Thailand Driving License: Tough new tests from 1st June 2014

[fabphil]

[brubakertx]

I think it's not going to help much, but even it's .001% improvement, than it's better than nothing and save people lives.

As usual, it's the police that need to take the test and enforce the current laws.

TIT=This is Thailand, so cheating on test and bribes are optional.

[wilcopops]

How can driving in Thiland be safe when road markings are placed by idiots. No overtaking on the flat and ok on a brow of a hill.

The idiots in charge put signs up so the locals can ignore them.

The National Debt of Thailand could be payed in one day if the police did their job.

many see driving in Thai as single issue - that being "All Thai people are morons" - this is rubbish

There are of course many other contributing factors and this is (above) one of them - traffic engineering - the design of road systems, markings, signs etc in a uniform and consistent way, but again it can't be done alone - this aspect is probably one of the most expensive to tackle as it requires to be done together with road engineering - the actual building and use of materials in construction.

Agreed on that.

So why not do the really simple and easy one first.

Sack the current police and employ some that want to do the job properly.

Then work on the rest.

Until there is a "holistic" approach there won't be any significant progress. In fact, it may even turn out to be a hindrance in the long run, as when little change is observed there will be little incentive to introduce further measures.

It would seem that those in power know very, very little about the basics of road safety

[wilcopops]

to all of you describing incidents that have happened to you.....or rather your interpretation thereof.....what do you hope to achieve by this?

Well in my case it was more in reply to a previous post but it has relevance as it shows the things that can happen without proper training. I wrote what I saw so it's not an interpretation. Thinking about it I may not have seen them partly because of them having no lights and also because of a slight bend which would have put the pickup going the other way in between us. That's the reason they shouldn't have passed me.

I don't think any of the comments on here will make any difference but at least they're a bit more constructive and on topic than yours.

IMO it doesn't. It is purely an anecdotal and personal interpretation. It seems to me that with most of those recounting personal incidents the problems are really with their own ability to appreciate their own driving skills and relate them to the environment they find themselves in. Thi is underlined by their assumptions made when recounting these incidents and failure to realise what is hard evidence and what is merely perception. Cause and effect is ignored and replaced by blaming other drivers.

So the comments are not only irrelevant but reinforce an inaccurate assessment of the problems associated with road safety in Thailand

Edited May 19, 2014 by wilcopops

[cyborgx]

When I renewed my license last year, I was required to sit through a Thai soap opera (complete with sad music and crying kids)safety video. It was rather entertaining. That said, after the Thai driver gets this additional training and safety instruction, they will still back up 100 meters on any road because they missed a turn, tailgate like they want to sit in your backseat, assume indicator blinkers are mere accessories, talk and text on the phone while driving and generally be rude, thoughtless, selfish drivers!

Agreed. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction, but if these lectures are anything like the ridiculous video (which I I also sat through), it's a p*ss in the ocean effort....

[NomadJoe]

My ex's father who can't read and can barely see bought his license recently for 3000b without ever visiting the ltd. Will that price go up as well?

[wilcopops]

My ex's father who can't read and can barely see bought his license recently for 3000b without ever visiting the ltd. Will that price go up as well?

Over the years, several very "respectable" people who have bought a DL, their reasoning is entertaining but I think also revealing........

"I was far too busy to spend time taking a test",

"I couldn't pass the test so I had to buy one".

"I can drive, why should i take a test?"

"My wife needed to drive into town and we couldn't wait for a test"

"She wouldn't have passed first time"

i think many expats even though they talk of "corruption" fail to realise how universal it is and how it works in daily life - These "excuses" are all given to me by people in management positions who genuinely think this is an appropriate way to get a licence and I believe represents an aspect of the national psyche.

So the conclusion has to be that regardless of what arrangements the DoT make for testing there is a large group of people in the country who consider themselves above this sort of thing and all that will happen is that more tea-money will change hands and more untrained drivers will continue to hit threads.

Unless there is a COMPLETE rethink on road safety and not these sad little piecemeal tinkerings, nothing will change.

Edited May 20, 2014 by wilcopops

[NomadJoe]

^ It's the several hundred year old patronage system here that is the origins of the stifling corruption, Will take generations to change.

[mok199]

and a mandatory urine test at the door...TUI...Testing Under the Influence....

[trigger571]

So how does one get 12 hours of training for a bikers licence I wonder?

Honda,and probably all the other well known bike brands have rider training courses.

Sent from my V370 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I had asked Honda and they said they did not know of any. Do you have any contacts? I am truly interested in some proper training especially if there is any form of Advanced Rider Training as we have in Europe.

Graham Knight http://www.highsidetours.com/

Thanks ATF. Problem is I am based in Phuket and these courses are in Pattaya

[johng]

trigger you obviously missed my other post

http://www.aphonda.co.th/hondasafety

http://www.aphonda.co.th/2010/2010_page789.asp?id=2779

[khunkeith]

I did a bit of googleing and roughly 20% of Thai's own cars. My friends and I were talking about this very subject a year or so ago. We came to the conclusion that most Thai's just don't have the experience driving that we in the west have, when they buy their first car. I started driving when I was 11 or 12 years old in my grandfathers WW2 surplus jeep and was driving my dad's car when I was 14 on the road. Manyof my friends had similar stories to tell. By the time we got our drivers license's, we already had several years experience. However, I have had a few friends that never got behind the wheel of a car until late teens or early 20's and they were terrible drivers. a couple days of studying for the test and a weekend of instruction behind the wheel and they were let loose on the highways. My friends and I here in Thailand have a rule of the road, "look out for cars with red license plates".

Driving in Thailand is easier than driving in Korea (or was when I lived there). The Koreans had only recently started owning cars and they were terrible drivers and the Korean Police were a joke when it came to highway police. My brother, who living in India briefly, told me they are the worst on the planet. But, I saw a survey that showed India as #2 on the planet. the worst drivers in the world? Italy, followed by India, China, China, Egypt and France rounding out the top 5 worse drivers.

[balo]

If they're really serious about this , they should force every citizen in Thailand over legal age to take a new driving test, and learn how to drive , even if they've been on the roads for 10 years.

People who do not follow orders will be blacklisted . Maybe that will teach them....

[khunkeith]

my wife and I lived in Germany for 3 years before I retired to Thailand. She really did not know how bad the Thai drivers were until we moved there. After she had driven there, she left with much better driving habits and thinks most Thai drivers suck. Though, breaking her of the Thai habit of strangling the lanes was not easy. She was not even conscious of doing it.

[wilcopops]

I did a bit of googleing and roughly 20% of Thai's own cars. My friends and I were talking about this very subject a year or so ago. We came to the conclusion that most Thai's just don't have the experience driving that we in the west have, when they buy their first car. I started driving when I was 11 or 12 years old in my grandfathers WW2 surplus jeep and was driving my dad's car when I was 14 on the road. Manyof my friends had similar stories to tell. By the time we got our drivers license's, we already had several years experience. However, I have had a few friends that never got behind the wheel of a car until late teens or early 20's and they were terrible drivers. a couple days of studying for the test and a weekend of instruction behind the wheel and they were let loose on the highways. My friends and I here in Thailand have a rule of the road, "look out for cars with red license plates".

Driving in Thailand is easier than driving in Korea (or was when I lived there). The Koreans had only recently started owning cars and they were terrible drivers and the Korean Police were a joke when it came to highway police. My brother, who living in India briefly, told me they are the worst on the planet. But, I saw a survey that showed India as #2 on the planet. the worst drivers in the world? Italy, followed by India, China, China, Egypt and France rounding out the top 5 worse drivers.

Calling any nation the " worst drivers" is nonsense, completely subjective and irrelkevent to the issue.

[sootybrown]

Have just failed motor bike and car licence test at first attempt, spoke to a Thai guy who is on his 5th attempt. You have to watch a 2 hour film about rules and regulations with English subtitles then 2 hours later colour test, reaction test, perception test and peripheral vision test, that's the easy bit. Move to computer room, you have one hour to answer 50 questions, there are four available answers but only one is correct and there is usually two suggested answers that are worded nearly the same but only one is correct, of course the Thai has been translated to English and that gives some problem. As an example there are four 1 inch square pictures each showing a parked car, the question is " which picture shows a correctly parked car ", one picture shows a car parked at the side of the road with yellow and white markings on the kerb edge, the next shows a car at a tee junction parked at the side of the road with the front of the car pointing into the main road, next a car parked opposite a small lay by and finally two cars correctly aligned in between supermarket type white bay markings. Guess what its not the cars in the marked parking bays, its the opposite the lay by. I look forwards to my possible 5 attempts especially as there does not seem to be a highway code book to help.

[3NUMBAS]

its about time as a chimp could pass the test at present

[kimamey]

its about time as a chimp could pass the test at present

Maybe so but many humans can't and buy one instead or don't bother.

[rametindallas]

Increasing the difficulty of the test will ensure that more drivers won't get a license. Already, the problem in not that the test is not hard enough but that many (most?) drivers don't have a valid license. Tests don't guarantee better drivers but proper law enforcement will. This move diverts the blame from the traffic police which is where the problem of bad driving has been allowed to flourish.

[EmptyHead]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

[brewsterbudgen]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

I believe it is. My 5-year licence expires on 24 August, but I am unable to renew it until 5 September (at the earliest). I don't envisage any issues, although if anyone has had problems doing this, hopefully they will post here. I'll let you know how I get on.

[EmptyHead]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

I believe it is. My 5-year licence expires on 24 August, but I am unable to renew it until 5 September (at the earliest). I don't envisage any issues, although if anyone has had problems doing this, hopefully they will post here. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks man! Yeah, I hope people will post here to let us know

[Naroge]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

What I know is that for the license you get after passing the test for your first license, the "Temporary license", the requirement is to renew it within one year. This means in a window between 305 and 365 days from issuance. If you try to do it one day later you have to renew the whole test.

[brewsterbudgen]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

What I know is that for the license you get after passing the test for your first license, the "Temporary license", the requirement is to renew it within one year. This means in a window between 305 and 365 days from issuance. If you try to do it one day later you have to renew the whole test.

It just goes to show how different rules operate at different centres. When I went to change my 1 year licence to a 5 year one I was sent away because it still had 2 weeks before expiry! I was told it could only be renewed after it had expired!

[Naroge]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

What I know is that for the license you get after passing the test for your first license, the "Temporary license", the requirement is to renew it within one year. This means in a window between 305 and 365 days from issuance. If you try to do it one day later you have to renew the whole test.

It just goes to show how different rules operate at different centres. When I went to change my 1 year licence to a 5 year one I was sent away because it still had 2 weeks before expiry! I was told it could only be renewed after it had expired!

Thank you for your comment. Very interesting, but also worrying. Did they tell you within what period you could renew your license after expiry? 60 days? 1 year? There has to be a "latest by" date.

[thesetat2013]

All this article tells me is that there will be more unlicensed drivers paying the police bribes. More will fail the test and continue to drive anyway. Heck! They don't even require to show a license when you buy a new vehicle.

[brewsterbudgen]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

What I know is that for the license you get after passing the test for your first license, the "Temporary license", the requirement is to renew it within one year. This means in a window between 305 and 365 days from issuance. If you try to do it one day later you have to renew the whole test.

It just goes to show how different rules operate at different centres. When I went to change my 1 year licence to a 5 year one I was sent away because it still had 2 weeks before expiry! I was told it could only be renewed after it had expired!

Thank you for your comment. Very interesting, but also worrying. Did they tell you within what period you could renew your license after expiry? 60 days? 1 year? There has to be a "latest by" date.

No. Just "after expiry".

[Overandout]

My company uses an agency to help us falangs with admin stuff like this.

Yesterday I contacted the agency to ask about renewing my 1 year licences which expire next week. This is their reply:

Process note

- To make within 30 days prior the expiry date or within 1 year after expiry date.

- Only Physical Test required.

I obviously won't name this agency, nor assure that the information is correct, but as it comes from a professional agent who deal with this day in, day out, it may help.

[EmptyHead]

Sorry if this is bit off topic, but does anyone know if it ok to renew our license slightly after the expiry date? Or must it be before the expiry date?

I am afraid i won't recieve my residency certificate in time to renew my license before expiry.

Thanks for any help.

What I know is that for the license you get after passing the test for your first license, the "Temporary license", the requirement is to renew it within one year. This means in a window between 305 and 365 days from issuance. If you try to do it one day later you have to renew the whole test.

Thanks for the info. That is worrying cos i have a temprorary license right now.

[Naroge]

Renewal of 1 year license to 5 year license.

Pls see this link to the government website:

http://www.dlt.go.th/th/index.php?option=com_content&id=3471:renew&Itemid=88

which states:

IN CASE OF FOREIGNER
RENEW THAI DRIVING LICENCE [bY YOURSELF] FROM ONE-YEAR (DRIVING LICENCE) TO FIVE-YEARS DRIVING LICENCE

HAVE TO PREPARE THE DOCUMENTS AS FOLLOW

1. ORIGINAL ONE-YEAR THAI DRIVING LICENCE

2. PASSPORT WITH NON-IMMIGRANT VISA (ORIGINAL AND PHOTO COPY)

3. ORIGINAL PRESENT RESIDENT ADDRESS IN THAILAND CERTIFY FROM EMBASSY / IMMIGRATION BUREAU (VALID FOR 1 YEAR) OR WORK PERMIT WITH ORIGINAL AND PHOTO COPY

4. ORIGINAL MEDICAL CERTIFICATE (5 DISEASES FORM) FROM CLINIC OR HOSPITAL (VALID FOR 1 MONTH)

PROCEDURE

1) CHECK THE DOCUMENTS

2) PRINT THE APPLICATION FORM

3) TAKE ONLY A PHYSICAL TEST

4) PAY THE FEE / TAKE A PHOTO AND PRINT DRIVING LICENCE

(FEE 505 BAHT AND PLASTIC SMART CARD 100 BAHT)

ADDITIONAL (CHANGE NAME OR ADDRESS CHARGE 50 BAHT)

REMARK :

1) IN CASE OF DRIVING LICENCE EXPIRED MORE THAN 1 YEAR
- TAKE A THEORY TEST

2) IN CASE OF DRIVING LICENCE EXPIRED MORE THAN 3 YEARS
- TAKE A THEORY TEST AND PRACTICAL TEST