CityNews – The Chiang Mai community may want to check that their vehicles do not have illegal modifications.
Yesterday Vincent Miller (24) from France told CityNews how he was riding his almost new Honda 150cc motorbike through town when police pulled him over and informed him that he was riding a bike that was fitted with a modified muffler.
Miller, who had no idea that he was riding an illegal bike, went straight to the police station, although he did explain to CityNews that his bike looks like any other bike, and so was surprised to incur the fine.
Miller was told that for the modification he must pay 1,000 baht and was given a ticket, “but when I went to the station the guy just smiled and said only 500 baht.”
Police fining people for modifications is new to CityNews, although a few years ago in Krabi there was a crackdown on what police deemed obnoxiously loud illegal mufflers.
Miller said his bike is not too noisy, and he was unaware of the law against certain mufflers. In some countries there is a limit on how much noise your car can make, such as in the US where it seems the laws on decibels/muffler change in each state.
So far CityNews has not been able to find out just was is illegal by Thai law concerning noise and vehicles, but there have been other incidences in Thailand of foreigners being fined for modified mufflers – with the fine varying each time.
The muffler