Starting April 1, the maximum speed limit on highways will change from 90km per hour to 120km per hour. The new policy by Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob is not only sending a confusing signal to drivers but is also raising the need for an urgent debate about road safety.
Published in the Royal Gazette on March 10, the ministerial regulation mandates drivers using the outermost lane of a four-lane highway to drive no less than 100km per hour and no more than 120km per hour. The speed must be maintained unless the lane is hindered, hampered by poor visibility or obstructed. The rule will not yet be applied to all highways but initially to only one section of Highway 32 starting from Bang Pa-in district in Ayutthaya to Ang Thong province -- a distance of 50km -- for a two-month trial.
The new traffic law may lead Thailand to regain the world's top spot for the highest traffic fatality rate.
In 2015, the Kingdom was ranked second in the Global Status Report on Road Safety by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, its rank dropped to ninth when the WHO updated its report in 2018 as the road fatality rate dropped from 36 people out of 100,000 in 2015 to 32.7.
Under the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan, the government also announced a road safety policy to reduce the traffic fatality rate further to 18 per 100,000 people in 2021. The government also committed to the Stockholm Declaration last February to cut the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by half by 2030 and to achieve zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050.
The target seems to be out of reach.
Statistics of traffic accidents recorded by the Ministry of Public Health, the Royal Thai Police, and Road Accident Victims Protection Company show that during the past three years, the fatality rate slightly improved from 33.45 per 100,000 people in 2016 to 30.36 in 2019. But this in reality is nothing to celebrate.
On average, about 20,000 people are killed each year due to traffic incidents. When you translate that down, it means about 60 people die each day because of road accidents or an average of three people per hour, while 2,500 people are injured daily. Furthermore, another 250 people are severely injured every day and 20 people become disabled.
Road fatalities especially surge during the long holidays, including New Year and Songkran. The report from the Road Safety Directing Centre of the Ministry of Interior shows that this year's death toll from Dec 29-Jan 4 reached 392, up 5% from 373 last year. There were 3,333 incidents and 3,326 injuries within these seven days.
The main causes of road accidents were speeding (33.60%), closely followed by drunk driving (33.06%). Other factors also included bad driving behaviour including suddenly changing lanes or riding motorcycles without a helmet. More than 80% of the incidents included motorcycle riders and most road accidents, 65.77%, occurred on straight roads, including 37.8% on highways.
Traffic incidents do not only affect victims and their families but also hurt the economy. The Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation reported that road accidents cost the Thai economy 545 billion baht in losses each year or 6% of the country's annual GDP.
A few years ago, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith launched a campaign asking car drivers to drive slowly (meaning not more than 90km per hour), turn headlights on and fasten seat belts. The Thai Health Promotion Foundation also has its yearly road safety campaign to encourage drivers, especially motorcycle drivers, to limit their driving speed to 80km per hour, citing that faster speed increases the risk of a fatal accident.
At present, the maximum speed limits for cars is 80km per hour for expressways, 90km per hour for national highways and 120km per hour for motorways.
The current transport minister, Saksayam Chidchob, has said that the increase of the speed limit received 71% support from a survey, however, he did not explain the details of who the respondents were or how the poll was conducted. He even said that 32% of the participants drove faster than the speed limit anyway.
The minister also did not consider the opinions of the 29% of respondents who objected to a speed limit increase. Moreover, he ignored the concerns of academics and organisations that wanted him to halt the plan, citing highway conditions are not ready for high speeds. In addition, many motorists lack discipline and traffic enforcement is weak.
They have the right reasons to oppose the new rule. Before the new maximum speed limit kicks off this Thursday, the minister should be reminded that speeding is a major cause of road accidents.
Every 20 minutes, a human being dies on the roads in this country. Increasing the speed limit will not improve road safety but instead only make the matter worse.
Karnjana Karnjanatawe is a travel writer of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.