Five emergency lanes now in use in Bangkok

[snoop1130]

Five emergency lanes now in use in Bangkok

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

Five special lanes for ambulances are now in use near Bangkok hospitals, a senior Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official said on Tuesday.

 

Panurak Klunnurak, director of the BMA’s Traffic and Transport Department, said the BMA had cooperated with traffic police to open five special lanes for ambulances, called “emergency lanes”, on five roads to allow them to reach hospitals faster instead of being stranded in traffic.

 

The five routes with an emergency lane are:

 

1. From the spot under the Din Daeng expressway at the Din Daeng triangle to the flyover at the Din Daeng intersection, onwards to the Victory Monument past Soi Ratchavithi 13 to Ratchavithi Hospital. The rightmost lane has been designated the emergency lane.

 

2. From the Naralom intersection on Silom Road to Lerdsin Hospital. Half of the second and third lanes have been designated as an emergency lane.

 

3. From the Sua Pa intersection on Sua Pa road to the BMA’s Central Hospital. The rightmost lane has been designated as the emergency lane.

 

4. From Yukol 2 Road to Bamrung Muang Road, onwards to the BMA’s Central Hospital. The rightmost lane has been designated as the emergency lane.

 

5. From the Thanon Tok intersection of Thanon Tok Road to Charoen Krung Pracharak Hospital. The rightmost lane has been designated as the emergency lane.

 

Panurak explained that normal vehicles could in drive in the emergency lanes, but they must move aside to make way once there is an ambulance behind them.

 

The emergency lanes have been designated following several cases reported on social media that vehicles would not move aside for ambulances to pass through, and that some cases had led to the deaths of patients who failed to reach hospital in time.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30362734

 

— The Nation 2019-01-22

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Panurak explained that normal vehicles could in drive in the emergency lanes, but they must move aside to make way once there is an ambulance behind them.

 

 Oh ya.... that's going to be a REAL success here with local drivers......  Just wait and see.... when an ambulance comes along at rush hour....

 

[richard_smith237]

The issue is Gridlock - Cars are simply unable to 'move aside' when nose to tail traffic is stopped and there is nowhere to go.... 

 

That said, this is a step in the right direction, but a hugely naive one....  IF traffic could be educated to keep 2m distance, so that in an emergency they could 'shuffle' aside even in gridlock we would see some improvement. 

 

As with all of Thailands traffic woes, the underlying issues are non existent driver education, apathetic policing and an ineffective oversight by those who could have an impact but seem not to care enough to make significant effort into resolving the issues.... 

 

Someone paints a line on the road when all other lines are pretty much ignored anyway and the think this may solve a problem !!!!! - this is not a solution, its a fumble in the dark... 

 

[from the home of CC]

Yea, the inventor of the drone ambulance is going to make a mint... 

[from the home of CC]

That said, this is a step in the right direction, but a hugely naive one....  IF traffic could be educated to keep 2m distance, so that in an emergency they could 'shuffle' aside even in gridlock we would see some improvement. 

 

Be full of motorbikes in a heartbeat..

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Someone paints a line on the road when all other lines are pretty much ignored anyway and the think this may solve a problem !!!!! - this is not a solution, its a fumble in the dark... 

 

 

Until I read in the article that they were going to allow regular traffic in the ambulance lanes, I was thinking they'd be a great place for the setting up of additional som tam and fake sausage and cut fruit carts.... Just like every other open space in Thailand is used for.

 

[anterian]

The best answer is to convert tanks into ambulances and just drive over obstructing vehicles, drivers would soon learn to move aside. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thailand -- the hub of half-thought-out, unrealistic non-solutions to almost every conceivable problem.

 

[ThreeEyedRaven]

54 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Panurak explained that normal vehicles could in drive in the emergency lanes, but they must move aside to make way once there is an ambulance behind them.

They are supposed to move aside to make way when there is an ambulance behind them already, but that hasn't been working out so well has it? Ignorant drivers are ignorant drivers and sadly, I suspect a few lines painted on the road are not going to solve that. Fair play to them for trying something, but this country's roads are just screaming out for serious law enforcement, which again sadly, doesn't look like happening any time soon.