Prawit added that Thailand’s chronic traffic jams would be difficult to solve while Prime Minster General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s suggestion that cars with odd and even licence plate numbers be allowed on the roads only on alternate days would not be easy to implement because motorists would not comply.

The amended laws will address five points: drunk driving – lowering the legal limit, increasing punishments and authorising courts to impound cars; speeding – adjusting speed limits based on locale and road conditions, while increasing punishments; the issuance of driver’s licences – restricting permission to drive to people 20 years or older and making licences “difficult to get, easy to lose”, while prescribing harsher penalties for driving without a licence; the prevention of accidents involving public transport vehicles – requiring bus service operators to submit reports about the condition of their vehicles and maintenance records for licence renewal, while promoting insurance policies; and requiring seat belts for all passengers in private cars.

Prawit said the government was trying to develop public transport including electric trains and buses, while building more roads and regulating public-transport vans to solve traffic problems. He also urged people to use public transportation rather than their cars to save energy and ease traffic conditions.

Authorities were also considering policies to restrict motorcycles to secondary roads and alleys rather than main roads, he added.

Prawit’s comments were made after a meeting of the national road safety committee, which approved in principle a road safety plan for 2017 to 2020.

Responding to the prime minister’s recent comment that a foreign news agency had said Bangkok had the world’s worst traffic jams, national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda yesterday said Prawit would lead authorities’ efforts to solve the problem.

Prayut had instructed the Metropolitan Police Bureau to help to address the problem, Chakthip said, adding that he had told police officers who were in charge of crowd control to temporarily help to direct traffic in the capital.

He said police would discuss the issue with relevant agencies including the Transport Department.