Govt to keep seizing drunk drivers’ cars

“The measure, enforced under the Article 44 of the Interim Constitution, won’t be used just during the New Year holidays,” he said. 

Many people thronged to Boonyachinda Stadium in Bangkok yesterday to pick up vehicles that were confiscated because they drove while drunk over the New Year.

Pin Khowbunmee, 55, could not stop smiling as he reclaimed his recently-impounded motor|cycle. Authorities confiscated his bike on December 29 after finding that his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit. In a bid to curb road casualties during the so-called “Seven dangerous days” of the New Year period, authorities for the first time immediately impounded the vehicles of drink drivers. 

“That day, I had been hanging out with friends at a karaoke parlour,” Pin recounted. 

He said the temporary loss of his motorcycle had affected his life a lot because he no longer had a vehicle to take his grandson to school. And when he finished his work shift at midnight, he had been forced to take a taxi home.

“Without my motorcycle, my daily expenses rise by Bt200 and my daily wage is just Bt300.”

Still, Pin said he was grateful that officials had decided to impound his vehicle last week. Otherwise, he said he might have killed himself or someone else because he rode while drunk.

Colonel Sirichan Ngathong, a spokeswoman for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said officials at checkpoints nationwide impounded 4,672 vehicles – 3,413 motorcycles and 1,259 cars – because of drink driving during the period from December 25 to January 4. 

A total of 28,540 motorcyclists and 10,325 drivers were facing legal action for traffic violations, she said.

Acting chief of the Metropoli-tan Police Bureau Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathavorn said 173 vehicles had been impounded in Bangkok during the same period.

More than 1,000 motorcycles were available to be reclaimed at Boonyachinda Stadium yesterday, with some vehicles having been stolen from their rightful owners while others were released after temporary seizures. 

Authorities have a legal |mandate to seize a vehicle |pending an investigation into whether it constitutes an ill-|gotten gain from a crime such |as drug dealing. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a woman said she came to the stadium yesterday to reclaim her motorcycle after it was driven by her brother, who had been caught with drugs. 

“It had been confiscated for eight years since it was found to have contained illicit drugs,” she said, adding that police had recently called her to say she could reclaim it.

Outside of Bangkok, authorities were organising the return of vehicles to their original owners. During the same period, 328 |vehicles were seized in Nakhon Ratchasima, while 63 vehicles were confiscated in Phitsanulok. 

While some drink-driving offenders are being allowed to reclaim their vehicles, they will still be prosecuted.