Section 229: Damaging a public way, bridge or dam
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำด้วยประการใด ๆ ให้ทางสาธารณะ ประตูน้ำ ทำนบ เขื่อน อันเป็นส่วนของทางสาธารณะ หรือที่ขึ้นลงของอากาศยาน อยู่ในลักษณะอันน่าจะเป็นเหตุให้เกิดอันตรายแก่การจราจร ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, by any means, causes a public way, a floodgate, a weir or a dam forming part of a public way, or an aircraft landing or take-off area, to be in a condition likely to endanger traffic, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht, or both.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 229 protects public infrastructure, roads, bridges, and water-retaining dams, within the Chapter on Offences Causing Public Dangers. The elements are an act that destroys, damages, fouls, or renders unusable one of these structures, together with a resulting likelihood of danger to traffic or to the public. As with the other provisions in this group, actual harm is not required, only that the interference was likely to endanger. It carries imprisonment up to five years, a fine up to 100,000 baht, or both. It complements Sections 226 to 228 by protecting the physical way and structures rather than only the signalling aids.
Why this matters in practice
The provision reaches conduct like digging up a road, weakening a bridge, or breaching a dam, and it applies once the interference is likely to endanger traffic or the public, even before an accident. It is a public-danger offence prosecuted by the state and is not compoundable, so no settlement with an affected owner will end it. Because a fine may replace or accompany imprisonment, penalties vary with the seriousness of the danger created, and injury or death would trigger heavier aggravated provisions. Defence work usually turns on whether the structure was truly public, whether the accused caused the damage, and whether real danger to traffic or the public was likely; see our overview of criminal law in Thailand.
Cited in 5 Supreme Court decisions (1965 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 6655/2558 (2015)
- Decision 3048/2540 (1997)
- Decision 3521/2536 (1993)
- Decision 34/2508 (1965)
- Decision 5889/2554 (2011)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
What structures does Section 229 protect?
Public ways, bridges, and dams that hold back water. Damaging or disabling them in a way likely to endanger traffic or the public is an offence.
What penalty does Section 229 carry?
Imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both, with heavier penalties if injury or death results.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 229 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 229. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-229/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 229 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-229/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-229/"><p>Whoever, by any means, causes a public way, a floodgate, a weir or a dam forming part of a public way, or an aircraft landing or take-off area, to be in a condition likely to endanger traffic, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 229 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-229/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.