It has been a week since acting Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Sanit Mahathavorn ordered the city's automatic traffic light system be switched off and operated manually.
Traffic police are eager to follow his initiative to stop traffic gridlock during rush hour as they gear up to watch traffic flows on their CCTV screens. In the past, the system was automated. Under the change, officers will switch over to automated signal changes during peak periods only when nature calls.
Lights, cameras, action! The truth is there is no official policy on whether policemen should control traffic lights or set them to automatic. (Photos by Thanarak Khunton)
The potential for human error and officers' toileting needs are two factors that threaten to complicate the change. Few traffic control booths are equipped with a toilet, which means motorists are thrown at the mercy of the old system with a machine governing light changes while officers find inventive ways to relieve themselves and get back to work smartly.
But, looking to ease the massive daily congestion, Pol Lt Gen Sanit reckons the move back to manual controls is worth it, as automated switching is not suitable to control Bangkok's traffic conditions.
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He issued a bold statement that warned traffic police who did not follow the order would be confined at police headquarters for three days.
So, no more digital countdown clock to taunt motorists? And how are traffic signals being operated under the change at rush hour anyway? It hasn't exactly turned out the way Pol Lt Gen Sanit envisaged.
In a police booth on On Nut junction, four CCTV screens show traffic flows on Sukhumvit and On Nut roads.
Pol Sub-Lt Thanitsak Ummaratthanawut, who was on the morning shift, said his tour of duty starts at 5.30am and lasts until 2pm. He said each officer gets a shift -- either a morning, afternoon or a nighttime run -- about once a week on a rotating basis. This is so everyone gets to know first-hand the amount of vehicles on the roads each day.
In his hand was a small remote control he used to operate the traffic signals. His eyes were glued to the screens, his thumb pressing the remote once every minute or so. "Each click of a thumb is based on the number of cars passing through, so there's no definite amount of time to say when's the right time to change red to green, and vice versa. The traffic system can't really be based on a timer, or we would never be able to clear the congestion," Pol Sub-Lt Thanitsak said.
Having to stay inside the air-conditioned booth for about eight hours a day, the officer packs his own lunch and water to minimise the time he has to leave the booth. The small enclosed space has no toilet, and Pol Sub-Lt Thanitsak admitted he has to leave the signals on auto for about two minutes whenever he has to use the toilet at a nearby condominium.
"Currently, we work in two modes. If it's rush hour, or any other time with bad traffic, the system is always on manual. We can't take meals until the congestion clears," said traffic police officer Somporn Wongkum at Phra Khanong police station. The On Nut traffic booth falls in this jurisdiction.
When the traffic is not heavy, he said there's no problem with leaving things on auto mode when necessary. "We have to incorporate technology too, not just pure human labour," Pol Lt Somporn said.
Traffic lights may be on be manual and controlled by officers on the street, or they may still be running on 'automatic' with countdown, such as at the Ban Ma intersection (right).
At Na Ranong five-way intersection, Pol Lt Sujit Muntana said he switches between automatic and manual depending on the traffic situation. "We're quite out on the rim of the city, so it's possible for us to use automatic mode at times," he said.
But is it possible to go completely manual as the acting commissioner wishes it to be? Pol Lt Somporn is saying it is, though he doesn't seem to think it's a feasible option. "If it's an order, then of course we can make it happen," he said. "But we'll also be dead tired. We already have a shortage of traffic police as it is."
Motorists are in a dilemma about what the change could mean for them. Kanokporn, 40, who suffers arduous traffic jams on Silom Road every day to get to her office, said she finds the all-manual plan unnecessary. "The traffic is not bad all day and night. I think the manual mode is good for rush hour but, otherwise, operating the traffic signals on automatic should be just fine. And that should free up police for other jobs, too."
By contrast, Kornchasa Supavarodom, a 25-year-old who works in Salaya, said she's apprehensive about leaving everything in the hands of policemen alone.
"Even with policemen waving and giving signals on the street, it still doesn't help the traffic that much," she said. "Some of the officers just don't know how to go about these things."