According to some research done by INRIX in 2016, Thailand has the busiest and congested road in the world. Drivers spend around 61 hours in traffic congestion per year.
Cars on the road
In fact, over 55% of the cars on the road are private-4 wheeled vehicles. The second largest group are motorcycles representing 37% out of all types of vehicles on the road. Regarding public transports, taxis represent only 1% and buses even less with just 0.5%.
Other reasons
Two main reasons that lead to traffic congestion in Thailand are “first–car buyer scheme” and “breaking traffic regulations”.
About the first–car buyer scheme, the policy encourages people from the lower-class to buy a car. For example, the buyer can get up to 100000 bath refund for a mid-size car. It encourages more people to buy their own car and creates traffic congestion.
About the breaking traffic regulations, the issue of illegal parking is pretty serious in Thailand. The inefficiency of traffic police makes the problem becoming even worse. Illegal parking would block the roads, narrowing it and leading once again to traffic congestion.
Solutions
Remove the first–car buyer scheme policy and tougher enforcement of traffic regulations could be good solutions.
Also, the government could develop cheaper and better-covered public transports in order to relieve the pressure on the roads. Nowadays, the ticket fees to ride the BTS are not that friendly for lower-class. Some initiatives should be introduced for them to use public transports instead of private cars.
Besides this, tougher enforcement of traffic police would also play an important role in solving the problem of traffic congestion. Additionally, a system of penalty points for driving offences should also be put in place like in France or Hong Kong.
In conclusion, everyone should use common sense alongside innovative ideas in order to fight against traffic congestion.
