Policeman driven mad by traffic

(First Edition)

BANGKOK Oct 13 (AFP) A stressed-out Bangkok Thai traffic policeman was taken to a mental hospital after turning all the traffic lights at his intersection to green and dancing amid the ensuing chaos. , local newspapers reported yesterdayWednesday.

The 25-year-old officer, stationed at one of the city's worst crossroads nicknamed Hell Intersection by Bangkok motorists was taken to a mental institution and diagnosed as suffering from severe mental illness, the reports said.

Many of Bangkok's traffic policemen suffer from respiratory and hearing problems caused by the high levels of air and noise pollution. Some police booths at the worst intersections are even equipped with oxygen tanks for the relief of long-suffering officers.

Commuters fare nolittle better,. They spending the equivalent of 40 days a year stuck in traffic jams, and burning up pounds 250m worth of petrol a year. each year just waiting for the traffic lights to change But the traffic chaos has done little to quench Bangkok's Thais the desire for vehicles - 250,000 new cars were sold in the city there in the first half of this year. And so were thousands of in-car chamber pots.