Is There A Safe Way To Cross Sukhumwit

[jasperblubber2005]

i have been asking people for assistance on this one and not one person has a clue maybe someone out there on this site has come across this problem and has an answer, i live near pattaya beach (soi 4), there is a place i would like to visit off sukhumwit across from pattaya-bangkok hospital, getting from the beach to this location on my motorcycle is not a problem (i go to the naklua market to sukhumvit where a signal gets me across the street) but coming back to the beach is a nightmare, i drove all the way from the mcdonald to central road looking for a corner that had four actual corners so i could drive over and across sukhumvit, as it was the only way i did get across was the light at central was red and i weaved between cars until i got to the central lane, this allowed me to turn right on central and get home, my motorcycle is not quick enough to go from the curb to the center lane and even if i did i couldn't sustain enough speed to travel any distance without casing traffic to back up, i can't believe that i am the only person to come up with this problem, the only thing i didn't try was to go to south pattaya road and see if there is a four way crossing that would allow me to cross over, any help would be helpful

jasper

[Noel]

Surely all you have to do is drive South to the Pattaya Nua lights and wait for them to turn red. You then just drive across to the right-hand lane and wait for the lights to turn green.

Have I missed something here...?

[Mobi]

Why don't you wait for the lights to go red at the Pattaya Nua turning, and when the traffic has stopped, you can manouvre your way to the centre of Sukhumvit, turn right into Pattaya Nua, and back to the beach that way.

[Mobi]

Surely all you have to do is drive South to the Pattaya Nua lights and wait for them to turn red. You then just drive across to the right-hand lane and wait for the lights to turn green.

Have I missed something here...?

Great minds think alike

[expatgaz]

Must be missing something with this post........Pattaya Nua....Traffic Lights....Red for Stop ....Green fo Go........

[jasperblubber2005]

sorry but i think everyone did miss it, what i was trying to say, and maybe i didn't do a good job of it, i am in the far left hand lane going south on sukhumwit, i want to get into the far right hand lane so i can turn toward the beach, so i should wait until i find a red light then go west weaving through cars, this is what i did yesterday but did it only because i seen no other choice and needed it to get home, to do this on a regular basis makes no sense and i think its a matter of time before a light changes on me in the middle of my weaving and then theres a problem.

i'll ask this in a different manner, if i am driving south on sukhumwit, in the slow left lane, how far will i have to go before i come to an intersection that has a west to east crossing as well as a north-south at the same intersection, if you can picture this intersection then you could drive south in the left lane until you got to this intersection, then turn left, make a quick u-turn and go east to west across sukhumvit, no need to weave through traffic, just cross sukhumwit with the light ( i see thais doing this at second rd and third road everday) , sorry but the motorbike doesn't have the motor to do what most people do and i have no intension of buying a car just so that i can make a safe right hand turn on sukhumwit, i hope this is a better explanation.

jasper

ps

after looking at a couple of maps i noticed that the corner of south pattaya rd and sukhumwit appears to have the exact intersection that i was descibing, has anyone driven to that corner and if so is it an intersection that will allow you to go est to west as well as south to north

jasper

[Mobi]

Jasper,

If you sidle down to the Pattaya Nua lights on the left side of Sukhumvit, then wait for the lights to turn red - you will have loads of time to get your bike over to the middle of the road before they change back to green.

Surely, with respect, you can manage that? Time it and see.

[COBBER]

Jasper, Please dont take this the wrong way. Im not trying to take the pi55 and dont want to start a flame war , but if you dont have the confidence to merge across 3 lanes of traffic perhaps for your own safety and the safety of others you should take a baht bus if you wish to go east of Sukhumvit Rd. Stick to riding in your local area untill you get a bit more experience mate. We dont want you to become another road statistic.

[jasperblubber2005]

thanks cobber

jasper

[Noel]

Jasper, Please dont take this the wrong way. Im not trying to take the pi55 and dont want to start a flame war , but if you dont have the confidence to merge across 3 lanes of traffic perhaps for your own safety and the safety of others you should take a baht bus if you wish to go east of Sukhumvit Rd. Stick to riding in your local area untill you get a bit more experience mate. We dont want you to become another road statistic.

A good suggestion!

And to keep the cost down, all as he need do is drive up to as close to the Sukhumvit as he dares and park his conveyance on the west side. By the sound of it, he will have little fear of it getting nicked, but best lock it anyway.

Then, he can just wait for a Sukhumvit bahtbus (they are white).

The only problem with the above is the fact that he will have to cross the Sukhumvit on foot twice, which may not suit.

Best of luck to Jasper anyway...

[jasperblubber2005]

thanks to all who replied but i have decided that the purpose of crossing sukhumwit is not worth the risk, if i should, but doubt i will, get a car i may look back at crossing this road, its not that pattaya doesn't have these kinds of intersections its just that there are none on sukhumwit, the corner of sukhumwit and south pattaya was my last hope and yesterday i went to view this area with a friend, what i saw was that you can drive up s.pattay road and cross over sukhumwit into the wat that is there but unfortunately you can't come back that way

i really like thailand but as i have heard others say, life is cheap here, probably one of the reasons for some of the fatalities you read about every week, very sad. this morning went to tonys for a work out, came up south pattaya road and stopped at the light at third road, stopped right on the middle divider so that no one would try and pass me on my right as i was making my right hand turn, well guess what happened, the light changed and sure enough some one on a scooter passed me on my right going straight as i was making my right hand turn, sad just very sad

jasper

[pistonpilot]

All of you *#$*#$*iSISDSI as*@#*#$* who told this guy to take the baht bus should be ashamed of yourselves.

You're all a disgrace.

I live off Sukumvit. I have to travel Sukumvit anytime I go out. I never drove a motorbike until I came here.

Having almost killed myself a few times and almost killing my wife in the process, I have lived to find the proper answer to this man's question.

Seems stupid to me that none of you "gentleman" could tell him.

It's simple.

DO NOT TRY TO MERGE FROM THE LEFT TO THE RIGHT HAND LANE by looking in your mirror or by turning your head. It may look clear but unless it is late at night with little traffic, it is probably not.

There will be some Thai or Farang Dumbass who will come from nowhere and try to kill you.

There are two safe ways to cross Sukumvit:

Stay in the left hand lane and pull off to the side. Turn your bike perpendicular to the road and back up until your tire hits the curb. Then wait for a break in traffic but make sure you look in the other direction for surely some dumbass will surprise you. Look both ways - if you think you can safely make it across then do it.

The other way is wait until traffic backs up and stops at the intersection and then weave into the traffic. I don't prefer this method.

Unless all the traffic in all lanes is crawling, the above way is the safest.

PP

[jasperblubber2005]

thanks piston pilot, having a career in health and safety sukhumwit is more than i care to take on, after all my purpose in coming to pattaya is to live here, the key word is live, i get the impressiom that many foreigners take on the attitude of some thai's when it comes to driving in this country, and that is they have very little or no respect for life, you cannot read any of the local papers and say that any of the accidents involving motorcycles are just accidents, the week before last there was the guy riding in the wrong direction that got killed and witnesses said he had been doing it for some time, last week a couple were making a turn when a ten wheel truck turned with them only in his turn he ran over the thai couple, the man losing his fingers and his wife lost her leg, to make matters worse

the gutless coward ran once he realized what he did

you have to ask yourself at some point, why do people do these type of things and more important why do they think they can get away with it, the answer is very simple, nobody cares, theres no money in making roads safer or holding people accountable its just business as usual, its very sad to see because the thai's are fanastic people its unfortunate that the people who could make a difference for them just don't seem to want to be bothered, thanks again piston pilot

jasper

[pistonpilot]

The Thai <deleted> will meet their fate soon enough - you can't be an ###### forever. The farang who come here are different. For them, those that drive like the Thai recklessly I can only wish a violent road death for them or a good case of testicular cancer. They deserve it. I had some German piece of *##@$*#8 tailgate me one day and then we both pulled into FoodLand - me on my bike and him on his SUV. I told him to get out of the suv "why he says", and I told him. I want to properly beat the crap out of you in front of your children and the people here at the supermarket.

He was bigger than I was but I was angrier. The coward drove away.

You must constantly be on your guard everywhere, and you must also look up and down.

Don't question - just do it - all directions and up and down.

PP

[jasperblubber2005]

good for you, i like your attitude i wish there were more like you in this city

jasper