New traffic lights re-ignite on dangerous stretch of Phuket road

[Lite Beer]

New traffic lights re-ignite on dangerous stretch of Phuket road
Phuket Gazette

Workers prepare paint lines for the new intersection in Thalang. The traffic lights became operational on Thursday. Photo: Leslie Porterfield

PHUKET: One of the deadliest stretches of Thepkrasattri Road got new traffic lights on Thursday. Or rather, got its old ones up and operating again.

The 2.9m baht lights, located at the Baan Khaolarn intersection between the PTT station in Sri Soonthorn and Tesco Lotus in Thalang, have been installed to increase safety in the area, said Director of Phuket Highways Samak Luedwonghad.

“There have been five accidents on this stretch in the last three months, two of which had fatalities,” he said late last month.

He was not including the death on Thursday of a woman who was crossing the street when she was struck by a hit-and-run Chinese tour bus, nor the three deaths over the past Christmas and New Year period reported by the Phuket Gazette.

The 5.5km of road between the circle at Heroine’s Monument and the traffic light at Tesco Lotus Thalang has four u-turns but nothing to slow the speed of vehicles hurrying along Phuket’s main south-north route towards the airport, Sarasin Bridge and other provinces.

There used to be a traffic light at the Baan Khaolarn intersection, but it was removed some years ago because authorities felt traffic volume wasn’t enough to warrant it, Mr Samak said.

However, the number of cars and motorbikes has increased and the area has developed and gotten more crowded, he said.

“Putting the traffic lights here will reduce the number of accidents on the road. It will help reduce the speed of traffic, make a safe place to u-turn and increase the safety of nearby u-turns as well,” said Thalang police Deputy Traffic inspector Sarayuth Meeboon.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/New-traffic-lights-re-ignite-on-dangerous-stretch-of-Phuket-road-22427.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-10-05

[Redhawk]

The only thing I see here is, traffic lights are often disobeyed by the Thai!

[scar2]

Why not get rid of all the U turns? That would save many lives every day.

[LincsLad]

They re-ignited? Really? Someone call the Fire Brigade.

[Asur]

And now one of the most dangerous stretch close to Nai Harn beach got signal light with 10 sec interval ..so stupid!

[Phronesis]

Another moronic waste of money.

Why didn't they relocate the heroines monument into the vacant land next to the museum, and put the traffic lights on that intersection. Then the ridiculous peak hour temporary u-turns could be eliminated all together and some real progress, in both traffic flow and safety, made.

[Carrerakiss]

What about a speed limit monitored by speed cameras? That would allow traffic to flow smoothly at a safe speed. Sorry, forgot where I was for a moment.

The traffic lights on Sai Yuan road near Nai Harn beach are a joke. There has never been any traffic jams there and the new lane markings, if followed, do not allow buses to turn the corner without hitting oncoming traffic waiting for the lights to change.

Meanwhile, the busy three way junction further up the village by 7-11, does not even have road markings to show who has right of way! Amazingly, that system works. Confusion over who has right of way, slows down the traffic. Thai logic, finally it works.

[thhMan]

Whats wrong with having the police do their job.

[johna]

Whats wrong with having the police do their job.

they are doing their job, you need to adjust your job description.

[truckerjoe]

Many Thais ignore the lights, here in Pattaya, No in fact everywhere I have driven in Thailand..

There was a huge expenditure in Pattaya a while ago erecting pedestrian crossings on Beach road and Second road,

Complete waste of money as hardly anyone stopped for a red light, much to the horror of many tourists,

And those enlightened few that did stop risked getting shunted by those that were ignorant of traffic laws, or just didn't give a damn.

Last time I looked they were no longer in use!

[madmitch]

Another moronic waste of money.

Why didn't they relocate the heroines monument into the vacant land next to the museum, and put the traffic lights on that intersection. Then the ridiculous peak hour temporary u-turns could be eliminated all together and some real progress, in both traffic flow and safety, made.

If Thai drivers were actually trained to use a roundabout/traffic circle, there would be no need for the dangerous u-turns anyway.