Pay traffic fines to get your licence renewal round sticker
STARTING FROM October 1, vehicle owners must pay all traffic fines or be denied the right to secure the round stickers that prove they had their car-licence renewed.
Without these round stickers, they may have problems with traffic police while on the roads.
Under the law, car licence registrations must be renewed on an annual basis. Stickers issued for the renewal must also be on prominent display in the vehicle.
Vehicle owners normally renew their vehicle licence registration without fail. But many have ignored traffic tickets issued by police.
This led police to seal a deal with the Land Transport Department (LTD) to link details about outstanding traffic fines to the system tracking car licence renewals.
“Our system is now linked with the traffic-fine database,” LTD deputy director-general Chantira Purutpat said yesterday.
Contrary to previous reports that those with unpaid traffic tickets would not be able to renew their annual vehicle licence registration, Chantira explained that the renewal would still be allowed.
However, motorists with outstanding fines would not get the round stickers proving their renewal.
“If vehicle owners come for a renewal but refuse to pay the fines for pending traffic tickets, they will get only a temporary receipt for the renewal,” Chantira said.
According to her, this receipt will be valid for just 30 days.
After that, traffic police may arrest and fine people whose vehicles do not display the round stickers proving renewal of car-licences. The maximum fine for this offence is Bt2,000.
Statistics show that 11 million traffic tickets were issued in 2018. Of them, 9.7 million were simply ignored, with no one coming forward to pay the fines.
This year, a total of seven million traffic tickets have been issued so far. Of them, about 5.4 million tickets have been ignored to date.
In a related development, an informed source revealed that the Land Traffic Act BE 2562, which was promulgated in the Royal Gazette last week, would introduce stricter legal measures for traffic-law enforcement by December 19. Among the upcoming measures is a system to reduce drivers’ points when they break traffic rules. Those losing too many points risk having their driving licence suspended or revoked.