Robbed in Bangkok in Broad Daylight

[Baerboxer]

13 hours ago, NightSky said:

I know I didn’t break the law. I’ve been driving here 20 years almost.

 

also please donot twist my story around, I asked the policeman how much the fine was and he said 500 which was the amount I took with me knowing that would be the most I would want to pay and he didn’t hand me a receipt. 

 

My question again was, what would you have done if asked to pay a bribe by armed police for doing nothing wrong.

 

At many junctions you are not allowed to change lanes within a certain distance to the junction. Normally there are road markings and often copious warning signs advising the same. Many U-Turns near busy junctions have this and have cameras. Cross lane's illegally and you get a nice photo in the post and have to pay ThB 1k plus post office charge.

 

Can't recall that junction road markings but will look next time.

[gunderhill]

5 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

Now you're trying to tell us that you knew what road markings were there!

As is VERY often the case the road  markings  are  long  long  gone,  lucky if you can even find a speed  limit on many roads.

[Orton Rd]

I thought is was illegal to overtake or change lanes within 30 meters of traffic lights?

[RJRS1301]

14 hours ago, madmen said:

Im intrigued  how farang are ALWAYS in the right about these things, simply not capable of breaking any traffic laws.  So according to your story you pulled out 500 and they conveniently said 500 ..lets face it you bribed ( no receipt) and the sooner farang stop doing this the sooner there will be accountability. Your a part of the problem not the solution

Agreed

[Orton Rd]

14 hours ago, madmen said:

Im intrigued  how farang are ALWAYS in the right about these things, simply not capable of breaking any traffic laws.  So according to your story you pulled out 500 and they conveniently said 500 ..lets face it you bribed ( no receipt) and the sooner farang stop doing this the sooner there will be accountability. Your a part of the problem not the solution

If you were guilty you would not be posting about it on here would you? We have the ability to read the land traffic act 1979, something few Thais or even the Police seem to have done. Download it on your phone!

[mrmicbkktxl]

You did wrong!!By changing lanes because you didn't want to wait until the people in front of you turn right,so you changed lanes and disturbed probably cars behind in the left lane.By the way same happened to me and the ticket  for that was 400Baht payable at police station.

[soalbundy]

I don't know what the OP is complaining about, you can get stabbed in broad daylight in the UK

[reargunnerph3]

I got pulled up at toll gates NW of Bangkok and told I had changed lanes too fast which was BS of course but what can you do and the fine was Bt400 with a receipt he would keep my licence and I could drive 3 hours from Pattaya to pay the fine and pick up my licence or Bt1000 cash no receipt no 3 hour drive. Bt1000 went straight into his pocket. Royal Thai Police, the best money can buy.

[Henricus]

In Holland, you pay 150 Euro when you change lane from the right turn to go straight 

[soalbundy]

Just now, reargunnerph3 said:

I got pulled up at toll gates NW of Bangkok and told I had changed lanes too fast which was BS of course but what can you do and the fine was Bt400 with a receipt he would keep my licence and I could drive 3 hours from Pattaya to pay the fine and pick up my licence or Bt1000 cash no receipt no 3 hour drive. Bt1000 went straight into his pocket. Royal Thai Police, the best money can buy.

Look on the bright side, you are supporting his mia noi

[alanrchase]

14 hours ago, NightSky said:

I know I didn’t break the law. I’ve been driving here 20 years almost.

 

also please donot twist my story around, I asked the policeman how much the fine was and he said 500 which was the amount I took with me knowing that would be the most I would want to pay and he didn’t hand me a receipt. 

 

My question again was, what would you have done if asked to pay a bribe by armed police for doing nothing wrong.

You have been driving here 20 years and never noticed the solid white lines as you aproach traffic lights? He was writing a ticket and you decided not to wait for it. 500 baht was the fine a year ago for crossing a solid white line in BKK so no rip off, not sure if it has increased since then.

[Pinot]

First of all, I've never seen anyone pulled over in Phuket for anything, ever. Yeah, it's a scam. I would be happy to pay $15 for some perceived driving injustice to have it end there. That's a bridge toll in America. ; )

 

[watcharacters]

14 hours ago, NightSky said:

I know I didn’t break the law. I’ve been driving here 20 years almost.

 

also please donot twist my story around, I asked the policeman how much the fine was and he said 500 which was the amount I took with me knowing that would be the most I would want to pay and he didn’t hand me a receipt. 

 

My question again was, what would you have done if asked to pay a bribe by armed police for doing nothing wrong.

I’ve been driving here 20 years almost.

You lost four years.    

 

"I wasn’t asking for a driving lesson I’ve been driving almost 30 years and I have 4 driving licence types,"

[Lee4Life]

15 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

You went over a non-broken line.

 

Illegal.

 

 

Learn the rules of the road, and learn to apply them when driving!!! 

You should give reading the Thai driving laws a try! I have done it and "learned the rules of the road"...and there is no mention that doing what the OP did is against the law. In fact the driving laws were written decades ago and have never been updated.

[Thainess]

Bribery is illegal in Thailand. You're lucky you weren't arrested for attempting to suborn an upstanding officer of the law.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

14 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

in the US there is justice and logic. you can take the police to court. you might lose, but

at least you know you are not alone.

If you go to court for speeding in the US the case almost always gets dismissed. For you to lose the case would require that the officer show up AND they have actual evidence like a radar gun showing the EXACT speed they wrote the ticket for. When I went to court when a cop wrote 90 while I was really going 80, the cop didn't show up and case dismissed. 90% of the other people waiting had their cases dismissed too.

 

On the downside - I had to pay around $100 for a law firm to arrange it - which was still better than the $300(!) ticket.

 

Bottom line: traffic police are out for cash everywhere, not just Thailand, the only difference is in Thailand they ask for $15 and not $300. I wouldn't drive in Thailand for safety and convenience reasons, but random "fines" are basically just a cost of driving here (especially as a foreigner).

[PerkinsCuthbert]

I'd have grit my teeth and borne it, same as you did.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Captain Lou Escobar to Jake Gittes in 'Chinatown', "Forget it Jake, it's Thailand".

[NightSky]

1 hour ago, alanrchase said:

You have been driving here 20 years and never noticed the solid white lines as you aproach traffic lights?

Of course I notice solid white lines when they exist. 

 

Ive also noticed that posting anything on this forum is likely to attract some supportive and informative responses but it can also attract responses from all sorts of time wasters who it seems have nothing better to do than twist someone’s post and add their own make believe to it so they can then justify accusations and ‘I told you so’ whining. But you live and learn, I’ll be sure not to post again unless it’s really necessary.

[jackdd]

So you followed the policeman to bribe him, they accepted your bribe, and now you complain about it?

If you don't intend to bribe them i would suggest you don't wave money in front of their face.

[NightSky]

52 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

I’ve been driving here 20 years almost.

You lost four years.    

 

"I wasn’t asking for a driving lesson I’ve been driving almost 30 years and I have 4 driving licence types,"

 I drove before I came to Thailand. Jeez your really looking to poke holes in my story aren’t you.

[Tagged]

I gave the police shit last time they stopped me without international driving license. We argued for 5 minutes and he let me go! Before I always gave them shit for stopping me without reason, but always paid no helmet, no license and so on! 

 

Now I have thai driver license and have not experienced anything so far when they stopp me, and just look at it, and wave me off. 

[NightSky]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

So you followed the policeman to bribe him, they accepted your bribe, and now you complain about it?

If you don't intend to bribe them i would suggest you don't wave money in front of their face.

Ahem please read the op again, I’m not complaining I was asking a question and I confirm no money was ever waved in front of anyone’s face as you suggest.

[NightSky]

1 hour ago, Benroon said:

do you want to change the thread heading now to remove the completely wrong message and its clearly incorrect insinuation?

 

Let me think..

 

...NO

[justin case]

16 hours ago, NightSky said:

No I asked how much the fine was for doing nothing wrong and they replied 500baht, interpret that how you may, but what would you have done?

they speak english ? I would quickly switch to: no english, no thai...

[Gandtee]

16 hours ago, madmen said:

you bribed them? 

No. That's against the law.????

[tweedledee2]

What you described you did was an illegal lane change. If the traffic lanes are separated by a solid white or yellow line vehicles are not to change lane or pass other vehicles. There are exceptions but not in your case. Also, even if the markings are faint or non-existent the traffic rule still applies at intersections. Your years of driving experience doesn't make your action legal. If you used the same general driving rules that are adopted by western countries and apply them in Thailand you would know you were wrong.  How would you react if you were ticketed in your home country?  I bet you wouldn't offer money to avoid paying a ticket. 

[joebrown]

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

In the UK I have been framed by the police, and they ended up paying me 7,000 pounds not to go to court about it.

+ 1 

[richard_smith237]

Op, under your admission you were not paying attention when realizing that instead of remaining in the right hand lane you needed to switch across to the left lane. 

 

Thus, it's a fair assumption that you had not noticed the unbroken line and crossed it. 

 

This is a common money maker for the Police.

 

Thus: No one is going to be able to prove you right or wrong on whether or not there was an unbroken line or not and as you mentioned there are lots of junctions along On-Nut road so we'd be guessing which one. 

 

Therefore, to place your mind at rest can you go on to Google Maps and take a look at the specific junction and you will see whether or not you made a mistake (perhaps post the junction as I have below). 

 

I post two examples below, not of where I suspect your junction is, but examples of the solid white line which you may not have noticed and crossed by mistake.

 

 

 

[WorriedNoodle]

44 minutes ago, NightSky said:

your really looking to poke holes in my story aren’t you.

Probably because it's full of holes. How can anyone respond to this thread without knowing the facts from both sides? At the least we need webcam footage from you or you are wasting your/our time.

[NightSky]

28 minutes ago, tweedledee2 said:

What you described you did was an illegal lane change.

 

>> No it wasn't

 

If the traffic lanes are separated by a solid white or yellow line vehicles are not to change lane or pass other vehicles.

 

>> Solid lines were not present on the road, traffic was simply queuing to turn right

 

There are exceptions but not in your case.

 

>> Its impossible for you to know this

 

How would you react if you were ticketed in your home country? 

 

>> I certainly wouldn't ask your advice or question ThaiVisa members what they would have done