Top court delays revocation of unconstitutional traffic ticket rules

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) on Wednesday decided to partly amend the Central Administrative Court (CAC)’s ruling, judging that police have been issuing traffic tickets unlawfully since July 2020.

The CAC ruled on September 27, 2023 that two Royal Thai Police (RTP) announcements that came into effect on July 20, 2020 and March 23, 2023, pertaining to traffic tickets, were unlawful.

The ruling came after plaintiff Supa Chotngam petitioned against the RTP and the national police chief, asking the court to revoke the announcements.

The court found the announcements misled the plaintiff into believing she had committed a traffic offence and had to pay a fine with no right to dispute the ticket. This contravened Section 29 of the constitution, which stipulates that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The CAC decided the announcements were also unlawful in setting fixed rates for traffic fines when the matter should be left to the discretion of traffic police. It ordered the announcement be revoked retroactively, taking effect from July 20, 2020.

In Wednesday’s ruling, the SAC said it partly agreed with the CAC’s ruling, but believed that having two announcements immediately revoked was not beneficial, as it could affect public interest and law enforcement amid increasing traffic violations.

The SAC therefore ordered that the two RTP announcements be revoked 180 days after the ruling and not be considered retroactive.

The SAC’s ruling effectively allows the RTP to issue new announcements on traffic tickets, with additional clauses that allow motorists to dispute the ticket, as well as allow traffic police to consider a fine suited to the offence.

While the new ruling is yet to take effect, motorists will continue to be ticketed if they violate traffic laws.