Speed Limit

[wgdanson]

Driving on Highway 7 from Bkk to Pattaya, the speed limit is 120. But every km or so is an orange sign saying 90, has been for over a year. Does this mean that the limit is 90, or is it only advisory (As are most road signs in Thailand ! lol)

Also, please, what do I do when I am two cicles distant from the car in front as advised, and someone cuts in front between us. Do i slow down hence closing the gap between me and the car behind, or just call him a bad name (as I usually do)

Edited January 11, 2014 by metisdead
Please do not post using all caps. Topic title edited to remove all caps.

[Upnotover]

Overtake them on the left and cut back in. And I thought those 90 signs were at bridges, not that I take much notice of them.

[Litlos]

The tollway is 120 the 90 seem to be slow down for the bridges only, they have been modifying some of the bridges and making the angles a bit less steep, I suspect there is damage on the bridges and hence the speed reduction. Beware once you come off the toll way it reverts to 90 as a normal highway. It used to be easy to work out where the tollway ended going South, but now not so easy, but is probably the same junction.

Cheers

[technologybytes]

The tollway is 120

It's not as simple as saying the Tollway is 120 because in many parts of Bangkok the Tollway speed limits are 90 and sometimes less.

It can be difficult to know where the changes are, however when I drive though Bangkok (which is only once each way every couple of months) I just drive at about 85-90 and know that I'm safe.

Twice in recent years I've been stopped on the Tollway near Don Muang and accused of speeding, I've stood my ground and refused the ticket knowing that I have not been speeding and on both occasions I've been waved on without too much fuss.

[Tomtomtom69]

Who cares about speed limits in Thailand, they're posted so rarely and since enforcement is so lax I take no notice of them. In the past few years I've only been stopped a few times and each time I was let on my way after a few smiles and jokes were exchanged.

There is no motivation to demand change and make the roads safer by enforcing road rules including speeding. But at the same time it requires years of studying Thai logic to figure out that speed limits here, which if posted at all (they generally aren't) are completely random and lack consistency. For example, there's an 80km/h speed limit on Phahonyothin Road past Victory Monument, which is a ridiculously high speed for such a road that even if you could achieve it, is far too fast for the conditions, given the amount of traffic, pedestrians and other potential obstacles. 60 is a more realistic speed limit but either way it wouldn't be enforced anyway. And then the 80km/h speed limit on the Don Muang Tollway is an even bigger joke. How can an expressway boast such a low speed limit - that's hardly the definition of an "express"way if you ask my opinion. I usually cruise along at 120-130 and I've even gone up to around 190km/h in the past just to see how fast my car would go before I ran out of expressway! (though that was only very late at night some years back and I probably wouldn't attempt that again given the unpredictable drunk drivers at night and other general recklessness). However, there's never a need to worry because even if you do get caught, there's no system to take away driving privileges for excess speeding here, the fines are absolutely tiny (max. 1000? Baht), and even if your license were "suspended" you could still be back on the road within minutes likely never to be stopped again (and even if you were it wouldn't matter as any number of excuses would be acceptable).

Basically...nobody cares. Just drive any way you wish as long as it's not too reckless and doesn't cause an accident, but of course I do recommend you drive in a sensible manner...driving here is unpredictable enough but as you can see given my half a million km of experience driving in Thailand, I know how the system works here. I no longer take the kind of risks I may have taken in the past, but I also know that even after years of so-called campaigns to make the roads safer, particularly around major holiday periods, nothing ever seems to change and the total lack of enforcement is partly to blame. The police set-up a roadblock, slap-on-the-wrist fines of a paltry 200 Baht or perhaps 400 Baht are handed out to everyone including Somchai driving a beaten up 25-year old Hilux Tiger pickup as well as the hi-so kids driving the latest Mercedes Benz or a souped up Honda Integra Type R. And as such there's no incentive for change - because the police are either too dumb or too cowardly to enforce tougher penalties, although perhaps tougher legislation would need to be enacted first before the police would be given the power to better enforce such laws.

Thailand thus has the world's third highest road accident fatality rate - no wonder the Vietnamese refuse entry to all Thai vehicles (and they have now for many years) not only because Thai vehicles have their steering wheels on the wrong side (this is their argument) but more because allowing in potentially large numbers of foreigners not used to local road conditions could lead to all sorts of chaos, accidents and the like and Laos now only allows Thai motorcycles in if they come in groups of less than 3 otherwise a police escort is required due to a bunch of idiots causing an accident that resulted in the death of some villagers last year I think it was, followed by inadequate compensation, now everyone has to suffer due to the mistakes of a few dimwits.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Tomtomtom69

[taotoo]

I've even gone up to around 190km/h in the past ... other general recklessness).

LOL

[elliottm]

On the (North) motorway from Ayutaya to Bangkok I picked up two postal speeding fines on the same journey last month for 126km/h and 121km/h with a speed limit of 120km/h. No excuse for 126km/h (traffic following) but are they really that confident in the exactness of their equipment to send out fines for 121km/h, could this not just be a momentary erring based on the level of incline quickly corrected or am I already incriminated because of the other infraction? I applaud the enforcement of any laws in Thailand but a margin of 0.6 mph would not be enforced in my home country and I wonder if that is erring too much on the side of caution?

Edited July 5, 2014 by elliottm

[keith101]

the last fine i got was a photo of the back of my pickup from the other side of the road saying i was doing 127kph in a 100 kph zone and i know for a fact i was only doing the limt of 100 kph . the fine was only 400baht and if i chose to to fight it the fine would then be 1000baht so i just paid the 400 .

Edited July 5, 2014 by keith101

[wprime]

Speed limit signs are all recommended limits except for the large ones which list speed limits for specific vehicles. For sedans on the motorways and most highways it's 120km/h.

Keep in mind however, if you're involved in an accident and the accident could've been prevented by driving below the advised speed limit, you will be in part liable for the accident.

e.g. if a van enters an 80km/h signposted motorway at 30km/h then pulls straight into the right lane in which you're doing 110km/h in and you're unable to brake in time and hit him, you will be have about 50% liability in the accident. If there are deaths of injuries you'll likely have to pay a large amount of compensation to avoid jail time.

Edited July 5, 2014 by wprime

[Chao Lao Beach]

The elevated highway now is 80km/hr and police radar have been there over the last week, they nab folks at the toll boths.

80km/hr on the lite up signs

[Tomtomtom69]

On the (North) motorway from Ayutaya to Bangkok I picked up two postal speeding fines on the same journey last month for 126km/h and 121km/h with a speed limit of 120km/h. No excuse for 126km/h (traffic following) but are they really that confident in the exactness of their equipment to send out fines for 121km/h, could this not just be a momentary erring based on the level of incline quickly corrected or am I already incriminated because of the other infraction? I applaud the enforcement of any laws in Thailand but a margin of 0.6 mph would not be enforced in my home country and I wonder if that is erring too much on the side of caution?

That's not a motorway my friend, that's a normal rural highway which happens to have 8 lanes now. The speed limit there is 90km/h, not 120. However, the police seem to have a 30km/h tolerance on many roads knowing full well the 90km/h limit is a joke that nobody adheres to. That means they will only fine drivers for driving above 120km/h hence they were in their right to fine you for going 121km/h. Same thing has happened to me before having been clocked doing 144km/h on that stretch about 6-7 years back. The police told me that doing less than 120km/h there would have been no fine and indeed I've never been clocked for doing less than 120km/h but more than 90 on any road in Thailand.

The only 2 roads with a known 120km/h speed limit are the two motorways: the 63km Bang Na to Bang Pa-in eastern outer ring road and the 140-odd km Bangkok-Chonburi-Pattaya motorway.

[Tomtomtom69]

Speed limit signs are all recommended limits except for the large ones which list speed limits for specific vehicles. For sedans on the motorways and most highways it's 120km/h.

Keep in mind however, if you're involved in an accident and the accident could've been prevented by driving below the advised speed limit, you will be in part liable for the accident.

e.g. if a van enters an 80km/h signposted motorway at 30km/h then pulls straight into the right lane in which you're doing 110km/h in and you're unable to brake in time and hit him, you will be have about 50% liability in the accident. If there are deaths of injuries you'll likely have to pay a large amount of compensation to avoid jail time.

Incorrect - only on motorways (there's only 2 in Thailand) is the speed limit 120km/h. For every other road it's 90km/h, but the police generally don't fine any vehicle for speeding unless they are traveling at speeds greater than 120km/h. In the rare cases that speed limits are posted on ordinary roads and highways, you'll find it's posted as 90km/h (except motorways of course, where speed limits are posted regularly but they are known to be 120km/h).

[Tomtomtom69]

The elevated highway now is 80km/hr and police radar have been there over the last week, they nab folks at the toll boths.

80km/hr on the lite up signs

I'm aware of that limit on tollways, it's been in place for years. Much too slow in my opinion, except during rush hour of course. Police normally set up at the same locations, for example near the Don Muang exit and then nab drivers at the toll booth heading in the direction of Rangsit on the Don Muang tollway. If you have a regular route you'll know where they are and how to avoid them.

[elliottm]

On the (North) motorway from Ayutaya to Bangkok I picked up two postal speeding fines on the same journey last month for 126km/h and 121km/h with a speed limit of 120km/h. No excuse for 126km/h (traffic following) but are they really that confident in the exactness of their equipment to send out fines for 121km/h, could this not just be a momentary erring based on the level of incline quickly corrected or am I already incriminated because of the other infraction? I applaud the enforcement of any laws in Thailand but a margin of 0.6 mph would not be enforced in my home country and I wonder if that is erring too much on the side of caution?

That's not a motorway my friend, that's a normal rural highway which happens to have 8 lanes now. The speed limit there is 90km/h, not 120. However, the police seem to have a 30km/h tolerance on many roads knowing full well the 90km/h limit is a joke that nobody adheres to. That means they will only fine drivers for driving above 120km/h hence they were in their right to fine you for going 121km/h. Same thing has happened to me before having been clocked doing 144km/h on that stretch about 6-7 years back. The police told me that doing less than 120km/h there would have been no fine and indeed I've never been clocked for doing less than 120km/h but more than 90 on any road in Thailand.

The only 2 roads with a known 120km/h speed limit are the two motorways: the 63km Bang Na to Bang Pa-in eastern outer ring road and the 140-odd km Bangkok-Chonburi-Pattaya motorway.

Tomtom(tom), thank you for the explanation, yes it's an 8 lane monster but I remained a little unconvinced of the Mrs' explanation that the frequent 90kmh signs were 'advisory' only and having only recently got 29/30 for my theory I'm also a little embarassed too!!