Drunk Driving Crackdown In Pattaya

[deepthroat]

I cannot vouch for the veracity of this report, just stumbled upon it here:

http://www.livingthai.org/what-happens-when-you-get-caught-drink-driving-in-pattaya.html

This letter was sent to me from a reader regarding the recent crackdown on drink driving in Thailand. You shouldn’t be driving drunk especially in Pattaya so if you get caught you really can’t complain about the repercussions. In the letter it says that no assistance or translations were provided which under Thai law as I understand it is not what is supposed to happen but I can understand, doing a crackdown on drink driving in Pattaya would result in a lot of arrests and the police department here wouldn’t have the resources nor the time to deal with everyone. One thing you never want to do is get arrested in Thailand for anything and if you have got caught for anything make sure you can do whatever you can to get out of it before you get taken to the police station. Once your at the station no matter how much a bribe or who you think you know, nothing or no one can help you.

A word of warning for those farang who may occasionally have a drink

or two, and then drive a motorbike or car in Pattaya.

As of Friday 13th April Pattaya Police are actively using breath

testing to test for people over the drink driving limit of 0.05. They

have digital breath testing units they can setup and will stop all

traffic, as they do when they have a blitz on.

On Friday 13th April at 2am until about 5am they setup on the corner

of 2nd Road and Pattaya Thai (Pattaya South Road), where they often

sit looking for people not wearing a helmet. They were stopping all

bikes (didn’t see any cars but they were on the road blocking most

traffic) farang and Thai. They were breath testing all – not sobriety

test, straight onto the digital breath testing units. The units have a

digital display and a printer. Once you blow if the reading is about

0.050 then they print out the reading and you are arrested on the

spot. You will then be taken to the Pattay Soi 9 watchhouse and locked

up in the holding cells.

Your phone will be confiscated and you are not allowed a phone call or

to contact anyone. Farang’s are locked up with Thai’s (men and women)

in the one lockup in the police station. Not air conditioned, very

basic, no seats, just concrete floors, the toilet is behind a waist

high concrete barrier and is a bowl with no seat, just a hose and a

bucket. This doubles as the shower area, if you were so inclined or

happened to be locked up for many days like some of the farang over

stay people in there. No water or food is provided, you need someone

on the outside to bring you that – and they are generally allowed to

hand it through to you. On Friday about 18 farangs were detained

(Australians, Americans, Italians, Iran, Israel, India, Swiss -

holiday makers and long stayers) and 10+ thai’s for drink driving and

other offences. If you don’t have your passport – it’s more difficult

- they need to be able to positively ID you to begin processing the

paperwork.

You are generally not told what will happen or what the process is -

if you have someone on the outside then they can get some of the story

and relay it, but generally you do not know what will happen or when.

And if you are told – it’s likely to change, and of course “just wait

10 minutes” really means 2+ hours at least.

Once they have processed all the paperwork, and you have signed some

documents in Thai (no translation available, no legal advice, just “is

this you? sign here), you will be finger printed (in the cells, Thai

long stay prisoners do the finger printing). This took from 5am until

midday of waiting in the holding cells at the watch house. Then when

everyone is processed you are ready to be moved to the Privincial

Court House at Jomtien. To move you all the prisoners (Farang and

Thai) are handcuffed and chained together in one long line. Then

marched down to a paddy wagon, all squeezed in, some standing for the

drive from Soi 9 to the court house at Jomtien. You are then unloaded

into the holding area in the court house. The holding area is under

the building, not air conditoned, You are unshackled, you have to take

your shoes off and sit on the concrete floor. No seating, no smoking,

no standing. Sit on the floor with all the other Thai’s waiting to be

processed. The only toilet available is very bad, there are rubber

boots outside that you need to wear because the floor is 1cm deep in

urine and the smell is so bad you have to hold your breath (it makes

the toilet in the watch house look luxurious). The whole area wreaks

of urine as the other holding cells (for those Thai’s being held for

more serious crimes) just has open urinals. During this process – no

communication, no advice, no phone calls allowed, you are told “just

wait” … if you have someone on the outside who knows where you are

they can bring you water and snacks, you can also buy some thai food

that is sold by a local kitchen. The farangs were processed in the

last court sitting of the day, after sitting on the floor from midday

until 6pm, signing various court documents during the afternoon.

No translation is provided into any language, all documents are in

Thai, no legal advice provided, no explanations – very little english

spoken, only enough to get you to sign documents and tell you “sit

down”, “stand up”, “come here”. If you dont sign the document you will

not be processed – there is no option. In the court room there is no

visitor gallery, no visitors allowed, no legal representation, no

translation available. About 40 people are processed at the same time,

sitting on wooden benches or on the floor. The judge (a woman in this

case) speaks NO english (she even had to get help from someone to read

out the amounts of the fines in English). Each person with a related

charge has their name read out in turn, then stands, the judge then

addresses everyone in Thai, then decides on a penalty and reads that

out in Thai. For drink driving a motorbike you can expect a fine of

2500 to 2700 baht … Thai and farang the same. There was no

discrimination, positive or negative – you get treated like a Thai.

Once all have been sentenced you have to pay the fine to the clerk of

the court, on the spot. If you couldn’t pay you would be locked up

again until you can pay. If you have someone on the outside you are

permitted to liaise with them for them to get you the money. You may

also be escorted to your accommodation to get money as a last resort.

You will now be relieved that it is all over and ready to walk free,

as you have been watching all the Thai’s do once they are sentenced

… but wait, there is more!!

If you are a farang you now need to have your passport checked for any

possible visa violations – overstay’s, back to back tourist visa’s

etc. However at 6pm on a Saturday night (even worse on a Songkran long

weekend) there are no immigration officials available to check your

passports. So it’s back to the Soi 9 lockup. The trip back to the

lockup is sitting packed into the back of a police utility truck, all

sitting around the edge packed into the open tray (interesting lack of

safety concern given you have just been booked for an equally

dangerous driving offence). You will then be locked up again until the

police can arrange for immigration to check your passport. None of

this is told to you in advance, you are told as it happens, and after

thinking you are processed and free, being put back into the holding

cells at Soi 9 is a shock – particularly then being told it’s likely

you will be held until the next day (which is a Sunday – so perhaps 2

days,

but Monday is a public holiday in Thailand – so perhaps 3 days).

Fortunately through some furious negotiations by some Thai supporters

of some of the farangs how had been assisting, those farangs who had

been able to provide a passport to police were advised they would be

let out immediately, and then return at a later date for the

immigration check (the police will hold your passport). This was at

11:00pm (after returning from the court about 9pm), the farangs with

the passports were then called out and released from the cells one at

a time. The group being released is then detained further in an office

while the head of police decides how to handle the processing, you

then have your passport photocopied (main page and visa page), you

were given the copy and asked to return to the police station the

following week to meet immigration, and collect you phone, passport

and motorbike at that time (assuming no immigration violations). Only

then, after the 18 hour ordeal are you free to leave.

NO “tourist police” were present or available at any time during this

process (not that I believe they would be able to help anyway – but

interesting in their absence the entire time considering how high

profile they like to be on walking st).

Also – don’t think you can flash a few baht and get let off. I’m aware

of a number if discreet attempts directed to the police at the testing

station of amounts up to 3k baht which were politely returned.

This story if from my personal experience, I was riding a scooter. I

have lived in Thailand for 5+ years, I speak reasonable Thai, I have a

Thai drivers license, I had 10k baht in cash on me, I had Thai helpers

on the outside who know police and were able to plead my case to all

levels of police. None of this helped me get processed any faster or

dealt with any better. Not that would expect it too – but just as

advice for those farang who think they are “special”.

I have no complaints – I was guilty. In future I will be catching a taxi.

There is a new police chief in town – and he is cracking down on drink driving.

[BBQ]

Crackdown on drunk driving is good.

0.05 is a very low threshold, more typical is 0.08 or 0.10.

Crackdown commenced during Songkran. Breathalizer should also be given to those who throw buckets of water into the face of motodrivers.

[duke007]

Thankfully they havent adopted that Southern USA Police version of testing for DUI, how silly is that

[Manarak3]

0.05 is really easy to get to.

How the people were allegedly treated is no good news IMO.

But the story rings somehow untrue. Too much details, as if someone wanted to make it seem true. Gut feeling.

[etgohm]

I love my lil scooter when l am in Patts and always take the side streets, plus having a honey on the back grabbing you nuts or getting you riled up is a blast....but! Life was good until a few trips ago when l got pulled over and fined for no international drivers license, plus they always add on no insurance!

But you don't get insurance when you book them...... Scam artists. So l get the international drivers license .... What a joke. I get pulled over on soi Bukahow, show my license and smile and he says you need to have your fucking passport! 2 hours and 400baht later. Rotten bastards! One time my bike went missing and l was told that it was parked on the no parking line. 3 hours later hanging around the cop shop on beach road...400 baht fine and then a motorbike taxi ride for almost an hour to a barren field somewhere in the middle of nowhere another 200 baht and l have my scooter and no idea where l am and the helmets missing. Grabbed the spare and got lost in the dark for an hour before l found my bearings and back to soi Diana to my hotel.

Imagine getting stuck in a shit hole cell and no one knows you are there because you had a few.

I think l would rather take my chances with horsey Nancy and a bottle of lube than sit in the humiliation that confinement would bring. It would be cheaper, cleaner and at least l could just pay the toll when l had enough.... Hell l could even go back for seconds if l could walk and my scooter would still be safe in the parking lot.

22hours and counting

ET

[SLBT]

Yep, the easiest thing to do is do the scooter thing during the day and if not drinking, at night too...

But if your having any amount of booze, then get a taxi..

Simple innit

Works for me.