Drivers with a need for speed will have to find a new place to zip along at 120 kilometres per hour

Speeders driving at more than 120 kilometres an hour on expressways can expect surprise radar checks and heavy fines.

Driving at 120 exceeds the legal limit of 80kph, says Lt-Colonel Dussadee Sukarasape, a senior traffic policeman attached to an expressway station.

Police have relaxed the universal speed limit of 80 on expressways but are stricter with habitual speeders.

Last year there were 29,548 speeding offences prosecuted. More than 5,000 of these were by women and almost 61,000 were caught on radar checks. The fastest clocked was 272kph.

Motorists caught speeding face a Bt500 fine, deduction of 30 points and a 15-day suspension.

After a long grace period, speed checks are now conducted twice a day, twice a week - at both rush hours and non-rush hours. Mondays and Fridays are the most popular days for speed checks.

Locations and times of these checks are chosen randomly by different police units performing duties on three special toll ways - the first-stage and second-stage expressways, and the Don Muang toll way.

Advance warning

The officer says "speed checks ahead" signs will from now on be erected in advance to warn motorists. Vehicles detected with radar will be issued tickets at tollgates ahead. Violators are required to pay fines within seven days. They can seek picture evidence at police stations the day after.

Dussadee says a new type of radar, although not as sophisticated as those used by the Highway Police, also record pictures along with speed records. "With the previous type we used, traffic policemen had to write down licence plate details and descriptions of violators' cars by hand," he adds.

Buses and lorries with six wheels cannot drive faster than 80 kilometres on expressways and toll ways.

Sakdichote Mangsachart, 32, says he watches out for speed checks whenever he uses toll ways after being fined Bt400 for driving at 136kph - a speed he used to travel at regularly until the surprise checks.

Sucheewa Noothong, 29, says she was recently fined Bt500 for speeding at more than 120kph.