What’s it like to drive in Thailand?

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, grollies said:

We took my neighbour to a restaurant years ago. Never been before. Down the dual carriageway he told me to turn at the u-turn.....and then head left going the wrong way for around 200m to reach the car park. Plus it was dark. First and only time I've tried this, never to be repeated. But, still an everyday occurrence, especially in one way frontage roads.

It was you, I saw you, I sounded my horn and you stopped! 

[faraday]

Couple of fantasists on here.....

[JAFO]

I love driving here. It's organized chaos. Just have to pay attention as you should.  

 

The Author is a bit rosy on his view of driving here but I too enjoy road trips. Never a problem. There are good and bad drivers everywhere. 

 

One of the biggest challenges surfacing is the mix of vehicles to motorcycles/scooters. Nowadays you have to look 360 degrees when making a turn.  I drive a truck, a Yamaha R3 and my Wave routinely.  It's just life here. 

 

 

[RocketDog]

15 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Driving in Thailand is like playing Pacman . The four ghost that roam the maze are the Thai drivers, you are the Pac-man they are trying to kill. 

Exactly my thoughts but more violent. I've often considered creating a video game where you constantly and unexpectedly encounter dangerous and potentially fatal road situations. It would be based of course on my experiences driving in Thailand. 

It should be used to train western drivers in surviving the road carnage in this country. 

Unfortunately nobody would actually use it, so it would have to be an act of charity to develop and advertise it. 

In the end the only real survival tactics here are to always give way to the crazies, keep your head on a swivel and your foot/hand on the brake. ANTICIPATE FOOLISH BEHAVIOR from EVERY DRIVER of EVERY VEHICLE  you encounter.

 

Never, ever, drive at night or on Thai holidaze.. To do so multiplies your chances of a gory death by double digits. 

 

Assume every vehicle intends you harm in the most brutal form. If you walk, follow the same tactics as it's the same situation except you have absolutely no maneuverability or protection except your eyes and wits. 

Negotiating the roads here is a constant series of near misses. Eventually they won't miss and you will go down. It is inevitable. 

 

If anything ever forces me out of Thailand it will be the mindless and careless driving habits of the citizens here. 

Anybody who says the roads here are safe is either a fool, a liar, or both. 

 

I used to be bitter but now only resigned and saddened by the reality.. 

 

 

 

[neeray]

21 hours ago, cliveshep said:

I came off one rainy day when the front wheel of our Fino slipped out from under on a wet painted speed bump in our village, spilling both me and the shopping all over the road. Fortunately only a minor bruise and abraded shorts.

 

More seriously our new Mio Sport did the same thing at stationary traffic lights with my wife on the back - one of those joins in the concrete was out of level, the front wheel dropped down the little step, a mere 25mm but enough to cause the wheel to slide out and down we went with her on top of me.

 

Three months later and she has recovered, but I have suffered some sort of injury to my shoulder that is getting more painful every day and causes sleepless nights. X-rays show nothing broken, and the expensive doctor at the Central General Hospital insisted that it was strained tendons, or ligaments and that I should rest it although driving the Mio was ok. (Clearly he has never had to wrestle a bouncing bike on Thailand's bumpy roads) Also don't sleep on it.

 

Ha - the only place I get any pain relief is to sleep on that side with my arm over my head. When I did some google research, I found deep bone bruising that is trauma to the bone that manifests itself on growing pain, takes forever to heal, only shows up on MRI and was denied by my doctor as actually ever occurring. So that was a waste of money and he was one of the most expensive specialists in that hospital.

 

But in spite of that we seldom use the car as traffic is too heavy, we use the bike, the Fino before and now the super sporty Mio that is a much better traffic bike capable of rapid acceleration in traffic so we can maximise gaps etc when struggling through Bangkok rush hours to the hospital or Chang Wattana or wherever. I prefer it to the car, you save hours of sitting still, polluting the air, and it is fun to drive. 

 

Ok, after an hour the "numb-bum syndrome" is replaced by "aching-bum syndrome" followed by "bruised-bum syndrome" if a journey over crap Bangkok roads is too long but still..............................!

Scalding hot water in shower on that shoulder, as hot as you can take it for as long as you can. Repeat daily. Good luck, be patient.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

27 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Exactly my thoughts but more violent. I've often considered creating a video game where you constantly and unexpectedly encounter dangerous and potentially fatal road situations. It would be based of course on my experiences driving in Thailand. 

It should be used to train western drivers in surviving the road carnage in this country. 

Unfortunately nobody would actually use it, so it would have to be an act of charity to develop and advertise it. 

In the end the only real survival tactics here are to always give way to the crazies, keep your head on a swivel and your foot/hand on the brake. ANTICIPATE FOOLISH BEHAVIOR from EVERY DRIVER of EVERY VEHICLE  you encounter.

 

Never, ever, drive at night or on Thai holidaze.. To do so multiplies your chances of a gory death by double digits. 

 

Assume every vehicle intends you harm in the most brutal form. If you walk, follow the same tactics as it's the same situation except you have absolutely no maneuverability or protection except your eyes and wits. 

Negotiating the roads here is a constant series of near misses. Eventually they won't miss and you will go down. It is inevitable. 

 

If anything ever forces me out of Thailand it will be the mindless and careless driving habits of the citizens here. 

Anybody who says the roads here are safe is either a fool, a liar, or both. 

 

I used to be bitter but now only resigned and saddened by the reality.. 

 

 

 

Your thoughts are very similar to mine. I came here in 1985 and been driving average 35.000 km per year in my different cars I had during this time without any accident (over 1 million km!) but its been very close, I would say hundreds of times, only fast reactions and luck have saved me from really bad accidents.

 

You are very right with this: ANTICIPATE FOOLISH BEHAVIOR from EVERY DRIVER

I even almost had a bad accident with a police car that did not stop for red light, so you can't trust any Thai on the roads.

 

The standard of driving seems to get worse every year also in Thailand, more and more idiots on the roads and also more cases of road rage during the last 5 years. 

[HampiK]

You also have to consider, that about 10 years ago it was much more expensive to buy a car. Today almost everybody can afford a car (OK, maybe not afford, but still able to buy one).

And I also see some of my Thai friends, they have no knowledge about the car at all. They know where is the start button and where the break and the acceleration and of course where to switch on the Aircon. 

 

But some already have problems to know about the high beam and other features in the car. So what you expect from the Thais.

But Thailand will become better. Maybe in 20 years everything will look much better. I already see now some Improvements. Like when I want cross a street. It happens quite often, that a car is stopping for me to cross. Or when an ambulance is driving, already some cars make space so the ambulance can go in front of them. Of course it is still a long way to go. But 10 years ago no cars would stop for me crossing the street or nobody would make place for the ambulance. Yes many things is bad here.. but I think most of you also have to accept that it will become better.

On the other side there are much more cars on the road this days than before.

[jacko45k]

On 25/04/2018 at 10:38 AM, jenny2017 said:

There should be a more difficult to get license for big bikes. It's a joke that anybody is allowed to drive a 1,000 cc motorcycle without having any driving practice.

Considering that most out there don't have any licence whatsoever letting them drive a truck or cement mixer is more my concern. Passing a motorcycle test and having access to bigger bikes doesn't worry me too much. I went from 250cc max to whatever I liked by passing a test in the UK. I am more likely to be killed by a 4 or more wheeled vehicle than by my own actions.

[Kadilo]

17 hours ago, brling said:

Maybe its YOU that should not be on the roads with thick rose tints. Wise up, and look at the Thai. road death stats. 

I'm fine cheers. I don't suffer with thick goggles or poopy pants and my alertness is fine. 

The only stats that interest me are those that tell me I've never had an accident caused by anyone else other than myself. 

So you carry on changing your undies and I'll carry on enjoying the ride. 

[MrJohnson]

^{If Dan thinks that driving in Thailand is OK then I must be living in a parallel universe!  Driving Bangkok to Hua Hin I need a sedative, cup of tea and lie down at the end of it!}

[DJ54]

On 4/25/2018 at 2:35 PM, bsdthai said:

Cars dont pay for bikes. Thats ludacris. Can be used as a way to get money out of a farang though.  A Girl drove her scooter with her school friends on the back right in to the side of my car. Instantly my fault. Bigger car, too fast, farang dont understand, just girls (no licenses), yada, yada. People were running from everywhere to blame me, cctv of the police box was fake. Told everyone to go to hell and got a lawyer on the phone. I sent a get well card to hospital with a inspirational messege.

Im a descent driver and been in comp cars and bikes since a lad. Had our car totalled by an unlicensed hardware shop delivery guy. Ended up at the police station and the hardware shop owner guy took the cops in to the other room and came out saying its our fault and get out. 

Thais are racist end of story. Farang always has to pay for other peoples mistakes. Thais are shameless, greedy, selfish, ignorant, lying, 2faced, low iq morons. Only interested in the cost of everything and value of nothing. Just thankfull not everyone is this bad and thankfull my wife aint one of them but its the impression i have of being here for decades. Im not thai bashing just stating facts as i see them. 

Anyway, driving is fine if you can drive. Just be prepared for others to ding your car repeatedly!

 

Have to agree on the description as there are a number of people Not all they may have been taught this behavior in the NE.

 

Anyone that’s going to ride a motorcycle needs to have proper training 

grabbing the front brake first will cause some issues. Luckily I learned 

to ride moto cross when 13ish. Learned a lot before riding street bike. 

[grollies]

8 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Exactly my thoughts but more violent. I've often considered creating a video game where you constantly and unexpectedly encounter dangerous and potentially fatal road situations. It would be based of course on my experiences driving in Thailand. 

It should be used to train western drivers in surviving the road carnage in this country. 

Unfortunately nobody would actually use it, so it would have to be an act of charity to develop and advertise it. 

In the end the only real survival tactics here are to always give way to the crazies, keep your head on a swivel and your foot/hand on the brake. ANTICIPATE FOOLISH BEHAVIOR from EVERY DRIVER of EVERY VEHICLE  you encounter.

 

Never, ever, drive at night or on Thai holidaze.. To do so multiplies your chances of a gory death by double digits. 

 

Assume every vehicle intends you harm in the most brutal form. If you walk, follow the same tactics as it's the same situation except you have absolutely no maneuverability or protection except your eyes and wits. 

Negotiating the roads here is a constant series of near misses. Eventually they won't miss and you will go down. It is inevitable. 

 

If anything ever forces me out of Thailand it will be the mindless and careless driving habits of the citizens here. 

Anybody who says the roads here are safe is either a fool, a liar, or both. 

 

I used to be bitter but now only resigned and saddened by the reality.. 

 

 

 

I think you need to go a have a lie down.

[JAFO]

I think some of you posters are a bit too wound up. Come on, Its just driving. In my 10 years plus here I haven't had what I would even call a "Man that was close" event.  Sure I witnessed some stunts here that make me scratch my head but overall its really not all that much different from living in California. Hell imagine the immigrants from all the various countries taking driving tests in their native language then go out and drive on the roads when its all in English.  My wife says other then the scooters it's almost the same.  She said she had many close calls in the states and most were from senior citizens who shouldn't being driving to various asians who look totally confused.

 

I say if it's that bad...Stay home or suit up and join the chaos...

[JAFO]

On 4/25/2018 at 2:35 PM, bsdthai said:

Thais are racist end of story. Farang always has to pay for other peoples mistakes. Thais are shameless, greedy, selfish, ignorant, lying, 2faced, low iq morons. Only interested in the cost of everything and value of nothing.

I'd say you probably need to get out of Pattaya.  LOL

[Kadilo]

I think some of you posters are a bit too wound up. Come on, Its just driving. In my 10 years plus here I haven't had what I would even call a "Man that was close" event.  Sure I witnessed some stunts here that make me scratch my head but overall its really not all that much different from living in California. Hell imagine the immigrants from all the various countries taking driving tests in their native language then go out and drive on the roads when its all in English.  My wife says other then the scooters it's almost the same.  She said she had many close calls in the states and most were from senior citizens who shouldn't being driving to various asians who look totally confused.

 

I say if it's that bad...Stay home or suit up and join the chaos...

If it werent this it would be something else to get all excited about.

The Thais are probably saying much the same about the old dodgers.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[JAFO]

1 minute ago, Kadilo said:

If it werent this it would be something else to get all excited about.

The Thais are probably saying much the same about the old dodgers.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Guaranteed so Kadillo.  There are some that will find a reason to complain about anything.  Most these old coffin dodgers probably can't drive well anyway.  I can appreciate though that I suspect it can overwhelm the "Seniors" here.  LOL.

[grollies]

14 minutes ago, JAFO said:

I'd say you probably need to get out of Pattaya.  LOL

Correction, Thailand.

[NanLaew]

On 25/04/2018 at 8:51 AM, Baerboxer said:

 

Not my experience. A big bike slammed into the back of my car yesterday at some speed. Thankfully the rider was wearing a full crash helmet, proper boots, and a thick motor cycle jacket. He was shook up and banged his shoulder and knee. Accident happened right outside a police station. 

 

A witness and the rider both confirmed it was the riders fault. My insurance company employee was quickly on the scene. Several hours filling in the accident report, police logs, insurance details and the outcome was the rider was fined for careless driving - all officially receipted and noted in the report. At no time did anyone loose their temper or argue. The rider was a very nice young Thai man and I felt sorry for him as he was very apologetic. 

 

I have to say the police, particularly the officer making out the report, were professional and thorough but also very hospitable putting everyone at ease, getting water for us etc. Luckily for me that this officer spoke really good English and could even read my awful hand writing and translate my statement for the insurance guy!

 

 

 

 

I sincerely hope that after that little love-in, you (or your partner) went and bought some lottery tickets.

 

Since it's universally acknowledged that realistically one can have only 1 (one) trouble-free, no hassle, fender bender while driving in LOS, I hope that you appreciate that from now on, your number is well and truly up. So make sure you have cash in your wallet.

[5633572526]

I think Dan works for the tourist authority of Thailand 

[grollies]

1 hour ago, 5633572526 said:

I think Dan works for the tourist authority of Thailand 

Nope, Dan owns TVF and is trying to boost the post count.