LEFT TURN BAN CANCELLED

Ulaanbaatar Mayor S.Batbold has revoked the new traffic regulation that prohibit left turns along Peace Avenue due to unsatisfactory results.

“Lately, the capital has been taking various measures in an effort to reduce traffic in the city. One of them is the new regulation we’ve been experimenting for the past two weeks, which disallows drivers from turning left at seven intersections along Peace Avenue. I believe that this ban failed to fulfill its purpose to tackle traffic. Hence, I order the working group to revoke their proposal,” Mayor S.Batbold said during the Ulaanbaatar City Council meeting, held on August 31.

Following the mayor’s decision, drivers will be able to turn left at the Eastern Central Intersection, Western Central Intersection, and intersections of School No.11, Flower Center, Central Post Office, Bagshiin Deed, and Wrestling Palace from September 1.

“The left turn ban wasn’t a complete failure. I’m sure we have learned a lot from this experience. However, the working group seemed to have missed or misjudged a few things related to the ban. First of all, we must consider the public opinion before changing a traffic regulation to which most residents are accustomed. We should take into account the potential impact on the public before taking drastic measures that affect the whole community such as changing bus routes. I think that the failure is partially due to the fact that the public wasn’t ready for such a big change,” S.Batbold stated.

Later, the mayor claimed that the ban wasn’t an arbitrary decision made by him and that it doesn’t violate any legislation, or the rights of the public. He said that a working group studied international practices for a year before proposing the left turn ban and that he accepted it in an attempt to improve traffic flow and accessibility to roads.

Mayor S.Batbold said, “The ban was enforced in accordance with the traffic regulation related to directional signs. In other words, only the directional signs were changed at intersections along the 3.6-kilometer-long avenue.”

The new ban seemed to be the ideal remedy for Ulaanbaatar’s traffic at first as it increased the number of vehicles accessing Peace Avenue per hour by nearly 600 vehicles by the second day of implementation, August 16. However, the effectiveness of the ban started to quickly fade away. A driver reported that the left turn ban made it harder to reach places, increased his commute time, heightened traffic and that he had trouble getting accustomed to it. He was sure that other drivers were facing the same problems.

On August 28, Mayor S.Batbold decided to lift the left turn ban for the intersection at Wrestling Palace due to increased traffic and various inconveniences faced by drivers.

Experts believe that the left turn ban will not be gone for good and could return after some changes.