Reader question: Can I install a speed bump myself in my village?
Dear readers,
In the nearby village people were a bit crazy about the trucks with soil that drove through the village day in and day out at a fairly high speed. The drivers don't care about the people who live there.
The villagers have joined forces and together have made three speed bumps from fast-hardening concrete. The gentlemen drivers are now, as it were, launched out of their seats if they drive too fast over those thresholds, good move I thought. But the gentlemen drivers do not like to be launched out of their seats when they are (always) in a hurry. Result: driving/racing a bit, namely on the dike where I live with another neighbor.
People now pass my gate at an average of about 60 to 70 km per hour, followed by a rather unclear bend in which the neighbor lives. The first accident was therefore quickly over. Fisherman with fishing rods and dragged about 30 meters by the racing idiot of a dump truck with soil.
I don't know if people in the village have (asked for) permission to build the thresholds, if a friend asks who she should contact for such a threshold, she will get evasive answers. Naw, no one has asked anything at the Amphur, but they have just arranged it themselves. To temper those crazy people in their Formula 1 racing activities, I also want to put such a threshold, maybe even two for example 1 near my gate and 1 after near the neighbor's gate.
So I went to the Amphur to apply for this, as a foreigner I don't really want to get the colored piet. So I want permission in black and white or rather that the Amphur has this installed itself. Unfortunately peanut butter people act there as if they hear it thunder in Cologne. So nothing happens.
Can I now take the plunge and just build those thresholds myself, or will I be punished? I just want to prevent that when I or as a friend drive out of the gate, such a failed formula 1 driver realizes too late that there are other road users.
I just heard the gate of the neighbor was driven out this afternoon because two trucks wanted to pass each other, but that is not possible on that narrow dike.
Yours faithfully,
Harm
We had a similar problem.
I "worked" the asphalt here and there with an ax. A few big blows are enough. You will be surprised how quickly a small hole becomes a big hole….
Obviously not legal...
But it helped us.
Success!
Arjen you are right, sometimes you have to take the law into your own hands. I heard an Englishman had the same problem. he has decorated the road with some crow's feet. that caused quite a traffic jam before such a truck was removed. then they looked for another route. they are in a hurry and he is not.
In my village on Samui, illegal speed bumps have been (probably) installed in many different places by the residents, but all but a few have been removed over time.
But I don't know who installed them and who removed them, but there must have been complaints about it.
Be careful where you place the thresholds. You also don't want to be shaking at every passage in your house. You are also not waiting for cracks in the houses.
Also in Thailand it is impossible for me to imagine that building speed bumps yourself would be legal. Imagine that everyone in Thailand started to regulate traffic in this way in their own opinion, then driving in Thailand would become even more adventurous, if it already is.
You can easily find a few Thai people who will work for you, then call the police and you can pay them to remove it and if there is damage to the road they will also find you.
There is a simple solution, put a few concrete pipes, as used for the latrines and fill them with soil. make sure they are on the road for 50-60% e.g. next to your driveway and at the neighbour's, if there are complaints you can always say that the work is in preparation and that the supplier has already delivered it, make sure that there is sand in bags. That can remain for years, because you know there is no rush for work. Good luck.
Dear Harm,
I would discuss this problem with the village chief and only then
take action.
At least you have someone to back you up if you run into problems.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
Harm, what do you think of this: Combine Arjen's solution (processing asphalt) with that of Ruud (concrete pipes)?
I can very well imagine that you want to do something about this. Still, think for a moment.
With any work carried out yourself on the public road as a threshold, you can be held liable in the event of calamities.
I can not recommend it, also e.g. placing concrete pipes for 50 to 60% on the road, if you do that you can make sure that cones are placed around those concrete pipes so that you have done risk reduction. Perhaps the “Arjan” solution is one.
Here on our unpaved path we also had one of the neighbors drive over it very hard. That was dangerous, because if you came out of your driveway you ran an increased risk of a collision. Other neighbors put beams on the path, there was protest from the speeding neighbors, even almost a scuffle. It was then solved, let some daily drain water just run out of the driveway, which slowly but surely wears out over the full width of the path, so it is no longer hard to drive over it. No more protest from the speeding neighbors and no more speeding neighbors.
Good consultation with people who are or could be about this seems to me to be the first way to go.
Success.
Nico B
To keep it legal.
Buy two old car wrecks with a valid registration.
Park them on both sides of the road with a mutual distance in the length of the road of about 5 to 8 meters.
This creates a road narrowing of an unprecedented size.
Every time they come racing or storming , they have to reduce speed again , and try to maneuver their truck between the two parked cars .
This takes considerable time.
If one of them rams your wreck at all , you will also recover the damage from them .
Guaranteed they avoid your narrow street like the plague.
And you're not doing anything illegal.
You just say you regularly have acquaintances visiting and they park their vehicles in front of my driveway, due to lack of space.
I think this works better than throwing crow's feet nails or broken beer bottles etc. on the road.
Or make holes in the road yourself or build traffic thresholds without permission from the Amphur or Tessabaan. As a result, innocent road users who normally pass in front of your house every day are not disadvantaged.
Jan Beute.
>I would discuss this problem with the village chief and only then take action.
Agree. Opposite my girlfriend's house in Kampaenphet is the best man. I told him, with her (girlfriend speaks good English), that I did not come to Thailand on vacation, to see people go crazy here every week, especially at the weekend. Sometimes three a night, sometimes with horrific consequences. Can't something be done about that....
We came up with the idea (but I sold it to him as his own) to install an extra lamppost. That costs 30 baht per month (12 + 30 = 360 baht per year) for municipal electricity or something.
Okay well.. scratch it!
And now it's there. And what do you think…lol….few accidents anymore…none for 2 months….
maybe concrete flower boxes are a nice alternative? If you put that zig-zag across the road, it forces traffic to drive slowly. For example, a flower box at the beginning and end of the street.
Can not! You can apply to, I thought the Amphur, and they will have it done, you pay the bill.
There is a very large gap in Thailand between what is not allowed, and what is not done, or what is customary to do. And let me help you out of the dream right away. You should not request it from the Amphur, but from the Tambon.
Perhaps you should also consider whether you will be happy if your illegal solution (if you implement one of the above ideas) actually becomes the cause of a serious accident. What do you say to the relatives, wife, children? Try it first with warning signs, make a large long diagonal cross on the road with barrier tape, etc. In any case, think before you start. Living in Thailand doesn't mean you have to think like a Thai in everything.
Best ,
It is not possible to create an error threshold yourself . Soon you will put one on, if an accident happens they are still able to blame you because you put the threshold there, and if it were not there there would not have been an accident.
I would just go to the police , town hall , or something like that and raise the problem there , until there is an appropriate answer , but taking action yourself is NOT advisable .
Good luck!