Bad planning: more road chaos ahead

It is estimated that as much as 40 per cent of vehicle sales will take place in Bangkok while the other 60 per cent will take place around the country.

However, no one, including the government or those concerned, has ever mentioned how the large number of automobiles will be handled. The increasing number of auto sales each year will eventually lead to many problems if no plan is prepared beforehand. In the end, it will cause social problems and hurt the automobile industry as well as related businesses.

The inactivity means that today Thailand is hiding its problems under the carpet. The auto sales problem is now seen as the tip of the iceberg that has yet to fully emerge.

This includes the never-ending traffic problem that is dealt with in the same old manner of thinking. Today, only problematic areas will be dealt with and only during rush hours, but there is no standard traffic plan that can solve the problem in the long term.

During every festive season a large number of people travel to the provinces and many of the tollways waive fees, saying it is a gift for travellers.

But the true reason for the waiver is that with the large number of vehicles passing through, the tollways, with its inefficient fee-collection system, would lead to traffic jams longer than 10 kilometres.

So in order not to cause huge jams and be scolded by motorists, the authorities decide each time to waive the fees during festive seasons, and simply say that it is a gift to the people.

This kind of problem is already happening as we speak with the present number of vehicles on the road, let alone with more new vehicles that will be arriving. Even now, no one has ever thought of introducing a new collection system that consumes less time per vehicle.

If things are the same, once auto sales reach 1 million vehicles per year, we’ll see even more fee waiving and perhaps on more routes.

Meanwhile, the managing of secondary routes – that can be used during festive seasons with the main routes being heavily crowded – is being carried in a trial-and-error fashion. Paper signs pasted on trees and poles are still used instead of making public announcements and trial-testing  new detours in order to create familiarity and experience.

The ccondition of Thai roads has not been planned to cater to an explosion in the number of vehicles. This causes traffic jams and prevent emergency vehicles such as ambulances and tow trucks from reaching their destinations quickly as all lanes on roads are full.

On many roads, there is not enough space for an emergency lane, not even for changing a flat tyre.

And because the traffic police allow the emergency lanes to normally be used (both on the left and right), more than half of Thai motorists now understand that driving in emergency lanes is allowed at all times.

A small accident on the motorway can cause traffic to pile up and come to a halt for more than an hour simply because emergency vehicles cannot get to the accident point quickly as all emergency lanes are occupied by ordinary vehicles.

Another problem that is often overlooked is the Thai government’s energy policy in promoting E85 gasohol. But judging from the automobiles that are sold and enjoy the highest growth in the market, not one model can run on E85 gasohol.

The same old excuses such as the small number of E85 customers and the inability of E85 to share the same nozzles with other types of fuel are still used today by fuel-station operators.

These are some of the problems that will take place, and without an effective plan to deal with the increasing number of automobiles, Thailand will not be able to escape this damaging scenario.