Are Thais The Worst Drivers In The World?

[Ace of Pop]

Could it be that Ferangs who claim Inane , uninformed , banally Posts are the ones we get stuck behind on the 120 Kph Expressway into Fun City doing 100,hogging the O/S Lane like Self Appointed Policemen. Jeez they are a pain,so the middle lane is used to undertake, sure enough there's Mr Toad in His SUV and Chang T Shirt.

[cheeryble]

Patently the Thais are not the WORST...problem is, like in many other aspects , they mistakenly believe they are the BEST !

Yeah, but so do the Brits, and the Americans.. and even worse, the Aussie driving-zombies

I think it's fair to say the Brits are the best in the world.

We have the bendy and complicated roads (as opposed to grid systems) and appalling weather which made world champion drivers for decades, while at the same time being well mannered and well trained.

Yes, undoubtedly the best along with other north European nations.

But then that little grouping is the best at just about everything isn't it?

Edited June 9, 2013 by cheeryble

[Gsxrnz]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

[wilcopops]

Presumably you've also spent 20 years in each of the other 200 countries in order to form your opinion.

As if the time you've spent is of any automatic significance!

Unless you observe analyse and take a reasoned critical approach to driving it doesn't matter how long you've lived in a country it won't make the blindest bit of difference.

We are meant to LEARN from experience - but many of us seem incapable of doing that, rushing to irrational conclusions about driving and other drivers, usually I might add based on vaguely racist notions of personal superiority.

You might also bear in mind that the majority of Thai drivers have spent more than 20 years in Thailand.

Edited June 9, 2013 by wilcopops

[wilcopops]

As I see it - the problem in Thailand is NOT the drivers - drivers are the same the world over - some are good most are poor and some are complete idiots ...... so the problem is not the drivers per se, the problem is ROAD SAFETY.

[cheeryble]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

Edited June 9, 2013 by cheeryble

[JaiLai]

Thais are terrible drivers, yet their mistakes are perfectly predictable so it's actually very easy to anticipate on Thai style traffic. Also giving signal is not done, not sure if this is good or bad. Compare with Vietnam, just a totally uncivilized mess !

VN is chaos but they drive slowly for the most part.

Thailand is nothing like the worst drivers in the world, many other countries beat them by a MILE>

[Gsxrnz]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

Nope, not really OK with any form of driving that risks lives whether here or at home. My point is that if you adapt to local norms then you're more likely to anticipate what is going to happen if you expect the ridiculous to occur. The situations you describe do happen in western countries but you would not normally expect that sort of driving practice, and therefore it would be a rare event. Here, that sort of thing is routine - I'm not advocating that it's a good thing, but if you think like a local then in many cases you can see the sh*t before it hits the fan and take appropriate action, retain your sanity and not get overly stressed.

When I go home it takes me 2 or 3 days to re-adapt to driving. During that time I get more flashing lights, horn honks and raised middle fingers than I've ever had in over 30 years of driving. The reason is that I'm still driving like a Thai - drifting lanes to allow a car to enter the inside lane from a side road, but the territorial git who is in the outside lane and 20 metres behind me firmly believes I've caused him a problem. Different strokes - perfectly normal in Thailand, a middle-finger and a 10 second horn blast event in NZ. Yet in Thailand, no (or very few) abusive horn honks and provided you make an attempt to acknowledge your error to the other party (head bow or similar), everybody is usually happy.

[willyumiii]

As I see it - the problem in Thailand is NOT the drivers - drivers are the same the world over - some are good most are poor and some are complete idiots ...... so the problem is not the drivers per se, the problem is ROAD SAFETY.

The problem is refered to as a lack of the 3 Es...Engineering, Education and Enforcement.

Most roads are poorly ENGINEERE and maintained.

Drivers are not EDUCATED as to safe driveing practices, road hazards and comon courtisy.

There is almost no Enforcementt of traffic laws and regulations

Traffic accidents are the highest cause of death in Thailand, not medical issues!

Is that not enough to warrent better engineering, education and enforcement??

Why does human life have such a low value to Thai people and their government?

[pistachios]

I believe most thais are ok-ish drivers... They pretty much follow the rules, stop at red lights, drive at normal speed, are careful of motorbikes, etc... That's enough for me.

But only a small percentage drive like complete retards with super aggressive or suicidal maneuver. Those drivers negatively distort the impression of the general standard of driving : during a one hour trip, you will notice the 4 or 5 drivers who tried to kill you or themselves, but not the 500 who were driving just normally.

Edited June 9, 2013 by pistachios

[wilcopops]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

You really don't gettit do you? - this is not behaviour particularly restricted to Thailand - you need to learn to cope with the vaguaries of driving here - citing incidents and insulting the entire nation just shows how little you understand about driving.

may I draw your attention to the post by

willyumiii - basically this applies to ALL countries and it is NOT the nationality that is the bad driver.

the situation is RAOD SAFETY - this has to be addderssed in counrtries all over the world, some are more "advanced" or successful than others - this is largely down to government.

Just labelling the Thai people as "bad drivers" is at best plain dumb........

[wilcopops]

As I see it - the problem in Thailand is NOT the drivers - drivers are the same the world over - some are good most are poor and some are complete idiots ...... so the problem is not the drivers per se, the problem is ROAD SAFETY.

The problem is refered to as a lack of the 3 Es...Engineering, Education and Enforcement.

Most roads are poorly ENGINEERE and maintained.

Drivers are not EDUCATED as to safe driveing practices, road hazards and comon courtisy.

There is almost no Enforcementt of traffic laws and regulations

Traffic accidents are the highest cause of death in Thailand, not medical issues!

Is that not enough to warrent better engineering, education and enforcement??

Why does human life have such a low value to Thai people and their government?

Yes, the three "E"s........

however the problem in Thailand (and mirrored on TV) is so often the blame is put on the individual or "national character" and the solution is seen either as solely enforcement or occasionally education. IMO the 2 linked but separate entities, traffic engineering and road engineering are absolutely crucial in road safety and in particular in Thailand. Further more I'ld be surprised if more than a handful of posters here - quite apart from the Thai populace - have any idea what traffic engineering is.

Edited June 9, 2013 by wilcopops

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts have been removed.

[wilcopops]

Here are SOME details of engineering as contributions to road safety.

• Safer car design and engineering
• Better infrastructure and engineering
• Better road surfaces
• Better signage
• More forgiving
• Traffic calming
• Shared space

Edited June 9, 2013 by wilcopops

[krummi]

Not at all - Indians and Sri Lankans are!

[Banzai99]

Thais are not the worse drivers in Thailand, let alone being the worst drivers in the world.

The worst drivers I see are old Farangs who have no clue and are too old to adapt to this enviroment and should employ a Thai driver, but they think they are better than the Thai people because they are Farang.

I have absolutely no problem driving in Thailand, also absolutely no problem with Thai drivers, but, I came here when I was 35 in 1990, if I had come here when I was 65 instead, maybe I too would struggle to adapt, like so many others obviously do.

Employ a driver if you can't adapt, it's safer for all of us.

[taotoo]

Presumably you've also spent 20 years in each of the other 200 countries in order to form your opinion.

As if the time you've spent is of any automatic significance!

Unless you observe analyse and take a reasoned critical approach to driving it doesn't matter how long you've lived in a country it won't make the blindest bit of difference.

We are meant to LEARN from experience - but many of us seem incapable of doing that, rushing to irrational conclusions about driving and other drivers, usually I might add based on vaguely racist notions of personal superiority.

You might also bear in mind that the majority of Thai drivers have spent more than 20 years in Thailand.

I think you're replying to the wrong person.

[taotoo]

Traffic accidents are the highest cause of death in Thailand, not medical issues!

Nonsense. They may be the SINGLE highest cause however.

[IMHO]

Patently the Thais are not the WORST...problem is, like in many other aspects , they mistakenly believe they are the BEST !

Yeah, but so do the Brits, and the Americans.. and even worse, the Aussie driving-zombies

I think it's fair to say the Brits are the best in the world.

We have the bendy and complicated roads (as opposed to grid systems) and appalling weather which made world champion drivers for decades, while at the same time being well mannered and well trained.

Yes, undoubtedly the best along with other north European nations.

But then that little grouping is the best at just about everything isn't it?

LOL. I'm sure you are....... in GB

I don't know too many Brits IRL, but the ones I do know appear to have counter-adapted in one of two ways; 1) They adopt a "monkey see, monkey do" approach, but do it at 30% higher speeds than everyone else, like some kind of Hybrid Thai-British Lewis Hamilton, making themselves a danger to all, or 2) They live in constant fear and misunderstanding, and drive 20-30km/hr slower than everyone else, again making them dangerous. They also appear to like showing their index fingers to other motorists, making them a danger to themselves.

Anything I missed in my limited view?

Edited June 9, 2013 by IMHO

[wilcopops]

Presumably you've also spent 20 years in each of the other 200 countries in order to form your opinion.

As if the time you've spent is of any automatic significance!Unless you observe analyse and take a reasoned critical approach to driving it doesn't matter how long you've lived in a country it won't make the blindest bit of difference.We are meant to LEARN from experience - but many of us seem incapable of doing that, rushing to irrational conclusions about driving and other drivers, usually I might add based on vaguely racist notions of personal superiority. You might also bear in mind that the majority of Thai drivers have spent more than 20 years in Thailand.

I think you're replying to the wrong person.

should be attached to the post previous post you replied to. Edited June 10, 2013 by wilcopops

[Ace of Pop]

No ones mentioned that Novice drivers with poor basic training are let loose with 120Bhp City Jazz ect, when we Oldies can remember a Lotus Cortina 100 ish Bhp and was a young persons dream, but few could afford one. As for Europes Roads serving as a better training ground than Thailand i don't get it.Grid System ?, we dont all live in BKK. The Mountains here are as testing as any in Europe.

[IMHO]

No ones mentioned that Novice drivers with poor basic training are let loose with 120Bhp City Jazz ect, when we Oldies can remember a Lotus Cortina 100 ish Bhp and was a young persons dream, but few could afford one. As for Europes Roads serving as a better training ground than Thailand i don't get it.Grid System ?, we dont all live in BKK. The Mountains here are as testing as any in Europe.

Hehe, good points. As for grid systems, aren't they only found in moobans?

[Ace of Pop]

Another factor is Volume these days. I had a Import Nissan Big M in Ubon Rat, people thought it came from Mars. Folks didn't have many Cars or Trucks when i first came to live here.Villages at a Guess had one Truck for every 500 homes, now there's hardly a Shed without one.

[simple1]

Traffic accidents are the highest cause of death in Thailand, not medical issues!

Nonsense. They may be the SINGLE highest cause however.

Traffic accidents would be the highest cause of accidental death, currently approx 26,000 a year. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death globally, including Thailand.

Edited June 10, 2013 by simple1

[Ace of Pop]

Traffic accidents are the highest cause of death in Thailand, not medical issues!

Nonsense. They may be the SINGLE highest cause however.

Traffic accidents would be the highest cause of accidental death, currently approx 26,000 a year. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death globally, including Thailand.

Births the biggest cause of Death, i tink

[stevenl]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

You really don't gettit do you? - this is not behaviour particularly restricted to Thailand - you need to learn to cope with the vaguaries of driving here - citing incidents and insulting the entire nation just shows how little you understand about driving.

may I draw your attention to the post by

willyumiii - basically this applies to ALL countries and it is NOT the nationality that is the bad driver.

the situation is RAOD SAFETY - this has to be addderssed in counrtries all over the world, some are more "advanced" or successful than others - this is largely down to government.

Just labelling the Thai people as "bad drivers" is at best plain dumb........

Everybody is entitled to his opinion. You may not agree, but that is no reason to get impolite.

[wilcopops]

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

You really don't gettit do you? - this is not behaviour particularly restricted to Thailand - you need to learn to cope with the vaguaries of driving here - citing incidents and insulting the entire nation just shows how little you understand about driving.

may I draw your attention to the post by

willyumiii - basically this applies to ALL countries and it is NOT the nationality that is the bad driver.

the situation is RAOD SAFETY - this has to be addderssed in counrtries all over the world, some are more "advanced" or successful than others - this is largely down to government.

Just labelling the Thai people as "bad drivers" is at best plain dumb........

Everybody is entitled to his opinion. You may not agree, but that is no reason to get impolite.

"Everybody is entitled to his opinion" - I think this is a particularly facile comment.

firstly and opinion is the result of rational thought or analysis on a topic.

without this the result is not an opinion so entitlement becomes a moot point.

[stevenl]

"Everybody is entitled to his opinion" - I think this is a particularly facile comment.

firstly and opinion is the result of rational thought or analysis on a topic.

without this the result is not an opinion so entitlement becomes a moot point.

Thanks for underlining my point.

[wilcopops]

"Everybody is entitled to his opinion" - I think this is a particularly facile comment.

firstly and opinion is the result of rational thought or analysis on a topic.

without this the result is not an opinion so entitlement becomes a moot point.

Thanks for underlining my point.

..and your point was????

[stevenl]

"Everybody is entitled to his opinion" - I think this is a particularly facile comment.

firstly and opinion is the result of rational thought or analysis on a topic.

without this the result is not an opinion so entitlement becomes a moot point.

Thanks for underlining my point.

..and your point was????

What, you don't remember the post you answered to? To refresh your memory: "Everybody is entitled to his opinion. You may not agree, but that is no reason to get impolite."