Speeding out of Thailand

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Published: 13 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

I just arrived in Thailand on a holiday with family. I hired a car to get around, with my international driver's licence.

We went on the expressway towards Saraburi and were driving at a safe speed of 90km/hour. Police stopped us (no speed radar) and told us we were going too fast?

They wanted 500 baht. I refused to pay or accept a ticket and got threatened.

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Renaissance
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Discussion 8 : 13 Feb 2013 at 15.308
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Dao: In the case of the monthly protection payments that we hear the Police collect from bars, nightclubs, street stalls, shops, and restaurants, particularly in tourist areas, if the Police trace the video back to you, anything could happen. I have often heard what Em said when she was interviewed, namely that if she hadn't opened her safe to give the gold bars, the policemen would have planted drugs in her flat and then "found" them. As a rule, people should tell policemen to strip down to their pants before entering their premises in order to be sure that they don't plant any drugs. Their integrity and trustworthiness have sunk that far.
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DonAleman
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Discussion 7 : 13 Feb 2013 at 12.407
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Riding in a train,bus,motorbike or taxi in Thailand is 10 times more dangerous than cigarette smoke.
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dao
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Discussion 6 : 13 Feb 2013 at 09.156
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Plodprasop proposes to build 16 dams to prevent floods yet is was the poor management of dams that caused the flood .The Police give the country a black eye on a daily basis with their shameless behavior .Please turn on your phone when you being ripped off by a cop and record and upload this shamelessness for all to see
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Fluxit
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Discussion 5 : 13 Feb 2013 at 09.155
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Tourist driving in Thailand.
If as you say you were apparently breaking no driving laws then you must have done something to attract the police. Perhaps your rented car had visible stickers showing that it was a rented car or the glass was not tinted enough to hide the fact that you were a foreigner.
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Renaissance
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Discussion 4 : 13 Feb 2013 at 08.264
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The already rock bottom (and sinking further) reputation of the Police is taking a hammering almost daily. The case of police extorting Em, sexually assaulting her, and stealing her gold bars has been on Channel 3 for 3 days. We hear of the criminal activities of policemen almost daily, but for the Thais this is normal. Police applicants pay a fortune to get on the Police Gravy Train. Nobody in power seems to care or bat an eyelid, unfortunately. People fear the Police because of their lack of integrity. They do not respect them. Do the politicians think that this state of affairs will lead to less crime? The people deserve better.
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anoldman
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Discussion 3 : 13 Feb 2013 at 07.163
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Eric Bahrt: The problem with salmonella in vegetables and fruit is far more widespread than isolated cases from poor practices in restaurants. There have been widespread infections directly from fruit and vegetables and recently from peanut butter from a particular factory.

You must be aware of this but refuse to acknowledge it.
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Victor
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Discussion 2 : 13 Feb 2013 at 07.142
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Trying to drive for the first time in Thailand is a very brave or very stupid thing to do, depending on how one looks at it.
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banned
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Discussion 1 : 13 Feb 2013 at 06.231
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@Eric Bahrt....if I'm in a restaurant and the same knife that the chef uses to chop up chicken is used to chop up my lettuce he might spread the salmonella bacteria from the chicken to my food. But who is the culprit, the chicken or the lettuce? The knife.
@COLA RIDGEBACK Smoker are an endangered species, especially the western ones, so let them have their final days.
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Speeding out of Thailand | Bangkok Post: opinion