1.4 Seat Belts, Child Seats, Demerit Points & Traffic Fines

1.4 Seat Belts, Child Seats, Demerit Points & Traffic Fines

Quick Answer: The 2022 amendment to the Land Traffic Act (No. 13) was published on 7 May 2022 and took effect on 5 September 2022. It requires the driver and passengers in every seat fitted with a belt to wear it. It requires children aged 6 or under to ride in a child safety seat, as set out in a Royal Thai Police notice. It also raised many fines: up to 4,000 THB for speeding, running a red light, or failing to stop at a pedestrian crossing, and up to 2,000 THB for not wearing a seat belt. Since 9 January 2023, every licensed driver has 12 demerit points. Offences cost 1 to 4 points, and a driver who reaches 0 has the licence suspended for 90 days.

These are some of the newest rules in Thai traffic law, and DLT written-test questions often check whether learners know the current version rather than older material.

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1. Seat Belts for Every Occupant (Section 123)

Before 2022, only the driver and front-seat passenger had to wear seat belts. The amended section 123 extends the duty to every occupant in a seat that has a belt:

• Driver: Must wear a belt while driving.
• Passengers in cars and vans: Everyone in a belted seat, front and back, must wear it.
• Pickups: The driver and front passengers must belt up, and so must rear passengers in a double cab.
• Open beds and seats without belts: Under section 123/1, passengers riding in a pickup bed or cab extension, or in a converted vehicle with bench seating, are exempt from the belt rule only if they follow the Royal Thai Police conditions: no more people than the police limit, nobody standing or sitting in a dangerous way, and a speed within the limit the police set for such vehicles.
• Front row limit: The driver must not let more than 2 other people sit in the front row.
• Public transport: Under section 123/3, operators of public vehicles must remind passengers to fasten their belts before setting off.

Penalty: Not wearing a seat belt carries a fine of up to 2,000 THB (the old fine was only a few hundred baht). A driver caught without a belt also loses 1 demerit point.

Why Rear Passengers Matter

In a frontal crash, an unbelted rear passenger is thrown forward with many times their body weight. They can seriously injure or kill the belted person in front of them, as well as themselves. The belt is also what keeps occupants inside the car in a rollover.

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2. Child Safety Seats

The amended section 123 requires a child aged 6 or under to be secured in a child safety seat (ที่นั่งนิรภัยสำหรับเด็ก / คาร์ซีท). The seat standards, and exceptions such as when a child seat cannot be used, are set by a Royal Thai Police notice. Breaking the child-seat rule carries a fine of up to 2,000 THB.

Good practice that the law is designed to encourage:

• Fit the seat exactly as its instructions say, preferably in the back seat.
• Never put a rear-facing infant seat in front of an active front airbag.
• Never carry a child on an adult's lap. In a crash, the adult cannot hold the child's weight, and the child can be crushed between the adult and the dashboard.

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3. Other Occupant Rules

• Section 124: Nobody may block the driver's view or interfere with the controls. Passengers must not hang on to the outside of a car, lean out, or sit or stand in a dangerous position while it moves.
• Section 43(1) and 43(9): Never drive while unfit (tired, ill, or on medication that causes drowsiness), and never hold a phone while driving.

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4. The Demerit-Point System (ระบบตัดคะแนนความประพฤติในการขับรถ)

Section 142/1 of the Land Traffic Act and a 2022 police regulation created the points system, which began on 9 January 2023.

• Every licensed driver has 12 points, however many licence types they hold.
• Points are deducted when the offence is recorded, or when a ticket is not paid.
• For camera tickets where the driver is not identified, points come off the licence of the registered keeper.

When Points Run Out

• One incident with several offences can cost at most 8 points in total.
• At 0 points, all the driver's licences are suspended for 90 days. Driving while suspended carries up to 3 months in prison or a fine of up to 10,000 THB, or both.
• A third suspension within 3 years can be longer than 90 days, and a fourth can lead to revocation.

Getting Points Back

• Deducted points return 1 year after the offence. A driver whose points reached 0 gets 8 points back when the suspension ends.
• A driver with fewer than 6 points can attend a DLT course to restore points, up to twice a year: the first course restores up to 12 points, the second up to 6.
• Points and unpaid tickets can be checked on the police PTM e-Ticket website and the Khub Dee (ขับดี) app.

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5. The 2022 Penalty Increases

Using a hand-held phone while driving is still 400–1,000 THB, plus 1 point.

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DLT Theory Test Traps

1. "Rear passengers don't need belts." Wrong since 5 September 2022. Every occupant of a belted seat must wear it.
2. "You lose your licence at 12 points." Thailand counts down from 12. The suspension comes at 0.
3. Old fine figures. Books written before 2022 give 500–1,000 THB for speeding and red lights. The maximum is now 4,000 THB.