Cyclists demand safer roads
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CALL COMES AFTER 2 DEADLY ACCIDENTS THIS PAST WEEK
THE THAILAND Cycling Club (TCC) has urged the Interior Ministry to provide improved road safety for cyclists and ensure justice is served for the cyclists killed or injured in road accidents in Chiang Mai and Bangkok this week.
Gathering outside the ministry, where they submitted a petition, TCC members also called on the authorities to deliver a road-safety plan that took into consideration cyclists’ safety and convenience.
Meanwhile, Bangkok’s Khok Khram Police Station yesterday granted bail to Saran Intanin, who surrendered to police on Wednesday after allegedly killing one cyclist, Thanyakorn Densirimongkol, and injuring two others when he crashed his car into them and fled the scene on Monday night.
TCC members, wearing black armbands, submitted the petition to Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda via ministry official Pol Lt-General Nattapich Sanitwong na Ayudhya.
TCC vice president Santi Opaspakornkit said the ministry was responsible for the safety and convenience of all road users including cyclists. The club wants the ministry to ensure the arrest and severe punishment of drunk drivers and motorists who speak on mobile phones without a hand-free device.
It also wants venues that sell alcohol outside legal hours and motorists who endanger cyclists by driving recklessly on the left shoulder of the road to be punished.
The group called for the prosecution of drivers involved in accidents that killed cyclists to be transparent and fair, with aid given to victims through medical-expense relief and compensation. Regarding this week’s Bangkok accident, police said they allowed Saran to be released after Bt200,000 was deposited because he had surrendered and was not regarded as a flight risk.
Saran told reporters he would apologise at Thanyakorn’s funeral and help the injured cyclists.
A lawyer representing a female passenger in Saran’s car at the time of the accident has contacted police to say she will testify soon.
A group of Thanyakorn’s relatives and friends yesterday presented flowers to thank police for a speedy investigation into the incident.
In Chiang Mai’s Doi Saket district on Sunday morning, 23-year-old student Patchuda Jairuean crashed into a convoy of cyclists, killing three and injuring two. Police affirmed that |an arrest warrant had been issued for her.
Pol Lt-Colonel Khomkrit Kerdkaew of Doi Saket Police Station said fellow cyclists told police that the deceased cyclists’ relatives would only accept Bt200,000 in compensation, and demand that Patchuda does more to take responsibility for her actions in this case.
