THB5,000 fine for black smoke emission violations by vehicles
Motorists violating the black smoke emission limit will be fined THB5,000, the Land Transport Department has confirmed.
The department announced on its website that news being shared on social media of the hefty fine is true.
The department said the new rate of fine took effect on April 13 and the measure is aimed at reducing PM2.5 particles in the air in cities.
The announcement said apart from the fine, vehicles found to have black emissions over the limit would be painted with the words “prohibited from use” until the owners of the vehicles fix the engine to bring down emissions of black smoke to within the acceptable limit.
The announcement said the department would assign officials to randomly check vehicles on all roads around the country for black smoke emissions. The inspection would be either an opacity check of the black smoke or with filter paper.
In case of opacity check, the value of black smoke opacity must not be over 30 per cent and for filter paper check, the value must not be higher than 40 per cent, the announcement states.