.98%. The age group most likely to die on the roads are 15 to 24 year olds.
• Drink driving continues to be one of the top causes of fatal road accidents in Thailand.

Drink driving has always been a punishable offence in Thailand, but offenders usually get off with just a fine. Due to recent amendments made to Thailand’s Road Traffic Act (1979), first time offenders could go to jail and repeat offenders will go to jail…

“The first instance of drink driving is punishable by up to no more than one year imprisonment or a fine between 5,000 – 20,000 THB.”

“Repeat drink driving (more than once in two years) is punishable by no more than two years imprisonment and a fine between 50,000 and 100,000 THB Additionally, the offender’s driving license will either be confiscated for one year or completely revoked.”

The penalties will be increased if someone is injured as a result of drink driving and be increased further if someone is killed as a result of drink driving. Thailand’s new legislation is sending out the message to the public, “rethink before you drink and drive.”

[Barfly]

DLT increases fines for motorists who fail to stop at zebra crossings

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) increased the fine for motorists failing to stop at a zebra crossing from 1,000 THB to 4,000 THB. The DLT will also deduct one point from an offender’s driving license. A survey conducted last year by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and the Thai Roads Foundation, revealed that almost 90% of vehicles in Bangkok do not stop at zebra crossings.

Over 90% of the vehicles failed to stop at the zebra crossing in front of Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital. The spot is where a police officer, Norawich Buadok, crashed his Ducati motorcycle into an eye doctor, Waraluck Supawatjariyakul, and killed her.

The accident was supposed to raise awareness among Thai motorists but a series of injuries and deaths at the zebra crossing continued to be reported in the media. So, locals and several organisations requested the government to introduce more severe traffic penalties on offending motorists.

The DLT then introduced a new traffic law to reduce accidents on zebra crossings which came into immediate effect. Under the former law, motorists who failed to stop at a crossing would face a fine of up to 1,000 THB. Now the fine is 4,000 THB. Vehicles are expected to stop at least 3 metres before a crosswalk. Motorists who stop on a crossing face a fine of up to 500 THB. The points deduction system will be operated in this case too. If motorists fail to stop at crossings, one point will be deducted from their driving license.

Every driver has a total of 12 points. If they run out of points, their driving licenses will be suspended for 90 days. If their licenses are suspended more than three times within three years, they face a suspension of more than 90 days. Their licenses will be revoked if their points keep being deducted within one year after the suspension.

[Barfly]

Giant license plates are illegal, warns Thailand’s DLT

Thais love to modify their vehicles, but attaching a comically big license plate to your car is illegal, warns Thailand‘s Department of Land Transport (DLT). The warning follows a viral TikTok clip of a pickup truck on the road featuring a regular license plate as well as a Phitsanulok province license plate so big it could probably be seen all the way from Yala. According to Surachai Tubya, an official from the Phitsanulok Provincial Transport Office, the pickup truck’s owner violated Section 11 of the Motor Vehicle Act (1979)…

“A vehicle already registered shall contain and accurately display registration plate and sign as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.”

The Ministerial Regulation stipulates that license plates are required to be 15 centimetres wide and 34 centimetres long for cars, vans, pickup trucks, trailers, tractors, and agricultural vehicles. It is also illegal to make your license plate in any instance, even if the vehicle is registered. The Department of Land Transport launched an investigation and found that the pickup truck featured in the TikTok video is legally registered. However, the owner still violated the law and will be fined 2,000 THB, said Surachai.

Last year, a major drug trafficking gang in Bangkok avoided capture for months by using a “license plate flipper” which they ordered from the internet for 30,000 THB. The gang shifted a lot of drugs on four occasions and flipped their license plate to reveal fake numbers to confuse the police. In October, police found two illegal Burmese immigrants stuffed in a tiny space under the cargo bed of a modified pickup truck in Tak province in northern Thailand.

The same month, a Thai man revealed that he made 50,000 THB every month by selling fake license plates. The police warned the public that using a fake license plate in Thailand is punishable by imprisonment between six months and five years and a fine of 10,000 -100,000 THB.