Everyone's failing the new driving test in Thailand

[somchy]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

i had the same question re: tank... it also included, i think, a formula 1 race car.... the correct answer was

the regular car with a busted tail light.

the question was which of the four vehicles was not allowed on the road. the car with the broken tail

light was the correct answer.

[fredKroket]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

Obviously a tank can drive down the road, have you seen Bangkok lately?

[wirat69]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road.

A tank can drive down the road but a vehicle without a wind screen can not.......

Hmmmm, sorry, a tank can not drive down a road.... although a tank may be driven up a road, a crane may fly along a road, whilst a vehicle with a white light showing to the rear should not be driven on a road at all. Found a way to blame the Reds!!! :-)

[UbonRatch]

and all those dead people in car crashes to wait so long for someone to react ..better than never I guess but a bit too late for those who lost their lives ....

Ever so slightly tangential?

[brfsa2]

What everyone forgot to see is that the more drivers without license on the road the more the money insurance companies will save each day.

if your license expired you insurance will not cover anything and you will have pay for all costs in any accident, even not your fault.

[Misterwhisper]

no surprises here, did anyone expect them to actually study or learn the road rules when greasing someones palm is much easier. Could guarantee that the majority of thai drivers are blissfully unaware of the road rules and have no intention of ever finding out about them, learning them or ever obeying/abiding by them, its simply a mater of what I want I do.

Funny you should mention that. I have on occasion (and when I was in the right mood) played a little game with taxi drivers and also some acquaintances who have their own vehicles.

On the road or when stopping at an intersection I pointed out traffic signs, asking the respective driver what they meant. I swear that almost everyone was unable to tell me the meaning of even ONE sign. The rest got the vast majority wrong, but at least could correctly identify two or three.

The same game with asking what road or curb markings (broken line, unbroken line, red stripes, yellow stripes, white stripes, etc.) mean yielded similar results.

Frightening, really, when you think about it.

[penwithcris]

My wife is doing her Theory Test today in Nangrong. She's had a full UK license for some years but has been failed twice already in Thailand despite observers being impressed by her driving skills.

Apparently her problem is her Farang name. The female examiner is notorious for failing ladies married to foreigners.

Anyway we'll see what's changed today if anything. She's passed Theory tests with no problem previously and passed the computer test in UK with no problem

[johnlandy]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

More correctly perhaps they might find someone with half a brain to write the questions (or an expat) who might often not qualify in the brain department either.

Moreover even if they answer the questions correctly it does not mean that they are competent to drive.

Bottom line what can you expect from people (as an average) who have the lowest IQ's in ASEAN

[Chalard]

 

What about the practical driving test?

Shouldn't that be reformed to enhance driver capability?

The most important part. Need to have the computer simulator for this or some fool proof method where they can't bribe the driving instructor.

[dinom]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

Still same question, I clicked NO, it was obviously the very wrong answer.

[MichaelShort]

I took the driver license for 2 weeks ago and it need for sure to bee improved!

The rules are almost same as in Europe. But for some reason everyone seems to forgot about them the same time they pass the test...

We had an police officer who explained how you drive on the roads and asked questions, I think it was good though I didn’t understand much.

The driver test was to drive to a stop sign and stop, then reverse straight for about 6 meters, then drive on a small “hill” (understand?) and stop and then drive off.

A lot is missing and people should need say 2 day in traffic with teacher, since STOP means STOP, not go true. For sure the roads are not built right etc but some rules should still be working.

But as I said as soon people got their license they seem to forget.

Hate people who come on roads and don’t understand the stop sign and just drive straight out, not to mention they always see to bee thinking of them selves and don’t care others in the traffic -why should I move because an idiot think he is more “important” and should make me brake so he can go around a car or drive thrue a red traffic light?!

They need to learn a lot more and what rules mean, not “mai pen rai” to everything..

To bad some pay 2000 and then they get it, they should need to know the rules!

Also is the police only working when they are doing a razzia in traffic, never when they just drive around, I mean they could take people all the time and people should start to drive a lot better hopefully..

[bubblegum]

Did the test yesterday, did not study or see a single book before. Both bike and car licence, pass easy as eating pies.Just use some common sense and think Thai :-)

[somchaismith]

Just a ploy to increase the payment of driver licences.

[outre99]

Several years ago when i took the tests (one for the car and one for motorcycle) i remember the test proctors were calling in their friends to gauk at a farang who got 99%. The tests were a joke so making them more difficult is a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately the main thrust of the reform should be focused on the skills and understanding of what it takes to be a safe participant in the vehicular traffic and the current test changes don't do that.

For example the aspiring drivers must be drilled that when entering a highway from an entrance ramp one must accelerate to match the speed of the flowing traffic and then merge one lane at a time, and not come to a coplete stop at the end of the ramp and then try to merge across multiple lanes of traffic from a stand still.

Or that any moving manuever must be executed as quickly as possible and not pull out half way across the traffic and stop to see what the oncoming drivers will do. Or that the rightmost lane is for passing only and if one is moving at or below the speed of the traffic flow one must be using the left lanes and leave the right one open. On and on it goes. And of course the root cause of the problem is any lack of enforcement. The cops are too busy shaking down motorbikes for tea money. I know it's hot out there and it's much more difficult to catch a moving violation but with all of those advanced camera systems along the highways and motorways that could be a nice revenue stream. Alas its not being used that way.

And don't get me started on trucks and busses. Those clowns think they own the road. Every day in bangkok i witness a bus dropping off passengers in the middle or even right lane. They do it all the time at the same locations and the cops are not doing anything to stop that. I'd say that 20-30% of bangkok traffic is caused by people driving as if they are still back in their village without any regard for others.

[ezzra]

This is only come to show and expose the illiteracy of Thai drivers and the Mai Pen rai

attitude toward actually studying and memorizing the road's rules... no wonder why are

they failing....

[PoeDogg]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

I will never forget that question! Hhahaha.....I got it wrong.

Apparently it is ok to drive a tank on the road......but not a vehicle without a windscreen.

I have been looking for a tank ever since.

[DrTuner]

Probably the same failure ratio for people who have a license already. I too would likely fail, I don't care one iota if the rules say park 30 or 35 cm from curb, what I do care about is not scratching the low skirt on my car.

People might actually be able to pass if the rules were clearly on the net with a practice exam. Still, nobody will care about those rules as soon as they get their license.

[Johnnie99]

I simply do not believe it.

[CRUNCHER]

Is there anywhere you can buy or download an English version of the questions? What would be the Highway Code" in UK.

Haven't found the questions yet but here is the Land Traffic Act B.E. 2522 (1979). Don't know if there is a more current version.

Thanks Tywais. This should be pinned somewhere.

[cyborgx]

Forget about written tests, start testing their actual driving skills on the real road like they do in the west and start failing every <deleted> who hasn't learn stopping distances and and how NOT to tailgate!

[binjalin]

Question 859 is:

When you see a Red Light do you:

A/ Stop

B/ Wonder why you never noticed traffic lights before or

C/ Speed up?

Answer C/ Speed Up

[MichaelShort]

Haha when I took the test a couple of years ago, one of the questions was whether or

not a tank could drive down the road. Perhaps they fire the idiots that make up questions

like that, rather than altering the pass percent threshold....

They still got that question and I took the test 2 weeks ago..

But have no idea what is corret the questions was:

1 A tank

2 car without windshield

3 Car with homemade numberplates

4 This one I not remeber what the alternativ was

Have no idea what is correct, I pass the test exacly, but as you see may main language is not english..

[dharmabm]

good, as 90% of the people on the road should not have licenses anyway. if only now they could make all the people with lifetime licenses (particularly taxi, van and songtaw drivers) take the test we would all be a lot safer on the road!

[hobz]

I passed the test in Chiang Mai today after failing yesterday. The test software is buggy and some of the english questions are of very poor quality, some are completely wrong.

Don't take my word for it. Go see your selves.

I tried to point out some problems with the English questions, But they ignored me, simply stating "you pass go away!".

expect to fail the first time and see where u got it wrong and remember The bad questions and their incorrect (correct) answers for when you retake the test next day.

[MichaelShort]

I passed the test in Chiang Mai today after failing yesterday. The test software is buggy and some of the english questions are of very poor quality, some are completely wrong.

Don't take my word for it. Go see your selves.

I tried to point out some problems with the English questions, But they ignored me, simply stating "you pass go away!".

expect to fail the first time and see where u got it wrong and remember The bad questions and their incorrect (correct) answers for when you retake the test next day.

I felt the same when I did my test 2 weeks ago. Some really strange stuff..

[dru2]

The questions pertain to all info in the book. It's there to learn, memorise and regurgitate.

They fail because there's nobody to copy off!

I can't agree. I failed Wednesday because there were so many daft questions, eg:

What is illegal to drive on the road in Thailand?

1. An army tank

2. A racing car without a license and permission from the proper authorities

3. A car with a broken windscreen.

I ticked all three (which apparently you can't do) and the correct answer turned out to be 3.

No mention of tanks in the book that I saw....

[fdimike]

Wow I can hardly believe this. I always thought they were such good drivers LOL LOL LOL

Bin I definitely think "C" is the correct answer judging by the idiots up here in Udon Thani who think that "Red Light" is just there for show.

[sz1a]

I saw a terrible accident yesterday on Rama4. A bus had a mangled motorcycle jammed into the front tire housing. The bus must have it the bike, or the bike must have gone in front of the bus. It was so intertwined that they couldn't just drag it out. A woman was curled up under the bus too. I think the driver of the bus might get away with it, although I have no idea what actually happened. The motorbike could have cut the bus off too.

The only way to be safe here is to just stay out of anyone's way. I think if they punished bad driving more seriously in Thailand a lot of the road deaths would go away. For example, running red lights, speeding, sleeping at the wheel, drinking and driving, causing accidents etc. If there was a serious deterrent to these, less people would do them. But this is Thailand and most of us came here because of the freedoms at hand. It's up to each and every one of us to stay safe, big brother won't help! At least it makes you appreciate being alive.

[hobz]

The next step should be to start enforcing the rules on the road. Not just checkpoints for tea money But cameras everywhere, 10x or 20x higher fines etc.

Abiding by the rules today is too dangerous, I once stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let people cross But caused an accident because the motorbikes behind me was not prepared to stop.

[dharmabm]

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Is there anywhere you can buy or download an English version of the questions? What would be the Highway Code" in UK.

Haven't found the questions yet but here is the Land Traffic Act B.E. 2522 (1979). Don't know if there is a more current version.

Thanks Tywais. This should be pinned somewhere.

i seem to recall when i came here some 7 years ago that i read or was told the rules are identical to those in the UK so that manual should be sufficient. no evidence to back that up, but that's what i remember. i don't think i took a written test (and definitely didn't take a driving test), just gave them my US walking ID (which they assumed was a foreign driver's license even though it said clearly on the front "THIS IS NOT A DRIVING LICENSE"), took the peripheral vision test, and away i went!