Thai police said punishments vary for convicted drunk drivers in Thailand -- there is no automatic punishment

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 16, 2019 at 09:45
2 min read
By AFP Thailand

Multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as messages on Line, claim that a new law in Thailand means that anyone arrested for drunk driving automatically faces one month in jail and a 10,000 Thai baht fine. The claim is misleading; there is no new law in Thailand that automatically jails anyone arrested for suspected drunk driving for one month; the Royal Thai Police said the posts were “fake”.

The claim was shared on the messaging app Line on December 11, 2019.

Below is a screenshot of the message:

Below is the screenshot of the message:

The Thai-language message translates to English as: “Today is the first day of law enforcement for the punishment of drunk drivers. Fine 10,000 THB and one month in jail upon arrest, also no community service. This means if you are caught, you will be in jail right away. Please share it with other groups.”

10,000 THB is approximately $340 USD.

Multiple Thai-language posts with a similar claim were also shared on Facebook here, on Twitter here and on Instagram here.

The misleading claim also appeared in this June 28, 2019 article, published by Real Time Car magazine, a Thai-language motoring site.

The article’s Thai language headline translates to English as: “Drink and drive, no court trial, jail immediately for 1 month and fine 10,000 THB”.

Screenshot of misleading article

A similar misleading claim was also published in Facebook posts here and here, alongside graphics which contained a mixture of accurate and inaccurate information about Thailand’s drunk driving laws.

The claims are all misleading.

According to Thailand’s Traffic Act B.E. 2522, Article 160, which can be seen here on the official website of the Office of the Council of State, motorists caught driving under the influence of alcohol face a jail term of up to one year, a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 THB, or both.

There were no new or amended laws on drunk driving passed this year -- Thailand's traffic laws were amended on May 19, 2019, and can be seen here but the provisions covering punishment for drunk driving were not changed.

Special Branch Police Division 3 commander Pol Maj-General Ekarak Limsangkas told AFP by phone on December 11, 2019 that people who violated the traffic laws on drunk driving would be sent to court.

“Under current laws motorists driving under the influence will undergo a court trial,” he said.

"The maximum penalty for drunk driving is a one-year prison term and a fine ranging between 5,000-20,000 THB. Community service will also depend on the severity of the case and the offender’s past charges.”

The Police Magazine Thailand, an official Facebook account for the Royal Police Thailand’s magazine, stated in this post on June 19, 2019, that the claims about the new traffic law in Thailand were not accurate.

The post’s Thai language caption translates to English as: “#FakeNews, the information here is not entirely correct.”

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