Three measures to solve air pollution aimed at vehicle owners

The Department of Land Transport has issued three urgent measures to fight air pollution, with smoke from vehicle exhaust being a major contributor, director-general Jirut Wisaljitr said today (March 10).

The first measure is black smoke detection, divided into three operation zones of Bangkok, 15 metropolitan areas, and 61 provinces. Between October 1, 2019, to March 1, officers found 2,934 out of 178,562 cars had black smoke that exceeded safety standards. The cars were sprayed with a special paint and owners faced a daily fine of Bt5,000 until the problem was corrected. These owners had to submit their cars to the department for a test and the paint was removed only if the vehicles passed. If the painted vehicle still failed the test and were used on streets, the drivers would be fined up to Bt50,000 and this would affect renewal of their annual car tax. No one has been found to violate the law so far.

The second measure is inspecting the condition of trucks at three stations – Phutthamonthon transport station on the outskirts of Bangkok, Rom Klao station and Khlong Luang. This measure would help reduce the PM2.5 dust particle problem as most trucks are diesel vehicles.

The third measure is gaining the cooperation of 3,000 vehicle inspection facilities nationwide to strengthen inspection of 7-year-old vehicles and 5-year-old motorcycles.

The department is also studying the issue of special vehicle licence plates, in which owners themselves can specify letters and numbers. The proceeds from these special plates will go to the Road Safety Fund. The study is expected to be completed by March-end.