Department softens seat belt rule

Strict punishment, which includes a 2, 000-baht fine, for passengers sitting in a truck’s cabin or its cargo bed without a seat belt will no longer apply when a new legislation takes effect on September 5, the Division of Land Transportation (DLT) said yesterday.

The particular DLT was responding to concerns raised within the perceived impracticality from the recently-passed Land Transportation Act 2022, because the back-row seats associated with older trucks and cargo beds not necessarily typically equipped with seat belts.

DLT director-general Jirut Wisanjit said people really should not be worried about whether they can no longer ride in the mattress of pickup trucks. This individual said the Royal Thai Police will issue an announcement to exempt all of them from punishment.

The new regulation, however , will only allow at most three travellers in the back-row chairs of a truck’s log cabin and six individuals in a cargo mattress, he said. “In practice, if we are going to impose this seat-belt fastening mandate upon passengers, we will begin with requiring car makers to install extra safety belts, ” he mentioned.

The pickup truck carrying people in its cargo mattress will, however , be required to cut its vacation speed, said Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, deputy national police chief.

The national police are working together with the DLT on the new legislation.

The announcement will outline details of how the regulation will be enforced by police, including whom and what will be exempt from the mandate, this individual said.

A requirement underneath the law for cars to have proper child car seats for children will not take effect on Sept 5 as there is still more function to be done to make sure it does not overly problem consumers, he stated.