Skip to main content

Thailand tells drivers to speed up - and reduce accidents

Thailand's road authorities have revealed that nearly a third of accidents are caused by motorists driving too slowly in the fast lanes.
By Ben Spencer March 5, 2020 Read time: 1 min
A third of road accidents caused by drivers travelling too slow in fast lane (© Martinslezacek | Dreamstime.com)

In a Bangkok Post report, the department's director general Sarawut Songsivilai claims slow driving is second only to the 45% of accidents caused by cars veering off roads.

"If a motorist in an outer lane is driving slowly the driver behind will try to pass on the inside lane where his view of traffic in front will be obscured, which often leads to cars colliding,” he says.

"Proposed new speed limits for outer lanes will be clearly marked and are designed to lower the chances of sideswiping or rear-ending," Songsivilai adds.

The Transport Ministry is reportedly seeking to increase the speed limit on outer lanes from 80kph to 90kph for major roads and highways which have a minimum of four lanes.

 

Related Content

  • Smoothing the path to reducing traffic pollution
    October 22, 2014
    David Crawford reviews a new approach to traffic smoothing. A key objective for the Californian city of Bakersfield’s upgraded traffic operations centre (TOC), which opened in June 2014, is to help improve living conditions in a region with one of the worst air quality problems in the US. The TOC is speeding up the smoothing of traffic flows by delivering faster and better-informed traffic signal retiming and synchronisation.
  • Tier board calls for e-scooter speed limit 
    July 16, 2021
    96% of blind or partially sighted people worry about e-scooters being silent, says report
  • Authorities play the parking ticket
    April 10, 2014
    Having long been a cause of contention with their constituents, local authorities are now using parking provision to entice shoppers and reduce congestion. To say that parking, and particularly parking enforcement, is a contentious and emotive issue is something of an understatement. Across the globe the discontentment with parking facilities, charges and enforcement is a major cause of friction between local authorities and the residents, businesses and drivers in the area. Recently there was outrage in