Pattaya police get tough on licences: Fines for tourists AND rental companies AND confiscation of vehicle

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, peterb17 said:

I once took a friend to A&E - he tripped on one of our wonderful pavements. 

There were about ten young tourists- with legs/ ankles etc all bandaged up hobbling about - all obviously scooter accidents. 

Last night was following a couple of guys on scooters - driving down to Jomtien - they were weaving about - it was obvious they had not got a clue how to ride a bike. 

 

So have no idea why we have our illustrious TV members whinging about a bit of law inforcment- the only problem is often these campaigns only last a week or so- then back to the Wild West .

No! 24 hours.

[Bartmam]

In the UK it is very quick, easy and cheap (approx £5) to make an international driving. They even gave me permission to drive a motorcycle when I don't have this licence. Now I have both Thai licenses which again is easy to do if you have any driving license. Again made both car and bike when this is not included on my UK license. I take only 1 day and also gets you into some attractions at Thai price when shown at ticket offices.

 

But Pattaya police have been doing this now for at least 6 months now because they did catch enough farrang without helmets.  That and drink driving are the 2 biggest back hand money spinners now.

 

But I still see very little enforcement against Thai nationals not wearing helmets, reckless and underage driving.

 

Only the police and taxi mafia stand to profit from this.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Bartmam said:

In the UK it is very quick, easy and cheap (approx £5) to make an international driving. They even gave me permission to drive a motorcycle when I don't have this licence. Now I have both Thai licenses which again is easy to do if you have any driving license. Again made both car and bike when this is not included on my UK license. I take only 1 day and also gets you into some attractions at Thai price when shown at ticket offices.

 

But Pattaya police have been doing this now for at least 6 months now because they did catch enough farrang without helmets.  That and drink driving are the 2 biggest back hand money spinners now.

 

But I still see very little enforcement against Thai nationals not wearing helmets, reckless and underage driving.

 

Only the police and taxi mafia stand to profit from this.

I would question the m/cycle bit..

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

Anybody have experience with this?

That is basically what I did, plus a little paperwork and a couple of small tests, total time about 30 minutes.

[Basil B]

16 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I welcome this. If you don't have the right license, you can't rent a bike. That stops the tea money for the cops. It will also stop lots of foreigners uninsured through no license, having to crowd fund their hospital bill. And they are correct. Most visitors here do not have a clue how the locals drive, or how dangerous it is. Now just need to enforce it and then move on to the kiddies running around with absolutely no license, and in most cases a helmet either.

As many bikes are rented out by bake street operations these will have to understand how to recognise genuine licences and the classification of vehicle the driver is allowed to drive, maybe an office attached to the police stations that have trained staff that can check licences, photo copy them with  passports and issue certificate for hiring car and/or bike.

[PoorSucker]

16 hours ago, nakhonandy said:

Interesting, I imagine the majority of tourists renting bikes have no valid motorbike license.

 

This will hit the hire companies hard, IF enforced.

I predict cheap second hand bikes soon. 

[DefaultName]

30 minutes ago, Arkady said:

 

Yes. It's called the Land Traffic Act.  http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0140_5.pdf

Thanks for that, been riding bikes here for years but had never seen it.  

[transam]

2 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

I predict cheap second hand bikes soon. 

[0815]

CHIANG MAI and PAI as next places for this campaign please !

[tropo]

16 hours ago, Oztruckie said:

Good news, maybe we will see less go-fund me pages,if yr too lazy to get bike license you don't deserve the right to hire a bike,I'm sure the farangs in their home country, if don't have applicable license you can't hire the vehicle you want. 

You make it sound like it's going to hurt the tourists. It will HELP them as many will avoid serious injuries.

 

These are the people who are going to suffer:

 

1. The rental companies. They will be hard pressed finding anyone to rent their motorcycles as very few tourists will have international driver permits for motorcycles. A car IDP will not be sufficient.

2. The traffic police. The number of fines they dish out to tourists will plummet.

 

Who will benefit:

 

The towing companies.

 

I think this is all just talk. They're not going to follow through on this.

 

 

 

 

[DefaultName]

 

5 minutes ago, Basil B said:

As many bikes are rented out by bake street operations these will have to understand how to recognise genuine licences and the classification of vehicle the driver is allowed to drive, maybe an office attached to the police stations that have trained staff that can check licences, photo copy them with  passports and issue certificate for hiring car and/or bike.

Isn't that what an International Drivers PERMIT is for?  AFAIK they're in a standard format, and all have an English section.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Wake Up said:

The Thai bike drivers are not the main problem.

5555555555 

So I guess that out of all road deaths and accidents  the 80% death rate of motorcycle riders is mainly foreign riders??????

[Basil B]

5 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

 

Isn't that what an International Drivers PERMIT is for?  AFAIK they're in a standard format, and all have an English section.

 

Yes, the IDP does that I was thinking of for those who did not bring with them (you can only get a IDP  in the country that issued the driving licence).

[gerritkaew]

So next time when i'm in pattaya the wil be only bikes on the road whit thai people, maiby some expats whit license will we seen riding then..

[ttrd]

17 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Does ANY Thai know the highway code ?  I don't think so.

At least Thais seems to have the required training as mentinoned missing for the tourists - READ "and have not had any training leading to accidents"...

 

By driving in Thailand this educational gap will for sure be closed...

[Get Real]

16 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

You mean you don't know?? Come on, get real.

No, not in this case. Actually got confused. Who is going to give the brown envelope? Is that the person riding without license, or the people who rent out the bikes?

It doesn´t make much sense with the people riding the bikes.
Neither does it make much sense with the people who rent them out.

I know there are much about these envelopes, but in this case I just thought it was a little bit misplaced.

[mercman24]

like the post about jailing farangs for a week if this was applied to Thais with no driving licence then i bet the roads would be empty and the jails full.

[DefaultName]

49 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Yes, the IDP does that I was thinking of for those who did not bring with them (you can only get a IDP  in the country that issued the driving licence).

This will seem harsh, but I have no sympathy for someone who doesn't do their homework and make sure they'll be legal for their intended activities.  OK, I didn't have an IDP for my first trip 21 years ago, but that was pre-internet (pre-internet for me anyway, it was out there but I didn't have it yet) these days research is so much easier.

 

Lets not go into the legalities of the primary reason men come to Pattaya.  That seldom kills people or lands them in hospital without funds to pay for care for themselves or their victims after an accident.

[tropo]

43 minutes ago, gerritkaew said:

So next time when i'm in pattaya the wil be only bikes on the road whit thai people, maiby some expats whit license will we seen riding then..

LOL> NO! By the time you get here, it will be business as usual.

 

A police major woke up from a deep sleep with a brilliant idea. He didn't think it through. If no tourists are riding motorcycles (hardly any will be if they push this hard), then the source of tax-free income for his superiors and subordinates will dry up. Tourists on motorcycles are easy pickings for the BIB. I wouldn't be surprised if his superiors are already slamming him for coming up with such "brilliant" ideas.

 

 

[farcanell]

2 hours ago, Thaidream said:

Then you'll love the cops pulling over every foreigner driving their own personal car to look at the registration to determine if it was rented or not. The target should be the rental companies but instead the cops will be glad to inconvenience every foreigner driving a vehicle.

Time to start wearing a belaclava and riding / driving like an idjit, then.

problem solved!

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, Wake Up said:

While I understand your frustration of appearance of a double standard, IMO the Thai people grow up riding bikes like USA kids grow up swimming and Europeans playing football. I know several thai kids who are better at driving a motorbike than  most expats.  The Thai bike drivers are not the main problem. The main problem is tourists that don’t drive a bike well and do not understand thai traffic customs are different here from other countries. So I applaud this rule change if it is enforced. Fewer young expat adults drinking and driving a bike in a foreign country and ending up dead is good move IMO. 

Thailand being the #1 in the world for Deaths on the road per capita with 75% of those on a motorbike suggests otherwise.

 

Those several Thai kids who you suggest ride better than most expats you know are unlikely to be safer or ‘better’ than those expats who have undergone training and passed the stringent tests for licensing in their home countries.

 

Thus: while enforcing retail regulation is applaudable, as is the enforcement of any ‘common sense regulation’ this sort of misses the point they so many Thais are also unlicensed... what’s good for the goose has to be good for the gander...

[tropo]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Thailand being the #1 in the world for Deaths on the road per capita with 75% of those on a motorbike suggests otherwise.

 

Those several Thai kids who you suggest ride better than most expats you know are unlikely to be safer or ‘better’ than those expats who have undergone training and passed the stringent tests for licensing in their home countries.

 

Thus: while enforcing retail regulation is applaudable, as is the enforcement of any ‘common sense regulation’ this sort of misses the point they so many Thais are also unlicensed... what’s good for the goose has to be good for the gander...

You can't make the roads safer by offering more training. As a rule, people don't self-regulate their behaviour without strict enforcement.

 

If 75% of road deaths are on motorbikes, where would Thailand be (on that list) if the "road deaths per capita" statistics indicated the mode of transport? Also, how does the percentage of motorbikes on the road compare to other countries on the list?

 

Statistics can be slanted without proper evaluation.

 

For example, in Pattaya, the number of people on motorcycles is extremely high... resulting in a lot of motorcycle accidents, however, it could be that as a percentage of the number of people riding motorcycles, the accident rate is not high.

[cookieqw]

15 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

The article does not say the foreigner has to show a motorcycle license from his home country.  Many foreigners that rent a small bike for the holiday do not have that

Tourists must now have an international licence, their passport and home country driving licence when renting a vehicle in Pattaya. They must carry their documents with them to show to the police if stopped. 

 

[sambum]

"many tourists don't know the highway code and have not had any training leading to accidents"

 

And all Thais have?

[jackdd]

2 hours ago, Arkady said:

My understanding is that this is because Thailand only ratified the 1949 convention but not the 1968 one.

Yes, that's what wikipedia says, but actually wikipedia is wrong about this, Thailand signed the 1968 one: https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XI-B-19&chapter=11

 

[moogradod]

9 minutes ago, cookieqw said:

Tourists must now have an international licence, their passport and home country driving licence when renting a vehicle in Pattaya. They must carry their documents with them to show to the police if stopped. 

 

Passport copies - I dont care. Passport original - I wont bring it along. I never did that for decades. Consequences ?

 

I will drive a rented car for the next 2 months to come. By the way what means "confiscated" in this context ? Do you mean that maybe at a later time when I might "overstay" the validity of my IDP and are "caught" they would take my brandnew 2 MioTHB car away and destroy it (or else) ? 

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, moogradod said:

Passport copies - I dont care. Passport original - I wont bring it along. I never did that for decades. Consequences ?

 

I will drive a rented car for the next 2 months to come. By the way what means "confiscated" in this context ? Do you mean that maybe at a later time when I might "overstay" the validity of my IDP and are "caught" they would take my brandnew 2 MioTHB car away and destroy it (or else) ? 

Without a passport in the worst case scenario you will be taken to police station and be kept there until somebody brings you your passport.

Confiscated means your car will be taken to some parking space, the keys taken away from you, and when the renter pays the fine he may take it back.

[tropo]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 Regarding the Stats distortion, I get you point, comparative stats would be interesting to see... none the less damming though.

 

1

That's where we differ. I don't think motorcycles are as dangerous as made out to be when considering how many of them are on the roads. I've been riding them for 12 years in Pattaya as my sole means of transport and have always been amazed at how few accidents I see considering how many are on the road and how crazy so many ride.

[pacovl46]

Literally everyone who has any type of proper drivers license from most of the western countries has more knowledge about how to be a good driver than any Thai, the reason being that it takes 3 months of theoretical and physical training and a test for both to obtain the license as opposed to doing one theoretical test and a little drive around the parking lot.

[moogradod]

16 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

The topic: how police have been encouraged to stop foreigners and selectively enforce the law.

...............

You can take the Topic at face value, or read between the lines...  and when reading between the lines the indications are not pleasant.

Not pleasant is very nice wording. This is highly worrisome. And scary if you think a bit further then just this driving license topic.