Passengers who ride in a pickup truck or ride in the back are exempt from Thailand’s new seat belt law, which will come into effect on Sept. 5. The Ministry of Land Transport, abbreviated DLT, has said that passengers sitting in the car’s car or “litter” box of a vehicle will not be subject to the mandatory fine of 2,000 baht.
The Ministry of Transport tried to allay objections to the possible impracticability of the new seat belt law recently passed as part of the Land Transport Act 2022.
Especially since the back row seats of older pickups and truck beds are not normally delivered with seat belts
DLT director-general Jirut Wisanjit said affected people no longer need to worry about driving pickup trucks.
Therefore, the Royal Thai Police will issue a memo exempting them from punishment, he said.
In the future, however, the law will allow a maximum of three passengers in the back seat of trucks and six people in the back.
“In practice, we will require manufacturers of all types of pickup trucks to install additional seat belts when we make seat belts mandatory for passengers,” he said.
the pl. Thai Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapas said any pickup truck carrying six or fewer passengers in the bed should reduce its speed.
He also said that the Royal Thai Police and the DLT are working together on the new seat belt law. The details on who and what is exempt from seat belts will be provided in a later announcement, he said.
He also noted that the law requiring cars to be fitted with child seats will not come into effect before September 5, as more needs to be done to ensure consumers are not financially overburdened.
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