Driving in Chiang Mai

[dmitri]

Hey guys,

I've been riding motorbikes here for a few months with no problems. I like it. I've been driving cars back home for more than few years.

But this months I have my folks over and if I want to show them anything around the city or just outside I'll need to rent a car. To be honest I'm a bit scared of driving here on four wheels. Keep on thinking that I might hit someone on a bike since it's not as easy to see them as cars.

What's your experience? Any opinions, advice?

Thanks!

-d.

[FolkGuitar]

Drive slowly and do not drive aggressively. Be assertive rather than aggressive. Be willing to wait patiently for the crazies to pass you when the lights turn green. Make your 'moves' decisively, using your turn signals but still check for the idiots who will slide up on the inside of your turns. Driving a car in town is not a lot of fun, but you can do it safely if you pay attention.

[robertthebruce]

Just be mega vigilant, and try to avoid driving at night....

[AnotherOneAmerican]

you can be overtaken or right or left.

m/c overtaking on your inside has right of way.

do not open car doors on either side, m/c will be ready to hit you, and it is your fault.

do not turn left into an undertaking m/c, they have right of way.

These are common mistakes made by western drivers in Thailand.

[DaddyWarbucks]

Drive the way you would if you were participating in a Demolition Derby.

[true blue]

been driving a car here for many many years,use to be reasonably enjoyable,but in the last couple of years its getting to be a nightmare,im beging to dislike driving on the roads in chiang mai.

[Iamemjay]

Just have 360 degree vision, don't ever expect others to use their indicators or to stay in their lanes (particularly the "wandering" red songthaews!) and be on m/c alert EVERY SECOND! No problems!!! The best advice though is to just "go with the flow" - don't try to hurry it and be ALERT!

[chiang mai]

Good advice already given - can only add, never stop looking around you, you can't afford to relax your concentration or awareness, expect the unexpected. When you get used to it, it's actually fun.

[dmitri]

Thanks so much guys. Has any of you been used to drive right-side before driving here?

[chiang mai]

Thanks so much guys. Has any of you been used to drive right-side before driving here?

Yes, in the US for thirteen years and later in Europe, the change to driving on the correct side is not difficult.

[FolkGuitar]

Thanks so much guys. Has any of you been used to drive right-side before driving here?

25 years driving on the right before moving to driving on the left. Now, after 25 years in Asia, I have a bigger problem when I try driving in the US or Canada.

I've found, for me, the greatest challenge was when turning left onto a 4-lane undivided road without a car in front of me to follow. I needed to be very careful about that!

[mccw]

Flow like water. Same like a bike but be aware of the bigger vehicle you are in obviously.

Parking takes a while to learn all the places with available spots. There are quite a lot tucked away.

[MMan]

Out of town on the highway driving is fine, though in town you need to have a lot of patience, be very alert and very careful. Just assume everybody else on the road is a total idiot and bound to do something crazy at any moment. The fact that you are concerned about it means that you will probably be careful, and thus you will probably be OK.

Adjusting to driving on the left is not as difficult as you might think. I been here 7 years and still have to think about which side of the car I need to get in on though. As one other poster mentioned, it can be confusing when turning onto a 4 lane divided highway as you enter from the opposite side.

[roger1999]

Best driving advice I ever got: "don't make any sudden moves." Works like a charm.

[dmitri]

Thanks so much for all your advice guys! I like the Demolition Derby comment lol and all the insightful ideas.

Cheers,

-d.

[Frank James]

You might consider hiring a car and driver for a day or two. Then you can relax and be a better host. Just make clear to them that you are not interested in being herded into tourist traps where they are making a commission by delivering you and your group.

This might not cost much more than renting a car, and a lot less stressful for you. You are right to be nervous. Driving around here can be a nightmare.

[DaamNaam]

Chiang Mai drivers have to be in the running for the worlds worst drivers. Fact.

[narkeddiver]

Chiang Mai drivers have to be in the running for the worlds worst drivers. Fact.

Whenever I get irked by driving skills (or lack thereof) in Chiang Mai I try to recall my time in Mumbai and consider how much worse things could be

Driving over here also helps me appreciate how civilised driving is in my home country (and I certainly didn't appreciate driving over there originally!)

[mccw]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

[DaamNaam]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

Oh yeah right. At least you are looking at the bright side of life. I see danger, and parents losing young kids, kids losing parents, hospitals full of accident victims, and folks that generally don't have any sense of danger whatsoever. The road is no laughing matter, nor is it a game.

It all looks so romantic and exotic as a tourist, but live here awhile and you may just see the forest from the trees...

Here's an example of CM's finest, and the driving instructor was in the car too.... (Happened today) http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4213

[mccw]

Amazing link daam naam.

No learner cars with the dual pedals here I guess.

I have lived here a fair while and am well aware of the danger and accidents.

I stand by my statement that many or most are very good drivers to deal with the conditions. Unfortunately there are some crazy lunatics who kill and maim others or themselves sooner or later. Racing motorbike and jumping red lights and raving trucks, drunks; but they are a low % over all.

More and more now I am in countering cycling enthusiasts wiggling all over the road worse than motor bike which generally know to stay left. A lot of falangs; think they have some kind of right of way if part of a pack of byclyes. Really danger for thier lives. I saw one squashed last month in hangdong area. If any are reading this - guys, it's a public street not your own personal Tour de Thailand

[evenstevens]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

you would have to be joking

are u for real ??

or stirring the pot

[Frank James]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

Oh yeah right. At least you are looking at the bright side of life. I see danger, and parents losing young kids, kids losing parents, hospitals full of accident victims, and folks that generally don't have any sense of danger whatsoever. The road is no laughing matter, nor is it a game.

It all looks so romantic and exotic as a tourist, but live here awhile and you may just see the forest from the trees...

Here's an example of CM's finest, and the driving instructor was in the car too.... (Happened today) http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4213

I have seen two cars being fished out of the moat since I've been here. It's quite amazing when you consider that most of the time the traffic is restricted in speed due to congestion, and the curbing all around the moat is quite high off the road surface, and squared off sharply at the top. To jump that curb you would have to hit it at a sharp angle, or else go right at it.

How do they do it?

[DaamNaam]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

Oh yeah right. At least you are looking at the bright side of life. I see danger, and parents losing young kids, kids losing parents, hospitals full of accident victims, and folks that generally don't have any sense of danger whatsoever. The road is no laughing matter, nor is it a game.

It all looks so romantic and exotic as a tourist, but live here awhile and you may just see the forest from the trees...

Here's an example of CM's finest, and the driving instructor was in the car too.... (Happened today) http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4213

I have seen two cars being fished out of the moat since I've been here. It's quite amazing when you consider that most of the time the traffic is restricted in speed due to congestion, and the curbing all around the moat is quite high off the road surface, and squared off sharply at the top. To jump that curb you would have to hit it at a sharp angle, or else go right at it.

How do they do it?

Having lived here awhile i would have to say it does not amaze nor surprise me.

[chiang mai]

I think chiang Mai drivers are probably some of the best in the world. They need higher skills, patients and awareness to deal with the conditions.

Oh yeah right. At least you are looking at the bright side of life. I see danger, and parents losing young kids, kids losing parents, hospitals full of accident victims, and folks that generally don't have any sense of danger whatsoever. The road is no laughing matter, nor is it a game.

It all looks so romantic and exotic as a tourist, but live here awhile and you may just see the forest from the trees...

Here's an example of CM's finest, and the driving instructor was in the car too.... (Happened today) http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4213

I have seen two cars being fished out of the moat since I've been here. It's quite amazing when you consider that most of the time the traffic is restricted in speed due to congestion, and the curbing all around the moat is quite high off the road surface, and squared off sharply at the top. To jump that curb you would have to hit it at a sharp angle, or else go right at it.

How do they do it?

I wrote almost the identical post myself a few years ago, how do they manage to do that I asked. I've subsequently realized that the answer is simple, to stop a car requires the foot to engage the brake, that action in turn requires the brain to be engaged, end of!

Ask yourself, how many times have you seen people steer round situations, at the last moment, it's as though braking is a mortal sin which if you do that, bolts of lightening will strike you down! Only yesterday afternoon I was driving in traffic and had to brake hard, my eyes immediately went to the rear view mirror and here's this young lad and his girlfriend on a bike, his reaction times was appalling and it was a close call. But the interesting part was that he immediately began cursing me and was ready to fight over the matter! What can be said, it's Darwinism at work.

[mesquite]

Drive slowly within the city and signal your intentions early. As roger says, don't make any sudden moves. Let the motorbikes zip in and out around you, and don't get into a hurry. Also, be aware that most Thais cannot drive cars very well (yeah, duh!). Don't expect anything, yet expect the unexpected, like turning right from the left lane and left from the right lane. And of course the fact that they do not park, they just stop driving.

Then there are the Chinese, driving their own LH drive cars on these roads where RH drive is the standard. Large blue plates with Chinese characters and our kind of numbers on them. Give them a wide berth.

Still, consider renting a car/van and driver for the short visit.

[mccw]

Most Thais do not know how to use round-abouts. Do not expect them to give way to the right.

[onthedarkside]

Post removed. Forum rule 15) Do not make changes to quoted material that changes the intended meaning of the quoted post

[DaamNaam]

Most Thais do not know how to use round-abouts. Do not expect them to give way to the right.

I seen a woman on a motorbike go around the wrong way (on the right side) yesterday.

Never a dull moment on Thai roads.

[mccw]

^ A lot of falangs seem to forget how it's supposed to work too I've seen.