(Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)A total of 672 passenger vans have failed safety inspections and been taken off the roads, while 8,750 others, or 6.3% of all vans in service, have deficiencies that need to be corrected, according to the Land Transport Department. The checks were conducted over the past two weeks on public vans and drivers at 229 bus terminals across the country in line with public transport checklists, said Cherdchai Sanunsrisakorn, deputy director-general of the department. Of that number, 672 failed to pass safety checks and were ordered to stop services. Mr Cherdchai said the inspections were aimed at improving passenger safety and reducing road accidents involving passenger vans. The government has vowed to phase out passenger vans on all routes longer than 100 kilometres and replace them with mini-buses that are supposed to be safer.

Source: Bangkok Post February 03, 2017 11:15 UTC