Bangkok police could lower city speed limits to "halve road accidents by 2020"

[webfact]

Police could lower city speed limits to "halve road accidents by 2020"

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

The metropolitan police were told something they already knew at a meeting on Monday - speed kills!

 

The Bloomberg Foundation that works on public safety issues had done some surveys with the academics at Chulongkorn University and worked out that the faster people go the more accidents there are.

 

So now the Bangkok cops - faced with the new evidence - are thinking about lowering the speed limit generally in built up areas from 80 km per hour to 50 kmph.

 

The move could be seen in other cities around Thailand later if successful in the capital.

 

The meeting was told that 76% of road accidents happen because drivers go too fast.

 

This is hampering efforts to halve the death toll from road accidents.

 

The meeting was told that the stated aim of the authorities was to cut the road accident death toll from 2011 figures by 50% by 2020.

 

This is not going too well - so far since 2011 they have just gone up and up.

 

Also on the table is a proposal to cut the speed limit to 30 kmph in heavily pedestrianized areas and 70 where there are no central reservations.

 

Meanwhile Yukhantiwat Kamalakun of Bloomberg said that his organisation in conjunction with Chula had made recommendations to improve certain aspects of nine major Bangkok roads to improve safety.

 

On Asoke they said that expanding the zebra crossings, introducing barriers to stop pedestrian encroachment and introducing central reservations would be a good idea.

 

Silom should have barriers and pedestrians in Yaowarat should be kept from wandering on the roads, he said. Sukhumvit, Petchaburi, Rama IV and Charoen Krung among others were also recommended for improvements.

 

Ideas include traffic slowing measures, crossing lights, barriers to stop pedestrians crossing and lanes to split up cars and motorbikes.

 

While the meeting concentrated on Bangkok Thai Rath made no mention of figures recently announced that showed the capital of Thailand had the fewest road accidents of anywhere in the kingdom.

 

The eastern seaboard provinces have accident rates almost four times as high, said a report from an accident prevention group last week.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-11-29

[Thaiwrath]

2 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police could lower city speed limits

As if a lot of the drivers here are going to take any notice.

It's a good idea, and hopefully, if enforced, it will reduce casualties on the roads.

Good chance of the 'fines' kitty being greatly increased too !

[ezzra]

It will all mean to put more police on the road and not the one that stops and fine you if you haven't kept to the left lane or used a bridge while riding a motorcycle, and somehow i don't think they have enough men power to police the huge volume of traffic in this city of 10 millions

plus people.... 

[lupin]

Perhaps curbing crime and/or keeping the roads safe are often not the priority when checkpoints are setup... this seems especially true near the end of the month when quotas need to be filled. Probably not going to improve road safety if this mindset doesn't change.

[Ruffian Dick]

These issues usually boil down to educating the public. In the schools (am I right to assume that driver safety isn't taught in schools?) via billboards and television programs. Then enforcing them in a predictable and meaningful way.
I rarely see a Thai wear a seatbelt; thought they were going to crack down on that?

[wakeupplease]

Yes right, but it will not make any difference, 61+ a day will still die.

[canuckamuck]

What do they do to the people who are going more than 80 currently. Nothing right. So is their policy going to be to lower the speed limit and continue to do nothing about the speeders and other violations? 

What they really need to do is teach some of the cops how to enforce traffic violations and give them an actual car to drive.

They will have find cops that actually know the highway code though. Might take a while.

[George Bowman]

1 hour ago, Ruffian Dick said:

These issues usually boil down to educating the public. In the schools (am I right to assume that driver safety isn't taught in schools?) ...

At one time there was an attempt to introduce a driving class at the international school I retired from. Great idea, but the parents voted the idea down. The two prominent reasons given were that the family will either teach driving skills themselves or that they have a personal driver for their teenager...

[r136dg]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The meeting was told that 76% of road accidents happen because drivers go too fast.

These accidents happen because they don't know how to drive. But hey, cut that speed limit way down, not to solve problems but raise revenues.

[LotusBoy]

Bangkok has speed limits? Shut the front door ?

[rugbyjacks]

Installing barriers to prevent pedestrian encroachment encourages faster speeds. If the drivers see barriers, they assume nobody will be in the road and go faster. If there are no barriers and pedestrians are seen to be able to encroach into the road at any point, drivers tend to slow down.

Well, that was the thinking behind removing a lot of barriers in London a few years ago...

[DoctorG]

Agree with everything written above, but we all know that the vast majority of deaths occur outside the BKK metro area so whatever is done in BKK will have little overall affect on the death toll.

[mogandave]

Plenty of people do obey the law.

 

Put up cameras and collect the fines by mail...

[captspectre]

AND! how on earth how the going to enforce this? these people drive where and how fast they want, these people walk anywhere they want they don't care about the law, they believe in karma!

 

[IamNoone88]

Poor enforcement of the law and subsequent poor punishment of those breaking it are at fault. Not the speed limit.

[cnx355]

3 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

As if a lot of the drivers here are going to take any notice.

It's a good idea, and hopefully, if enforced, it will reduce casualties on the roads.

Good chance of the 'fines' kitty being greatly increased too !

They could start by posting speed limit on all roads  !  Presently police and government assume that drivers should know  the speed limits on all  type of roads.

Most tollway and highways show speed limits well..

Sure this will not change the Thai drivers behavior overnight but enforcing the speed law when there are signage may be easier for  the cops annd some driver may even respect the speed limit.

 

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

As if a lot of the drivers here are going to take any notice.

It's a good idea, and hopefully, if enforced, it will reduce casualties on the roads.

Good chance of the 'fines' kitty being greatly increased too !

 

Agree, enforcement is the key.

 

Do the cops have the knowledge and the equipment and enough pressure from their bosses to achieve enforcement?

 

Bring on the automatic speed cameras that cops can't interfere with. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by scorecard

[poyai111]

Given Bangkok's insufferable traffic congestion, one can understand why the average speed around the metropolis is barely above walking pace so reducing the speed limit would have no impact whatsoever. Who paid for this brain fart?Driver education is the answer for both motorists and especially cyclists who are not aware of the hostile environment which exists outside their personal bubble. Driving according to the conditions and your own abilities and limitations should be emphasised. The goal is to get yourself and passengers from A to B safely and to recognise that there is a responsibilty in being granted a driver's licence - a responsibility to others with whom you share the roads.

[NextStationBangkok]

Joke of the year, if anyone can drive more than 20-30KM/hour inside the busy city, is already in the Guinness world record in Bangkok.

 

[phantomfiddler]

Why not just ban Thai drivers and employ British ones :)

[fxe1200]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

It will all mean to put more police on the road and not the one that stops and fine you if you haven't kept to the left lane or used a bridge while riding a motorcycle, and somehow i don't think they have enough men power to police the huge volume of traffic in this city of 10 millions

plus people.... 

 

Thailand has 344 policemen per capita (100.000 folks), whilst Germany has 290. In Germany they get their job done.

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, poyai111 said:

Given Bangkok's insufferable traffic congestion, one can understand why the average speed around the metropolis is barely above walking pace so reducing the speed limit would have no impact whatsoever. Who paid for this brain fart?Driver education is the answer for both motorists and especially cyclists who are not aware of the hostile environment which exists outside their personal bubble. Driving according to the conditions and your own abilities and limitations should be emphasised. The goal is to get yourself and passengers from A to B safely and to recognise that there is a responsibilty in being granted a driver's licence - a responsibility to others with whom you share the roads.

 

"Given Bangkok's insufferable traffic congestion, one can understand why the average speed around the metropolis is barely above walking pace...."

 

That may well be true in some areas and at certain times, but there are many more Bangkok roads where there is a lot of speeding.

 

Just one example - Ramkhamhaeng Road in many spots, when there is a green light, and in some stretches there's quite some distance between the traffic lights, there is continuous speeding way over the posted speed limit, plus the distance between the cars is way less than sensible.

 

In one spot at night time it's more like a raceway with cars and m/cycles travelling way way over the speed limit.

 

Many other Bangkok roads are the same. And same in Chiang Mai, many many spots where the cars and m/cycles are travelling way above the limit and in surounding conditions where accdent are just waiting to happen.

 

Bring on the automated speed cameras that the cops can't interfere with. 

 

Now stand by for the comments about 'don't want to live in a nanny state etc....'

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Police could lower city speed limits to "halve road accidents by 2020"

create money spinner.

[wgdanson]

26 minutes ago, cnx355 said:

They could start by posting speed limit on all roads  !  Presently police and government assume that drivers should know  the speed limits on all  type of roads.

Most tollway and highways show speed limits well..

Sure this will not change the Thai drivers behavior overnight but enforcing the speed law when there are signage may be easier for  the cops annd some driver may even respect the speed limit.

 

 

Sorry, but most tollways and highways DO NOT show speed limits well. Bkk to Pattaya is 120/90/120/90 if you go by the orange matrix signs. But on other main roads.....nowt.

[leeneeds]

Congestion is part of the problem, 

take half the taxis off the road on a number or letter basis,

they will make the same money as though they worked a full week, 

having lower speed limits is only one part of the solution, add a few more parts please,

[KKr]

57 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

Agree with everything written above, but we all know that the vast majority of deaths occur outside the BKK metro area so whatever is done in BKK will have little overall affect on the death toll.

indeed, this piece of "journalism" seems to be a propaganda piece, without taking into account the wider context of the problem, or commenting on the rationale for focusing on Bangkok.
As far as the "Study" is concerned, I guess the paper produced by Chalungorn has greater value, but hey, as far as this text-writer seems to be concerned, a student, that summarizes a publication and publishes under a grant from a US fund, of course knows better than the Professors at one of the most prestigious Thai Universities.

[ebean001]

There are unlimited ideas but limited resources. The first step is a complete analysis of accidents. Age, time of day, car/truck/etc, location, speed, drugs/alcohol, etc.

Develop ideas based on the numbers.

Implement ideas with the highest potential impact. It is a very slow process but must be continuous. Measure the results. Maybe 5-10 years to get things under better control. There are no magic pills...just a constant process.

Finally, motorbikes. They are #1 cause of deaths. I assume mostly young men, drunk, not well educated, no one to teach them of the danger, etc. How do you lower that number if you think it is an important number?

[shaurene]

Ye, Speed, and wish the cops would do mote about bikes and cars driving up on the wrong side of the roads. And just pulling out of side roads without looking. Cars driving up your rear end so close. Double parking. The list goes on and on.

 

[NoBrainer]

They could cut the death toll in half by making a Mandatory helmut use law for each and every person on a motorcycle, no exceptions, and heavy enforcement for as long as it takes

to re-train the public.

 

The penalty should be seizure of motorcycle for 14 days, and a 3-5,000 Baht fine, even if your not caught on the spot, but just on a camera.

 

Once everyone is wearing a safety helmut, the death toll will drop dramatically, even if the accident rate stays somewhat the same.

[YetAnother]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

While the meeting concentrated on Bangkok Thai Rath made no mention of figures recently announced that showed the capital of Thailand had the fewest road accidents of anywhere in the kingdom.

key point; also,i dont believe adding all the referenced structure in bangkok will make a big difference;

generally, thais dont react as intended given added structure and order;

in my city, near my house, there are two stop signs, placed there for the right reasons, that i have never seen anyone stop