No booze for passengers, drivers this Songkran
This is the first year for booze to be banned for people travelling with a vehicle during Songkran. Offenders would be fined up to Bt10,000 and/or jailed for up to six months, Pornthep Siriwanarangsan, director-general of the Disease Control Department, s
The PM’s Office last year issued a directive prohibiting anybody travelling in or on a vehicle from consuming alcoholic beverages while the vehicle is moving or parked.
Pornthep said people should also obey other alcohol-related laws, such as bans on selling to minors and obviously drunk customers, selling while walking along roads and selling at dormitories, temples, medical facilities and pharmacies, government offices, educational institutions, petrol stations and public parks. The punishment is the same.
Alcoholic beverages can be bought at retail only from 11am-2pm and 5pm-midnight. The maximum penalty for violators in this case is a Bt4,000 fine and/or two years in jail.
For details, please call 02-590-3342/1422.
Police at every station across the country have been instructed to strictly enforce the law.
Samarn Futrakul, director of the department’s Alcohol Beverage Office, said earlier that authorities have launched an awareness campaign on television.
“Drunk driving has claimed the most lives of Thais. The toll is higher than deaths caused by communicable diseases. However, big budgets have been allocated to implement measures addressing communicable diseases when news is reported about an outbreak,” he said.
Deaths from accidents due to drunk driving have not received much attention, he added.
