It's become a safety crisis due to a lack of: routine road checks and enforcement of existing regulations. 

Shows article to Thai wife. 
 

Her response: “And? Everyone knows this  forever” 

 

I mean it’s hardly a revelation. 

But as long as the police dont do anything ,nothing will change.

Thumbnail  headline sent to my e.mail address:

Deadly trend: Thai youth ride motorbikes without licences

 

 

Do they call it a. Trend, even though it has bee  well noticed at least for the past two decades?

 

Since the time of my settlement  in late 05',  I have seen countless school children running motorbikes.

 

Trend means something like a tendency that started very recently; not witnessed in the old time.

 

 

 

Or, maybe...young Thais on motorbikes just don't get pulled over enough. 

On 9/7/2025 at 6:30 AM, Georgealbert said:

Experts warn that this pattern reveals a “silent crisis” in Thai road safety

 

It's not a silent crisis. It's extremely loud, but just doesn't get acknowledged by the government or the the public. Besides fate, there's always "the next life"...

23 hours ago, watchcat said:

 

Perhaps the parents have more dicipline on their monsters, or slap them around more often than weak thai parents does?

 

could be a ot of it has to do with upbringing Thaialnd Bhuddist sort of  Malaysia Muslim definitely

 

 

The big difference is that if a cop charges soemone they get fined but never ay the fine.  I have watched so many kids ride right past police checkpoints or corner cops and nothng is done.

 

Cops here do not care Hell most of them their kids arethe ones riding and the cops ride without helmets

 

Thailand is a country still living in the late 20th century but dealing with 21st centruy issues and o diea how to make the change.  Just look at education system

 

 

Lack of proper:

 

Education; not teaching the young to observe the laws well enough.

 

Road traffic law enforcement; police check points to earn cops' pocket money(only stopping those not wearing seatbelts/helmets.

Seemingly no real concern for the riders' lic.

23 hours ago, actonion said:

Watch out if they collide with you, You are ther one who will pay, even if they're in the wrong, that has been my experience twice with Teenagers Unlicenced,  no Road Tax, no compulsory Government Insurance, and Police saying  the Teenagers situation is not important

In fact in an accident I was involved in, the opposite was true! 2 lads on a bike tearing down the wrong side of the road did not see me indicating to turn right. Piled into my offside front wing and one flew over the bonnet. Luckily no injuries. Police and my insurance assessor attended and then off to the local police station.

The lad driving the bike was 14, unlicensed, no insurance, no helmet, took the bike without permission! Police judged him at fault, I was exonerated of any blame.

The assessor went with the lads to their house where the parents were no faced with around a 90kTHB bill! I have no idea how this bill was settled.

Do the reptiles who have licences ride any better? Two times I've been brushed by motor bike riders both times I was lucky to escape serious injury. Once I missed serious injury when I was walking along the footpath in Naklua Road. The rider charged into a servo and nearly took me and 2 other people out. He must have thought he was entering pit lane in a F1 event. My brother inlaw was not so lucky he got knocked over by a motor bike in Soi Buakhaow. He sustained a broken collar bone. Of course in all cases I mentioned non of the riders stopped except the guy at the pump who knelt down and gave me a very courteous wai. I should'de kicked him while he was down. I resisted knowing the calvary would arrive very shortly.

On 9/7/2025 at 4:30 AM, Georgealbert said:

Young riders are overwhelmingly untrained, unlicensed and at high risk of serious crashes.

The test is as useful as goose poop on a pump handle. As for training, most Thais I talk to tell me they see 'nothing to learn'. 

 

Have you ever wondered why when Thais are two-up the younger one is typically riding and the older on pillion? This is a function of seniority. Having someone take you reinforces their age 'superiority'; I have a chauffeur! It is almost as if thinking about skills, experience and responsibility were foreign...

21 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Even more worrying is the number of kids, 10 yrs upwards, who ride electric bikes which you cannot hear.

 

Not just kids. It's grandma's as well.

Having brought up 2 kids here, I do think they have got the age limit wrong.

 

Kids need to get to school, I’m in favour of lowering the age to 12 and applying a curfew.

 

Parents know their kids.  
 

I took my daughters to the government hospital and specifically the orthopedic trauma ward, they asked how many were motorbike accidents and the nurse told them “All of them”.

 

I like to think that helped, however, they lost 3 male school friends to motorbike accidents.

16 hours ago, impulse said:

From the photo in the OP, pedal bikes may have benefits beyond safety.  When I was a kid, we had to ride our bikes in the snow to school 5 miles, uphill both ways. 

 

Not so coincidentally, chicks were generally thin back then, at least until their freshman year in college.  Then they plumped up.  I think we called it the "freshman 15".

 

5 miles uphill both ways? I think you would’ve had to come down a hill at some stage.

16 hours ago, impulse said:

From the photo in the OP, pedal bikes may have benefits beyond safety.  When I was a kid, we had to ride our bikes in the snow to school 5 miles, uphill both ways. 

 

OH..  you must be a youngster,,,   less than  50 ?

we had to walk..   yes uphill both ways,  in all kinds of weather .... (70+)

then there's the slightly older group ..  80+    they had to do it  "barefoot"

I took my nephews to a hospital and asked a doctor to guestimate how many fewer bike patients he would see if they were wearing helmets or proper shoes. He started with 'well over half' then ended up and 'perhaps 70-80%'. My nephews now ride Harleys and Beemers and follow the mantra, all the gear, all the time.

On 9/7/2025 at 7:57 AM, HaoleBoy said:

In Malaysia I didn't see anybody riding scooters without a helmet and that leads me to believe same % have licenses too.  I heard there were more police on the roads that would pull people over ... not so in Thailand.

Here in TH the police mostly rely on roadblocks it seems.

 

Anyone know why this is so between Thailand & Malaysia?

why blame the police or the goverment when it is the parents who are at fault. fine the parents. 

Oh my, they have only just found out about this, FFS, get into the real world

I bought my daughters cars as soon as legal.

 

My eldest daughter had a Kawasaki Ninja 400 at 16 years old.  She rode it just like a girl would, it’s done 10,000km and it has sat in the garage for 4 years.  I service it and take it out very occasionally.  Looking at the tyres confirmed she rode it sensibly and never leaned it.  I should get it advertised and gone.

It doesn't shock me that many young (and older) Thais still ride their motorbike without a helmet. Which just shows a brazen disregard for laws....and an unconcerned attitude for getting fined. 

they've been doing it for ages

6 minutes ago, jwl53 said:

When my wife was a kid she used to go on pushbike, 20km there 20km back, why can't your kids do that?

 

I'd gladly bet that 95% of the "transportation" these kids do could easily be done (and safer) on pedal bikes.  And they'd lose a little weight and be healthier in the process.  The ones in the OP photo could sure use a little more exercise. 

 

As a side benefit, it would give them a better choice on the dating and marriage scene.

 

No tags, no helmet. no license, no insurance, no mirrors, no sense.

How about some bloody training for bike riders and car drivers instead of the ridiculous 1 day or even 2 day gala event of obtaining your driving licence. where you sit for one or two days looking at illegible road situations on their "AI" Computer - like an Etch A Sketch but in colour and with less resolution - 45 out of 50 points to continue to the next level!

 

Before you manage to get to the Boss Level of having your photo taken, paying a fee, you will attend the "Depth perception" class, where one eyed octogenarians pass with flying colours. where the contestant has to move a pencil like object back and forth over an extended distance to try to match the pencil position with a previously setup reference pencil.

 

Next, comes the Traffic Light" Test - This involves shouting out the colour of the "Traffic Light" in front of you  - "Deng, Deng, Leung, Kieow, kieow, Deng! as you practice your skills at driving straight through them.

 

The only practical test for the motorcycle is to negotiate a raised platform about 1 foot wide 4 inches high and about 8 foot long, as long as you don't fall on your arse then the pass is in the bag!

 

Obviously, obtaining your licence automatically makes you Thailand's number one driver, like all the rest of them, and don't worry if you are really <deleted> at driving, you can pay the head guy 2500-3000 Baht and he will waive the technicalities!

A transport machine with only two wheels is inherently unstable. To insert an engine which puts a lot of weight over the rear wheel increases that instability then  adding pillion rider(s) to the mix, exponentially increases the chance of misfortune. Adolescent belief in immortality together with the above facts would suggest that they would be the beneficiaries of the promise of a longer lifespan if the wisdom of experience prevailed and the government regulators imposed a rigorous training regimen for all riders and police enforcement of the rules was rigorously applied.

19 minutes ago, jwl53 said:

When my wife was a kid she used to go on pushbike, 20km there 20km back, why can't your kids do that?

 

I know it's a British vs Yank English thing, but this is a "push bike" where I grew up.

 

 

23 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

I use to think that, but I have been in 2 accidents both the Thai riders fault.  Both times we went to the police station and they paid me.  The price was negotiated and they paid me before they left the police station.

But were the accidents with kids?

As usual, from many contributions from Westerners, apoplectic comments about regular life Thai life hidden under  false concerns about safety life and limb. 

  No recognition of the economic reality that forces a family to take unnoticeable risks to meet unrealistic government mandates for education and military mandates at a wage structure that would cause violent riots in the west. 

  Give the Thais a little credit. They know how to make it work in their own country. 

   Yes some will suffer death or injury. Living will kill us all eventually. Even the know it alls on AN.

hmm… this has been happening for the past 15 yrs that i am aware of , and the government only just now worked it out. Well done . Maybe they will notice the same problem with cars and how it is linked to road deaths . But TIT ?

5 minutes ago, Shwaman said:

No recognition of the economic reality that forces a family to take unnoticeable risks to meet unrealistic government mandates for education and military mandates at a wage structure that would cause violent riots in the west. 

 

I can't think of an economic reality that would prevent parents from buying their kids pedal bikes instead.  Which would be adequate for 95% of getting around town. 

 

Worked great for me since Mom wouldn't allow us to even ride on scooters, much less own one.