Why is the U-turn ban on Theprasit Road causing so much traffic chaos?

May 9, 2023
2 years ago
Robert ******
ORIGINAL POSTER
what idiots they have stopped you doing doing U turns on Thepresit Rd by building a small wall in the middle of the road That really makes traffic 100 times worse traffic jams like you never seen what joker thought up this idea
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The recent construction of a barrier on Theprasit Road has led to a ban on U-turns, causing frustration among drivers who claim it worsens traffic congestion. Comments reflect mixed feelings: some support the ban citing safety concerns due to the high accident rate associated with U-turns, while others criticize the decision, arguing it complicates navigation and creates more traffic jams. The conversation touches on broader issues of road design in Thailand, cultural driving behaviors, and the challenges faced by expatriates adapting to local traffic rules.
Marc ********
U-Turn on Theprasit is pretty dangerous.

Very busy road.

Maybe that's why?
Оливер *********
Of course you can uturn on Theprasit. Just drive up to the end of the middle barrier and turn!
Stevan ***********
Safety reasons and I agree with it

So many idiots on the road
Paul ********
Doing a u turn into live traffic is not good. Maybe someone died doing this and that why it’s shut
Paul *******
The closure of a u-turn bay is actually a good thing. Now if they could only build more right hand turns and roads. Just about the only Thai city that has gotten things right by building new roads, connecting dead ends and building roundabouts and intersections is Mae Sot.

Almost everywhere else, I'm seeing more and more traffic lights being eliminated and intersections blocked because Thailand hasn't figured out how to operate traffic lights automatically like the rest of the world has.

I'm also seeing things like intersections being blocked and an overpass built with only two entrance ramps instead of the 4 that are needed to cover every direction. This means those heading in the other two directions need to do u-turns and turn back. Before they built these overpasses in their respective locations, a proper 4-way traffic light system was in place. They've made everything worse for motorists not intending on going straight or turning left.
Lior *******
You can always back home
Paul *******
@Lior ******
Are you sure your name isn't Karen?
Andy ***********
what a pathetic racist comment
John ****************
Shouldn’t be doing U Turns on that road. That’s why there’s so many accidents on that road.
Dar *****
@John ***************
that’s why they built the wall to stop all the fools who insist on making Illegal U turns
Lye **********
Their country, their law. You don't like, you get out of there. Otherwise live with it.
Lye **********
Thailand has laws and manpower to deal with ignorant and bad drivers.
Paul *******
@Lye *********
Clearly they don't, because that has literally never happened before. The Thai police are lazy and you can get away with anything on the roads here.
Lye **********
@Paul ******
like I said before... You don't like the way it is, then you can leave.. go elsewhere. Or maybe you can file a lawsuit against the authority and see if that helps? 😁
Paul *******
@Lye *********
I like the fact I can drive 170km/h on the expressway and I can get away with it. There is essentially no speed radar. It's like no rules at all.

I always drive at whatever speed I feel is safe. Speed limit signs are meaningless.
Lye **********
@Paul ******
then drive as fast as you want and get yourself killed in the process. You'll probably get more attention than random farmer's body lying at the side of the road. Farang do get noticed more, dead or alive. Life is indeed cheap in Thailand, even foreigner's life if he/she choose to.
Paul *******
@Lye *********
Stop with your self-righteous nonsense. I'm telling you the truth, which is the authorities here don't care about enforcing the law. Life in Thailand is cheap. It is basically worthless. No one cares if some poor farmer kills himself in a motorcycle accident. His body will be cremated the next day and forgotten about soon afterwards.
Paul *******
@Lye *********
So you don't care about all the deaths and injuries caused by the ignorant and bad drivers on Thai roads?
Mike ********
I’ve just come back from an issan trip, the driving standards over there are way worse than any other parts of thailand imo,.
Mike ********
Lane discipline is another issue,. meandering down the right hand lane for miles, ok I get it with the rough left lane road surface sometimes, but not when it’s like a pool table in both lanes,.
Nick ************
@Mike *******
they are quite happy to let you pass on the left.
Paul *******
@Nick ***********
You just tailgate and put your lights on high beam, then they move over. Most of the time anyway.
Mike ********
@Nick ***********
I’m driving like a Thai now, so no probs, but I do use indicators !
Steve *******
@Mike *******
The South is much worse IMO!
Nick ************
@Mike *******
I've been driving in Issan for 4 years and seen very little bad driving. Slow driving yes. Its axquestion of getting used to what they are likely to do.
Mike ********
@Nick ***********
Yes, slow driving is a thing I witnessed allot, but I only got cut up once,. and only saw the aftermath of a truck going off the road,. but I’ve driven all over TH in the last 5 months with no issues really,. I find if I drive at 90kph when not in a hurry, and 100 kph when I need to, and 120 kph occasionally seems like warp speed,. I’ve seen a few new concrete dividers but all they seem to do is move the u turn further down the road, I don’t have an issue with u turns if carried out safely and properly,.
Paul *******
@Mike *******
They're eliminating u-turns on the Bang Pa-in to Saraburi stretch of highway by moving them underneath bridges or building u-turn bridges. Same on the Bang Pa-in to Nakorn Sawan stretch of highway.
Leo ******
It's Asia mate get used to it... I married a Thai woman and found out she used to be a man.. I can't divorce her now cause her family own a good restaurant and the foods nice.. I sadly realised 4 weeks into the marriage when I thought this didn't feel right.
Leo ******
Robert King No yet... We're trying.
Tom ********
@Leo *****
isn't there a song about that?
Dan *******
@Leo *****
can we hear more about the food
Leo ******
@Dan ******
Best soup I've ever tasted...

"Cream of sumyun gai"
Ron *******
You have a lot more to worry about in the next couple of months after this election than what U turn closure has inconvenienced you.

I can't wait for the tears to start.
Paul *******
@Ron ******
You mean more Covid fear mongering? Already happening, as Prayuth has instructed schools to "bring back virus curbs" that were never lifted before students went on vacation in March anyway.

I expect Thai schools to make mask wearing permanent either implicitly or explicitly. It's never going to go away because there will always be a new "variant" or the flu season or something
Andy ***********
@R**
- please elucidate
Darren ******
@Ron ******
like what ????
อ้วน *********
@Ron ******
in what way?
Dar *****
Personally I feel the drivers here have more skill and respect for each other as whole, less road rage and yes the occasional idiot who never passed any kind of basic theory. But the worst driving is done by my fellow farangs !
Jim ******
@Dee ****
In the immortal words of John McEnroe, "You can't be serious"!
Paul *******
@Dee ****
Thais have "more skill"? I've never seen driving as bad as here (other than Vietnam, India and Myanmar perhaps). Thais are horrible drivers and often get into accidents..They're skillful at crashing but definitely not at driving.
Dar *****
@Paul ******
by skillful I meant the number who avoid accidents with a better level of perception and empathy to others around them.
Paul *******
@Dee ****
Not true though. For every driver who successfully avoids an accident, there are two or three who don't.
Manfred **********
Your visa is still valid at the following roundabout or intersection.
Andy *******
Hi Karen 👋
Christopher *************
Your not in your own country , so just deal with it. Nothing will change because of foreigners moaning
Christopher *************
Paul *******
@Christopher ************
So you don't care about all the needless deaths and injuries on Thai roads?
Christopher *************
@Paul ******
I care but the people riding bikes and cars from other countries coming to Thailand should lead by example but they don't in many many cases. Also know matter what you or I think Thailand will not change for us. Its not our country so cannot preach to anyone either
Paul *******
@Christopher ************
Yeah let's not do anything to make the country better. Let's just encourage Thais to continue killing each other on the roads because that's the "right thing" to do. Foreigners will keep coming to this third world country with the world's worst air pollution and number road toll in the world, because of all the cheap pussy available here.

If you're sincere, you'd also be saying that foreigners have no right to dictate how we live our lives back home. All the blacks, Middle Eastern Muslims, if they don't like it, they should go back to their own countries. No one asked them to come. Western countries are for people of European heritage. The rest should go home.
Christopher *************
@Paul ******
its not for us to dictate , don't blow things out of all proportion
Williams *******
@Christopher ************
👏 ends in end and starts with bell
Christopher *************
Vinny **************
Driving in Thailand is like ? What the fuk 🙈🙈🙈?
Mark ********
@Vinny *************
Yes. I am American and I can never imagine driving here. Scares the life out of me.
Vinny **************
@Mark *******
i have been riding motorbikes for 45 years Life is like Russian roulette out there

🤣🤣🤣🙈
Vinny **************
And its fact
Jeff *********
Put in another roundabout!! Then people can get in the circle and stop! 🤣
Wayne *******
@Jeff ********
hua hin is the absolute worst for this, its unbelievable how they race into the roundabouts then hit brakes and wait for others to go through.... Wtf is a roundabout designed for? So dumb 😂 😂 😂
Jeff *********
@Wayne ******
hopefully the younger generations learn how to use them 😂
Wayne *******
@Jeff ********
never ever ever, monkey see, monkey do 😂 😂 😂
Michael *******
Greg *********
Guess we know who was doing U-turns and caused them to build it 😅
Martin *********
It might be a pain not to be able to U turn at every opportunity, but U turns in particular on that road are the cause of more accidents than practically anywhere else in the city ..
Mark ********
@Martin ********
I'm shocked I haven't seen an accident yet. My wife is Thai and she drives like she's on a race track. It's like a free-for-all in Bangkok and scares me. But I have yet to see any accidents. I'm always stunned how motorcycles do not just slide underneath buses with how close they get to them.
Paul *******
@Mark *******
You don't spend much time on the roads then. I saw two accidents within 2km of one another the other day on the highway north of Nakorn Sawan. One vehicle overturned in the median strip just after the u-turn bay. The other was seen crashed into the barrier as well. Accidents are extremely common here. I see them almost daily, including in Bangkok.
Jeff *********
@Mark *******
it is crazy indeed!
Martin *********
@Mark *******
I drive a motorcycle myself and I’m too amazed that as of yet ( touch wood ) in 8 years of actually living here I haven’t had one of any note .. I’ve witnessed plenty though and now the coaches are coming back in force there will be plenty more . I always laugh about the Thais always late for everything, ‘ Thai time ‘ but put them on a motorbike and they needed to be there like yesterday! 😂
Mark ********
@Martin ********
I keep warning my wife she will need to chill when she drives in the US one day. If she drives like she does here she will piss a lot of people off. 😅
Paul *******
@Mark *******
Assuming she'll get used to driving on the right. Perhaps she'll be too scared to try.
Mark ********
@Paul ******
Yes, this is another concern 😅
Andy ***********
U Turns are without doubt the biggest creator of motor accidents in thailand … what they are doing will save lives … u see any U turns on the North circular?
Andy ***********
Phil - Not denying that but from man made creations U turns cause a whole lot of trouble. I have seen more than 20 crashes on the 36 alone.. this barrier is a good thing
Paul *******
@Andy **********
It's mind blowing how badly designed most Thai roads are. Why all the u-turns? Only now are they fixing the problem in some places by putting them underneath the road or using u-turn bridges instead but overall, Thailand has no idea how to design roads properly.

In some cases I've seen right hand turns eliminated and you have to do long u-turns to get to where you're going..it's absolutely stupid.
Brown ********
TIT
Colin *********
@Brown *******
ohh wow, guys in this Group like TIT(s) 🤣🤣🤣
Mark ********
My wife has a condo in Pattaya and it drives me nuts how the design makes no sense. I complain about the same thing when we go there. There are just things that should be so much easier that they made complicated.
Paul *******
@John *******
Westerners are generally better than Thais at most things, which is why our countries are developed and attract people from all over the world, while Thailand is still a developing country that can never seem to get ahead.
Mark ********
@John *******
Uh, "they" means whomever designed the building. You getting upset by this is worrisome.
John ********
@Mark *******
who is ‘they’? Are you saying you as a Westerner know how to do things better than Thai people?

If so what businesses do you run?
Paul *******
Phil Jones Indeed. Everyone knows westerners have higher IQs than Thais on average (exceptions always exist) yet due to political correctness, people pretend this isn't the case and that everyone is equal.

Even the Thais themselves are smart enough to know, we're not all equal. They remind us daily that we farangs are different to them.
John ********
Your in Thailand so you will have to live with it 🤣😅😂
Cliff *********
Same same guy stole your punctuation 5555
John ********
Stop applying Western logic to Asia. It doesn’t work
Paul *******
@John *******
Not Asia. Only Thailand, where police block right hand turns and force you to make a u-turn. Or where they build an expensive new flyover, with only 2 entrance points instead of the 4, covering every direction.
John ********
@Paul ******
how much time have you spent in the Philippines or China?
Paul *******
@John *******
Plenty of time spent in China. Never been to the Philippines. I can assure you Chinese roads and cities are much better designed than those in Thailand.
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