Drones being used to help manage Thai holiday traffic

A fleet of drones is being deployed by the Royal Thai Air Force to assist the Department of Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation manage traffic on the country’s main highways over the year-end holiday period. The period is also one of the two ost dangerous times on Thai roads; the other being over the Songkran holiday break.

Thai PBS World reports that the drones will provide real-time information to the DPDPM, helping them to identify congestion trouble-spots as road users travel to meet family and friends for New Year celebrations and then make a safe return journey to the capital after the holiday.

It’s understood that some special “pit stops” have also been created near RTAF bases or flying schools, where drivers and passengers can take a break and a free tea or coffee.

Meanwhile, several wheelchair users, victims of past drink-driving accidents, gathered to campaign against drinking and driving. Their pleas have been aired on Thai television.

The campaigners assembled at a highway rest-stop in Chainat province, central Thailand, with one 44 year old man, Somnoek Pethuabua, explaining that he’s been in a wheelchair since the age of seven, after being in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, that also killed his father.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World