Vehicle tax renewals refused for non-payers of traffic fines

Vehicle tax renewals refused for non-payers of traffic fines

Starting in the first quarter of next year, police-issued traffic tickets will be linked to the Land Transport Department’s system, resulting in a suspension of vehicle-tax renewal for those failing to pay traffic fines, deputy department chief Kamol Buranapong said on Monday.

This is now pending the final touches being made to information-linking guidelines between the two agencies, and it should be implemented by the end of March to discipline offending motorists and boost road safety, Kamol said.

One of the issues pending the two agencies’ agreement concerns a person’s ability to appeal the vehicle-tax renewal suspension due to their failing to pay fines for an accumulated number of traffic tickets.

In this regard, the idea is for the Land Transport Department to issue a round-shaped sticker to give the motorist up to 30 days to clear the fines and renew their tax – or they will be hit with the charge of failing to renew vehicle tax, punishable with a maximum fine of Bt2,000.

Vehicle tax renewals refused for non-payers of traffic fines

Whether a motorist will be allowed to appeal the tax-renewal suspension will be a matter for the police’s discretion, he added.

Eligible cases in point include a motorist facing an accumulated amount of traffic tickets in various police jurisdictions, or a motorist whose registration-plate number is illegally used by another vehicle driven by someone who then breaks the traffic law, he explained.

Meanwhile, as for the latest update on the merging of two outdated laws – the Vehicle Act of 1979 and the Land Transport Act of 1979 – into one piece of draft legislation under a new Land Transport Act.

Kamol said the hefty fine of up to Bt50,000 for the charges of driving without a licence or driving with an expired/suspended/confiscated licence, would now be amended to a lower, as-yet unspecified amount.

Vehicle tax renewals refused for non-payers of traffic fines

The deputy department chief sad the draft bill was now before the Secretariat of the Cabinet, which would then forward it to the Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly for approval.

The Land Transport Department renews vehicle tax for around 100,000 people per day.

Vehicle tax renewals refused for non-payers of traffic fines

Source: The Nation

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