Traffic violation fines

[Mr Natural]

If you have been fined by the police for a traffic violation, what was the violation and how much was your fine?

I know that the "no helmet" or "no license" violation is always 200 baht, I'm interested in hearing what other violations may have cost you.

I recently was fined 400 baht for running a red light on my motorbike. Just wondering if that is the normal fine for that violation.

[Galee]

I recently got "clamped" for parking facing the wrong way.
Went to Police Station where they wanted to fine me 500Baht. Fortunately had gf with me and paid 300baht, which I understand is the correct fine for this very serious offense.

[JimboPSM]

I recently got "clamped" for parking facing the wrong way......

Galee, as an assistance to those of us who will probably follow in your tyre tracks, was there any way that you could know you were parked the wrong way without being able to read Thai?

It would be very useful for forum members (who drive) to know any peculiarities in parking regulations so we don't upset the local authorities, pay out monies which would more usefully be expended on beer and raise our blood pressure

[Galee]

The only give away Jimbo was that I was the only car parked that way. There may have been signs, but if there were I didn't see them. The funny thing was that it was out side the Tourist Police Station, so maybe an area to avoid wrongly parked.
I think as a rule of thumb, if not sure about parking restrictions, always try to park in the same direction as your driving.

[Geordie]

Never park on the opposite side to your direction of travel wherever you are or you will be liable for a fine.Applies all over LOS.

[Irish Alan]

it's okay to drive on the wrong side of the road just don't park on it.

[papaguido]

I recently was fined 400 baht for running a red light on my motorbike. Just wondering if that is the normal fine for that violation.

Same here at the traffic light just past AEK. The cop was hiding behind a tuk tuk and jumped out and waved me over. I stopped, the officer asked for my DL and I handed it to him. He then said I went through a red light and it would be a 400bt fine. I told the officer I only had 200 bt and even showed him my wallet, he didn't care and just kept on writing the citation. I thought to myself, okay where's the nearest ATM, then the guy hands me the citation and DL and tells me to go over there. I go to the other cop, hand him my citation and says 200bt . Ok whatever, I pay the fine and leave.

Later I tell my wife about it, she reads the citation and she tells me it says the violation was for not having a DL.
So I'm guessing the first cop wrote up the citation for a lesser fine, nice guy cut me a break.

Mr. N, in answer to your question I think yes

[saint]

it's okay to drive on the wrong side of the road just don't park on it.

very difficult to clamp a moving vehicle !!!!! as far as im aware , even the over zealous british police have not mastered that one yet !!!!! . although i did get one once who wanted to give me a parking ticket , whilst i was sitting in a traffic jam.

[saint]

I recently was fined 400 baht for running a red light on my motorbike. Just wondering if that is the normal fine for that violation.

minimum fine 400 baht , maximum fine YOUR LIFE , pretty stupid thing to do in my book . i just missed a thai pratt with a truck full of people yesturday at the khon kean , ringroad intersection . if i had not been alert , there would of been a fair few corpses on the road . one of the craziest things you can do on any highway.

[beer monkey]

Never park on the opposite side to your direction of travel wherever you are or you will be liable for a fine.Applies all over LOS.

indeed, can even stretch to uk...many a time i have seen vehicles(always larger ones) parked facing the wrong way with the traffic police looking over it and trying to contact the driver/owner to move it, all to do with rear red reflectors,pulling out into on coming traffic and general road safety.

[beer monkey]

I recently was fined 400 baht for running a red light on my motorbike. Just wondering if that is the normal fine for that violation.

minimum fine 400 baht , maximum fine YOUR LIFE , pretty stupid thing to do in my book . i just missed a thai pratt with a truck full of people yesturday at the khon kean , ringroad intersection . if i had not been alert , there would of been a fair few corpses on the road . one of the craziest things you can do on any highway.

yes that is pretty poor Mr Natural.

[Ter]

I think thats very fair, I have been stopped for speeding between NK and Udon, they asked the wife for 200 bt and that was it.
The scary thing was the cop said how good looking i was and shook my hand.
Ter

[beer monkey]

Ohh yes i hear this often Ter....also the words 'Riverpool' or 'Man U' crop up in limited conversation when they find out you are Englit.

[macduff]

I was parked near to the police station in udon facing the right way in a row of vehicles that were parked not straight with the curb. I was parked straight and close to the curb as i do in England and i got clamped with notices all over it when i came back to it. And that's with my soon to be wife's cousin in the pick up with her daughter who were waiting only 15 minutes until we returned. We went to the police station to find out why and he said the city is very busy and that i was parked awkwardly.He asked to see my licence which i always carry with me and he said you have two choices pay 500bht with a reciept or pay 300bht no reciept for the release of the vehicle. After i paid the 300bht he immediatly got on the radio and by the time we walked back to the pickup the clamp was gone.II'l never park close to a police station ever again.

[beer monkey]

Shame a lot of emphasis is put on awkward/illegal parking and not on dangerous/unroadworthy vehicles and their operators.

[spaul]

Top 10 received:
10 - No crash helmet - 200 baht + no fine for a further 24 hours if receipt retained for original fine
9 - Speeding - 200 baht (half the time yes was speeding and half no)
8 - Overtaking (this is good one because i was told i should have overtaken on the inside) - 200b
7 - Temporary Red No. plates (issued by the main dealer whilst waiting for permanent ones) - 200b
6 - No seat belt, 2 persons, 500b
5 - Whilst on holiday in phuket, 2 rented motorbikes, mum and dad on one, me my wife and little one on second - no thai driving licenses for motorcycles - 1600b (800b each!)
4 - Driving down a bus lane in bangkok - 500b
3 - No tax (in a rented car) - 500b (refunded by rental co.)
2 - English driving licence - 200b
1. No reason at all (tea money) - 200b

[Mr Natural]

Thank you to all of you who are posting useful information. =D>
Please continue to add your traffic experiences to this thread.

pretty stupid thing to do in my book .

yes that is pretty poor Mr Natural.

Well thanks for THAT.

My question was what have you paid in traffic fines, NOT what do you think of running red lights! I thought it would be good to share useful information on the cost of fines since I hear falangs complaining that they think they are taken advantage of in these situations and are given a higher fine.

Posts about parking and other traffic laws are good information to share as well.

Since two of our high volume posters are so concerned that they feel the need to scold me, I will elaborate:

I was ticketed at a T-intersection going south on Udon Dutsadi road at Ban Chaing Road just past the Siri Grand hotel. If you observe the flow of traffic at a T-intersection you will see that it is the norm for motorbikes to hug the shoulder and not stop for the red light.

I'm not saying this is the right, legal, or safe thing to do. I use to always stop until I was rear-ended by another motorbike after stopping at an T-intersection just like this! (no police around that time, the guy picked up his bike and took off!)

So, when I come to a red light at a T-intersection I take the following precautions:
1.Look in the mirror to see if theirs another bike is following me too close.
2. Slow down and observe the traffic turning onto the road.
3. Hug the shoulder and slowly proceed.

I'll now add to that step 4. Look ahead for guy's wearing brown shirts!

On second thought, since I don't want to get hit again nor get another fine, maybe the best maneuver would be to go up on the sidewalk!

Seriously, I'm not a kamikaze driver. My kids tell me I drive like the grand marshal in a thanksgiving day parade!

[macduff]

Maybe from your experience Mr natural, it may be a good idea for you to ditch the bike and opt for something with four wheels on the ground

[beer monkey]

Thank you to all of you who are posting useful information. =D>
Please continue to add your traffic experiences to this thread.

pretty stupid thing to do in my book .

yes that is pretty poor Mr Natural.

Well thanks for THAT.

My question was what have you paid in traffic fines, NOT what do you think of running red lights! I thought it would be good to share useful information on the cost of fines since I hear falangs complaining that they think they are taken advantage of in these situations and are given a higher fine.

Posts about parking and other traffic laws are good information to share as well.

Since two of our high volume posters are so concerned that they feel the need to scold me, I will elaborate:

Woooo don't get your knickers in a twist, and not sure why a 'high volume poster' comes into it, if someone with 17 posts said what we did would you have replied the same to them..?.......with the original post you stated simply 'you run a red light'..(Jumped)

I recently was fined 400 baht for running a red light on my motorbike. Just wondering if that is the normal fine for that violation.

Maybe some of us have had experiances with drivers that jump a red, and your post brought those thoughts to the surface, now we read a little more into it , it kinda paints a slightly different picture...but the end result is You run a red light.
If the fine was 3000 baht or more maybe some light jumpers would think twice about doing it.

[Peterplay]

Two weeks ago, I had to wait 2 minutes for a friend to come back from a shop, had stopped my car next to a motosai, not far from the policestation. Technically I parked dubble or one and a half.
Had the engine running, ready to pull of.
Alas, a policetruck stopped and I had to hand over my drivers licence, got it back when I paid 500 baht and they were merciless.

A friend of mine was doing 140 km/hr in a truck recently and got of with 100 baht.