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The new roundabout for Phuket City, coming soon with Rotary help

Roundabout Way Deals Directly With Phuket Road Deaths With 2.86m Baht Grant

Wednesday, December 9, 2015
PHUKET: A new roundabout is being built in Phuket City, thanks to a 2.86 million baht gift from the British-based Safer Roads Foundation.

The organisation's chairman, Michael Woodford, and director Anunciation Somavilla announced a grant to build the roundabout at an intersection where five people have died in crashes in the past year.

Ten years ago, 200 people died on the holiday island's roads in a year.

Phuket still ranks as the fifth most dangerous province in Thailand, a country with roads among the most dangerous in the world.

The roundabout, in aluminium and designed to represent a turtle's shell and imply long life, will hopefully reduce the risks at one of Phuket's top 20 ''black spots.''

Phuket Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada and other digintaries greated the team from the Safer Roads Foundation at Phuket Provincial Hall today.

The roundabout will go near the administrative centre, at the intersection of Narison Road with Surin Road.

Construction will take two months and begin in April next year, with Mr Woodford and Ms Somavilla, who are married, moving on to Hanoi next to make another contribution to road safety in the region.

Comments

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Well done to the SRF for trying to be proactive- what a pity funding for such a basic issue has to come from outside the country. Roundabouts, breathalyzers- what else has to be funded from abroad?

I hope this will include training in 'roundabout etiquette', which seems to be lacking from my day to day observations of other roundabouts on the island. heroines has ceased to be functioning as a roundabout for months due to the traffic delays and collisions that were occurring there.

Posted by Mister Ree on December 9, 2015 18:42

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Thailand should pay for things like this not rely on charity!

Posted by Thais should pay on December 9, 2015 19:08

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Very commendable, but the locals will just ignore roundabout protocol, just as they ignore every other rule of the road.

Posted by jimbo34 on December 9, 2015 21:38

Editor Comment:

About 20 percent of drivers on Phuket's roads - both local and foreign - are bad drivers/riders. No point in blaming everyone for the problems created by those one in five. And if you've never been stunned by the dangerous riding of an expat on a big bike, then you really don't keep your eyes open, jimbo. Try to be fair, please. No need for blind bigotry.

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Sadly Mister are has hit the nail on the head. Roundabouts work well in the UK (who are finding this) as people know how to use them. As seen at Heroine's monument, drivers in thailand are not taught how to, and therefore carnage tends to occur. Big signs "give way to traffic from the right" etc need to be installed and training given or this won't work at all.

Posted by Discover Thainess on December 9, 2015 23:10

Editor Comment:

More big signs? You mean, to block the view of the traffic people need to be giving way to?

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Magic Roundabout? If it saves 1 life it will be. Good luck to them.

Posted by Sue Yu on December 10, 2015 00:13

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Turtle shell? Looks like half a football. Fugly and not in keeping with Phuket TOWN.

Posted by tamsyn on December 10, 2015 13:58

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Suay will do for sure it will reduce traffic accidents.

Posted by Harald on December 10, 2015 20:21

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Should have built an underpass. Seems to be all the rage nowadays.

Posted by Tbs on December 10, 2015 23:20

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DT,
Roundabouts are not give way to the right, they are give way to those already on the roundabout.

Posted by MoW on December 11, 2015 08:56

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"About 20% are bad drivers"??? Ed where do you get this figure from, please? I know you will flame me for this post, but try standing at the side of a road, Chalong Circle area, for example and have a look at the cars and bikes - Thai and foreign drivers. I would dispute the figures you quote. 80% bad would be closer to the truth.
People know how to use roundabouts, they just choose to use them the way they want.
Rather than pay almost 3 million Baht for a new roundabout, might I suggest a cheaper and self funding option? Have authorised officials stationed 24 hours a day at this type of place. Use the money to pay their salaries. They then pull over and fine those 80% of bad drivers till they get tired of being bad drivers. Perhaps confiscation of vehicles for a week or a month would help the process along, too. The officials could do FULL checks on the drivers, passengers and the vehicles themselves - seatbelt use, on the phone?, lights, drunk, careless driving, dangerous driving, etc, etc.
There is bound to be such a huge positive inflow of cash for a while that the process could be expanded to other blackspots.
It is a simple concept, the authorities just need the will to implement it, and that is where this and many other good ideas fall down - no intent.

Posted by john on December 11, 2015 11:50

Editor Comment:

''TIT'' is one of the foolish and cliched responses used by Doomsayers with nothing to say, so it is always moderated. I wish you the best of luck with your idea, john. It's great that you've made a suggestion or two.


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