Report Thailand Tightens Rules for Foreign Drivers: Tests Now Mandatory

[EVENKEEL]

This has zero to do with road safety and just another money maker for agents and driving schools.

[dpeti73]

15 hours ago, Cornish Pasty said:

Thai’s are the worst drivers I have ever seen, and believe me, I have been around!

 

Mark.

Looks like you never been in India 😝

[Expat60]

15 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

 

If they want to become more "stringent", then institute actual road tests, though that would pretty much invalidate 99% of all Thai drivers from the roads. Let's not even get into enforcement, I could write 1000 tickets an hour here in my area, and probably tow 100's of cars an hour. Just the arrests for driving without a license would be off the charts. They aren't fooling anyone by thinking it's the farangs who are untrained in international driving standards. Like I said earlier, Thai's shouldn't even be allowed to carry an IDP, their country lacks any safety standards on the road, and with the lack of even basic road testing, it should be a HUGE Red Flag!

 

[Expat60]

16 hours ago, Cornish Pasty said:

Thai’s are the worst drivers I have ever seen, and believe me, I have been around!

 

Mark.

And yet they can visit the UK and use their Thai license on UK roads for up to 12 months 

[AdamRich]

I will be happy to take a test to get the 5 year license. I have had many 2 year licenses and 1 year licenses before that. Now I get the 5 year visa and they tell me I can still only get a 2 year license. Make that make sense. Meanwhile, people with a 1 year visa can get a 5 year license.

[Caldera]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Licence Validity Extension: The validity of personal driving licences will increase from two years to five for applicants with a previously expired Thai temporary licence.

 

What's new about this? That's how things are now, you get a temporary license for 2 years first, and once that expires, a 5-year license. 

[maddermax]

Car drivers must sit through a one hour video which is a joke. The woman driver never uses her mirrors and worst of all, there is no equivalent video for motorcycle drivers.

[lordgrinz]

Just now, maddermax said:

Car drivers must sit through a one hour video which is a joke. The woman driver never uses her mirrors and worst of all, there is no equivalent video for motorcycle drivers.

 

The video is now online (with several stops to answer questions), but I remember back in 2016 sitting through the video, not a single person in the room was watching the video, they were all glued to their phones the whole time. The parking lot test was the most hilarious though, and by no means meets any "international standard".

[Aussie999]

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I don't see this as a bad thing - in isolation. It can't hurt for foreigners to take a written exam so they better understand the rules of the Thai roads.

 

However, the issue lies with the quality of examinations in the first place.

 

 

Then of course , this completely ignores the elephant in the room...    a bit elephant, knocking one out and spaffing in the face of common sense....   

 

Thailands traffic woes are created primarily by the the drivers on Thailands roads...  from blocking box junctions, creating gridlock, to pulling out without looking, jumping lights and riding down pavements etc... 

 

Thailand 'has' to start looking inwards to see improvements - it can't always 'look' out for external reasons for its issues - when many are so obviously home grown.

 

This isn't an anti-Thai rants - its an anit-absence of common sense rant - ALL licensing needs to become more strict with greater training and oversight - not just foreigners.

 

 

You left out stop in the round about, or the middle of an intersection, because they don't know which exit to take...555

[lordgrinz]

1 minute ago, Aussie999 said:

You left out stop in the round about, or the middle of an intersection, because they don't know which exit to take...555

 

The roundabouts should just be removed, I have yet to see Thai's use them properly, most of the time they are used in the most dangerous way possible.

[mikosan]

16 hours ago, Cornish Pasty said:

Just yesterday I saw a man driving a bike with his helmet on, and a child on the front and back without them….. couldn’t have been older than 5.

 

Are they really that thick?

 

Mark.

Yes.

[Aussie999]

3 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

Lack of care for children in general. They know the driver has to wear a helmet but seem to dismiss that passengers need one also, to not get a ticket.

The laws states All, including passengers, MUST wear a helmet "must" means no option.

[Scouse123]

16 hours ago, ukrules said:

No affect on renewals then?

 

I've have multiple licenses over the years, I think it's been 1 year, then 2 x almost 6 years as I went within the week after my birthday each time to get the extra year.

So I'm good until late 2026 right now but then I will need to renew.

 

 

I don't follow it all, but I know I am on a 5-year licence.

[Scouse123]

22 minutes ago, maddermax said:

Car drivers must sit through a one hour video which is a joke. The woman driver never uses her mirrors and worst of all, there is no equivalent video for motorcycle drivers.

 

I paid someone 200 baht , at my last renewal to sit through it.

[Aussie999]

5 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

 

The roundabouts should just be removed, I have yet to see Thai's use them properly, most of the time they are used in the most dangerous way possible.

Sorry, but I that's irrelevant to this article...might as well say remove all Thai drivers, make them retest, and prove their driving skills...never gonna happen.

[Scouse123]

33 minutes ago, Expat60 said:

And yet they can visit the UK and use their Thai license on UK roads for up to 12 months 

 

 

Exactly,

 

And that would change pronto if ever we had someone from the DVLA in a position of power to come to Thailand and witness how they drive and how they obtain their licences.

[fredwiggy]

7 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

The laws states All, including passengers, MUST wear a helmet "must" means no option.

I did mean the passengers also must have one. I put need in there on the driver's responsibility.

[Jumbo1968]

So if you are coming to Thailand on a short break and plan on hiring a car or a motor bike using an IDP the first thing you have to do is find a Land Transport office to do the test or is it going be online ?

[Scouse123]

10 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

The laws states All, including passengers, MUST wear a helmet "must" means no option.

 

 

The law states..........🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Scouse123]

3 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

So if you are coming to Thailand on a short break and plan on hiring a car or a motor bike using an IDP the first thing you have to do is find a Land Transport office to do the test or is it going be online ?

 

Nope,

 

They will expect you to rock up at a government test centre and sit in a classroom.

 

The fact that they won't be speaking English and you won't understand a word of it is irrelevant. 

[fredwiggy]

Having a driver's license from your own country should be enough to drive here, as long as you keep it current. if you live here nonstop without visiting, I can see the requirement to change to a local one. One look at the stats here is all they need to know how their drivers are here compared to other countries, that the tests we already took in the west are more stringent. The basics of driving can be used anywhere, as most countries have international signage and warning signs aren't hard to decipher. It's up to the country itself to get into the right century as far as knowing there will be foreigners driving there, and to adapt to make everyone safe.

[chuang]

Sit for written test in Thai...55

[Showtime]

The funny thing is they think a written test will do something to improve safety, especially with all the horrible Thai drivers.

[ujayujay]

Typical denial of reality by the Thai government! The problem here is the Thai road users! Many of them don't have a driving license or any authorization to drive a vehicle. The tests are a joke: you can learn the theory tests by heart here, and practical tests are limited to a few hours with an instructor! The bottom line: officially there are 50 road deaths every day, but in reality there are almost three times as many! The government actually knows exactly where to apply the levers, but as is often the case in Thailand, they think a few traffic education TV spots can change things! Every foreigner here has better driving training than the locals....Pure laziness!

[Jack Batty]

17 hours ago, Cornish Pasty said:

Thai’s are the worst drivers I have ever seen, and believe me, I have been around!

 

Mark.

Agreed 

[Formaleins]

From what has been posted, it looks like nothing much different from any other civilized country, (minus the "Civilized" part - )  and have simply stated that you need to convert your IDP into a local license in order to drive here.

 

UK, Aus etc. all have similar laws, you cannot drive on an IDP or foreign licence forever and at some point you need to get a local licence.

 

The only main difference that I can see is that most of these laws seem to have been drawn up or proposed by either Thai savants (minus the servant) or Rainman.

[Lacessit]

17 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Is this related to the spate of accidents involving Chinese drivers?

My mechanic told me to watch out for Beemers, Volvos and Mercs.

 

Apparently they are mostly owned and driven by Chinese, who he rates as worse drivers than Thais.

 

Stretches the imagination, I know.

[Issanraider]

17 hours ago, Upnotover said:

Having done the written test last year, twice in fact as failed the first attempt, I hope that they will get someone who can actually speak/read English to translate the often bizarre questions/answers.  And in a 4 answer multi-choice exam there is usually 1 correct answer...not here, some questions had 3 correct and one incorrect....I was told I failed the first attempt because I didn't select the "most correct" answer.

You did well. I failed the 50 question test 5 times because as a driver for over 50 years in England, 15 of which as a professional driver, I made the mistake of giving sensible answers based on Road knowledge and common sense. Some of the questions were nonsensical and had no relevance to actual driving 

[johnc925]

Oy! I just spit my coffee out reading this 😆 in my 10 years of driving here, foreigners are not the hazardous drivers here!! 

[newbee2022]

17 hours ago, watchcat said:

 

Then they should remove as many Thais from the roads as possible. They are the ones who can't drive

The Thais are not mentioned. Do you know more that it will include Thais?