Transport minister orders use of rubber barrier instead of road island

By The Nation

 

Saksayam

 

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has ordered the highway and rural roads departments to install rubber barriers instead of building road islands while building future new roads.

 

Saksayam said the rubber barriers must be built to sustain the impact of vehicles running at the speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

 

The switch could reduce casualties from road accidents while also helping to shore up the price of rubber latex and so benefit farmers.

 

The minister said the two departments would also be able to save money, and be able to shift the money used to build road islands toward instead expanding rural roads from two lanes to four lanes.

 

Saksayam said he would this week convene a meeting of the State Railway of Thailand, the Highway Department, Rural Roads Department, the Expressway Authority of Thailand, and the Airports of Thailand Plc to instruct them to maximise the use of rubber latex and sheets in their projects.

 

He said the agencies of the Transport Ministry will be told to use rubber in as many ways as possible in their construction projects and that they must find new ways to use rubber apart from paving roads with it.

 

Saksayam said he has received a report that the Highway Department and the Rural Roads Department have used only 50,000 tonnes of rubber sheets this year while the ministry had aimed to use 500,000 tonnes a year.

 

Saksayam was speaking to reporters while making an inspection trip to check two U-turn points on highway No 225 in Buri Ram’s Muang district following complaints from local people.

 

Locals have complained that the two U-turns are two kilometres apart and located on a curves in the four-land road, making it difficult to make a U-turn.

 

Saksayam said he had instructed the Rural Roads Department to build a tunnel between the two spots for a U-turn to reduce the potential accidents. The construction will begin next year, he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30374948

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-19

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Rubber vehicles and rubber mocy may be another solution!

TIT baby. 

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has ordered the highway and rural roads departments to install rubber barriers instead of building road islands while building future new roads.

 

Saksayam said the rubber barriers must be built to sustain the impact of vehicles running at the speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

 

One way of increasing the use of rubber. I hope they pay the local price rather than the global price for rubber.

Rubber barriers? I just get this picture in my head of Thailand's roads becoming a huge pinball machine.

Sounds like a comeback of bumper cars that I enjoyed so much as a kid at amusement parks.

Why not electrify all the roads and force people to switch to the only cars most are able to drive safely:

 

Just now, neeray said:

Sounds like a comeback of bumper cars that I enjoyed so much as a kid at amusement parks.

You beat me to it :)

They should start making rubber money.

Just now, holy cow cm said:

They should start making rubber money.

Well all know the cheques would bounce anyway.

Pity the parents of some of those running this place didnt use a rubber barrier many years ago.

3 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

You beat me to it ????

But you posted a great picture, thanks. 1954, Sunnyside Amusement Park (thanks for the memories).

I've got to ask: What are 'road islands'?

Does it mean traffic roundabouts?

Highway rubbery, I say.

I rarely miss an opportunity to ridicule silly stuff here, but this idea actually represents some progress. 

 

Barriers, whether rubberized or not, are a step (of hundreds) in the right direction. 

Edited August 19, 20196 yr by Fex Bluse

25 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

Rubber barriers? I just get this picture in my head of Thailand's roads becoming a huge pinball machine.

they are already !!!

who dreams up this crap???

ARE THEY on cloud cuckoo land??

I think that's a Trojan idea, a prophylactic move to save lives.

 

????

 

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has ordered the highway and rural roads departments to install rubber barriers instead of building road islands while building future new roads.

 

He has lots to learn on the correct terminology. It is call Guard-rails. What an embarrassment for the Transport Minister not knowing the correct term. 

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

I've got to ask: What are 'road islands'?

Does it mean traffic roundabouts?

I guess its the grass in the middle of the road which try to prevent head-on collisions. My guess is that they potentially save more life but are more expensive to install. 

Rubber can also be used for more long term prevention, to get rid of the nutty driver DNA.

Rubber barriers.....does that mean drunk drivers will be able to

bounce their way back home.

 

What urgently needs  doing and will save a lot of lives,is to

get rid of those two way u-turns, you cannot see whats coming

when there are cars,trucks,also turning on the other side,if they

must have U-turns do single U-turn left,with U-turn right further

along the road.....but that's too easy a solution to be considered.

regards worgeordie

41 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I guess its the grass in the middle of the road which try to prevent head-on collisions. My guess is that they potentially save more life but are more expensive to install. 

A median strip

47 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

My guess is that they potentially save more life but are more expensive to install. 

Don't worry, the Thai authorities often have worthwhile projects but then dumb them down, saving money which can then be gainfully used to line the pockets of the project leaders.

 

Expect to see rows of used tyres along the central reservations of Thai roads in the future.

I really dislike these new style roads with barriers instead of medians and find them very dangerous. I wonder if they have done any studies on safety? While a lot of things are good, I've lost faith in recent years of the transport people's ability to make safe, sound roads. I've seen brand new embankments collapse taking whole lanes with it over and over. Daredevil decision making when they should know better. And I've seen freshly poured roads turn to pot holes way too rapidly. Let's look at the safety ramifications of these new style roads with now median and a barrier instead:

 

1. It means you are driving up to 120km/h with your wheel 2 feet away from a barrier. While doable I find it fatiguing. and uncomfortable. Wandering just a few centimeters on a road with a median feels natural, but with a barrier it means you are closing within inches of grazing the barrier.

 

2. Anytime the road bends you lose visibility and are blinded of what is ahead of the barrier. Could be a dog, kids, something dropped out of a vehicle, anything. You never know until you round the barrier enough and bam! There it is and no time to react. Even 4 lane roads have a lot of hairpin curves that are a trap for this type of accident to happen.

 

3. There is nowhere to go to avoid a collision because the barrier is so tight to the lane. The barrier keeps traffic in a tight funnel with nowhere to give way to avoid an accident.

 

4 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

I rarely miss an opportunity to ridicule silly stuff here, but this idea actually represents some progress. 

 

Barriers, whether rubberized or not, are a step (of hundreds) in the right direction. 

I really do hope you are joking, if it is Steel, Plastic or Rubber if the structure has to support the impact of a vehicle hitting it at 120KPH then one will be just as dead..!!

4 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

He has lots to learn on the correct terminology. It is call Guard-rails. What an embarrassment for the Transport Minister not knowing the correct term. 

He knows nothing. He was a hand picked political appointee by Prayut as reward for voting for him to be PM.

7 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I've got to ask: What are 'road islands'?

Does it mean traffic roundabouts?

Road Island.

7 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Rubber barriers? I just get this picture in my head of Thailand's roads becoming a huge pinball machine.

It already is, and there is no need for any Rubber barriers.

 

3 hours ago, canopy said:

I really dislike these new style roads with barriers instead of medians and find them very dangerous. I wonder if they have done any studies on safety? While a lot of things are good, I've lost faith in recent years of the transport people's ability to make safe, sound roads. I've seen brand new embankments collapse taking whole lanes with it over and over. Daredevil decision making when they should know better. And I've seen freshly poured roads turn to pot holes way too rapidly. Let's look at the safety ramifications of these new style roads with now median and a barrier instead:

 

1. It means you are driving up to 120km/h with your wheel 2 feet away from a barrier. While doable I find it fatiguing. and uncomfortable. Wandering just a few centimeters on a road with a median feels natural, but with a barrier it means you are closing within inches of grazing the barrier.

 

2. Anytime the road bends you lose visibility and are blinded of what is ahead of the barrier. Could be a dog, kids, something dropped out of a vehicle, anything. You never know until you round the barrier enough and bam! There it is and no time to react. Even 4 lane roads have a lot of hairpin curves that are a trap for this type of accident to happen.

 

3. There is nowhere to go to avoid a collision because the barrier is so tight to the lane. The barrier keeps traffic in a tight funnel with nowhere to give way to avoid an accident.

 

Hmmh, I think honestly you shouldn't drive a car or bike anymore.