Serious Traffic Hazard

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by wazza » July 19, 2017, 7:41 pm

What gender Statts ?



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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 20, 2017, 12:02 am

On my way to Tesco going down Udon Dutsadi / Dusadee middle lane I prepared for the inevitable encounter at the barrier wall, and sure enough, up from the rear about 100 meters back comes a guy in far right lane in a van going fast wanting to overtake.

I was on a motorbike, him in a much bigger vehicle, -his intent the whole time was to of course cut in front of me by force (perhaps also going to Tesco?) which he immediately tried to do as soon as he had position on me and tucked himself as close as he could to the rear bumper of the car in front of me and just a metre or two ahead of my front tire.

I leaned on the horn and intently reclaimed my rightful position and he decided not to press his luck in a confrontation thus went back into the right lane. Gave him a stern look eye to chinese thai eye and arm motioned him in back of me. He looked ahead and saw concrete barrier coming and me facing him off, and very much against his normal selfish judgement got in back of me just in time. I thought he'd tailgate me after but he stayed well back, it seems the wall (gray and almost un-seeable on our side) gave him a proper scare.

So if you're on a motorbike around there watch it, -the cars / trucks will mow you down without thinking twice when they encounter the barrier or any conditions created by it. Seems their standard procedure around here even without hectic road conditions. This guy relented when his challenge was answered in kind but that's rare. I'd say stay left but the bus station is right ahead. They were dismantling the huge ornamental Udon Thani sign with the crane when I flew past. Will start using other routes now as it's just too much hazard no matter how defensive or offensive you play it.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by Marcosteffano » July 20, 2017, 1:01 am

jimjay wrote:
July 20, 2017, 12:02 am
On my way to Tesco going down Udon Dutsadi / Dusadee middle lane I prepared for the inevitable encounter at the barrier wall, and sure enough, up from the rear about 100 meters back comes a guy in far right lane in a van going fast wanting to overtake.

I was on a motorbike, him in a much bigger vehicle, -his intent the whole time was to of course cut in front of me by force (perhaps also going to Tesco?) which he immediately tried to do as soon as he had position on me and tucked himself as close as he could to the rear bumper of the car in front of me and just a metre or two ahead of my front tire.

I leaned on the horn and intently reclaimed my rightful position and he decided not to press his luck in a confrontation thus went back into the right lane. Gave him a stern look eye to chinese thai eye and arm motioned him in back of me. He looked ahead and saw concrete barrier coming and me facing him off, and very much against his normal selfish judgement got in back of me just in time. I thought he'd tailgate me after but he stayed well back, it seems the wall (gray and almost un-seeable on our side) gave him a proper scare.
So you reclaimed your rightful position,looked him in the eye,motioned him,you ain't with the program mate.youve got no rightful position,keep your eyes on the traffic.as for motions don't even give him the finger.
So if you're on a motorbike around there watch it, -the cars / trucks will mow you down without thinking twice when they encounter the barrier or any conditions created by it. Seems their standard procedure around here even without hectic road conditions. This guy relented when his challenge was answered in kind but that's rare. I'd say stay left but the bus station is right ahead. They were dismantling the huge ornamental Udon Thani sign with the crane when I flew past. Will start using other routes now as it's just too much hazard no matter how defensive or offensive you play it.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by neeemu » July 20, 2017, 3:24 am

Well done jimjay, well worth going up against a van while riding a motorbike just to show you have the bigger bollocks.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by tamada » July 20, 2017, 8:44 am

neeemu wrote:
July 20, 2017, 3:24 am
Well done jimjay, well worth going up against a van while riding a motorbike just to show you have the bigger bollocks.
Some days you're the bug, other days you're the windshield.

I don't have much affection for 3-up on a crotch rocket flying through an intersection with the lamentable, long "Beeeeeeeeeep,,,," like that's going to pay the hospital bills when they inevitably go tits up.

Stay safe out there... and if you're on a motorbike, when you can, keep well to the left.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by tamada » July 20, 2017, 8:55 am

Marcosteffano wrote:
July 20, 2017, 1:01 am
jimjay wrote:
July 20, 2017, 12:02 am
On my way to Tesco going down Udon Dutsadi / Dusadee middle lane I prepared for the inevitable encounter at the barrier wall, and sure enough, up from the rear about 100 meters back comes a guy in far right lane in a van going fast wanting to overtake.

I was on a motorbike, him in a much bigger vehicle, -his intent the whole time was to of course cut in front of me by force (perhaps also going to Tesco?) which he immediately tried to do as soon as he had position on me and tucked himself as close as he could to the rear bumper of the car in front of me and just a metre or two ahead of my front tire.

I leaned on the horn and intently reclaimed my rightful position and he decided not to press his luck in a confrontation thus went back into the right lane. Gave him a stern look eye to chinese thai eye and arm motioned him in back of me. He looked ahead and saw concrete barrier coming and me facing him off, and very much against his normal selfish judgement got in back of me just in time. I thought he'd tailgate me after but he stayed well back, it seems the wall (gray and almost un-seeable on our side) gave him a proper scare.
So you reclaimed your rightful position,looked him in the eye,motioned him,you ain't with the program mate.youve got no rightful position,keep your eyes on the traffic.as for motions don't even give him the finger.
So if you're on a motorbike around there watch it, -the cars / trucks will mow you down without thinking twice when they encounter the barrier or any conditions created by it. Seems their standard procedure around here even without hectic road conditions. This guy relented when his challenge was answered in kind but that's rare. I'd say stay left but the bus station is right ahead. They were dismantling the huge ornamental Udon Thani sign with the crane when I flew past. Will start using other routes now as it's just too much hazard no matter how defensive or offensive you play it.
I was told that there's an arguably less confrontational way than the finger to show your contempt for a 4-wheeler if you are on your bike. Once you 'win' the duel, just look back over the shoulder and catch their eye and as you turn your head back to look ahead, lift your foot nearest the 'loser' off the peg, raise it a bit so the sole points towards them, then place it back on the peg while accelerating away.... or pulling a hard left down a side road just in case he works out that a farang has seriously dissed him without lifting a finger.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 20, 2017, 10:12 am

neeemu wrote:
July 20, 2017, 3:24 am
Well done jimjay, well worth going up against a van while riding a motorbike just to show you have the bigger bollocks.
I get the sarcasm. To each their own. With road hazards in play and not wanting to get caught up in possible chaos I did what I did to maintain my spot on the road and don't need to be criticized for it by higher beings. My point is that the barrier and people's poor driving habits are a dangerous mix.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 20, 2017, 10:29 am

tamada wrote:
July 20, 2017, 8:55 am
Marcosteffano wrote:
July 20, 2017, 1:01 am
jimjay wrote:
July 20, 2017, 12:02 am

I leaned on the horn and intently reclaimed my rightful position and he decided not to press his luck in a confrontation thus went back into the right lane. Gave him a stern look eye to chinese thai eye and arm motioned him in back of me. He looked ahead and saw concrete barrier coming and me facing him off, and very much against his normal selfish judgement got in back of me just in time.
So you reclaimed your rightful position,looked him in the eye,motioned him,you ain't with the program mate.youve got no rightful position,keep your eyes on the traffic.as for motions don't even give him the finger.
QUEUE-JUMPING @ the "Dysfunction Junction" Barrier: The Retort

Enough with all the driving experts in here you weren't there on the day. He was wrong I was right clear as crystal.

I didn't give him any finger MarkOsteffano. 8) The guy came speeding up, tried to cut in when he could have done like everyone's supposed to and reduce speed JOINED THE QUEUE BEHIND as is the normal way.

As we all know people here look at traffic queue ahead and immediately start switching lanes willy nilly to gain any advantage just like this guy did. I called him on it and he backed off. Good on him.

I was obeying the law and could not be at left as there were numerous vehicle stopped in the motorbike lane (parents having picked up school kids then stopped at roadside food stands I think? one loading soil at the landscape vendor) with their fronts pointed out to traffic awaiting a chance to make their entry to the line of traffic.

When on my bike or in my truck I have learned to spot this endemic QUEUE-JUMPING behaviour throughout Thailand and do not allow people to zoom up from the rear and cut in front of me. Because every time I have let them do so in past they then slam on their brakes and I have to take evasive action. Let's see what you do in your big black truck when someone tries to queue jump you.

It's a danger and anyone with a brain knows it. The rule is keep a normal speed and stay in the queue, and the lights will turn and you'll all be on your way again. To those in a hurry, leave the passing for the straight away when there's room for it.

My point again is the barrier causes the situation of speeders coming from back right to have to suddenly cut in front as it's life or death, they veer into your lane or hit the concrete barrier.

Image below not from my excursion but an example of what I encountered (except he came from the right side). None of us like it when it happens. And it happens and almost every stop light intersection.

I predict the queue forming up back there on busy days will always create this confrontation condition @ dysfunction junction barrier zone. Thanks and have a happy day. I'll buy you a pint.
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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 20, 2017, 10:53 am

tamada wrote:
July 20, 2017, 8:55 am
I was told that there's an arguably less confrontational way than the finger to show your contempt for a 4-wheeler if you are on your bike.
In this case I want to make it clear, I never gave the guy the finger. I beeped at him, he heard it, made eye contact, I directed him a spot back, he complied. Whole encounter lasted 3 seconds. I'm sure we both ended up at Tesco shopping as normal.

We'll all approach the barrier zone with even more caution.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by neeemu » July 20, 2017, 12:40 pm

jimjay wrote:
July 20, 2017, 10:12 am
neeemu wrote:
July 20, 2017, 3:24 am
Well done jimjay, well worth going up against a van while riding a motorbike just to show you have the bigger bollocks.
I get the sarcasm. To each their own. With road hazards in play and not wanting to get caught up in possible chaos I did what I did to maintain my spot on the road and don't need to be criticized for it by higher beings. My point is that the barrier and people's poor driving habits are a dangerous mix.
I agree entirely but your actions were in the poor driving habits category so you unfortunately can't join me in the 'higher beings' category on this occasion!
I've done similar things to yourself in the past but on reflection is it worth it? It's not going to change that van driver's attitude on the road but it did put you at risk. Stay safe gadgie.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 20, 2017, 1:04 pm

neeemu wrote:
July 20, 2017, 12:40 pm
I agree entirely but your actions were in the poor driving habits category so you unfortunately can't join me in the 'higher beings' category on this occasion!
I've done similar things to yourself in the past but on reflection is it worth it? It's not going to change that van driver's attitude on the road but it did put you at risk. Stay safe gadgie.
I welcome your commentary. But you weren't there on the day, you're just going off verbs and adjectives you've spotted in some text on a forum, it's easy for you to think you're calling it right but you could be wrong.

I don't see how letting a vehicle speed up from behind and throw itself in front of me was going to serve the interests of my safety. When just allowing to be pushed around I would have veered into yet another person's path and suffered injury.

I maintain that holding my position was the correct and proper move and I came out safe because of it. The momentary chaos was handled and order maintained to the benefit of all involved. The idea in traffic is to go with the flow, not try to outsmart it like speeders do. Motorcycles have rights too and in degraded road conditions those rights are not diminished.

In every response I will now have to include and underline the fact that the driver I encountered was speeding and driving in an unsafe manner, trying to cheat his way through. The least you noble gents could do is stop for a moment and consider THAT FACT. Alas human nature as far as expats go on a forum, we'll always see the victim blamed and the dangerous driver get off scot free. Not suprised.

As relates to the barrier, "damned if you do, damned if you don't" comes to mind, you'll all see what I mean when you drive through the area. Think they're engineering this overall flyover project in a way that will preserve the motorcycle lane when it's already basically been eliminated? Guess again. Just getting past the UD to NK roadside bus station on a normal day in normal conditions is a potential death trap.

Only solution now is to take the back roads.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by tamada » July 21, 2017, 10:26 am

jimjay wrote:
July 20, 2017, 10:53 am

In this case I want to make it clear, I never gave the guy the finger. I beeped at him, he heard it, made eye contact, I directed him a spot back, he complied. Whole encounter lasted 3 seconds. I'm sure we both ended up at Tesco shopping as normal.

We'll all approach the barrier zone with even more caution.
I don't think anyone suggested that you did and 'foot' my suggestion was purely an advisory and entirely up to anyone to try.

Although you 'won' that encounter, there's always the very real possibility that you may encounter a driver who for some reason or other refuses to give way. Two days ago, mid-afternoon and headed west on Phon Phisai in a long tailback due to the traffic lights ahead, an empty tuk-tuk/skylab came flying down the outside, forcing motorbikes to swerve and oncoming cars to pull over and stop. He was leaving about 6" clear either side and NOT slowing down; simply flying. Just before the traffic lights, he shot across and angle parked outside a shop. The motorbike driver that had been forced in behind me was muttering away so if a local is upset, you KNOW it's bad! As I passed the parked tuk-tuk, the drivers head was thrown back, eyes closed either passed out or sleeping. I shouted and he never stirred. I wanted to get out, walk across and plant one on him... or at least remove the keys but sense prevailed.

But for a moment, consider the folly of assuming that this guy was going to give way when you had the legal right of way. That and the following.
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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by stattointhailand » July 21, 2017, 11:40 am

Cant believe that death by BUS isn't much higher =;

Finally they have blocked the original U turn with (you've guessed it) concrete barriers and I didn't see any advance warning sign to say it had been shut (perhaps I was still asleep :roll: )

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by tamada » July 21, 2017, 11:59 am

stattointhailand wrote:
July 21, 2017, 11:40 am
Cant believe that death by BUS isn't much higher =;

Finally they have blocked the original U turn with (you've guessed it) concrete barriers and I didn't see any advance warning sign to say it had been shut (perhaps I was still asleep :roll: )
When you mean the 'original' u-turn I reckon you're talking about the northern-most one (heading north) that was left open when they bizarrely made the pointy-end of the median more lethal? When I came past yesterday, they were painting the inside of the long point with read and white thus rendering it less lethal, but I did notice a stash of freshly painted concrete bollards off to the left so assume that's the ones that they eventually closed the u-turn with.

So, some sort of Isaan advance warning, ie. "I wonder what those are for?"

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by stattointhailand » July 21, 2017, 5:21 pm

Just a thought, but now they have closed the old U turn how the hell are buses and trucks with trailers supposed to turn, as they have no chance of getting round the new tight (fast lane to fast lane) u turn

I presume they will have to go beyond the barriers and then do a U turn where there is room down past the petrol station :yikes:
Anyone now wanting to u turn North to South has to go to Tesco's lights or do a U before the start of the road works.

Perhaps someone should think about putting barriers all along the centre of the road or it will be total chaos ...... 'ang on TIT, they specialise in CHAOS :-&

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by jimjay » July 21, 2017, 10:17 pm

tamada wrote:
July 21, 2017, 10:26 am

Although you 'won' that encounter, there's always the very real possibility that you may encounter a driver who for some reason or other refuses to give way. Two days ago, mid-afternoon and headed west on Phon Phisai in a long tailback due to the traffic lights ahead, an empty tuk-tuk/skylab came flying down the outside, forcing motorbikes to swerve and oncoming cars to pull over and stop. He was leaving about 6" clear either side and NOT slowing down; simply flying. Just before the traffic lights, he shot across and angle parked outside a shop. The motorbike driver that had been forced in behind me was muttering away so if a local is upset, you KNOW it's bad! As I passed the parked tuk-tuk, the drivers head was thrown back, eyes closed either passed out or sleeping. I shouted and he never stirred. I wanted to get out, walk across and plant one on him... or at least remove the keys but sense prevailed.

But for a moment, consider the folly of assuming that this guy was going to give way when you had the legal right of way. That and the following.
Thanks for that Tamada, well said and all quite on point.

Riding the motorbike the last 12 years here and in other provinces I've lived, it's down to a million factors a minute, anything from from various road conditions / situations, or the split-second review of the directional intent of a given driver, I've even found myself reviewing on sight the disposition of various soi dogs at certain times / certain sois day or night, even combinations of soi dogs (not the stuck together ones), or whether their owner is nearby and they'll need to show off with a well-timed bite.

One night I even had to break right coming down our block after the rains as I could see a black scorpion in the road making ready to fight my front wheel from 30 feet away.

Oh and the time two large cattle came charging top speed out of an alley chased by two teenagers laughing it up. They almost flattened a mother/father / baby combo going slowly and carefully down the street. WTF.

Luckily, dealing with the humans here much easier by comparison. =D>

That said as I get older I consider the bike a statistic on two wheels, it's not down to "if", it's down to "when". Went past the barrier today and it looks like things have been reconfigured though I didn't give it time for an extended peek. I did have to weave past what appeared to be red plastic shards of broken tail lights.

p.s. I think I have encountered that tuk-tuk passed out driver you mention, -let me guess his name is somchai, and he lives by a temple that's near a 7-11 :D

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by stattointhailand » July 22, 2017, 11:38 am

jimjay, you know perfectly well that it has absolutely NOTHING to do with ANY of those things ......

It's all to do with whether you have a garland of flowers or a buddha image attached to your bike :roll:

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by wazza » July 23, 2017, 12:11 pm

post491389.html#p491389

These stats are scary and seem to be under reported .

I was talking to an Alien a few nights ago and we agreed that if there is a 50/50 chance on a traffic maneuver they will take it, probably more like 60% , expecting the innocent 3rd party that is threatened to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

And thats just in the city.

Overtaken by a pickup on Srichumchun Road yesterday as I was slowing down for the school pedestrian crossing at Udon Pitt, had any student commenced to start walking they would have all been killed.

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by stattointhailand » July 24, 2017, 7:09 pm

stattointhailand wrote:
July 21, 2017, 5:21 pm
Just a thought, but now they have closed the old U turn how the hell are buses and trucks with trailers supposed to turn, as they have no chance of getting round the new tight (fast lane to fast lane) u turn

I presume they will have to go beyond the barriers and then do a U turn where there is room down past the petrol station :yikes:
Anyone now wanting to u turn North to South has to go to Tesco's lights or do a U before the start of the road works.

Perhaps someone should think about putting barriers all along the centre of the road or it will be total chaos ...... 'ang on TIT, they specialise in CHAOS :-&
Got my question answered today, and I was wrong ...... NO! .... NEVER!! ...... Yeah really.

Bus used the new U Turn to go from NK road to the bus station (South to North). As suspected it was a close thing with the driver taking it very very VERY slowly. He then had to reverse back (as there is not enough room for him to turn) before completing the manouvre. It was in the afternoon so not too busy, but still about 20 or so had to stop whilst he got round ..... going to be great when one does it in the rush hour :roll:

Also noted (in less than 30 seconds) 2 x pick up, one saloon car and one truck come from the side road, cross the Southbound carriageway,go BETWEEN the orange white posts and head off North (with the truck and a pick up at the same time between separate posts ](*,)

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Re: Serious Traffic Hazard

Post by stattointhailand » August 4, 2017, 4:30 pm

Just come back from School run and there are 4 or 5 pickups and a truck blocking the "U" turn and they appear to be picking the concrete barriers up and placing them on the truck for removal [-o< :lol:

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