Police Checks on the Roads of Phuket

How a check works

A checkpoint looks unremarkable: a few people in uniform by the verge, a cone on the road, a wave of the hand. Vehicles are stopped selectively, most often at the entrances to tourist districts and on the exits from popular beaches, particularly in daylight during high season.

The conversation takes a minute when the documents are in order. They look at the licence, the International Driving Permit and the rental agreement, and sometimes ask a bike rider to show the helmet on their head. Then you are waved on.

What to do at the moment you are stopped

Stop where you are directed, switch the engine off, take off your sunglasses and keep your hands visible. Tone matters a great deal here: a calm greeting and a smile change the shape of a check more than any hurried explanation.

A word about language. The English at a checkpoint is usually enough for a short exchange about documents, but complicated explanations are hard work for both sides. A translation app on the phone settles things faster than gestures and takes the tension out of the situation.

What it means for the car

The car's documents are the rental company's responsibility rather than yours, but they have to be in the glovebox. Check that at handover: a copy of the registration and the insurance policy must be in the car, and they are asked for.

The second thing they look at is the condition of the car. A broken rear light, a missing front plate or a cracked windscreen all give a reason to stop you, even though the fault lies with the company rather than with you. Those things are easier to notice on the forecourt.

Seatbelts and small things

Front seatbelts are checked regularly. Heavily tinted glass, a passenger on somebody's lap, a child without a seat, all of it draws attention exactly as it would anywhere else.

If you are stopped on a bike the picture is different: they look at the helmet, the category on your licence and whether there is a second helmet if you are riding two up. Those three things account for most roadside conversations.

Step by step at a checkpoint

The order is simple and identical for a car and a bike. It also saves time if you meet more than one check in a single trip.

Slow early, indicate, and stop where you are shown rather than a few metres further on. Then engine off, window down, documents ready in one hand instead of being hunted for in a bag.

Keep the three documents together in one place, ideally in the same pocket every time. Digging through the glovebox with an officer waiting is how people discover that the permit is back at the hotel.

If a fine is issued

Take the notice, photograph it and ask how it is paid. The rental company usually knows the nearest payment point, and an unpaid fine surfaces at the end of the rental when the deposit is being released.

For a visitor there is one more useful habit: keep a photograph of the rental agreement on the phone as well as the paper copy in the car. If the paper has been left behind, the photograph often ends the conversation.

Common reasons for being stopped

First across the whole island is the helmet on a bike. It is checked constantly, and no distance to the hotel is an argument.

Then licences: the category for two wheels, the presence of an International Driving Permit, and whether it is still valid. A home licence on its own does not work on the road here.

Not only documents

The rest are ordinary offences: turning across a solid line, using the oncoming lane on a narrow street, speed inside a built up area. The markings in Phuket are hard to see in places, but that does not remove the question, so in unfamiliar districts it is better to follow the traffic than your own line.

Speed is not policed as tightly as in mainland cities, but radar does appear on the straight sections of highway 402. Reading the local traffic is the most reliable guide, because residents know where to slow down and do it noticeably early.

What a check does not cover

You are not required to hand over your original passport, and you should not leave it with anybody at the roadside as security. A copy is enough, and you may well need the document itself somewhere else the same day.

The amount of a fine is fixed by type of offence and is written on the notice. If no paper is being written and a sum is named on the spot, politely ask for the notice to be issued, which is normally enough to bring the conversation back to a formal footing.

After a collision involving a rental car the police draw up a report, and without it the insurance side of the matter does not move at all. Do not leave the scene before it is issued, however small the damage looks.

One more situation that unsettles newcomers is a check on the way out of a car park by a bar or club. It is a formality about the state of the driver, so the decision is simple and it is made before the evening rather than after it: if you are drinking, the car stays where it is.

If you are unsure which documents your rental requires, ask before you arrive. Message us on WhatsApp with your dates and licence details, or Telegram if you prefer, and we will tell you exactly what to bring.