Starting in the first quarter of 2019, police-issued traffic tickets will be linked to the Thailand’s Land Transport Department’s system, resulting in a suspension of vehicle-tax renewal for those failing to pay traffic fines, deputy department chief Kamol Buranapong said on Monday.
Pending final touches to the information-linking guidelines between the two agencies, it is expected to be implemented by end March. The move aim to discipline offending motorists and boost road safety, Kamol said.
One of the pending issues is the agreement between the two agencies concerning a person’s ability to appeal the vehicle-tax renewal suspension, due to their failing to pay fines for an accumulated number of traffic tickets.
The idea is for the Land Transport Department to issue a round-shaped sticker to affected motorists, giving them up to 30 days to clear the fines and renew their tax – or they will be hit with the charge of failing to renew vehicle tax, punishable with a maximum fine of Bt2,000.
Whether a motorist will be allowed to appeal the tax-renewal suspension, will be a matter of police discretion, he added.
Eligible cases in point include a motorist facing an accumulated amount of traffic tickets in various police jurisdictions, or a motorist whose registration-plate number is illegally used by another vehicle driven by someone who then breaks the traffic law, he explained.
Meanwhile, on the latest update on the merging of two outdated laws – the Vehicle Act of 1979 and the Land Transport Act of 1979 – into one piece of draft legislation under a new Land Transport Act , Kamol said a hefty fine of up to Bt50,000 for charges of driving without a driver’s licence or driving with an expired/suspended/confiscated licence, would now be amended to a lower, as-yet unspecified amount.
The deputy department chief said the draft bill was now before the Secretariat of the Cabinet, which would then forward it to the Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly for approval.
The Land Transport Department renews vehicle tax for around 100,000 people per day.
Source: NationMultimedia
Photo: pexels/Suzukii Xingfu