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.
Pattaya Police Superintendent Nanthawut Suwanla-Ong (seated, center) has ordered officers to crack down on modified bikes.
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.
