Sunthorn Ratanawaraha (background, left)
presides over the meeting.
Manoon Makpol
Pattaya officials have decided to leave open three
dangerous area U-turns, arguing that stricter traffic control is a
better solution than inconveniencing drivers.
Sunthorn Ratanawaraha, Pattaya’s permanent secretary,
presided over the meeting with area police and traffic and engineering
bureaucrats Sept. 20 at Pattaya City Hall to consider closing Sukhumvit
Road U-turn points in front of Underwater World, the Pattaya Floating
Market and in Naklua.
Perhaps the most-dangerous of the U-turn areas is the
one on the edge of Pattaya at the Floating Market, Sunthorn said. There,
large tour buses driving in the far left lane of Sukhumvit Road will
suddenly turn right across several lanes of traffic to turn around.
Numerous accidents have occurred when drivers in the right lane fail to
stop in time for buses making the blatantly illegal cross-lane turns.
Rather than close the U-turn, forcing drivers to
travel a long distance until the next turnaround, the city has decided
to leave it open and have police step up enforcement of traffic laws at
the site and ask bus companies to not park on Sukhumvit or make illegal
turns.
Sunthorn said a similar approach will be taken near
Underwater World at the Pest Management Center. Here, he said, closing
the intersection would be “futile” as the next turn is difficult to find
and will increase the distance drivers must travel to turn around. The
city, he said, advocates installing traffic cameras to catch and fine
traffic scofflaws, particularly those who drive in reverse when they
miss the turn.
Finally, in Naklua, the city had previously closed
the Krabok Tree U-turn for drivers coming from Naklua, but it hasn’t
made any difference, as drivers simply ignored it because the turn is
still open for drivers coming from Pattaya, Sunthorn said.
The city has decided to leave things as they are and
simply install more signs telling drivers the proper method for turning
and directing Naklua drivers to the next U-turn, he said.
Sunthorn insisted the safety of lives and property
was taken into consideration when deciding whether to close dangerous
traffic points and said that the solutions offered the greatest benefit
and least amount of inconvenience to drivers.
