Traffic Police active as New Year nears

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Brian Davis
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Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Brian Davis » December 20, 2022, 9:39 am

As usual, the Traffic Police have become particularly active as New Year parties need to be funded. :roll: So, heads up, watch out in front of the Charoen Hotel, situated between two sets of lights and police working both sides of the road. I was stopped yesterday for continuing through a yellow light. Directed to the officer racking in the money, we seemed to agree that yellow meant stop, in the UK as much as Thailand. But he went deaf to my suggestion that there was a rider to the rule – that you should be able to stop in control and safely. I don’t think you’re meant to screech to a sudden stop, or find the motorcyclist behind sitting next to you! It occurred to me a tape recording might save the officer’s voice as he continually just said “400 baht”. Years living here, when will I learn to just shut up and pay up? A queue of ‘offenders’ meant the officer was scribbling away receipts, perhaps two a minute. Wow, work that out at an hourly rate.



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parrot
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by parrot » December 20, 2022, 10:05 am

That particular light at Charoen Hotel is a popular stop. I got a ticket there long ago for entering the intersection while the light was yellow. Since then, I stop on the green light when it starts flashing.....probably to the annoyance of a few cars behind me who think they'll make the light.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by jackspratt » December 20, 2022, 10:42 am

If you look closely here, you can see plod waiting for all you transgressors and law breakers. :D

https://www.google.com/maps/@17.401286, ... 384!8i8192

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Khun Paul
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Khun Paul » December 20, 2022, 10:47 am

One could always state. lets go to court, they ( the courts) do uphold the law as it is written NOT as some greedy corrupt Police officer interprets it.
Having said that causing others behind you to stop is an equally good idea, in fact

Basically at this time of year always drive judiciously and with care as we all know that at least 25% of thais who drive/ride have either No Licence/No insurance and many NO Road tax ( equals no Poobor either ) or all three !!!!!!!!!!!

Not being a negative person just an honest one.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by parrot » December 20, 2022, 11:26 am

I'm perfectly fine with the police setting up these checkpoints. If they help remind 80% of the drivers to follow the rules and ticket the other 20%, I can't complain. I don't equate the checkpoints with corruption........maybe I've been here too long.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Whistler » December 20, 2022, 11:51 am

Be careful, obey the law and if you are pulled over, share your open bottle of regency with the officer so he can have a swig too.
I had a bumper sticker in Texas that read 'Beam me up Scotty'. I often wish I could find one in Udon Thani

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by FrazeeDK » December 20, 2022, 1:44 pm

The Charoen Hotel/Wat PoThivararam intersection usually has an active checkpoint on every weekday.. There's another always active just past the Stupa on Hwy 22 East... Nothing unusual. Now, when they start putting up their roadside drunk checkpoints mannned by a couple of BiB and the village police you'll know New Year is almost here..
Dave

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by jackspratt » December 20, 2022, 1:47 pm

Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know (for a fact) what legal authority these village police have?

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Brian Davis
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Brian Davis » December 20, 2022, 2:41 pm

I can't answer that Jackspratt, but on the matter of legality, I've now noticed the officer ticked the box 'went through red light'. I didn't , it was yellow(amber, if you prefer). Perhaps a 'yellow' isn't actually fineable and there's a small con going on there? Water under the bridge now, I'm not going to be hungry and it would always be my word against theirs anyway. But it wouldn't be my first time that what things have been 'bent' a bit.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Khun Paul » December 20, 2022, 2:57 pm

There has been numerous stories about the yellow Light Booking and fining, it is wrong and the law backs that up, however as you say for want of a couple of hundred baht why argue.
Well if there are points deducted from your licence which only start with 12 , then it is worth arguing, or else if green flashing as you say stop.

They will now even more so err on of bending the rules to not only get a fine paid 9 of which they do receive a 5, but also make you lose your points.

But like speeding i say prove it , i do know that attending Court is not their favorite past-time.

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parrot
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by parrot » December 20, 2022, 3:10 pm

jackspratt wrote:
December 20, 2022, 1:47 pm
Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know (for a fact) what legal authority these village police have?
plucked from justicechannel:
There are 3 cases where the general public can help arrest offenders
. request help to arrest and must be the case "There is already an arrest warrant" only
2. When people are insurance agents, suspects or defendants who have escaped bail or to escape insurance Especially when unable to ask for help from officials to arrest them in a timely manner.
3. When witnessing an offense in front of Only the types of offenses specified by law as follows

1. Assault against the royal family
2. rebellion within the kingdom
3. Rebellion outside the Kingdom
4. Offenses against diplomatic relations with foreign countries
5. Harm the flag or emblem of a foreign country.
6. Offenses against officials.
7. Offenses for escaping from imprisonment
8. Offenses against religion
9. Riot
10. Causing danger to the public
11. counterfeit currency
12. Rape
13. Mayhem to life
14. Mayhem to the body
15. Offenses of defamation of liberty
16.
Theft 17. Run around, robbery, robbery and pirates
18. Extortion These offenses are considered face-to-face offenses that the people have the power to catch without a warrant
.

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tamada
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by tamada » December 20, 2022, 3:20 pm

Brian Davis wrote:
December 20, 2022, 2:41 pm
I can't answer that Jackspratt, but on the matter of legality, I've now noticed the officer ticked the box 'went through red light'. I didn't , it was yellow(amber, if you prefer). Perhaps a 'yellow' isn't actually fineable and there's a small con going on there? Water under the bridge now, I'm not going to be hungry and it would always be my word against theirs anyway. But it wouldn't be my first time that what things have been 'bent' a bit.
You agreed with the cop that "yellow means stop" so checking "went through red" on the ticket is semantics, no? You didn't stop. I doubt there's many countries that differentiate on amber versus red when it comes to fines, points, etc.. I got a ticket years ago from Udon's finest for a yellow/red infraction. The fact that I got prevented going through the junction on green and "trapped" by the police pick-up truck bringing the replacement highwaymen making an illegal u-turn in front of me wasn't a valid argument. See-loy baht khrap!

But agree that unless it's something far more serious involving injury or death, just go with the flow.
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by parrot » December 20, 2022, 3:28 pm

Brian Davis wrote:
December 20, 2022, 2:41 pm
I can't answer that Jackspratt, but on the matter of legality, I've now noticed the officer ticked the box 'went through red light'. I didn't , it was yellow(amber, if you prefer). Perhaps a 'yellow' isn't actually fineable and there's a small con going on there? Water under the bridge now, I'm not going to be hungry and it would always be my word against theirs anyway. But it wouldn't be my first time that what things have been 'bent' a bit.
There are lots of Thais who get fined for running yellow light.....and, thus, vent their frustrations/anger/allegations on the internet. If you read past the chaff, most answers are the same: if you pass the white line (on your side the intersection) and the light is still green, but the light changes to yellow while you're in the intersection, then you're ok. If you pass the while line while the light is already yellow, then you're in violation.

On one occasion at the 3way to the airport, I crossed into the intersection just as the light changed to yellow. My luck, I was stopped. I explained to the officer and offered my dashcam if he wanted to view it. He looked over my license and waved me on. On other occasions (at the Charoen Hotel intersection), I've been ticketed and paid as it was too close to call (in my mind).

This from Viriyah's website:
1. Running a yellow light
Running a red light causes a fatal accident. But did you know that running through the yellow light, which is a warning sign to prepare to stop, is also important? Running a yellow light can cause an accident. If the car that comes out from the other side of the intersection rushes out without the care of each other causing the incident to collide with each other Or more serious, it may bump into people waiting to cross the road. According to the Road Traffic Act, Section 22 clearly says that the driver must stop behind the stop line. in order to prepare to follow the signal that will appear next Violators are subject to a fine of not more than 1,000 baht.

If you have one of those long-haired dictionaries at home, page 3 of https://www.parliament.go.th/ewtadmin/e ... p?nid=1883 also says the same thing

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by jackspratt » December 20, 2022, 3:59 pm

http://web.krisdika.go.th/data/outsited ... (1979).pdf

Assuming this is still valid:

Section 22 relates to red and amber traffic lights

Sections 136/7 plus the definitions in Section 4 (38/9) appear to be relevant to my question about the village police.

Although I would question how many of the volunteers would have passed the prescribed training course - TiT.

For those really interested, this may also be of interest. https://ph02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/g ... iew/194725

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Brian Davis
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Brian Davis » December 20, 2022, 5:31 pm

tamada wrote:
December 20, 2022, 3:20 pm
You agreed with the cop that "yellow means stop" so checking "went through red" on the ticket is semantics, no? You didn't stop......
Well, officially yes, but so much depends on speed, distance, the set timing of light changes(unless police operating which opens other possibilities!),the latter which can vary between almost immediate, to a gap of a second or two. The point I was really trying to make (and there must be hundreds of examples every day) is the commitment of going through the lights, because of your speed and position, when the lights change from green to yellow or from yellow to red, OR braking sharply which might not be under control and lead to an accident in itself.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by tamada » December 20, 2022, 6:25 pm

The earlier legal definition suggests that entering the 'box' on yellow is OK only if you know you'll be able to exit before it goes red. Makes sense to me but it relies on any individual drivers situational awareness, an attribute that's mostly lacking in southeast Asia.

If you need to accelerate to 'beat' a yellow or brake harshly to stop, you're either driving too fast for the prevailing conditions or your situational awareness is switched off. Or both.

I am currently back in the UK where there are no crutches to inadequately trained drivers such as flashing green, red blinks or count down timers. I think that those add-ons that are unique to Thailand make the controlled situation of simple green-amber-red less controlled and open to abuse by drivers and cops.
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Mosquito » December 23, 2022, 9:05 am

I'd just like it, if all the traffic lights timing were the same country wide.

Locally, I know which intersect lights will give you a few extra seconds to cross on yellow and those that quickly switch from yellow to red. Outside of that it's a crap shoot.

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by tamada » December 23, 2022, 10:04 am

Mosquito wrote:
December 23, 2022, 9:05 am
I'd just like it, if all the traffic lights timing were the same country wide.

Locally, I know which intersect lights will give you a few extra seconds to cross on yellow and those that quickly switch from yellow to red. Outside of that it's a crap shoot.
Good point. I recall having to adjust my "situational awareness" when I relocated from Pattaya to Udon. Generally the lights here had a much shorter yellow, probably still have. I find myself driving slower and easier these days with no need to get to the front of the queue.
'Don't waste your words on people who deserve your silence'
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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by Khun Paul » December 23, 2022, 10:25 am

Lets put it into simple terms a complete idiot would understand.

Red means stop unless allowed to turn left on a red is allowed.

yellow means poceed with caution but NOW"HERTE does it state here only if safe to do so must you stop.. Here they consider YELLOW means stop as well, so instead of playing a game as to how many seconds of grasce you have ........ STOP !!

Green means go ( unless you are playing on your phone, engaged in a conversation with anyone else and if your eyesight is so bad you cannot see the Green light. )

POINTS to remember:
Always carry your Valid Diving licence ,
Have available details of Porobor.
Ensure your Road Tax square is properly dIsplayed on the LHS of your windscreen.


CAUTION
AS THEIR bREATHALYSER MACINES AE NOT IN MY BOOK MAINTAINED OR EVEN CALIOBRAED CORRECTLY.NEVER TEMPT FATE BY EVEN HAVING ONE ALCOHOLIC drink ( even though that may NOT put over the limit in most law abiding countries )

To quote one film comment :
The law is what they it is, not as it actually is , proving they are wrong would be a time consuming and costly
exercise . Take a leaf out of my book, do NOT even give them the opportunity to fine you for anything. Foreigners are consdered easy pickings.

Anecdotal evidence. I was once stopped in the wee hours returning home from a friend . Why was I stopped the P{olice Officer though i was driving too fast`( to be fair I Was ). He then asked if I had had anything to drink , I replied yes , he than asked me to blow into his machine. It showed negative... He got angry as I admitted to drinking. WHAT HE DID NOT ASK WAS, IF IT WAS ALCOHOLIC . !!!! I got out walked over the Inspector in Charge made a complaint about his officer, got back into my car and drove off, shortly afterwards the Road Stop Check was removed .

SO listen carefully to what the officer says , often they ask the wrong question and therefore do not get the response they expect or want.

DO NOT TEMPT FATE. leave that to the locals 111111111111111

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Re: Traffic Police active as New Year nears

Post by jackspratt » December 23, 2022, 11:09 am

...

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