Tak highway officials have taken a new step in trying to reduce accidents at its infamous "curve of a hundred corpses" by spreading a special bright red colour on the road.
The red surfacing was recently applied to a 200-metre-long section of the notorious Asian Highway No.12 (Tak-Mae Sot) in tambon Mae Pa in Mae Sot district just before kilometre marker 17. A number of fatal accidents occur at this curve each month when motorists fail to take the bend.
The 88km stretch of the Asia Highway that connects Mae Sot to Tak, named by the media as “death road”, is notorious for its blind bends, rugged mountain climbs, steep descents and gut-wrenching twists.
Many accidents have occurred on a section of narrow, curving and steep mountain road called Doi Ruak between kilometre markers 64 and 69. The Doi Ruak area claimed more than 100 lives last year. Five people were killed in the latest accident late last month involving a pickup truck and a trailer truck.
Sanit Tongma, director of Tak Highway District 2, told Daily News Online that the red surfacing was a cold plastic road marking paint mixed with anti-skid aggregates and glass beads which help reflect light back to drivers at night to improve safety and visibility.
It was designed to alert drivers to slow down and make them aware of the dangerous curve.
“There have been two serious accidents at this spot recently. So we want to do something to make it more observable because all the warning signs along the road may not be enough,” Mr Sanit said.
He said the cold plastic paint was durable and could be used with both asphalt and concrete roads.
If the measure proves successful, Mr Sanit said his agency would apply the same red paint at all dangerous spots along the Mae Sot-Tak Road.
A project to upgrade the two-lane road into four lanes is continuing and is expected to be completed in 2017.
Mr Sanit said the idea of using the red road marking paint was proposed by engineers of a private company contracted to widen the road and approved by the Bureau of Highway Safety following discussions on ways to try to prevent loss of life and decrease accidents along the Mae Sot-Tak road.
