Police propose speed limit increase on toll roads

Police propose speed limit increase on toll roads

Police favour faster vehicles on motorways and expressways but their proposal is up to the police chief and the cabinet to decide. (Post Today photo)
Police favour faster vehicles on motorways and expressways but their proposal is up to the police chief and the cabinet to decide. (Post Today photo)

A police panel set up to solve traffic problems has proposed the increase of speed limits on expressways and motorways to be in line with the current situation.

Ekkarak Limsangkat, who heads the working group on traffic problems, said the panel has agreed to increase the speed limits on expressways and motorways to between 100 and 110 kilometres per hour.

The speeds are currently capped at 80 km/h on expressways and 90 km/h on motorways under the 1979 Land Transport Act and 1992 Highway Act.

The laws are outdated and need amendments as the safety of roads and vehicles have been improved, said Pol Maj Gen Ekkarak, who also is the chief of the Special Branch Bureau's Division 5.

The proposal will be forwarded to the police chief and then the cabinet.

Pol Maj Gen Ekkarak said the proposed new speed limits will not lead to more accidents as police will strictly enforce them, with the aid of new technology.

Thailand's road mortality rate is among the world's highest. The death rate per 1,000 people was 32.7, the highest in Southeast Asia, according to the recently released Global Status Report on Road Safety of the Wolrd Health Organization.

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