As high season gets underway and the end-of-year holidays loom, Pattaya Police are taking to the streets to remind drivers to pay their vehicle taxes and hand out information on the new, mostly ignored, pedestrian-crossing lights.
About 15 traffic police officers set up a table on Second Road near the Hard Rock Hotel Nov. 5 to provide information on renewal of car and motorbike taxes and the 42 newly installed traffic signals, which already have become an embossing joke on the Internet as drivers – including Pattaya’s own Tourist Police – are captured on video blowing through the red lights.
Police set up a roadblock on Pattaya Second Road to check vehicle licenses and tax stamps, and to remind people to obey traffic laws.
Capt. Nattakorn Mongkhonmaha said many Thais forget to renew their vehicle taxes at the end of the year due to the holidays and travel back to home provinces.
Likewise, he said, tourists visiting Pattaya during high season lack information on traffic laws, such as those requiring helmet use.
Officers implored drivers both Thai and foreign to respect traffic laws, including the pedestrian stop lights.
