Drink Driving On Phuket

[tropicaljohno]

Well, thought it about time we started getting some entries under the Phuket Banner.

Just had a friend on Phuket stopped for dring driving, the police had a breatherlizer.

The guy copped a 10,000 baht fine and spent the nite in jail.

so if you go out drinking, take a cab....... you have been warned

Happy New Year to all our Southern Thailand members, hope to be back there......... sometime

 

[Frogger]

Sadly, the stop drink/driving campaign didn't last long at all. As you can well imagine, it was no more than another flash in the pan ploy to look good, probably just ahead of a promotion interview for whoever it was at the time.

 

[siinthai]

Frogger wrote: Sadly, the stop drink/driving campaign didn't last long at all. As you can well imagine, it was no more than another flash in the pan ploy to look good, probably just ahead of a promotion interview for whoever it was at the time.

not sure what planet you're on mate....hundreds of people were 'done' by the cops over Songkran...and I just got home after going thru 2 road blocks in Surin and Cherntalay. They're out there and they're hunting..be warned...its usually about 10-20,000 B a pop.....happy travels !

 

[Frogger]

siinthai wrote: [quote quote=Frogger]Sadly, the stop drink/driving campaign didn't last long at all. As you can well imagine, it was no more than another flash in the pan ploy to look good, probably just ahead of a promotion interview for whoever it was at the time.

not sure what planet you're on mate....hundreds of people were 'done' by the cops over Songkran...and I just got home after going thru 2 road blocks in Surin and Cherntalay. They're out there and they're hunting..be warned...its usually about 10-20,000 B a pop.....happy travels !
I'm on planet Phuket, mate. And while you have experienced that in the north of the island, I can (sadly) assure you there was no such campaign around the Patong Kata/Karon, Rawai, Chalong or Phuket town areas. Nor has there been since the last Christmas campaign. Now, I'll accept that I may have been lucky enough not to have been of interest to the local "law"enforcement, but in order to stop others there would still have to be a police presence. I certainly didn't see any (and, no, not because I was too plastered either). On top of that, no one who I'm aware of has been stopped by the police in the last five months. So, maybe now you'll understand my response.

 

[Lightemup]

Friend of mine who stays in Surin, but works in Patong stopped driving home after going out after work had finished, because he didnt want to get stopped and having a test taken on the way back. Good for him he has a understanding wife.
On the opposite in Patong, I know of a guy who got stopped on his bike and asked about license and if he had had a drink..Produced license and said yeah a couple of beers. License in order he got waved on...
Guess the local police colonel is doing ok with money right now...

 

[stubzi]

The check point just North of phuket Fantasy when leaving Kamala has cooled down lately, I think due to a new police chief in the area.

A couple of my friends had the breath test last christmas and another just a couple of months back....all copped a 20,000 baht fine plus a night in the cells!

Not worth for risk the price of a Tuk Tuk!!

 

[KZ]

I've lived here for almost five months now and have observed that Patong seems to be "exceptional". On a daily basis I see riders with no helmets; on big bikes with red plates; on out-of-state bikes (I know a farang who rents out three T-Max scooters with Pattaya plates to foreigners); very modified bikes; loud sport bikes and choppers with seemingly no mufflers. Overall it's kind of a "Wild East" feeling, seems like anything goes, the Kojaks don't mind. Probably the word from high up is: let the foreigners do what they want, we're making good money off it.
I've been stopped several times and asked for a license in the Surin area but never in Patong. They do helmet checks and issue tickets but turn a blind eye to anything else.
When I moved to Hua Hin I got several tickets for no helmet and had to pay 1000 baht for a loud exhaust in the first month. So I learned quickly to always wear a helmet and to run the stock muffler. After all, The King lives there, and law and order is enforced.
In a way I kind of like this "flexible approach" to interpreting the law - you want to go wild, stay in Patong. You want it more quiet, stay somewhere else. That's why I live in Kathu.