Thrappaya Rd-Jomtien End.

[Traxster]

Speaking of roads...

who was the 'genius' who designed the Jomtien side of Thrappaya Rd.after Thepprasit Rd..

Y'know...where if you want to enter View Talay 5 or the gates opposite Thepprasit you have to drive all the way down almost to the bottom of the road

do a 'U-turn' into the face of the on-coming traffic and then drive all the way back to your destination.

And do the opposite if you want to get into Thepprasit Rd.

Yesterday there were about 20 cars lined up in the right hand lane waiting to do the U-turn and then of course you get the impatient drivers who seem to think that they are better than the rest of us and so they drive down in the left hand lane until they get to the u-turn section and then push their way into the queue.......I hate those people.

So who designed that and what was he /she on when she/he thought it up ?

[LennyW]

Lao Khao !

[BugJackBaron]

Now you go me going! As for the New Jomtien 2nd road and Thrappaya jomien just off from it:

The streetlights recently installed are sometimes on during the day(new 2nd road near jJomien market) and others - down that same road and even on Thrappaya are off during the night.

Glad I got that out.

[PattayaParent]

It's much better having the U-turns than having an entry / exit for every single property along that road.

Can you imagine the chaos there would be in that case with the vehicles having to turn across 3 or 4 lanes of oncoming traffic? Like the situation at Foodmart where drivers won't go up to the u-turn? Better limit that chaos to only 1 or 2 locations with dedicated u-turns.

Things will be a bit better when the lights are restored at the Thepprasit junction but the OP sounds just as impatient as the drivers he complains about if he's not prepared to drive 100m down the road to make a turn and wants to do it right outside his own place.

[Heng]

Have to use that u-turn just about every single day. Not a big deal.

[gmac]

It's much better having the U-turns than having an entry / exit for every single property along that road.

Can you imagine the chaos there would be in that case with the vehicles having to turn across 3 or 4 lanes of oncoming traffic? Like the situation at Foodmart where drivers won't go up to the u-turn? Better limit that chaos to only 1 or 2 locations with dedicated u-turns.

Things will be a bit better when the lights are restored at the Thepprasit junction but the OP sounds just as impatient as the drivers he complains about if he's not prepared to drive 100m down the road to make a turn and wants to do it right outside his own place.

Yes, but why U-turns? The one mentioned here is even more dangerous and difficult than most. Why on earth won't the Thais invest in roundabouts/traffic circles and take the time to educate people to use them. After the initial chaos they would cut out so many accidents and delays.

[PattayaParent]

It's much better having the U-turns than having an entry / exit for every single property along that road.

Can you imagine the chaos there would be in that case with the vehicles having to turn across 3 or 4 lanes of oncoming traffic? Like the situation at Foodmart where drivers won't go up to the u-turn? Better limit that chaos to only 1 or 2 locations with dedicated u-turns.

Things will be a bit better when the lights are restored at the Thepprasit junction but the OP sounds just as impatient as the drivers he complains about if he's not prepared to drive 100m down the road to make a turn and wants to do it right outside his own place.

Yes, but why U-turns? The one mentioned here is even more dangerous and difficult than most. Why on earth won't the Thais invest in roundabouts/traffic circles and take the time to educate people to use them. After the initial chaos they would cut out so many accidents and delays.

Because Thais don't know how to use roundabouts, just look at the confusion at Dolphin roundabout and I doubt 'education' will help, look at all the other traffic rules that they either don't know or ignore.

Hannuman statue used to be a roundabout at one time by the way.

[Spalpeen]

My pet hate when driving in Thailand is the vermin who try to push their way around the outside when you're turning or u-turning to the right. They're all big men when they're hiding behind the wheel of a car and it happens all the time at the u-turn mentioned by the OP.

[jombom]

This particular U-turn is chaotic at times. Today, at about 13.00, I was driving along with the intention of going straight ahead. Thapraya road has 4 lanes at this point.

The left hand lane was full of parked cars, and the 2 outside lanes were being used by traffic waiting to use the U-turn, only leaving 1 lane for other traffic. This results in big bottleneck and tailbacks. It can be absolute chaos at rush-hour.

[salty]

My pet hate when driving in Thailand is the vermin who try to push their way around the outside when you're turning or u-turning to the right. They're all big men when they're hiding behind the wheel of a car and it happens all the time at the u-turn mentioned by the OP.

Needs the little people to sort them out. No "Go n-eirigh an bothar leat" in these cases.

[toenail]

Thais drive like the locals do in the Middle East. This is not a compliment. --But the places that have drivers as if they are riding elephants or camels is due to the fact of no driving education and/or no law enforcement of laws. Heck, if my country didn't have police passing out tickets/ fines for speeding and not following rules of drviing, I'd be driving like an idiot for sure.

[BeardedDragon]

Well, like topic starter says, I asked myself the same question regarding the U Turn located between the A and S condo's for Jomtien Beach Condominium.

When I lived there, a bit over a year ago they designed a same sort of U Turn there. It was not busy at that time yet, but over the years more will be build on each side of the road. That will autmaticly mean more traffic. Wonder how that U Turn point will do during rush hours.

[PattayaParent]

This particular U-turn is chaotic at times. Today, at about 13.00, I was driving along with the intention of going straight ahead. Thapraya road has 4 lanes at this point.

The left hand lane was full of parked cars, and the 2 outside lanes were being used by traffic waiting to use the U-turn, only leaving 1 lane for other traffic. This results in big bottleneck and tailbacks. It can be absolute chaos at rush-hour.

Enforcement of the traffic laws is the main problem.

It would be a good tea money collection spot for an enterprising cop.

Edited November 3, 2011 by PattayaParent

[gmac]

It's much better having the U-turns than having an entry / exit for every single property along that road.

Can you imagine the chaos there would be in that case with the vehicles having to turn across 3 or 4 lanes of oncoming traffic? Like the situation at Foodmart where drivers won't go up to the u-turn? Better limit that chaos to only 1 or 2 locations with dedicated u-turns.

Things will be a bit better when the lights are restored at the Thepprasit junction but the OP sounds just as impatient as the drivers he complains about if he's not prepared to drive 100m down the road to make a turn and wants to do it right outside his own place.

Yes, but why U-turns? The one mentioned here is even more dangerous and difficult than most. Why on earth won't the Thais invest in roundabouts/traffic circles and take the time to educate people to use them. After the initial chaos they would cut out so many accidents and delays.

Because Thais don't know how to use roundabouts, just look at the confusion at Dolphin roundabout and I doubt 'education' will help, look at all the other traffic rules that they either don't know or ignore.

Hannuman statue used to be a roundabout at one time by the way.

The Dolphin isn't a good example of a roundabout as one road on and one off are one-way which distorts the natural calming effect that it should have. As far as educating Thais on their use goes, one only has to look at the lack queues evident when traffic lights fail to realise that they are not entirely stupid................some form of order obviously prevails which works a dam_n sight better than either traffic lights or police control.

Didn't realise Hanuman statue was once a roundabout.......must have been before my time!

[richsilver]

The traffic lights at Theprasit are now functioning! They were turned on sometime this afternoon and traffic is really flowing much more smoothly.

[Spalpeen]

"The Dolphin isn't a good example of a roundabout as one road on and one off are one-way which distorts the natural calming effect that it should have. As far as educating Thais on their use goes, one only has to look at the lack queues evident when traffic lights fail to realise that they are not entirely stupid................some form of order obviously prevails which works a dam_n sight better than either traffic lights or police control. "

Strangely, this is true. I remember when the traffic lights at the Thappraya/Thepprasit junction were removed. I was expecting it to be chaos. In reality, without red lights to run everyone proceeded more carefully and I saw far less accidents at the junction.

[bartender100]

Another big problem is people who decide to stop on the inside lane, probably to answer a call or something, forcing everyone to go around them causing more chaos. There is also a bust main at the Pratanmak lights right in the middle of the road, look out for a big pot hole there soon, been pouring out for 36 odd hours

[joker7]

Ive always found it useful if people are trying to undercut you on the motorway when there are roadworks ahead just hang out level with the car next to you on the outside lane - then when you come to turn in you've a whole line of traffic behind you. Everything speeds up ahead of you - no idiots flying past you trying to cut in - you then get to watch 20 cars behind you try to push themselves in as theyve no idea what you were trying to do !!

[Spalpeen]

Ive always found it useful if people are trying to undercut you on the motorway when there are roadworks ahead just hang out level with the car next to you on the outside lane - then when you come to turn in you've a whole line of traffic behind you. Everything speeds up ahead of you - no idiots flying past you trying to cut in - you then get to watch 20 cars behind you try to push themselves in as theyve no idea what you were trying to do !!

Not many people realise that in Thailand, on a multi lane highway, it's legal to overtake on the left (undertake, if you like) as long as there is an empty lane between you and the vehicle you are passing. Of course the stock-car-racing kind of ignorance you see on the road to Bangkok is entirely illegal and sooner or later ends up in a red puddle.

[PattayaParent]

Another big problem is people who decide to stop on the inside lane, probably to answer a call or something, forcing everyone to go around them causing more chaos. There is also a bust main at the Pratanmak lights right in the middle of the road, look out for a big pot hole there soon, been pouring out for 36 odd hours.

Days more like, there was a leak there last Sunday.

The water leaks there have been a problem for the 5 years I've lived there. They're competing to break Soi Nern Plub Wan's record for the longest water leak in history.

Edited November 4, 2011 by PattayaParent

[PattayaParent]

It's much better having the U-turns than having an entry / exit for every single property along that road.

Can you imagine the chaos there would be in that case with the vehicles having to turn across 3 or 4 lanes of oncoming traffic? Like the situation at Foodmart where drivers won't go up to the u-turn? Better limit that chaos to only 1 or 2 locations with dedicated u-turns.

Things will be a bit better when the lights are restored at the Thepprasit junction but the OP sounds just as impatient as the drivers he complains about if he's not prepared to drive 100m down the road to make a turn and wants to do it right outside his own place.

Yes, but why U-turns? The one mentioned here is even more dangerous and difficult than most. Why on earth won't the Thais invest in roundabouts/traffic circles and take the time to educate people to use them. After the initial chaos they would cut out so many accidents and delays.

Because Thais don't know how to use roundabouts, just look at the confusion at Dolphin roundabout and I doubt 'education' will help, look at all the other traffic rules that they either don't know or ignore.

Hannuman statue used to be a roundabout at one time by the way.

The Dolphin isn't a good example of a roundabout as one road on and one off are one-way which distorts the natural calming effect that it should have. As far as educating Thais on their use goes, one only has to look at the lack queues evident when traffic lights fail to realise that they are not entirely stupid................some form of order obviously prevails which works a dam_n sight better than either traffic lights or police control.

Didn't realise Hanuman statue was once a roundabout.......must have been before my time!

The lack of queues are because there are no traffic lights to hold up the traffic.

What distorts the calming affect of the roundabout is that drivers don't give way to traffic on the roundabout as they should, they drive straight on and stop which causes gridlock. Other countries have solved this problem by putting traffic light on the roundabouts.

[Barack]

The traffic lights at Theprasit are now functioning! They were turned on sometime this afternoon and traffic is really flowing much more smoothly.

Agreed, the traffic flow is vastly improved with hardly any cars in the ques for the U-turns. I was able to make a right turn from Thappraya to Theprisit road on the green arrow without any problems. Don't understand what is happening with that police box. First they build it now it looks like they are tearing it down.

[Tokay]

Because Thais don't know how to use roundabouts, just look at the confusion at Dolphin roundabout and I doubt 'education' will help, look at all the other traffic rules that they either don't know or ignore.

Hannuman statue used to be a roundabout at one time by the way.

Circles can confuse simpletons. Besides, U-Turns are much better when you're driving drunk.