New 120 km/h speed limit a success, says transport minister

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Transport minister Saksayam Chidchob's plan to increase the speed limit on certain Thai roads has been a resounding success in a trial. 

 

Critics and online keyboard warriors had said it would just mean more carnage and that Thais and speed just don't mix.

 

They feared yet more carnage adding to stats that already rank Thailand's roads among the most dangerous in the world, notes Thaivisa. 

 

But a video conference call between the minister and experts on the ground yesterday showed that the complete opposite was true.

 

There had been absolutely no problems reported to the highway authorities, reported Daily News. 

 

Now Saksayam is set to rollout the new speed limit on many other roads.

 

The trial was on a 45.9 km stretch between Ayutthaya and Ang Thong on the Asia Highway. It's a four lane road and the outer lane can be used to go 120 kmph.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

It was initiated to much fanfare by Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha on April 1st. 

 

Many thought April Fools Day was appropriate but now they are being forced to eat their words. Thais can drive at speeds and not end up in the ditch.

 

By August there will be 138.22 kms on 6 more roads with the new limit - these include another stretch of the Asia Highway, a section in Pathum Thani, Route 2, Route 304 and Route 34.

 

Six more will be added comprising 88 kms by the end of the year.

 

From 2022 to 2028 the plan is to have the 120 limit on stretches of 47 more roads. 

 

Also next year the first road under the auspices of the department of rural roads will have 37.6 kms designated. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-05-15

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Wait until unrestricted travel is allowed and people stop working from home, then get back to us with a longer term of driving with normal traffic.

[yeahbutif]

What the speed limit in the hard shoulder .going the wrong way ?

[petermik]

Well he would say that wouldn`t he....famous for one day ????

[VocalNeal]

1 minute ago, yeahbutif said:

What the speed limit in the hard shoulder .going the wrong way ?

 

Local conditions! Adapt?

[Shuya]

"How to get to Crystal Club one minute faster"

[clivebaxter]

Ask any Thai what the speed limit is on any road, I bet less than one in ten would know anyway, and if they did it would never apply to them

[RotBenz8888]

New 120 km/h speed limit a success

 

Next step 140 km/h! In the land where everyone is a racer, not a car driver. 

 

[SiamRead]

1 hour ago, yeahbutif said:

What the speed limit in the hard shoulder .going the wrong way ?

Depends on the guts of the 2 wheelers. Normally at speed????

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

What the speed limit in the hard shoulder .going the wrong way ?

As fast as the Grab driver or Moto Taxi needs to go regardless of pedestrians.  Does that answer you question.  I watch as they drive wrong way past the police box at Rama 4/Sathon Thai road, and no action is ever taken.

[KannikaP]

I think it would have made more sense to make the two middle lanes 100 max and 80 minimum.

 

Let's get it right. This only applies to 4 lanes each way, with no U turns, and if it is posted as such, yes?

[kwonitoy]

2 hours ago, yeahbutif said:

What the speed limit in the hard shoulder .going the wrong way ?

Depends on mode:

 

Rot Thai

motorcy

tractor

pickup truck (using four way flashers)

[herfiehandbag]

31 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

As fast as the Grab driver or Moto Taxi needs to go regardless of pedestrians.  Does that answer you question.  I watch as they drive wrong way past the police box at Rama 4/Sathon Thai road, and no action is ever taken.

1) The police box is air conditioned, the outside is not.

 

2) How much cash do these chaps on motorcycles carry?

 

3) To what extent do they, collectively, contribute already to informal police funding (especially the Moto Taxi groups)!

[VocalNeal]

I like Asia because it is different. If one only came here because it is/was deemed to be cheaper then moan away at the differences

[Seismic]

Considering everyone pretty much ignores the current speed limit anyway I don't think they can really claim anything. As far as posted signs go, Drive from BKK to Pattaya on the Toll road, In one short stretch there are signs saying, 80kph, 90kph and 120kph, so what is the actual speed?, perhaps removing redundant signs would be a start!

 

[Pilotman]

what an incredibly stupid, uninformed comment to make, on an unproven change that has run for what, a month?   Typical; dumb as an ant. 

[Pilotman]

11 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

I like Asia because it is different. If one only came here because it is/was deemed to be cheaper then moan away at the differences

there is Asia and then there is stupid.  They are not intertwined.  

[xtof2]

If they consider it's a success.... they will probably test 140km/h... and then 160....

[MaxYakov]

120 kph = 74.5645 mph. Not even autobahn speeds. Are buses and 18-wheelers and dawdlers (60 kph drivers) allowed in the 'fast lane'?

[TheFreqFlyer]

One of the few good policies of this otherwise dictatorial and totalitarian government.

 

I always did 120km/h on that stretch of road, but previously speed cameras in Bang Pa-in would clock me if I was caught going over 110. Between 90 and 110 there were no fines issued. Now it's 120, which is what it should be. As there are no u-turn bays it's safe. I've gone faster than that, but 120 seems quite a reasonable speed. Most of the time there's so much traffic that driving faster isn't even possible anyway. 

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

Ask any Thai what the speed limit is on any road, I bet less than one in ten would know anyway, and if they did it would never apply to them

Ask any foreigner what the speed limit is on any road, I bet less than one in ten (who've been here for years) would know anyway, and if they did it would never apply to them.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

I think it would have made more sense to make the two middle lanes 100 max and 80 minimum.

 

Let's get it right. This only applies to 4 lanes each way, with no U turns, and if it is posted as such, yes?

Yes.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Seismic said:

Drive from BKK to Pattaya on the Toll road, In one short stretch there are signs saying, 80kph, 90kph and 120kph, so what is the actual speed?

Obviously, the limit indicated on the last sign you passed is the limit.

[TheFreqFlyer]

43 minutes ago, MaxYakov said:

120 kph = 74.5645 mph. Not even autobahn speeds. Are buses and 18-wheelers and dawdlers (60 kph drivers) allowed in the 'fast lane'?

Well, 120kph is the autobahn speed limit in Switzerland and Belgium, as well as the highest permitted speed on Vietnamese and Chinese expressways. It happens to be higher than the Malaysian expressway speed limit (which is 110km/h) and for that matter, the speed limit on Australian expressways/motorways and rural highways, which is also 110km/h. The single exception is the Northern Territory, where 130km/h is permitted on rural highways. 

 

I think 120 is a reasonable speed limit. It is however a bit odd that Thai highways and expressways now share the same speed limit. Perhaps 130 would be in order for expressways; though they are far and few between. Those stretches to which this could apply are heavily congested to the point that it can be difficult to even go above 120 (for example, Bang Na to Bang Pa-in and Bangkok-Chonburi, particularly between Rama 9 road and Lad Krabang). Not to mention they really need to redesign those bridges over the canals, particularly on motorway 7 between Rama 9 and just beyond Lad Krabang. 

[Liverpool Lou]

47 minutes ago, MaxYakov said:

120 kph = 74.5645 mph. Not even autobahn speeds. Are buses and 18-wheelers and dawdlers (60 kph drivers) allowed in the 'fast lane'?

The posted minimum speed limit should answer your question.

[VocalNeal]

2 minutes ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

Not to mention they really need to redesign those bridges over the canals, particularly on motorway 7 between Rama 9 and just beyond Lad Krabang. 

 

Where the limit is still 90?

[TheFreqFlyer]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Obviously, the limit indicated on the last sign you passed is the limit.

Not quite. They often have contradictory speed limits - a flashing 90 sign and 10 meters behind that, a stationary 120 sign.

I just assume it's 120 throughout and that's what I drive, traffic permitting. 

 

More recently I've noticed they've started taking down the contradictory signs and for the first time, the flashing speed limit sign shows 100, 110 or even 120, depending on traffic conditions. Previously it only ever showed 90, for no good reason at all. Now it seems they are adjusted as an advisory speed, according to the level of traffic. However, 120 remains the limit so even if there is a flashing sign showing 100, that appears to be advisory only. 

[KannikaP]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

The posted minimum speed limit should answer your question.

Either side of schools in my area, there are 30 on a blue circlular background signs. !

[TheFreqFlyer]

1 minute ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Where the limit is still 90?

It's 120. But the issue is, even at 90 you are flying off the bridges. If they made the approaches more gradual and smooth, it would be safe to do 120. Everyone seems to slow from whatever they're doing to 90 or 100. 

[Boedog]

What could possibly go wrong with having a 40km difference in speed from 1 lane to another, a resounding success they said the Stupidity of the decisions makers in Thailand never ceases to amaze,  having a national average of 50 to 60 road  deaths a day is not enough we can do better, time will tell what a resounding success looks like.