Determining the appropriate penalty for the driver while intoxicated which has caused the damage to the others

Abstract

Road accident, are the cause by driving while intoxicated which is the main reason of death of Thai people. Although, the government agencies have set the policies to address this issue , but they are unable to solve all of them. One part which comes from the relevant law about driving while intoxicated is that the penalty is not appropriate with the kinds of the offenses, included in The Land Traffic Act. 1979. In addition, with consideration of the Criminal Code, finding that the court will use discretion and judge in order to punish by penalty to the offender. Punishment that is imposed because of negligence make it inconsistent to the Deterrence Theory. As a result, the people is not afraid of law and the lack of effective to inhibit the offender as they should be. These make the number of the offender, the accident, the injury and the death of the sufferers are still high continuously. However, considering by The Land Traffic Law of many countries, it was found that there are a strong legal penalty that the court will judge, it is not an offense by negligence. But it was offense committed foreseen because the offender foresee the result