![](pictures/n11pipe%20noise.jpg)
Pattaya
Police Superintendent Nanthawut Suwanla-Ong (seated, center) has ordered
officers to crack down on modified bikes.
Boonlua Chatree
In a rare crackdown by officials usually ambivalent to
noise pollution, Pattaya Police ticketed 149 people for overly loud cars and
motorcycles.
Acting on a dictate by the head of the Royal Thai Police
to provide better public service, Pattaya Police Superintendent Nanthawut
Suwanla-Ong ordered officers to crack down on modified bikes.
Nanthawut noted that modifying a bike’s exhaust system to
add unnecessary parts that could harm others’ physical or mental state
violates the new Vehicle Act of 2011. Altering a vehicle after it already
has been registered is also against the law.
The police chief ordered officers beginning March 29 to
crack down on altered vehicles for a month to get the message out. In the
first three days, 149 drivers were cited - 108 of them motorcycles. Those
drivers agreed to change their exhaust systems back to the original, quieter
configuration.
Police pledged to actually follow up on these cases to be
sure the modifications were made and are not reversed once the official
crackdown period ended April 29.