News Forum - Bangkok’s traffic gridlock gets a tech-tock fix

[Thaiger]

Bangkok’s notorious traffic mayhem is finally seeing a breakthrough, thanks to a two-year tech overhaul that’s got commuters breathing a sigh of relief. According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the implementation of Area Traffic Control (ATC) technology has slashed journey times in the city’s busiest areas by a remarkable 25%. This traffic-taming triumph comes … …

The story Bangkok’s traffic gridlock gets a tech-tock fix as seen on Thaiger News.

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[AussieBob]

I wish they would implement better traffic light controls all over Thailand.  Not live control like in BK, but I am sick of driving on a highway and we all have to stop for 1 minute for Somchai and 1/2 of his mates to cross the highway or turn right from some small village road.  IMO they should block all crossing and right turns from small village roads on rural highways, except for major intersections. Make them all turn left and then do a U turn or use an overpass. It is so annoying when hundreds of cars and trucks have to stop for Somchai to cross the highway.

[Pinetree]

23 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

I wish they would implement better traffic light controls all over Thailand.  Not live control like in BK, but I am sick of driving on a highway and we all have to stop for 1 minute for Somchai and 1/2 of his mates to cross the highway or turn right from some small village road.  IMO they should block all crossing and right turns from small village roads on rural highways, except for major intersections. Make them all turn left and then do a U turn or use an overpass. It is so annoying when hundreds of cars and trucks have to stop for Somchai to cross the highway.

That's not the way it works here.  In the West, the villages are where people live and from where they commute to work.  In Thailand, the villages are important centers of  local economic activity and commerce.  Thats why the roads are designed as they are. It's horses for courses. 

[AussieBob]

3 hours ago, Pinetree said:

That's not the way it works here.  In the West, the villages are where people live and from where they commute to work.  In Thailand, the villages are important centers of  local economic activity and commerce.  Thats why the roads are designed as they are. It's horses for courses. 

What a load of absolute rubbish - clearly you dont live here, or you dont drive the highways much.  From Chiang Mai to Ubon from Udon to Bangkok - I have seen most of them. On every one of our trips there is stoppages on the main highways for a few cars and bikes from small side roads.  

[Pinetree]

10 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

What a load of absolute rubbish - clearly you dont live here, or you dont drive the highways much.  From Chiang Mai to Ubon from Udon to Bangkok - I have seen most of them. On every one of our trips there is stoppages on the main highways for a few cars and bikes from small side roads.  

I have lived here for 8 years mate, in that time, I have driven over 170,000 kms,  I know what works and why here.  Drop your Western head for a few minutes and you may see things as they are and not how you, my Aussie mate, would wish them to be. You're not in Kansas anymore sunshine. 

[AussieBob]

1 minute ago, Pinetree said:

I have lived here for 8 years mate, in that time, I have driven over 170,000 kms,  I know what works and why here.  Drop your Western head for a few minutes and you may see things as they are and not how you, my Aussie mate, would wish them to be. You're not in Kansas anymore sunshine. 

I doubt that is true at all.  Your claims and numbers do not add up at all.  We have been living here (twice) since 2014 - I first visited after retiring in 2010 and then again in 2012.  You are clearly one of those 'feral Expat' twats - every single trip we have had, including the last one from KK to Yasothon and back a few months ago, has involved several stops on the main highway for small side roads. I remember getting very angry when after 4-5 times we stopped for one girl on a bike - and the lights stayed red for over a minute without anyone else ever appearing.  Needless to say I said 'fornicate this' and drove ahead - and several others followed my lead. 

Perhaps you dont know what a highway is in Thailand?  It is a road that is numbered in single or double digits and is usually 2 lanes each direction and divided down the middle.  I am not talking about road 2323 through the rural villages, I am talking about the highways between the cities - as in between KK and Yasothon - or Chiang Mai and KK - or KK and Bangkok.  They dont have many 'freeways' in Thailand, but they do have a lot of divided double lane highways - way more than Australia and other countries. 

[rattlesnake]

4 hours ago, AussieBob said:

I wish they would implement better traffic light controls all over Thailand.  Not live control like in BK, but I am sick of driving on a highway and we all have to stop for 1 minute for Somchai and 1/2 of his mates to cross the highway or turn right from some small village road.  IMO they should block all crossing and right turns from small village roads on rural highways, except for major intersections. Make them all turn left and then do a U turn or use an overpass. It is so annoying when hundreds of cars and trucks have to stop for Somchai to cross the highway.

I have clocked a lot of miles here too.

IMO the U-turn system allowing vehicles to slow down on the fast lane and then reenter the fast lane on the other side (or cross over to enter a soi) is number one on the list of things which shouldn't exist. Ideally there would only be U-turn overpasses.

[Pinetree]

1 minute ago, AussieBob said:

I doubt that is true at all.  Your claims and numbers do not add up at all.  We have been living here (twice) since 2014 - I first visited after retiring in 2010 and then again in 2012.  You are clearly one of those 'feral Expat' twats - every single trip we have had, including the last one from KK to Yasothon and back a few months ago, has involved several stops on the main highway for small side roads. I remember getting very angry when after 4-5 times we stopped for one girl on a bike - and the lights stayed red for over a minute without anyone else ever appearing.  Needless to say I said 'fornicate this' and drove ahead - and several others followed my lead. 

Perhaps you dont know what a highway is in Thailand?  It is a road that is numbered in single or double digits and is usually 2 lanes each direction and divided down the middle.  I am not talking about road 2323 through the rural villages, I am talking about the highways between the cities - as in between KK and Yasothon - or Chiang Mai and KK - or KK and Bangkok.  They dont have many 'freeways' in Thailand, but they do have a lot of divided double lane highways - way more than Australia and other countries. 

What would Australia know of Highways.   Most of yours are no more than dirt tracks across a hot, featureless, hot, barren, boring landscape, full of dingo's, scary huge bouncing mice and Australians.  Oh , and of course, the indigenous people you rip off and suppress.    

[AussieBob]

48 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

I have clocked a lot of miles here too.

IMO the U-turn system allowing vehicles to slow down on the fast lane and then reenter the fast lane on the other side (or cross over to enter a soi) is number one on the list of things which shouldn't exist. Ideally there would only be U-turn overpasses.

Yes there are bad ones, where there is not enough room to slow down outside the fast lane, and where merging on the other side means going across to the inside lane. But there are not that many really bad ones, but I agree that with so many bad drivers here who cannot do simple things safely, my idea would need some changes to the roads.

In the absence of that, then at least they should set the lights on timers that makes those on the side roads wait at least 60 seconds, and then gives them 30 seconds to make the turn.  Making a highway stop as soon as Somchai arrives on a village road and then giving him 60-90 seconds to cross is all wrong. 

[AussieBob]

51 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

What would Australia know of Highways.   Most of yours are no more than dirt tracks across a hot, featureless, hot, barren, boring landscape, full of dingo's, scary huge bouncing mice and Australians.  Oh , and of course, the indigenous people you rip off and suppress.    

Seriously?  I say troll - and trolls I talk to not (anymore).