U-Turn Closures On Sukhumvit. What'S Up?

[craigt3365]

Just got back from a quick trip around town and noticed a number of U-turn areas blocked off with barriers. Heading south, the one just past Makro is closed, making the turn at Soi Wat Boon a HUGE mess. Really dangerous. The one past floating market is closed also...

Is this being done for NY's eve????

[bazmlb]

A derogatory post has been removed, please remember the forum rules when posting

[Mobi]

Hmm. I wonder why? Either too many accidents late night, or maybe cutting off potential escape routes when they set up the New Year road blocks to check for drunk drivers.

Either way it's a pain....

The U-Turn system in Thailand is a wonderful thing to behold, and by and large it works pretty well.

[Rimmer]

The one at the Floating Market is a death trap and needed to be closed. It will force the tour buses to use the next one along and will give them time to merge into it rather than going straight across and causing accidents.

[BB1950]

The one at the Floating Market is a death trap and needed to be closed. It will force the tour buses to use the next one along and will give them time to merge into it rather than going straight across and causing accidents.

For sure!

[gmac]

Hmm. I wonder why? Either too many accidents late night, or maybe cutting off potential escape routes when they set up the New Year road blocks to check for drunk drivers.

Either way it's a pain....

The U-Turn system in Thailand is a wonderful thing to behold, and by and large it works pretty well.

A wonderful thing to behold??? Are you having a laugh. Absolute disaster, cause so many accidents and the u-turn culture is so firmly ingrained that they try them anywhere and to h*ll with other road users.

[craigt3365]

I'm guess Mobi is right. It's a way to cut off the escape routes for those trying to avoid the roadblocks! We're not leaving the village that night!

[Mobi]

Today, as it happens I went past the two U-turns in question and can see what Rimmer means about the one near the floating market which clearly needs to be blocked. As for the other one near Macro, maybe that too needs to be blocked as I used the Wat Boon U-turn twice today with little problem. Maybe Craig hit it at a bad time.

U-turns can indeed be a wonderful thing when used properly and are no more dangerous than any other traffic manoeuvre on the Thai roads when used in the correct manner. The Thai driving culture is used to the concept of U-turns, and they are used throughout the country, including Bangkok and by and large work very well. In many places traffic would grind to a permanent halt without the use of U-turns.

When it is found that certain U-turns cause undue jams or many accidents, then they are closed, which seems to be the case of the two in question.

To claim that U-Turns cause accidents is not much different to saying that traffic lights cause accidents, because many drivers drive though red lights and have head-on collisions. So would you ban them?

Yes, Thailand has a an ingrained U-turn culture, so use it to your benefit rather than trying to denigrate it, because believe you me, it isn't about to go away.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Mobi

[craigt3365]

The problem with U-turns here...heck...turns in general...is they tend to do it NYC style. Not only using the turn lane, but blocking the "fast" lane and trying to cut in front of everybody else, but blocking off that inside lane. Happens at Wat Boon all the time. As well as all the other turns on Suk. Especially heading South, Central, South and Thepprasit are ones where you have to be really careful. No signals, just a stop in the fast lane.

[janverbeem]

They close a lot of U-turns this week nationwide as these are considered dangerous days.What they actually do is moving the problem to the next u-turn.

[Mobi]

The problem with U-turns here...heck...turns in general...is they tend to do it NYC style. Not only using the turn lane, but blocking the "fast" lane and trying to cut in front of everybody else, but blocking off that inside lane. Happens at Wat Boon all the time. As well as all the other turns on Suk. Especially heading South, Central, South and Thepprasit are ones where you have to be really careful. No signals, just a stop in the fast lane.

Yes, of course you are quite correct and nobody is excusing this kind of dangerous driving.

But the fact remains that if people stopped in a fast lane in the UK, there would be a blood bath, because the drivers are simply not expecting anything like that to happen and if it does, they seem unable to react in time.

The same goes for many dangerous manoeuvres that drivers carry out on the road here by far the main one being vehicles suddenly coming out from a side soi in front of you and cutting you off and forcing you to brake to avoid an accident. Again, in the UK and I dare say many western countries, there would be frequent accidents.

But here, most experienced drivers always expect the unexpected, and just because the road in front of you appears to be clear, (whatever lane you happen to be in), there is no guarantee that things won't change at a moment's notice so you better be ALWAYS on your guard.

If you ask a Thai driver why he drove out from a side soi in front of you, forcing you to brake to avoid an accident, he will tell you that he knew you had plenty of time to brake, therefore he had the right to go first, because he was effectively in front of you.

There are a huge number of accidents and deaths on the roads here in Thailand, but a vast majority involve motorbikes. I don't know if anyone has the stats on 4 wheeled vehicles involved in accidents, but I doubt it is that much higher than it is in the west.

This is the way they drive here - inherited from the days when most of the transport weaved it's way between each other along the rivers and klongs on water craft and still deeply embedded in the Thai psyche.

Foreign drivers need to adapt or.... die?

[Langsuan Man]

The one at the Floating Market is a death trap and needed to be closed. It will force the tour buses to use the next one along and will give them time to merge into it rather than going straight across and causing accidents.

Correct, but until then they installed rumble strips so that I would be reminded that I am coming up to the only area on Sukumvit where there are tour buses double and sometimes triple parked

[craigt3365]

Agreed. Most accidents/fatalities here involve scooters...but many are involved with a car. Here's an interesting quote (I think the UK has a similar statement):

the US State Department has ranked Thailand as the world's second most dangerous country (after Honduras) in terms of the number of road fatalities suffered by American tourists.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/522277-the-undocumented-dangers-of-thailands-roads/

Here's an interesting article from Wikipedia. Fatalities are much higher here than in the west. In the article above, they say the stats here are under reported. I've heard that about China also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

[MJCM]

Just came back from my friends house on the other side of Sukhumvit (Siam CC). Going and coming back to this side of the Sukhumvit was a nightmare as traffic was horrendous and all the u-turns and even the road to Pattaya Klang, and also the turn into Siam CC are blocked off. Not a lot of Police insight, only a single traffic cop at the turn in to Pattaya Klang. Fortunately I went by Bike and not by car.

[PattayaParent]

It's traffic control for New Year's Eve, the local cops want to make sure the influx of Bangkokians spend hours sat in traffic jams so they feel at home and at the same time piss off all the local residents who will blame the Bangkokians for the problem.

The cops can just sit back and have a good laugh at it all with a few beers.

[craigt3365]

I ended up doing NYE locally. Only had to drive across Suk and back home. So was lucky I didn't have to deal with the traffic on Suk as originally planned. Got lazy.

But the fireworks view from down here on the beach was amazing. One of the best experiences I've had. Vegas, NYC, etc. included!!!

[PattayaPhom]

Its done in most parts of Thailand on major highways at holidays....maybe have to drive a few minutes more but with the way people drive here and the influx of thosands of extra veichles it probably saves hundreds of lives each time....