Traffic Lights In Los...

[Jim's_a_Thai_Fox]

Hi,

what's the longest time you've had to wait at a set of red lights in LOS?

I reckon that I had a 4 minute+ wait yesterday in Nakhon Pathom.

Any longer ones out there?

Does the system of leaving them on green / red for long periods help with traffic flow? I'm sure it's better than lights that rapidly change, but it seems that if lights are on red for too long, the entire city can almost come to a standstill as the sois get clogged up and no one leaves space for others to pull out...

(I guess I have too much time on my hands to think about such a topic!)

[Crossy]

Anyone who's tried turning right off Petchburi into Asoke (under the flyover) will know what a wait is, never actually timed it, but it must be several minutes and the filter is only green for a few seconds. It's actually quicker to go straight across over the flyover then do 3 left turns.

Whilst we were doing the traffic study for a project around Chong Nonsi we got some figures for average peak-hour waits (not cycle times mind you) at various junctions in the area, the longest I saw was 2700 seconds (that's 45 minutes to save you doing the sums) scary.

[bino]

I can recall sitting at the Viphavadi Rangsit / Pahonyothin road junction before the flyovers were opened for 30 minutes- two cycles of green light to get through.

Timing it was easy- they had just installed the digital light counters, and they happened to be counting upwards. Watched it count to 700 - twice!

More recently, I have sat for more than 30 minutes trying to turn right onto Sukhumvit from Thonglor on a Friday afternoon. The light cycled many times, but the traffic on Sukhumvit wasn't moving.

The light on Rama 9 at Ramkamhaeng if you are coming from the airport towards the city is a killer also- more than 4 minutes.

[Farma]

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of being briefed on kidnap avoidance by a former member of the British SAS.

When it came to avoiding stops at red lights he mentioned lights are timed to cycle between 60 to 90 seconds.

I guess stops are unavoidable at the intersections mentioned above.

[triplegee]

Long delays at traffic lights are the norm here in Bangkok. Which is why it strikes me as crazy having the timers on the lights which have been installed on most traffic lights here.

There's nothing worse than seeing the lights change and watching the clock tick over to 189 seconds! I'd rather not know. I can't help but think it contributes to driver frustration. I'd love to know what the rationale for the introduction of the countdown clock was.

I can relate to Crossy's traffic study - I live on Sathorn and there's many times when I have been stuck in a taxi on Sathorn for 45 minutes plus - the combination of rain and Friday peak hour is a killer.

[Tony Clifton]

There's a set of lights near here that had a timer counting up! No sh!t.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Tony Clifton

[Axel]

The best are the hand-operated signals. Especially effective when the man in charge is busy on the phone and forgets to change.

[Plus]

There's nothing worse than seeing the lights change and watching the clock tick over to 189 seconds! I'd rather not know. I can't help but think it contributes to driver frustration. I'd love to know what the rationale for the introduction of the countdown clock was.

First there were trial runs, then public survey, then they installed them all over the city. I suspect the survey covered only the executives of the supplying company.

Knowing how much time you have at the intersection is convenient - you can read the newspaper, drink coffee, make a phone call and then you know exactly when it's time to release handbrakes and shift into gear. It also usually tells you how much time is left for the green, so you can make a dash in the next lane, or decide against it.

Personal preferences aside, if the overall traffic moves faster through an intersection there are benefits for everybody, including those who hate the clocks.

[chiang mai]

Longest wait at a red light was eleven minutes, half an hour ago here in CM during rush hour. I do wish they wouldn't let the boys in brown press the buttons.

[ProThaiExpat]

The OP question really is not definitive due to the larege number of lights that are controlled by the police.

I have seen many instances where the police allow one direction of traffic so much precedence over the other that one wonders about sanity. My best guess is that there is a policy to favor traffic entering the city during the moring and exiting the city at night.

Traffic flow is their objective but what can they do when drivers block intersections during light changes.

Traffic congestion may well be the reason so few large city dwellers don't own vehicles. If they do own them, perhaps they leave them in the garage except for weekends, what with parking what it is.

[jumnien]

I was up in the middle of nowhere north of Kalasin and came to a T-intersection with a flashing red light. I waited in my car for 3 days and it never did change! Had to back up, turn around, and go around the other way.