This is one of those there are two kinds of people in the world kinds of things.

In this case it's about pedestrians crossing busy roads at traffic lights in Thailand.

 

Here's the setup.

 

You approach such a road and theres a RED light for your crossing but there isn't a count down clock that you can see, so you don't know if it's a FRESH red or a STALE red. In other words,  you don't know if it's safer to cross because you have lots of time OR it will be dangerous to cross because you will have very little time before the light turns to green.

 

However, IF you wait and it turns out it was a fresh red, you'll end up waiting a very long time for the cycle to get to a new fresh red, other pedestrians (particularly devil may care Russians) will have already crossed and given you funny looks for waiting, and Thai motorcycle rank taxi drivers across the road will give you knowing "another pathetic f-rang pussy" looks.

 

So it's a risk/reward and even potentially a life and death choice.

 

So, do you

 

GO without knowing if the red light is fresh or stale saving some time but risking calamity

 

OR

 

WAIT as without knowing if the red light is fresh or stale, being very cautious but with a price as well if it was a fresh red

 

Which kind of person are YOU?

I suggest you don't walk if the light is red. 

3 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

I suggest you don't walk if the light is red. 

Either you didn't understand the setup and/or I did a poor job of communicating it, or you're just being silly. 

You don't specify if the "red light" is the walk/don't walk light for pedestrians at a crosswalk, or if it is the "red light" that is the stop/go for vehicles. At first read I assumed you are referring to the walk/don't walk light for pedestrians.

 

Hence, don't walk on a red light.

 

Regardless, crossing at an intersection is suicidal, controlled or not. Walk 50 yards down the road and then cross - they can only get you from two directions instead of eight. 

1 minute ago, Gsxrnz said:

You don't specify if the "red light" is the walk/don't walk light for pedestrians at a crosswalk, or if it is the "red light" that is the stop/go for vehicles. At first read I assumed you are referring to the walk/don't walk light for pedestrians.

 

Hence, don't walk on a red light.

 

Regardless, crossing at an intersection is suicidal, controlled or not. Walk 50 yards down the road and then cross - they can only get you from two directions instead of eight. 

Talking about the red light for cars.

No one is above the law. 

Crossing at crossings is dangerous, avoid where possible. Vehicles often ignore a "fresh" red

So far this concept of a poll is smelling like it will a total dud.
Oh well, but before saying never mind, may as well wait and see.

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

So far this concept of a poll is smelling like it will a total dud.
Oh well, but before saying never mind, may as well wait and see.

The options aren't good, people usually rush the poll questions

53 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Either you didn't understand the setup and/or I did a poor job of communicating it, or you're just being silly. 

 

The fresh and stale part was confusing

I look to see how many seconds remain on the red.

 

What's the point when motorbikes drive along sidewalks anyway?

 

Eric.

If you grew up in NY, Chicago, London, or Berlin, or almost any other 'major' city (outside of Japan), you learn how to cross busy 4-6 lane roads at an early age, lights or no lights.  You learn how to judge traffic patterns, so crossing just becomes a tactical project to solve.

 

I had to teach my wife how to cross a busy street. She grew up in Japan, where EVERYONE obeys traffic signals as if they were the Word of God. One does NOT jaywalk in Japan, and drivers do NOT jump red lights. It just doesn't normally happen.
She was terrified trying to cross a 4-lane highway without a stoplight or a Zebra crossing to help.  Fortunately, she was a quick study, so no problem now!

 

I follow the green cross code.

 

 

23 minutes ago, johng said:

I follow the green cross code.

 

 

 

He went on to become Darth Vader... 

Crossing the street isn't rocket science to me, so if safe, I cross.

 

If signals controlling pedestrian traffic at location, I may even observe them, IF, PoPo box is there.

 

Yep, I'll jaywalk, even walk under an obvious, nearby pedestrian overpass, especially if a few meters away, and or using the shade being an added plus, besides avoiding the added steps and annoying stairs.

The traffic lights phasing in Pattaya is poor and anti pedestrian. The worst I know of is the junction of Thepprasit road and Thappraya road. Someone waiting to cross Thepprasit road will eventually see a green light ( a man walking ) for pedestrians to cross. However, traffic coming down Thappraya road is still allowed to turn left into Thepprasit road despite a red light. People step out onto the crossing with the green light to cross and then find traffic haring around the corner coming from their right if crossing from the north side of Thepprasit.

Halfwits in charge.

5 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

 

He went on to become Darth Vader... 

 

Indeed,  he was the body actor 

but voice actor was James Earl Jones.

12 minutes ago, potless said:

The traffic lights phasing in Pattaya is poor and anti pedestrian. The worst I know of is the junction of Thepprasit road and Thappraya road. Someone waiting to cross Thepprasit road will eventually see a green light ( a man walking ) for pedestrians to cross. However, traffic coming down Thappraya road is still allowed to turn left into Thepprasit road despite a red light. People step out onto the crossing with the green light to cross and then find traffic haring around the corner coming from their right if crossing from the north side of Thepprasit.

Halfwits in charge.

 

There is no traffic light phasing in Pattaya.  Each set of lights has it's own timer and functions independently of any other set. The BIB change the timer at random or manually flick them on and off willy-nilly in their effort to relocate the traffic jam in front of them to the next set of lights.

 

Ironically, when the lights are faulty and are either totally blank or flashing orange, traffic flows smoothly.

 

I remember a weird day about 10 years ago. A high season Saturday mid-afternoon. For an unknown reason all the lights on 3rd Road, Tai, and Klang were non-operational. Where there should have been multiple gridlocked intersections because of un-sequenced lights that paid no heed to traffic flows, there was nada, nothing, zilch. Plenty of vehicles, but they were all moving. A normal 30 minute high-season drive from Klang to Jomtien took 5 minutes with no stops. 

8 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Ironically, when the lights are faulty and are either totally blank or flashing orange, traffic flows smoothly.

Ive experienced that many times in the UK. 

 

15 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

There is no traffic light phasing in Pattaya.

Fair enough. The timing is anti pedestrian and dangerous. 

A "fresh" or "stale" red light?  You need to come up with better wording.  The way you wrote it is confusing.  I thought you were talking about bread.

In Chiang Mai when I come onto a cross-walk, I mash the button and wait for the red.  Then I LOOK to make sure traffic is stopping.  That LOOK includes checking beyond the cars that have stopped and scanning for motorcycles splitting traffic which are notorious for not stopping.  Then, if the traffic is on a one way street, I LOOK IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION for morons driving the wrong way.  Then I keep my head on a swivel as I cross.  

If crosswalks don't have a button to push, I keep any eye out for the red, and then do all of the above.

If a red light has been on for awhile traffic will begin to run it.  Unless you want a Darwin Award, it's a good idea to wait for the next cycle.  

Back when I was younger and still in athletic condition, i.e., training daily, I'd reach out and knock on the windows of cars/trucks if they run the light when I was in the crosswalk.  If it was a motorcycle I'd reach out and touch the driver.  I never had anyone stop and come back.  Too old and too wise to do that now, I just let it go.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Crossing the street isn't rocket science to me, so if safe, I cross.

 

If signals controlling pedestrian traffic at location, I may even observe them, IF, PoPo box is there.

 

Yep, I'll jaywalk, even walk under an obvious, nearby pedestrian overpass, especially if a few meters away, and or using the shade being an added plus, besides avoiding the added steps and annoying stairs.

Yeah - if there are not cars or motorcycles coming I'll just walk.  Actually safer than waiting for the light.

Here's a way to generalize/universalize this beyond technicalities about traffic lights.

 

First choice

 

Do you tend to take potential bodily harm  risks to save some time and avoid looking cowardly to onlookers?

 

Second choice

 

Do you tend towards possibly excessive caution in order to be safer from bodily harm and swallow your pride knowing that some onlookers may think you're a silly wimp?

12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Do you tend towards possibly excessive caution in order to be safer from bodily harm and swallow your pride knowing that some onlookers may think you're a silly wimp?

Never take into consideration what others think when it comes to safety. Calmly proceed with caution in any situation on any road all the time, never assume anything.

To answer your question, wait unless one is a daredevil.

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Crossing the street isn't rocket science to me, so if safe, I cross.

 

1 hour ago, connda said:

Yeah - if there are not cars or motorcycles coming I'll just walk.  Actually safer than waiting for the light.

Let’s assume that the op lives in a busy hectic area. 
Personally jwalk in most places in cm, even in some of the busiest areas like changphueak, fahham and nimin though I’m pretty nimble for an old crusty geezer and like to walk around a lot everywhere.

Completely off-topic, but I live in the second-largest city in Laos (Luang Prabang, so it's pretty small actually!).

 

As far as I can remember, there is not a single set of traffic lights in the whole city and all the traffic police are asleep.... and the traffic moves smoothly 🙂

 

Lao PDR = Lao, please don't rush.......

On 11/15/2025 at 6:46 AM, Jingthing said:

So far this concept of a poll is smelling like it will a total dud.
Oh well, but before saying never mind, may as well wait and see.

Yeah, but the question is why you refer to red light for cars, and it´s also confusing why you talk about looking at them. Wouldn´t it be better to look at the light for walking? And of course look twice to see if everyone really stopped.

 

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

Completely off-topic, but I live in the second-largest city in Laos (Luang Prabang, so it's pretty small actually!).

 

As far as I can remember, there is not a single set of traffic lights in the whole city and all the traffic police are asleep.... and the traffic moves smoothly 🙂

 

Lao PDR = Lao, please don't rush.......

Yeah, Lao traffic is great. I remeber one time driveing motorbike there. I missed a sign for no turn right, and directly I had a motorbike cop behind me, telling me to stop. I got to go to the police box, and they wanted to take me to the station, but I solved the problem right there. However, I actually appreciated the rapid response. Looked like they had control over it. That was in Savannakhet, and they were not asleep. 😉 

But otherwise, I didn´t see any problem in traffic, and they seemed to drive responsible.

On 11/14/2025 at 9:00 PM, johng said:

I follow the green cross code.

 

I'm with Darth Vader; cross the road if its safe to do so, and don't imagine that colored lights or magical amulets are going to protect you if its not

 

On 11/15/2025 at 11:26 AM, Jingthing said:

Here's a way to generalize/universalize this beyond technicalities about traffic lights.

 

First choice

 

Do you tend to take potential bodily harm  risks to save some time and avoid looking cowardly to onlookers?

 

Second choice

 

Do you tend towards possibly excessive caution in order to be safer from bodily harm and swallow your pride knowing that some onlookers may think you're a silly wimp?

You gotta be kidding me Jing.  You actually worry about what other people think when you cross the road?  That's a new one to me. So let me get this right?  Your behavior in a cross-walk is governed by what your perception of other people think about you.  Very, very, very strange my man.  Very strange. I'm surprised you have survived the streets of Thailand.