Police check points will always profile Thais for who is a likely drug candidate, and search them/their bikes. But never a farang. This don't happen so much at helmet stops, but whenever it's one of the security type stops, like they do a bit at 3-5am they will wave farangs through, even no hats sometimes cos that's not their orders, but young Thai lads get the treatment. Imagine back home if they stopped us only while the big fat 'somewhere-or-other' tourists rode past grinning in between their big fat rosy-red, chang-cheeks... we'd n' arf complain wouldn't we.
And then to top it off you hear those pissed up tourists complaining that they are being targetted
But yeah ofcourse they should target the money when it's money-making blocks, and target the likely drugs candidates when they are running low on that in the station. Arrest stats that is.
I've only a sketchy memory of this but recall reading that senior policeman have to pay for their positions, sometimes a substantial amount, while those with political ambitions have to finance their campaigns out of their own pockets. Collection drives to pay for it all are thus to be expected. Since the sums extracted are so low in comparison to European nations, it's hardly going to break the bank. Unlike my last two seat-belt fines, which were 120 Euros each. Now that's what I call a real extortion racket.
200 Baht fines? You guys are lucky. Here in Phuket the police charges farangs 500 for not having a driver's license. Thais pay 300. There are checkpoints all the time everywhere. Cannot be avoided as there are no alternative routes on the island. But service has improved as you do not have to go to the nearest police station anymore. You can pay at an improvised desk placed nearby on the pavement.
Also I have seen farangs being body searched at checkpoints here in Phuket. Not me though, so far.
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
I also drove through two of them on my samlor (bike with sidecar), and was greeted with amused smiles and then waved on.
In all the years I've been here, I've only lost 400 baht, so it's hardly worth complaining about, and besides, I was in the wrong since I didn't have a lid on.
Don't try to impress me with your manner of dress cos a monkey himself is a monkey no less - cold fact
Roel wrote:200 Baht fines? You guys are lucky. Here in Phuket the police charges farangs 500 for not having a driver's license. Thais pay 300...But service has improved as you do not have to go to the nearest police station anymore. You can pay at an improvised desk placed nearby on the pavement.
If you're being taken to a station/paying at a desk and presumably getting a ticket then you're paying too much. You're paying the official fine if you're given a (properly completed) slip. Maybe it's different in Phuket to here but on the odd occasion that I have been stopped here they've name a price and either me or my girlfriend (if she's with me) have asked if we can pay half that price at which point the book of tickets gets put away and the lower fee finds its way into the issuing officer's pocket.
JW wrote:Plengs comment of not making eye contact is very true!
Maybe it's different in a car, but the road blocks I've been stopped at have had 3 lanes of traffic coned off into 3 separate roads, and a police officer in the middle of each lane. Eye contact or not, the guy has put his body in front of you - it's either run him over or stop.
I've never had a police man walk out in front of my bike, no. There's often an arm waving from the side but as I said before, you only need to acknowledge the wave if you've made eye contact.
Here in Phuket I would not dare to offer paying without the need for an official ticket. These checkpoints have dozens of police officers on site. Cannot take the risk that one is proudly refusing the bribe in front of his superiors and calls him over "Khun superior, this farang offered me a bribe. I suggest we take him to the police station for further investigation. He is giving us all a bad name."
Normally I am fine as I am always wearing a helmet and have Thai driver's licenses standby in my wallet. But this week they decided to give me a ticket because the pillion rider did not wear a helmet. Until now that had never been a problem. Could be a change in policy or a one-time thing.
Recently a Thai friend got fined for not having a driver's license. It turned out that the fine was negotiable. The police had already written 300 Baht on the ticket but she had only 160 Baht on her. Also she does not have an ATM-card. The police simply changed the amount on the ticket, making sure it was also carbon-copied and she paid 160 Baht only.
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
Be careful - do stop if they wave you over. I ignored a cop once who blew his whistle on me when I made a U-turn on Petchkasem near the post office. This was not a road block but the usual booth cop on duty. He jumped on his motorbike and caught be down the road. He insisted I follow him to the police station to be fined for multiple offences. I managed to talk him into paying him 300 THB on the spot with no papers. Unfortunately I had only a 500 baht bill and guess what - he had no change. So the damage was THB500.- Yaks. Still better than spending perhaps hours doing paperwork in the police station.
By the way - does anybody know if traffic tickets are registered in a central database in Thailand?
JW wrote:Plengs comment of not making eye contact is very true!
If at all possible, don't make eye contact at all. I usually have an urgent need to look at my mirrors, so eye contact is impossible. Of course this doesn't always work when it comes to the more serious road blocks though.
Roel....apparently there was a laws passed a short while ago regarding passengers and helmets, but it seems they're not enforcing it in Hua-Hin yet. All in all, I have always found the traffic police to be really pleasant people.
Don't try to impress me with your manner of dress cos a monkey himself is a monkey no less - cold fact
If at all possible, don't make eye contact at all. I usually have an urgent need to look at my mirrors, so eye contact is impossible. Of course this doesn't always work when it comes to the more serious road blocks though. 
