Drivers License Experience Report

[paulfr]

I now have a brand new shiney Thai Drivers License.

Here is the story of my day at the Land Transport Office.

I made my application at the Land Transport Office off Sukhumvit a little ways

past the ON Nut BTS stop. You make a left hand turn about 20 yards past Soi 99

(Soi 62 is on the other side about 200 yards before the turn). The road is a good

5 minute walk, so taking a taxi from the On Nut station is a good idea. It would

be a good 15-20 minute walk from there.

Note: I had my California DL stolen over New Years when my apartment was

burglarized. So I had to go through then entire process. I am told with an

International License or a valid license from your country, only the eye and

reaction tests are required to get the Thai DL.

First, if you do not speak fluent Thai or have a TGF or friend who is bi-lingual,

you almost have no chance of getting thru it all smoothly and quickly in my

opinion unless you are willing to make many mistakes and end up coming back 2 or

three times/days. All the signs are in Thai and few to none of the employees speak

English. However, to my surprise, the instruction booklets which you study before

taking the written exam are available in English in the test room. And the test

can be given in English too. So that is a real plus. But this is Bangkok, so I

doubt you can count on that upcountry or even out of Bkk.

After you pass thru the hoops of Medical Certificate (50-200B), Embassy Statement

(1200B)of your Resident Address, 2 proper 1 inch photos (which can be taken and

purchased there for 65B in 10 minutes), you take some physical tests with a large

group going one at a time.

1/ Color test. This is like the color tests in the states where you see an array

of colored dots and you pick out the letter or number that can be seen in a one

color pattern. But here in Bkk it is different. The lady points with a pencil to

one particular dot and you say the color you see and call out ..... daeng, leung

or kiaow (red, yellow or green).

2/ Reaction test. You see a red and green light while you have your foot on a

small accelerator pedal on the floor in front of you. When you press the pedal,

some vertical lights begin moving up and you are to step on the brake pedal next

to the accelerator pedal as fast as you can. If the lights make it too high (too

long reaction time) you fail. I never saw anyone fail more than once. My reaction

was faster than nearly anyone else I saw too.

3/ Periferal color recognition. You put your nose/chin to a shelf with some lights

at almost 180deg from your eyes. The lady presses a button which puts red or

yellow or green on either the left or right and you are to call out what you see.

This one was a bit difficult for me but I made it through. I think it is because

my contacts limit my periferal vision.

4/ Depth Perception Test. You sit in a chair about 10 feet from a box at chair

height. In the box are two small (3inch) white poles. One pole will move forward

or backward in response to the red and green button controls on a small control

box you are given/holding. The idea is to make the moving pole line up the same

distance from you as the fixed white pole. I actually failed this one because my

eyes are different because I practice monovision. That is I have a contact in my

right eyes for long distace seeing and no contact in my left eye for close vision

and reading. Over time, this has caused my eyes to become different. This day I

put contacts in both eyes to be sure an eye test where you cover one eye and the

other was a test I would pass. Little did I know it would backfire on me.

Hahahahah.

After the physical tests, we went upstairs to the 3rd floor where we were given

booklets with all the driving rules and customs we needed for the written test.

Fortunately, as I mentioned above, they had booklets in English. We were given

about 30 minutes and then two tapes were played which went over the same

information with visuals and an instructor. This was all in Thai and took nearly

90 minutes. Then the test was passed out and we had pretty much as much time as we

wanted.

You then go for lunch at the food court across the parking lot and in 45 minutes

it was 1 o'clock, time to return to the test room. He spoke a bit to us and then

had us report to the first floor where our papers and test results were handed out

one by one. There were quite a few who failed the test. You needed to get 23 of

the 30 questions right. And many questions were tricky.

If you passed, you then went to another building where the driving test was

administered. About one third of the people had their own cars or came with

someone who had a car. The rest like myself used a car provided and paid an 80B

rental fee.

Now I am a six foot three inch guy with very long legs. And the car they had was

the smallest thing I have ever seen. I was barely able to get in it. In fact I

could not lean my head out the window, it was so close to the ceiling. My SO said

I was driving with my head tilted at almost a 45 degree angle although I was not

conscious of this.

The driving test involved going forward 30 feet and then backing up the same

amount to see if you can drive straight while going backwards. Then there were a

few stops to be made around a circular route. Then you make a left turn and must

get your front tire exactly on a white line while being less than 6 inches from

the curb. Finally you must execute a parallel parking maneuver. And that's it.

You go to one window for a stamp, then another to pay 105Baht and wait for the

machine to cough out your pretty license. Finally you go back to the photo desk

where they will laminate the license in plastic for 15B.

So that was my trip to the Land Transport Office. We got there around 8:30 and

left at about 3:30.

Cheers. Now I can buy a car and have the freedom to move away from the BTS to

areas with less expensive housing if I want. I like having the privacy and control

provided by owning your own car. Plus my lady no longer need walk long disances in

her high heels when we go out. And finally since I was almost killed by a car 4

times in this first year walking the streets of Bangkok, I feel I will be safer by

reducing my street exposure. Of course the downside is I will be dealing with

crazy Bangkok traffic and drivers. So tit for tat, but new experiences ahead.

Edited April 22, 2005 by paulfr

[RDN]

Nice post paul. I'm amazed that they actually make you do a parallel parking manoeuvre, as I've never seen a Thai person do it, or a three-point turn. They only seem to know "diving in front first" to park.

And what about "reversing around a corner"? That one single skill would stop so many "U-turns" across main roads which must be the cause of a lot of "accidents".

[trunknuk]

Just wanted to add - I was able to get the car lisense at Chaduchak with a transit (30 day) visa as opposed to a non-imigrant visa.

[paulfr]

Just wanted to add - I was able to get the car lisense at Chaduchak with a transit (30 day) visa as opposed to a non-imigrant visa.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is surprising.

Did you have the notarized verification of address from your Embassy ?

[PeaceBlondie]

How lenient were they on the peripheral vision and depth perception tests? Those tests are my only obstacles, now that I got the IDL. Can you imagine passing either test if you'd had a patch over one eye?

[paulfr]

How lenient were they on the peripheral vision and depth perception tests?  Those tests are my only obstacles, now that I got the IDL.  Can you imagine passing either test if you'd had a patch over one eye?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As I mentioned in my report, I actually failed the depth perception test twice for reasons explained in the report. The man smiled but did not give me any indication of what to do next. So I just followed everyone upstairs for the written test. I was expecting to go back and take it again without my contacts and hopefully pass. But it was not necessary. My score sheet showed no record of the failure. In fact when I passed the driving test, the person who stamped my final approval was the same guy who failed me in the depth perception test. So he knew and did not say anything.

I have a friend in Pattaya who missed too many on the written and the lady just asked him to repeat the question after he knew the answer.

So they are fairly lenient in most cases.

A few people did fail the driving test and were required to come back the next day and take it again. So it is not always a green rubber stamp no matter what.

If you have a patch for the periferal, she will likely not score you/pass you for that side of your head. My guess for the office at Sukhumvit Soi 62 area.

[Crossy]

How lenient were they on the peripheral vision and depth perception tests?  Those tests are my only obstacles, now that I got the IDL.  Can you imagine passing either test if you'd had a patch over one eye?

I got my licence at the Pathum Thani office.

With an IDP they only tesed the colour blindness, depth peception and reaction time.

The DP test was a nightmare for me, two small light tubes about 2" apart, sit 10' away and line them up with a little button box (one of the tubes moves backwards and forwards). I could hardly tell that the tube was moving and I have two working (just) eyes. Passed anyway

Failed the reaction too (well into the red).

Still gave me a licence though.

Give it a go, nothing to lose.

DC

[autonomous_unit]

I got my license in BKK. I watched a lady have serious trouble w/ the peripheral vision test, just sitting there silently when he turned on lights. I think he eventually passed her anyway.

I had a little trouble and wonder if I didn't do the test correctly because I expected to do very well. I actually have very good peripheral vision by most accounts (US optometrists and beer-inspired experiments w/ friends). I often surprise people by being able to judge if they're smiling or what they are doing w/ their hands when sitting off near 90 degrees to the side.

But, as I remember from biology class, the peripheral vision does not have much in the line of color perception. It is mostly just light/dark and our brains fill in the rest. That is why our night vision is better in the periphery... the non-color receptors are more sensitive in low light. A peripheral vision test in the US would use white lights of varying intensity to see if you notice them, placed randomly all around the field of vision (a hemispherical projection screen) at random intervals.

Nonetheless, the tester here expects you to distinguish color of lights in the periphery at just a few fixed positions. I made several mistakes where I had to guess the color. I am not color blind but often notice the green blinking light on my cell phone may seem orange or white for a moment when viewed way off in the periphery. I tried to take the test "fairly" and keep my gaze centered. I wonder if they are expecting you to react to the peripheral light and swivel your eyes to check its color? He really did not give me any instructions and perhaps this is because I do not speak Thai yet?

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, y'all. My boyfriend and I are going Thursday. We bought our photos today. I'm not too worried, because he can explain to them in Thai that I've gone 28,400 km in Chiang Mai traffic without a scratch. I must be doing something right.