Thailand's traffic fine payment set to be easily done as of Sept 1

BANGKOK, August 30 (TNA) - The Royal Thai Police, in cooperation with commercial banks, will, as of early next month, allow traffic violators to pay their fines through the banks across the country, while a traffic law will be amended to impose more legal punishment against those holding unpaid tickets. National Police Chief Chakthip Chaijinda and Krung Thai Bank President Worapak Thanyawong announced the new measure at their joint press conference in Bangkok on Tuesday. Under the new measure, new fine tickets to be issued by police as of September 1 will have barcodes and traffic violators can first pay for the tickets at counters of KTB's 1,200 branches across the country or through KTB’s Netbank online service. As of September 5, the payment can be done through 9,000 KTB’s Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) nationwide, while five other commerical banks will follow suit by early next year. According to the national police chief, more than 1.4 million fine tickets have been issued annually by police, but only some 40 per cent of violators have paid for the tickets and the traffic law will, thus, be amended soon to impose more legal punishment against motorists holding the unpaid tickets, namely from the adoption of progressive rates for unpaid fines to the suspension and the revocation of their driving licenses. So far, violators of traffic rules have to travel to police stations to settle the fine payment after police cameras capture their traffic violations and tickets are sent to their houses. (TNA)