Dirty Vehicles Banned From Bangkok’s Roads

[george]

Vehicles with excessive toxic fumes banned from Bangkok’s roads

BANGKOK: -- Small public buses, vans and pick-up trucks are the worst offenders on Bangkok’s roads when it comes to the emission of toxic fumes, according to government officials.

Many of these vehicles were temporarily banned over the past six months, officials in charge of controlling the city’s pollution told TNA on Thursday.

More than 1,000 vehicles were taken off the road because of their toxic emissions.

Some 70 percent of these were small public buses, vans and pickup trucks, according to the Pollution Control Department officials.

Government officials and traffic police have operated 30 checkpoints throughout Bangkok everyday between 1 April and 19 August, recording the emission levels of passing vehicles.

Vehicles emitting fumes above the legal safety standard were temporarily banned until the problem was fixed.

Nearly 80 percent of the automobiles taken off the road have had their bans lifted after the vehicles’ emissions levels met the proscribed standards.

The number of public buses facing a raod ban has fallen this year, compared to last year, according to government surveys conducted in May last year and again in the same month this year, the Director-General of the Pollution Control Department, Apichai Chvajaroenpun, told TNA.

The Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Suwit Khunkitti, who attended a pollution checkpoint on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road on Thursday, urged Bangkok’s motorists to take more care of their vehicles' engines, and to reduce their toxic emissions.

--TNA 2004-08-27

[astral]

AGAIN?

There is no point in banning them if they just come back a few months

later, but without any repairs/modification.

[joinme2leave]

Baaah!

"They" (whoever this is) should finally start banning those NOISE-polluting cars/vans/trucks/motocycles instead (or: in addition) !!!!

(How comes, I feel like, after they would really do so ... there would be left only 10% of actual BKK's traffic????)

[Axel]

A few years ago there was a big commotion to ban and really ban all Diesel powered vehicles in Bangkok. Applause and everything, until some penny pinching (or was it Satang), low class government employee presented a study, showing that this would mean 80% of all public transportation to be cancelled.

[ovenman]

Along the same line, for how many years now have the powers-that-be been on the verge of banning polluting two-stroke engine vehicles like tuk-tuks real soon now?

[RDN]

Along the same line, for how many years now have the powers-that-be been on the verge of banning polluting two-stroke engine vehicles like tuk-tuks real soon now? 

I guess you are talking about noise polution, right? I was standing outside Robinson's Sukhumvit, waiting for the rain to stop and just one fukcing noisy tuk-tuk - with a fukcing megaphone instead of an exhaust pipe - kept coming around looking for customers. What exactly is Thai for "You are a fukcing noisy bastard and I hope you never get any customers"?

[ovenman]

Along the same line, for how many years now have the powers-that-be been on the verge of banning polluting two-stroke engine vehicles like tuk-tuks real soon now?  

I guess you are talking about noise polution, right?

The tuk-tuks are noisy but I was actually referring to the air pollution caused by two-stroke engines. The same can be said about two-stroke motorbikes.