The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is drawing up additional regulations to raise the standards of car park safety barriers and to control the brightness levels on electronic billboards.
Taiwut Khankaew, director of the BMA’s Building Control Division, said discussions were under way about the new regulations with the Council of Engineers, the Illuminating Engineering Association of Thailand and the Building Safety Inspectors and Officers Association.
Mr Taiwut said there had been several incidents in recent years in which cars had hit the safety barriers of multi-storey car park structures and broke through, plunging to the ground and causing casualties.
One of the contributing factors to the severity of the problem was that precast concrete walls were used as safety barriers and they were not rigid enough to withstand a horizontal impact. They were attached to the floor structures of most multi-storey car parks in Bangkok, he said.
The concerned agencies were designing stronger barriers to meet higher standards.
Owners of car park buildings to be constructed after the new rules came into effect would be forced to use concrete barriers reinforced with steel. Authorities would ask for “cooperation” from owners of parking structures built before the new criteria to have their barriers reinforced with steel.
Mr Taiwut said new criteria would also be applied to deal with the increasing number of outdoor advertising displays that used LED lights that produce the same levels of brightness in daytime and at night.
He said there had been a stream of complaints from motorists and residents that the digital billboards were too bright at night. Most complaints were from motorists travelling on Rama IX expressway and Ratchathewi Road. They complained that the LED signs affected their visibility and driving performance.
The brightness on all displays would have to be adjusted in accordance with the time of day, Mr Taiwut said. They must be switched off at 10pm in residential areas and at midnight in business districts.