yes, you heard right, urbanization on the Dark Side is unstoppable and we just got our own traffic light on Soi Siam, corner Soi Nongprue. As of yesterday it is blinking.

I'm holding the bets now....will they ever switch it on and if so, how long will it take until they resort black to yellow blinking...

Hope they never switch it on.

Always has been a relatively busy junction, but always moved smoothly in that unique Thai "I go first" way...

On the odd times they put a cop there it started backing up rather badly, if and when they activate the traffic lights it'll most likely start to go hair pulling slow

I don't like the continuing growth, Raro. But, since it is an unstoppable reality, I have to say that the light at that intersection is a necessity. It's been getting pretty nasty there over the last couple of months.

That said, your question about whether or not they'll switch it on, and leave it on, is certainly valid; as is Monty's comment. When it comes to traffic, there is never a proper solution here!

Edited February 17, 201313 yr by angiud
fomt very small

I am 100% sure that years ago, Soi Siam Country Club had priority at this junction. That seemed to work pretty well. But over the last 3 years or so it has become a free-for-all and as such much more likely for accidents to occur. The new lights will not help, only to cause delays and the same accidents will happen as the light jumpers will be tearing along SSCC as usual.

I am 100% sure that years ago, Soi Siam Country Club had priority at this junction. That seemed to work pretty well. But over the last 3 years or so it has become a free-for-all and as such much more likely for accidents to occur. The new lights will not help, only to cause delays and the same accidents will happen as the light jumpers will be tearing along SSCC as usual.

Same is true for all of the major intersections with the RR Bypass. That road is SUPPOSED to have right of way. But those of us who encounter those intersections regularly know dam_n well that there is no such thing as "right of way" there.

I am convinced that the contract for installing those traffic lights (and probably all traffic lights) was "awarded" to a relative of the person in charge of awarding contracts. The installer likely got paid an outrageous sum for the installation, and will never be required to perform maintenance, since the lights will never be switched to fully functional. ... TIT!

Further on down SSCC, on the newly paved section, there are some nice lines painted on the road, but of course they mean absolutely nothing, and there are a couple of stop signs on both ends of the new pavement area, and of course no one is stopping at them. Everyone is driving just like before, no rules, no giving way. Is there a gene missing from these people, the gene for driving? Cars are continually backing blindly out of 7/11, into the intersection, and they even use the middle of the intersection for parking!

I am 100% sure that years ago, Soi Siam Country Club had priority at this junction. That seemed to work pretty well. But over the last 3 years or so it has become a free-for-all and as such much more likely for accidents to occur. The new lights will not help, only to cause delays and the same accidents will happen as the light jumpers will be tearing along SSCC as usual.

Same is true for all of the major intersections with the RR Bypass. That road is SUPPOSED to have right of way. But those of us who encounter those intersections regularly know dam_n well that there is no such thing as "right of way" there.

I am convinced that the contract for installing those traffic lights (and probably all traffic lights) was "awarded" to a relative of the person in charge of awarding contracts. The installer likely got paid an outrageous sum for the installation, and will never be required to perform maintenance, since the lights will never be switched to fully functional. ... TIT!

Someones relative has also gotten a contract to install new overhead signboards at all the junctions along RR Road and installed them so that they block the existing signboards that give exactly the same directions.

And also all those new yellow reflectors along the concrete wall bounding the railway line.

The intersection is bedlam because Thais don't know the road rules & even if they did, they would ignore them.

It is the same as most busy intersections in Thailand, fit only for the quick OR the dead.

I live 1 klm from there & shudder when I pass through it, at night it is even worse.

Driver education, a new concept in Thailand...555

I find the whole right of way thing very interesting and in many ways it is quite primal. Bizarrely, it actually kinda works at many really busy intersections.

I like to think of it along the lines of pack mentality. Initially "the pack" is the stream of vehicles travelling on the North-South route for example. You approach the junction East-West and you are a lone hunter, an outcast, with no choice other than to spectate as the pack passes at their own pace. Then other vehicles join you, and amongst this band of loners and outcasts an unspoken bond forms, borne from all of the individual's (at least temporarily) having the same goal.

As their numbers grow, the East-West group of individuals begins to morph into a unified pack which, over time, begins to become of a size capable of challenging the North-South pack for supremacy rights at the intersection.

A couple of younger, bolder members of the pack (motorcyclists usually) identify a weak link - a wounded or very young member of the North-South pack who is unable to keep pace with the rest of the pack and allows a small gap to appear in the traffic, effectively breaking up the pack. The young upstarts pounce, and take control of the gap. They are quickly followed by the other pack members and the dominance of the East-West pack is apparent to all those arriving at the intersection travelling North-South, who now feel like loners - until their numbers grow...

I find the whole right of way thing very interesting and in many ways it is quite primal. Bizarrely, it actually kinda works at many really busy intersections.

I like to think of it along the lines of pack mentality. Initially "the pack" is the stream of vehicles travelling on the North-South route for example. You approach the junction East-West and you are a lone hunter, an outcast, with no choice other than to spectate as the pack passes at their own pace. Then other vehicles join you, and amongst this band of loners and outcasts an unspoken bond forms, borne from all of the individual's (at least temporarily) having the same goal.

As their numbers grow, the East-West group of individuals begins to morph into a unified pack which, over time, begins to become of a size capable of challenging the North-South pack for supremacy rights at the intersection.

A couple of younger, bolder members of the pack (motorcyclists usually) identify a weak link - a wounded or very young member of the North-South pack who is unable to keep pace with the rest of the pack and allows a small gap to appear in the traffic, effectively breaking up the pack. The young upstarts pounce, and take control of the gap. They are quickly followed by the other pack members and the dominance of the East-West pack is apparent to all those arriving at the intersection travelling North-South, who now feel like loners - until their numbers grow...

That, or it could be a guy who spent the first 20 years of his driving "career" in Boston, and the next 20 in Southern California, who just noses into the intersection - gas-brake, gas-brake - and dares somebody to keep coming! :-)

Never happened to me, in California, but then im from the north bay. People here, have spent the first 20, of their career driving motor bikes, never having seen any drivers education, traffic rules, or dont even care. At least in Boston or Cali, when someone makes a mistake or is just a plain ass, he knows it, but here, they havent even a clue that they made a mistake, or many mistakes, so there is really no hope!

I find the whole right of way thing very interesting and in many ways it is quite primal. Bizarrely, it actually kinda works at many really busy intersections.

I like to think of it along the lines of pack mentality. Initially "the pack" is the stream of vehicles travelling on the North-South route for example. You approach the junction East-West and you are a lone hunter, an outcast, with no choice other than to spectate as the pack passes at their own pace. Then other vehicles join you, and amongst this band of loners and outcasts an unspoken bond forms, borne from all of the individual's (at least temporarily) having the same goal.

As their numbers grow, the East-West group of individuals begins to morph into a unified pack which, over time, begins to become of a size capable of challenging the North-South pack for supremacy rights at the intersection.

A couple of younger, bolder members of the pack (motorcyclists usually) identify a weak link - a wounded or very young member of the North-South pack who is unable to keep pace with the rest of the pack and allows a small gap to appear in the traffic, effectively breaking up the pack. The young upstarts pounce, and take control of the gap. They are quickly followed by the other pack members and the dominance of the East-West pack is apparent to all those arriving at the intersection travelling North-South, who now feel like loners - until their numbers grow...

Probably the best description of Thai driving habits ever

I find the whole right of way thing very interesting and in many ways it is quite primal. Bizarrely, it actually kinda works at many really busy intersections.

I like to think of it along the lines of pack mentality. Initially "the pack" is the stream of vehicles travelling on the North-South route for example. You approach the junction East-West and you are a lone hunter, an outcast, with no choice other than to spectate as the pack passes at their own pace. Then other vehicles join you, and amongst this band of loners and outcasts an unspoken bond forms, borne from all of the individual's (at least temporarily) having the same goal.

As their numbers grow, the East-West group of individuals begins to morph into a unified pack which, over time, begins to become of a size capable of challenging the North-South pack for supremacy rights at the intersection.

A couple of younger, bolder members of the pack (motorcyclists usually) identify a weak link - a wounded or very young member of the North-South pack who is unable to keep pace with the rest of the pack and allows a small gap to appear in the traffic, effectively breaking up the pack. The young upstarts pounce, and take control of the gap. They are quickly followed by the other pack members and the dominance of the East-West pack is apparent to all those arriving at the intersection travelling North-South, who now feel like loners - until their numbers grow...

Very clever, that is a great description of Thai mentality on the BTS and entering a shopping centre. One sign of weakness in giving them space & the pack will charge at you.