Clearing up congestion, one point at a time

New traffic police chief wants errant motorists punished, writes Wassayos Ngamkham

Upon his appointment as the new traffic police chief, Pol Lt Gen Nithithorn Chintakanon has vowed to strictly enforce the traffic law against offenders contributing to Bangkok’s traffic congestion.

Directed by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, he also wants a return to a points-based punitive measure to be used on motorists.

“The fact is, traffic congestion in Bangkok is worsening with several electric rail projects being constructed on the city’s main roads,” he said.

Resolving this problem would not only require efforts on the part of Bangkok, but also its surrounding provinces, namely Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Chon Buri, he said.

A recent study found there are approximately 9 million personal cars and public vehicles, while the combined length of all roads in Bangkok is a little over 5,000 kilometres, he said.

This means if all of the vehicles are parked together in a single line, they will form a line far longer than combined length of Bangkok’s roads, he said.

“Aside from cars in Bangkok, there still are a lot of more cars coming in from other provinces to the city every day,” he said.

When it comes to managing day-to-day traffic, he said he would rather give credit to traffic police officers who have a lot of experience in handling Bangkok’s traffic flows.

“They have been managing the traffic flow for 20 years to 30 years, so they know which direction to release cars towards at any given time of the day,” he said.

Their decisions may not satisfy everyone, but he reminded everyone that what these traffic police are doing is trying to improve traffic situation across the city, not just a specific area in particular, he said.

Some have suggested that the traffic police should make the shift to newer technologies to manage traffic, but Pol Lt Gen Nithithorn finds technology as secondary as it will still need to be adjusted to suit the nature of Thai motorists.

“Thai drivers will do whatever it is they find most convenient for them and think traffic police will let them get away with it. We won’t anymore,” he said.

Pol Lt Gen Nithithorn said there are other things that Thai motorists like to do that contribute a slowdown in traffic flow.

“When they are closing in on an intersection, some female drivers would begin to put on their make-up, eat their meals or use their phones, while some of their male counterparts would begin to read a newspaper [as they know they will next have to

NEW TRAFFIC POLICE CHIEF

stop at the red light],” he said.

As such, when the light goes green, traffic police will have to wave vehemently to signal these slow motorists to drive, he said.

“Many of them have asked if rushing cars along would really help improve the traffic flow. Yes, I insist. And be warned, certain activities you like to do while your cars are moving, such as speaking on the phone and texting on your smartphones, are all against the law,” he said.

On the subject of Bangkok’s traffic mayhem, he said that that the Lat Phrao intersection has the worst traffic situation of all.

The traffic police is trying its best to use Vibhavadi Rangsit Road as a main route to divert traffic away from this highly congested area, he said.

Congestion in this area is expected to peak during the mass exodus of cars during the New Year holiday period, he said.

As for the construction of the electric rail routes, since contractors now are permitted to use road surface as they requested, strict traffic law is being implemented to ensure they won’t abuse the permission to do something that will worsen traffic congestion, he said.

The traffic police, for instance, won’t consider any requests made by these contractors to allow their trucks to enter the roads in inner Bangkok during rush hours, he said.

“I believe in the strict enforcement of the law,” he reiterated.

He is also considering to re-implement the points-based punitive measure.

When the measure is put in place again, those who repeatedly violate traffic rules may end up having their licences suspended if they lose enough points, he said.

He also said that a new system is being developed to facilitate the traffic police’s implementation of a mobile and electronic traffic ticketing system that is connected to the Land Transport Department’s database, he said.

When the two systems are connected, motorists with a traffic ticket will no longer be able to avoid paying their fines for as long as they want, he said.

Previously, while up to 13 million traffic tickets were issued every year, only about 3 to 8 million traffic tickets were paid by the violators each year, he said.

As for the perennial problem of motorcyclists intentionally driving on the wrong side of the road or on the pavement, the traffic police is working together with municipal officials to curb the violation.

The Traffic Act carries a maximum fine of only 1,000 baht for the offence, while the City Hall’s Act on public space cleanliness authorises municipal officials to impose a maximum fine of up to 5,000 baht on motorcyclists who intentionally drove on the wrong lane, he said.

Members of the public who supply information or evidence of this type of misconduct to the police and municipal officials are entitled to receive rewards amounting to half the fine charged to the offender, he said.

The fact is, traffic congestion in Bangkok is worsening with several electric rail projects being constructed on the city’s main roads. POL LT GEN NITHITHORN CHINTAKANON