Driving On The Left Side

[Tamrak]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[mrt273nva]

just drive on the left side of the road. when you come to an intersection look both ways, then look both ways again. take it slow until you get the hang of it. I think that if I go back to the US i'd have problems driving on the rights side of the road. i'd say it takes about 1-7 days to feel comfortable with it. be careful in the mean time.

[mikethevigoman]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

get an automatic !

[samran]

I've driven on the left all my life, and occasionally have to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road in the US or Europe, with very little problem.

Use your common sense, drive slowly and follow the traffic. You'll be fine. After the first hour you'll be used to it.

[Mid]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

hire a car and driver .

[elkangorito]

Does anybody know how driving on the correct side (the left) of the road started? I'll give you a hint; horse & cart, whip, most people are naturally right handed.

[Dave the Dude]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Tamrak

I'v had the same dillema many times when driving on the right(or is it wrong) side. JUST REMEMBER TO ALWAYS DRIVE WITH THE KERB ON YOUR LEFT. Sounds simple but needs remembering when going round roundabouts. Treat all other road users as idiots and expect them to do the unexpected, like drive without lights at night or drive on the wrong side of road. I live in a rural area so watch out for the many stray dogs/cattle. Driving in Bangkok should be avoided or kept to a minimum,if your not confident.

Stay cool and drive at a reasonable speed, the traffic in most parts of Thailand is very light compared to US/UK . If you get stopped by 'the boys on brown' be polite,they will be and pay them off, if it offered to you. Good luck and I'm sure you will get on just fine

Dave

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

I can only say, after having 350.000 Kilometers under my belt in Germany (steering wheel left) when i did my first driving here (test driving my Volvo before buying it) i was pretty nervous at first, but after like 2 minutes i had it in control...... you really get used to it VERY quick. Of course having an automatic helps, but since i have also driven pickups with manual shifter here and didn't have a problem with those either (in Germany i drove manuals only).

Best regards....

Thanh

[elkangorito]

Hi

I can only say, after having 350.000 Kilometers under my belt in Germany (steering wheel left) when i did my first driving here (test driving my Volvo before buying it) i was pretty nervous at first, but after like 2 minutes i had it in control...... you really get used to it VERY quick. Of course having an automatic helps, but since i have also driven pickups with manual shifter here and didn't have a problem with those either (in Germany i drove manuals only).

Best regards....

Thanh

You only did 350 km (correct to 3 decimal places)?

[qualtrough]

When I first started driving here the things I thought would be the hardest was the fact that I would be using my left hand to shift gears instead of my right. As it turned out you get used to that in about 10 minutes, if that.

[Sir Burr]

Does anybody know how driving on the correct side (the left) of the road started? I'll give you a hint; horse & cart, whip, most people are naturally right handed.

Most of Europe drove on the left hand side of the road. This was because the Romans, who built most of the roads, marched on the left, so that their sword arm was free.

It wasn't until Napoleon came along that driving on the right became the norm in Europe. He decreed that his armies would march on the right hand side. As Britain never got invaded by Napoleon, we continued with the Roman tradition.

[Tim207]

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

What works for me is to remember the driver sits towards the center of the road, thus if you are driving and you are next to the shoulder you are on the wrong side. I found you get used to it quickly but there are times that you get confused and that is a quick way to check if you are on the correct side of the road. It works in both Thailand and the US. As a matter of fact I used that technique just a couple weeks ago when I got confused at a weird intersection in the US.

[elkangorito]

Does anybody know how driving on the correct side (the left) of the road started? I'll give you a hint; horse & cart, whip, most people are naturally right handed.

Most of Europe drove on the left hand side of the road. This was because the Romans, who built most of the roads, marched on the left, so that their sword arm was free.

It wasn't until Napoleon came along that driving on the right became the norm in Europe. He decreed that his armies would march on the right hand side. As Britain never got invaded by Napoleon, we continued with the Roman tradition.

I don't understand. Why wouldn't their sword arm be free if they marched on the right?

I was told that the reason for this "left hand side" thing was that most of the coach drivers used whips on the horses...predominantly in their right hand. If they travelled on the right hand side of the road, they occasionally whipped people on the footpath. Thus a rule was created whereby all coaches travelled on the left hand side as to avoid the occasion of pedestrians being being accidentally whipped.

[JimsKnight]

Usually ok for me, but then I'm from the UK

Not sure if it was the Romans who brought in the tradition though, usually the Romans (when they where marching on a road) would form up in columns and would march the roads to cover distance, if an enemy appeared they would form into a fighting formation and fight off the roadways rather than battle it out on the road as a column.

I always thought it was the fact that most warriors were (and are) right-handed. The saxons / vikings likely decreed that to have a 'fair' and 'safer' fight you had be fighting on the left of a track or pathway so that it was sword onto an enemy's shield (assuming both are right-handed fighters) rather than sword onto sword. Hmmm, it could also be because swordsmen back then would have to swing his sword at an awkward angle 'diagonally across' the body if fighting from the right.

He_l lets just jump in a time machine and ask the Romans and Vikings

Edited October 1, 2007 by JimsKnight

[Tony Clifton]

Don't know how long you'll be staying but I waited a few weeks, observing as a passenger first and then I felt more confident. I actually drove on the wrong side in my home country afterwards!

[grtaylor]

Some interesting historical information here.

G

[endure]

Hi

I can only say, after having 350.000 Kilometers under my belt in Germany (steering wheel left) when i did my first driving here (test driving my Volvo before buying it) i was pretty nervous at first, but after like 2 minutes i had it in control...... you really get used to it VERY quick. Of course having an automatic helps, but since i have also driven pickups with manual shifter here and didn't have a problem with those either (in Germany i drove manuals only).

Best regards....

Thanh

You only did 350 km (correct to 3 decimal places)?

No, he did three hundred and fifty thousand kilometers. Large parts of the world use the decimal point as a delimiter rather than the comma in the same way that large parts of the world drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. Being a cultural smartarse is never a good idea.

[Daewoo]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Back on topic...

the driving part is easy... it is the turning part that is hard ...

Usually you will be fine when you are on the road, because as someone else said, you will be used to sitting in the seat in the middle of the road... the hard part is when you are turning at an interstection (crossroad or T) you will probably find that you want to turn onto the worng side of the road... that is where you need to concentrate... also you will tend to look for cars coming towards you on the wrong side, so just be triple careful at intersections...

Single careful is just like any interstection at home,

Double careful because you are sitting on the wrong side of the car...

Triple careful because you are in Thailand, and anything can happen...

Goodluck,

Daewoo

[Naam]

I've driven on the left all my life, and occasionally have to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road in the US or Europe, with very little problem.

isn't it strange that the right side is considered the wrong side by some people?

[Naam]

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

my advice is forget about it and use either taxis or a car with a driver.

reason: if you are a seasoned driver you will act by instinct based on your experience and not by rational thinking when encountering a dangerous situation and that means you will take the wrong action.

[calibanjr.]

Good afternoon,

I will be visiting Bangkok in December from the US. I plan to rent a vehicle. Do you have any suggestions on driving on another side of the road? I know that it will be strange to have the steering wheel on another side of my normal routine. Is it very difficult?

I think, if I follow other vehicles, I will not have much of the problems. However, when I travel to the rural area, I might pull myself to another side of the road, like I am getting used to.

I have been driving in the States for over 20 years. Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

hire a car and driver .

While there are good points above if you HAVE to rent a car, I have to agree to an extent with Mid. If you're just visiting and have never been to Thailand, you should just use taxis (cheaper than any place I've been in the States) or hire a driver for the day (WAY cheaper than anywhere I've been outside of Asia) if you really need to get around BKK a lot for any one day.

Like most Americans, I love to live out of a car and have that independent mobility, especially when traveling, but BKK is just too busy, convoluted, hectic, to warrant renting a car to tool around in. It's just not the same as flying into anywhere in the West where you need that kind of mobility and getting from point A to B is quite clear and you're dealing with your own language or at least your own alphabet!

I'm quite comfortable driving on the left, spent a lot of time in Ireland (on the left driving on crazy NARROW roads), and have lived here for 4 years now. I know my way around BKK in the areas where I need to go, at least. I live in CM, and do biz in BKK, but even if I have a lot of places to go all day, I'll fly in and get a car and driver all day for 1500 THB, other people probably do better, not sure.

[Tony Clifton]

And there are many bad driving habits Thais have that I'm sure you've never seen done before. Thai drivers are kings at creating confusion and doubt. One example, coming from a side road, they will rarely immobilize their vehicle as you come towards them.

You can't imagine how bad it is until you've seen it.

[Sanpatong]

Not female. I only love them. I thought the girl in the avatar had an especially wholesome beauty, plus she's Thai, so why not?

Use it on her balls then and see how wholesome she remains.

[jayenram]

Any tips that you all can provide will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

There are some useful tips on Yorkie's website.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=119099

[elkangorito]

And there are many bad driving habits Thais have that I'm sure you've never seen done before. Thai drivers are kings at creating confusion and doubt. One example, coming from a side road, they will rarely immobilize their vehicle as you come towards them.

You can't imagine how bad it is until you've seen it.

They will stop their vehicles when they see you now, won't they Tony!

The scene - Thais in car coming into main traffic from side-road:

Supalut: "What's that, Poo?"

Poo: "Not sure. It looks like flames coming from..."

Supalut: "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Get this piece of shit in reverse now! It's Tony. He must have got his car back from Mitsubishi"

Poo: "I'm sure glad we've got a Toyota."

Just jokes Tony.

[onnut]

I shouldnt worry as there are not many two way roads in Thailand. most roads have a barrier down the center, normally the two way lanes are never that busy. just keep your eyes open and expect other road users to act as if you are not there.