Everyone's failing the new driving test in Thailand

[Pralaad]

However questions still pertain to esoteric details like whether one should park 30 or 35 centimeters from a curb.

No wonder people are failing with silly questions like this .

The correct answer to this question would be one should park where ever and however it feels comfortable

[ebean001]

i am 60. i took the test a few years ago and miserbaly failed. not even close to passing. they reset the computer. the number of questions went from alot to not too many - like 30. the same question - an easy one - appeared about 8 times. it was a no brainer and i passed. i would never be able to pass the original test.

[mca]

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) No

Yes

c) It depends who the current political party in government are.

[janpharma]

Not surprising at all...

[rovingdave1968]

Well, there's good and bad to it really.

The good was, my wife hit a cone parallel parking and (unlike a previous poster) they failed her and asked her to come back next day and try again, which i thought was a good thing (at the centre in Pattaya behind Regents School).

Because my wife was going that day, i decided, after having been in the country for 5 years, to get my Thai licence too. I still remember to this day laughing out loud at one of the questions ; What would you do if driving and you felt tired a) Take an energy drink Pull over and have a sleep c) Take a Yaa Baa pill........I sh*t you not. that was about 5 or 6 years ago. i certainly hope these questions have changed somewhat.

[Benmart]

The experts, readers of the future, told-you-so-ers, etc. are in abundance as usual.

Me. I am not an expert on anything, except I know enough not to assume I know better than the next person.

[mathias24]

It is the practical test they need to learn and be told to have respect for other drivers on the road. I say again if you want to stop accidents on the roads then do the following with the drivers out there now.

1) Enforce speeding

2) Enforce the law of having working lights on bikes, trucks, buses and any other form of transport

3) Enforce the law that a RED light means stopand those jumping the lights get a heavy fine ( not 200B but 2000B )

Get those on the roads today to observe the laws of the road and the accident rate will be cut straight away

[gemini81]

The experts, readers of the future, told-you-so-ers, etc. are in abundance as usual.

Me. I am not an expert on anything, except I know enough not to assume I know better than the next person.

Look at the roads and driving sometime, and you'll see you're unmistakably probably a better driver.

Driving and Thai seems to go together like s*it and strawberry shortcake!

[Jim walker]

Just goes to show the useless stupid people who were driving around and killing and maiming innocent people prior to having to take the simple fail proof driving test now, I suppose everyone has to start some ware even Thailand.

[movsrus]

Here is my experience- for what it is worth.

I went into the LTO office in Chiang Mai yesterday and applied for a motorcycle and car Drivers license. Since I had a license in the US I got a Thai DL for a car without problem other than waiting 90 minutes to pay the fee and get the picture taken. No problem.

Since I did not have a DL in the US for a motorcycle, I had to take both the written and driving test. Again, no problem.

I thought I could wing it on the written test but I was wrong. Missed 13 out of 50. No problem since it was my fault I didn't read the book and understand the rules (as if rules on driving in Thailand mean anything- but that is another rant).

I failed the first test at around 10:30 AM and the lady told me to come back at 1 PM to take the test again and gave me a book which had some rules of the road in 4 different languages. OK- I read the book and went back at 1 PM to take the test again. The lady running the show gave a speech in Thai (which did me me good as I don't speak the language) and told us to wait . The room was full of people (mostly Thai) who had also failed the test and the lady talked for about 30 minutes in Thai explaining some of the rules (again it did me no good as I don't understand Thai).

The room had about 6 farang of which 3 were Caucasian, a couple were Asian and one was Middle Eastern. All the farangs there waited while the Thais took the test then at 2:30 PM the same lady who gave us the dog and pony show told us there was an electrical problem and we had to come back the next day to re-take the test. OK- I am a hothead so I told the lady that was complete bullshit since I wasted a day to retake the test and I was unhappy with her decision. She told me (according to my gf) to hit the road it I didn't like it. My gf kept telling me to calm down but that didn't work.

OK- I understand all this Thai shit about saving face and what not but I was pissed so I went to the service counter and told them I wanted to talk with someone who had some stroke and finally a lady came to talk with me. I explained that I had wasted a whole afternoon waiting to re-take the test only to be told to come back tomorrow despite the fact that most of the Thai people in the room were able to retake the test that afternoon. Eventually a lady who spoke English came and I explained why I was pissed. She took me back to the room where the tests were administered and, lo and behold, the electrical problem was fixed and I took the test again.

Same result- I flunked. Again, no problem since it was my fault but there is no reason for the woman to tell us to come back tomorrow to take the test when there was nothing wrong with the machines. I did notice that one of the other farangs watched me bitch about it and he went after me to complain and he also got to take the test. So much for the machines being tits up.I don't have a problem with the new test. Perhaps if more Thais learned the rules of the road this would not be such a dangerous country to drive in. What pisses me off is the attitude that my time means nothing since I am a foreigner.

Last night my gf posted the story on CM 108.com and there were a lot of comments from Thais about how much of a bitch this woman was and someone said they were going to forward the posting to the staff at the LTO. It is not just the farangs who have problems with the new standards- easily 3/4 of the room was Thai nationals who had flunked the test the first time the took it.

The woman running the CM testing center is a first class bitch. If you pass the test the first time no problem but if you are a farang be prepared for some shit.

For me, no problem. I will continue to get an IDL and drive my motorcycle on it. I may put a 100 baht note inside the IDL so if I get stopped the cop will take the tea money and wave me on but going though the process to be legal here is a waste of time.

Again, for what its worth,

[andy8017]

Undertaking is the favourite sport and the undertakers do a roaring trade as a result, and what the hells the mirror for,and that funny stick thing on the steering column that starts a flashing light if you push it up or down ,don't know why that is there ! Are Thai's allowed to use thier licence to hire a car when they land at Heathrow? I would be interested if there were any survivers if they can.

[ChatterRat]

The old Thai driving test + learning materials is available on this government site:

http://apps.dlt.go.th/driving_hp/ELearnning/E-Learning2.swf

Does not appear to have been updated yet, still only 30 questions.

Its quite a good website for people taking the test. Has the questions in English & Thai.

regards

Chatturat

[ChatterRat]

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

When I got my Thai DL 2 years ago you could use a full UK licence to obtain the Thai license without having to take the full Thai test. Think that rule has not changed, unless someone on this site can confirm otherwise. I only had to take a minimal test the same as when renewing, ie eye test, reaction tests and a medical certificate.

[movsrus]

Here is my experience- for what it is worth.

I went into the LTO office in Chiang Mai yesterday and applied for a motorcycle and car Drivers license. Since I had a license in the US I got a Thai DL for a car without problem other than waiting 90 minutes to pay the fee and get the picture taken. No problem.

Since I did not have a DL in the US for a motorcycle, I had to take both the written and driving test. Again, no problem.

I thought I could wing it on the written test but I was wrong. Missed 13 out of 50. No problem since it was my fault I didn't read the book and understand the rules (as if rules on driving in Thailand mean anything- but that is another rant).

I failed the first test at around 10:30 AM and the lady told me to come back at 1 PM to take the test again and gave me a book which had some rules of the road in 4 different languages. OK- I read the book and went back at 1 PM to take the test again. The lady running the show gave a speech in Thai (which did me me good as I don't speak the language) and told us to wait . The room was full of people (mostly Thai) who had also failed the test and the lady talked for about 30 minutes in Thai explaining some of the rules (again it did me no good as I don't understand Thai).

The room had about 6 farang of which 3 were Caucasian, a couple were Asian and one was Middle Eastern. All the farangs there waited while the Thais took the test then at 2:30 PM the same lady who gave us the dog and pony show told us there was an electrical problem and we had to come back the next day to re-take the test. OK- I am a hothead so I told the lady that was complete bullshit since I wasted a day to retake the test and I was unhappy with her decision. She told me (according to my gf) to hit the road it I didn't like it. My gf kept telling me to calm down but that didn't work.

OK- I understand all this Thai shit about saving face and what not but I was pissed so I went to the service counter and told them I wanted to talk with someone who had some stroke and finally a lady came to talk with me. I explained that I had wasted a whole afternoon waiting to re-take the test only to be told to come back tomorrow despite the fact that most of the Thai people in the room were able to retake the test that afternoon. Eventually a lady who spoke English came and I explained why I was pissed. She took me back to the room where the tests were administered and, lo and behold, the electrical problem was fixed and I took the test again.

Same result- I flunked. Again, no problem since it was my fault but there is no reason for the woman to tell us to come back tomorrow to take the test when there was nothing wrong with the machines. I did notice that one of the other farangs watched me bitch about it and he went after me to complain and he also got to take the test. So much for the machines being tits up.I don't have a problem with the new test. Perhaps if more Thais learned the rules of the road this would not be such a dangerous country to drive in. What pisses me off is the attitude that my time means nothing since I am a foreigner.

Last night my gf posted the story on CM 108.com and there were a lot of comments from Thais about how much of a bitch this woman was and someone said they were going to forward the posting to the staff at the LTO. It is not just the farangs who have problems with the new standards- easily 3/4 of the room was Thai nationals who had flunked the test the first time the took it.

The woman running the CM testing center is a first class bitch. If you pass the test the first time no problem but if you are a farang be prepared for some shit.

For me, no problem. I will continue to get an IDL and drive my motorcycle on it. I may put a 100 baht note inside the IDL so if I get stopped the cop will take the tea money and wave me on but going though the process to be legal here is a waste of time.

Again, for what its worth,

[DrTuner]

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....

A tank can drive down the road but a vehicle without a wind screen can not.............hmmmm so much for that, E-tans from the farms are always driving around and they have no windscreens. I am not picking on you about the tank I remember the same question too. It's just funny that the law says one thing and then does the other. Drive safely!

how about if the tank driver is not wearing a shirt?

I'm sure some farang will lie down on the road in front of the tank if such crime against the Thai culture should happen.

[Benmart]

The experts, readers of the future, told-you-so-ers, etc. are in abundance as usual.

Me. I am not an expert on anything, except I know enough not to assume I know better than the next person.

Look at the roads and driving sometime, and you'll see you're unmistakably probably a better driver.

Driving and Thai seems to go together like s*it and strawberry shortcake!

I do drive.

However, I don't drive and gauge who is a good or bad driver. I watch my driving and those around me for the safety aspect and not to critique their driving, which I have no control over.

I prefer not to lament, curse, scorn or otherwise try to comment on an issue I cannot change. I have no control, it's not my business how they drive (that's for others that have the authority) and I try to keep my life simple by leaving others alone.

A novel concept in my host country, but one that works for me.

[ZuluTango70]

5555. Why am I not surprised. Hope they keep the system. Not just the knowledge but driving test as well.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[xerostar]

My wife came home pleased the other day.

She said that she had received a compliment on her driving !

I asked her how could that be?

..because I know she is not a good driver !

She said somebody had placed a paper on her windscreen that said: "Parking - Fine!"

[sugarcane24]

I just got my provisional Thai driver's license which is valid for a year. I didn't have to sit a test - I just had to call out the colours (red, green and yellow) on a board to check for colour blindness, have my reaction time and ability to judge the distance between moving objects checked and show my New Zealand passport and driver's license. I will have to sit the test after the year is up to get the five-year license.

[Larry001]

I don't see this as News. We all know that most Thais do not know how to drive nor the road laws

[tezzainoz]

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....

when I took my test 2 years ago, it was okay to drive a tnk on the road, even a cr with only 3 wheels, but you can not drive a car with out a windscreen

yes some of the questions are based on Thai logic, but after the test it gave you the correct answers

then you get a 2nd try

the second test even just as stupid gave you a good chance to pass

[DrTuner]

The old Thai driving test + learning materials is available on this government site:

http://apps.dlt.go.th/driving_hp/ELearnning/E-Learning2.swf

Does not appear to have been updated yet, still only 30 questions.

Its quite a good website for people taking the test. Has the questions in English & Thai.

regards

Chatturat

Got 23 out of 30, clicking through as quick as I could. Some of the answers are so similar to each other one must start thinking like a Thai: "Which answer would make me look best and gain face ?". Got a correct one on every one of those.

[kurnell]

Mafia being arrested, politicians being nicked for corruption, proper driving tests. Thais won't know what day it is soon.

[hugh2121]

What book? I've searched but can't find a book on Thai traffic rules.

[Now or Never]

My 67 year old mother in law did the test yesterday.

She scored 44 out 50 and they passed her even though the required score is 45.

[bronco10250]

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!

Have you taken the old test? The images are about the size of a postage stamp with resolution that would have looked primitive in 1982. "Who has the right of way in this situaiton?" - and honestly, you can't make out what the situation is... Hopefully they have remedied that - lord knows people must have complained before, though often this is the best way to get things NOT changed.

So true, man!

[Emster23]

Since when do tanks have windscreens?

[mca]

What book? I've searched but can't find a book on Thai traffic rules.

[Chazchallenger]

Answering questions by a computor still doesn't give the common sence often lacked by Thai drivers once behind the wheel. More training in actual driving would be far better than trying to teach them how far from the curb they can park.

[tezzainoz]

I am amazed no one has posted this video