Disappearance of traffic light countdown displays

[Trujillo]

I've been away for a bit, but I notice that the numeric countdown displays are gone from the traffic lights at my local intersections. Is this a city-wide thing? Why spend the money to put them up only to take them down?

What's the thinking here?

[MESmith]

Might have moved them

[worgeordie]

The ones at Meechok Plaza are gone,its a pity as now a small delay while

motorists put the car in gear and pull away,have you noticed how slow they

pull away on green, but fly through when its orange.

regards worgeordie

[chingmai331]

Any ideas on why the removals? Seems very counterproductive, but i am learning that such is the Thai way of life.

[flare]

They're still up at the intersection of the Canal Road and Middle Ring Road, and at the airport road intersection on Hang Dong Road near the Tesco in Mae Hia (though they seem to be turned off in the afternoon).

[hml367]

You can check to see if their are sensors now embedded in the roadway before the lights.

Some intersections I know have been changed from timing to traffic sensors.

[T_Dog]

They were probably causing unpeace with drivers.

[prism]

The ones at Meechok Plaza are gone,its a pity as now a small delay while

motorists put the car in gear and pull away,have you noticed how slow they

pull away on green, but fly through when its orange.

regards worgeordie

I miss them too, but the new system with the sensors embedded in the roadway before the lights somehow makes the timing of the lights a lot better.

[rawhod]

If you are travelling at peak times when the traffic lights are on manual with the police controlling them, any count down would disabled.

[KMartinHandyman]

I noticed motorbikes and often the first car watched them to jump into the intersection a fraction early especially if they are wishing to make a turn.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jonwilly]

I miss the countdown lights.

Considered them an aid .

john

[Loaded]

They were probably causing unpeace with drivers.

Suggesting unpeace as a cause is an act of unpeace. You will be attending attitude adjustment at your nearest military barracks to correct your thoughts and to bring happiness and un-unpeace to the Kingdom.

[Trujillo]

I will look again, but I did not see any evidence of sensors in the road near my place. I did notice that the light cycle was very short in every direction and allowed about half a dozen cars to make it through each time. As has been said, it takes 20 seconds for the fifth car to even get moving up to the intersection line, so a 30-second timer each way makes little sense.

My guess is that the happiness officials saw the counters as something to "beat" at the end and reasoned (oxymoron there) that removing them would eliminate those trying to get through the intersection at the last second.

[trainman34014]

I've been told that they keep failing and a lot of them can't be fixed (at least not by Thai 'engineers' anyway). Probably cheap junk bought with residue of original budget after cream off's.

[Oscar2]

they are going around town removing/replacing them. most are gone now.

[Beng]

The ones at Meechok Plaza are gone,its a pity as now a small delay while

motorists put the car in gear and pull away,have you noticed how slow they

pull away on green, but fly through when its orange.

regards worgeordie

They even fly though red

[Beng]

If you are travelling at peak times when the traffic lights are on manual with the police controlling them, any count down would disabled.

They are playing with them, not controlling.

[Chiengmaijoe]

The ones at Meechok Plaza are gone,its a pity as now a small delay while

motorists put the car in gear and pull away,have you noticed how slow they

pull away on green, but fly through when its orange.

regards worgeordie

I miss them too, but the new system with the sensors embedded in the roadway before the lights somehow makes the timing of the lights a lot better.

About 20 years ago a group of British expats were in town supervising the installation of road sensors on Thapae rd, Huey Kaew rd and a few other busy intersections. Practically before they'd finished testing the system the boys in blue decided that they weren't needed as the local on-the-spot traffic policeman in his little box had a much better idea of when the lights should be changed than some fancy computer.

I don't do much peak time driving but on the few occasions that I do, if the traffic is piled back and the flow is slowed down, there is only ever one explanation ..... the traffic police guys are over-riding the system. If there is a second attempt at computerising it, does anyone want to place a bet as to how long before it is being over-ridden? I'm offering good odds on anything over six-months.

[CMKiwi]

I made a terrible mistake of returning to Mae Rim from the city last Friday around 5pm. Huay Keow road was at a standstill with sontheaws causing the normal mayhem uplifting school kids.

I learnt my lesson never to drive outta the city at that time. The Super highway lights were being controlled by the BiB with about a 5 minute rotation between green lights.

Not a nice area to be when driving a car but ok if I was riding my bike. Lesson learnt

[Sparkles]

Been gone from the Big C, Mae Hia interesection for a long while.They are good but only if people dont think that when they get down to 5,4,3 its time to go.

This intersection is becoming more and more chaotic as cars come out of Big C and then try to do a right hander to the Canal Rd.

Traffic on Hang Dong Rd has incresed to a level where at certain times of the day it can be several waits to get through the green.

Unless some overpasses or tunnels are built all over the place CM will be just become grid locked a la Bangkok.

[Saan]

Melbourne, in Australia, had them and back in the 60s. They removed them as they were considered dangerous because motorists were jumping the lights before and after the green and red with the resultant bang. Given that is a time honoured practice in Thailand it probably won't make any difference if they leave or remove the countdown indicators.

A former senior Australian policeman who is employed by the government in Bangkok to advise on traffic once told me one of the very many traffic problems was caused by the length of delay between signals changing causing too heavy a build up of cars.

[chingmai331]

All of CM was built up with roadways 30 yrs ago, when 20 cars and 100 motorbikes per hour was the norm. Now, 800 cars, 15000 bikes and 40 monster cement trucks in that same hour. Doom on the road is inevitable, at least time-wise.

I noticed the recent thread about a big pot hole near the mental health hosp and the OP was advising and asking for help to notify the relevant city dept. Near my place a large series of pot holes have been growing due to a leaky water pipe below the surface and the big cement trucks pouring for a nearby condo. Yeaterday, a work crew, 2 men with hand tools, was trying to bust up the road and their pickup had a city logo on the door. Entirely inadequate for the job, if need to finish this month. Imagine digging up a street with a shovel and a crowbar.

[Loaded]

Since the new road works started on the superhighway/Maejo Road junction, traffic has been flowing more smoothly. Coming from Maejo and turning right towards the mountain now requires a left turn and u-turn. However, traffic isn't halted by red lights and it seems to be flowing better than ever.

[jonwilly]

Chiang Mai has at least two retired Senior Engineers, one US the other from New Zealand.

Both have World class projects to their name.

Both have told me on separate occasions that Roundabouts are more efficient at moving traffic then Traffic Lights.

john

[augustwest]

I looked at them as Christmas tree lights at a drag strip

[CMKiwi]

Roundabouts are great as long as drivers know how use them. That's a big ask of Thai drivers.

[Loaded]

Roundabouts are great as long as drivers know how use them. That's a big ask of Thai drivers.

Driving on the left Thais should give way to the right at roundabouts. Their highway code also states this, but as we all know, they give way to left which is really confusing for all.

[MESmith]

Roundabouts are great as long as drivers know how use them. That's a big ask of Thai drivers.

Driving in a straight line is a big ask! Maybe more luck going round a roundabout

[Trujillo]

Word has it that they are changing the countdown displays to metric.

[chingmai331]

I heard a rumor that Thai script numerals would be used next year, not common Arabic types, like 1,2,3. And if the countdown numbers contribute to road accidents, then let them be gone.