Driving Practice In Chiang Mai

[Greenside]

Last week across from the 700 Year Stadium and down the road before the large reservoir (about a km), in the direction of the Hotel Phucomb intersection, there were several vehicles doing driving lessons on the currently vacant site of the Chiangmai Winter festival. Huge area, flat with many dirt roadways along which folks sell their products at the fair. Might suit you...

Thanks, and thanks to Lancashire Lad for that long and helpful post. Luckily I was doing most of the good practise things that were suggested. She's has a break of a couple of weeks but was doing fine until then. Next post at test time in a couple of months.

[john b good]

Hi Folks,

Don't they have any driving schools in Chiang Mai ?

CM Sally's post highlights one of the two "schools" I know of and, as she says, it's just a bit of waste ground with bumps and ruts more suited to 4x4 training. We went to enquire about three months ago and for 2000 baht they'll do "lessons". Looking at this setup is what decided me to go DIY. Seems locals just go out with a blind and/or extremely unimaginative friend or relative and head for the nearest highway. Judging by some of the driving, it appears a large percentage of the population is under this kind of tutition at any one time.

Our lesson went very well today, attaining the dizzy heights of cruising in 4th for a minute or two at a time. One of the drawbacks of this training area became apparant this afternoon: there were quite a few puppies and kittens playing around in the road when we arrived although after we'd been round a couple of times they seemed to have decided to lie quietly on the grass verge without moving so I don't expect any more trouble from them tomorrow.

These ""schools"" that use this bit of wasteland are about as much as you can expect here in the realm. A bunch of guys who think that they themselves can drive trying to teach someone who wants to learn.

The cars are shyt, no seat belts, no air con, regularly break down, and generally a joke all round.

After 3-4 sessions driving around this mud bath they let the students out on the road for an hour or so and then say OK you're ready for your driving test.

So off you go to the place on the Hang Dong Road where the student drives around a circuit (on their own, no testing officer in the car) return to the office area, park the car and then told OK, go over to the main office and pick up your licence.

Biggest problem is that the GF now thinks that she can drive a car. She needs another six months of practical before she will begin to look like a driver.

From the driving instructors to the testing officers they wouldn't know "zip" about the proper way to drive a vehicle of any sort "TIT"

These guys (the driving instructors) also touch up the female students and solicit horizontal favours from them, again TIT

I went thru this less than two months ago.

AND, I am a qualified "defensive driving & off road driving instructor" and have driven in excess of two million kilometres (without a serious event)

Edited August 1, 2008 by john b good

[Lancashirelad]

Thanks, and thanks to Lancashire Lad for that long and helpful post.

noted

Luckily I was doing most of the good practise things that were suggested. She's has a break of a couple of weeks but was doing fine until then. Next post at test time in a couple of months

Don't expect her to just carry on from where you left off after a break of some weeks. She will have regressed a few lessons.