A polite message to the German tourist couple in Phuket Town, whom I stopped to help after they 'pranged' their shiny Hertz rental car...

"When turning right at a crossroads, it is not wise to then proceed on the right hand side of the road. This is not Germany"

Still, no major damage and no injuries

Simon, give yourself a pat on the back.

Oh, I see you just did.

I suppose it is quite-easily done, when you're used to driving on the right. Need extra thought at junctions and roundabouts.

It is Gott with a double t in German, but never mind, due to the changing tourists demography we better concentrate on Mandarin and Russian anyway.

I've seen more extreme cases. Once when driving in the Khao Lak beach area, a farang driven car moved towards me keeping right. I flashed my headlights, and the guy responded by pointing at his forehead, so I ended up just going around him. Hope it didn't take too long to get through to him that in Thailand it is wise to keep left. Are the huge signs still there at Koh Samui, warning motorists to drive on the left? Maybe there had been too many inebriated tourists driving on the right on rented motorbikes.

Saturday night I was sitting in a song tiaw with a group of Chinese tourists. As they got out to pay the driver, they departed on the right side with traffic coming up behind them.

I suggested to the others that they go to the left and stand on the footpath, and they seemed to think it was not a bad idea.

Been driving here for a few years now. Everyday I get in and out of the car several times. And on occasion, I will still get in the left hand side just to find there is not a steering wheel. If there are onlookers, I’ll act as if I am getting something out of the glove box.

Edited November 3, 201411 yr by Shot

Saw the same thing in Nai Harn yesterday, a foreign couple driving on the wrong side of the road after going through a 3 way intersection.

one night i got off a ferry in Belgium in my UK car at about 3am. i drove for about 20km on a major highway, fortunately with no traffic, as it turned out i was on the wrong lane going the wrong way.

one night i got off a ferry in Belgium in my UK car at about 3am. i drove for about 20km on a major highway, fortunately with no traffic, as it turned out i was on the wrong lane going the wrong way.

Done the same coming off the Le Havre ferry. Took the scenic country roads, wondered why the guy coming down the road was on 'my' side. I was on the wrong side - he swung to his right, I swung to my left, we crashed on our corners. Both cars had to be put on the back of recovery trucks.

They should for once and always put an end to this problem The word "right" says it all.. All others drive on the WRONG side. Seriously most developed countries drive on the right the rest should just adjust.

Been driving here for a few years now. Everyday I get in and out of the car several times. And on occasion, I will still get in the left hand side just to find there is not a steering wheel. If there are onlookers, I’ll act as if I am getting something out of the glove box.

Been there myself.

The most difficult part of the changes was to visit home and drive there on the right hand side through the roads I knew well.

At the start I had to visualise how to make every corner, before getting to the corners. Fortunately the speed limits in my country are very low.

My parents lived in a pretty countryside area just out of town. Leaving their house on a bicycle once, I drew a lot of attention of local folks doing their Sunday walk. I glanced down to check if I hadn't forgotten to pull up my zipper, but then after a few hundred meters it got through to me that I was riding on the left.

I was really surprised how many countries drive on the right hand side! I always thought it was just America and Canada. Turns out I was quite wrong.

I was really surprised how many countries drive on the right hand side! I always thought it was just America and Canada. Turns out I was quite wrong.

Look at this:

About 65% of the world's population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 35% in countries with left-hand traffic. About 90% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right and 10% on the left.

I was really surprised how many countries drive on the right hand side! I always thought it was just America and Canada. Turns out I was quite wrong.

Look at this:

Right-left.jpg

About 65% of the world's population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 35% in countries with left-hand traffic. About 90% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right and 10% on the left.

Yep only third world countries and countries that are just strange and like to go against logical things drive on the left. They should change it all to the right, the right is the right position. The word right is self explanatory. Its those crazy islanders that mess things up.

They should for once and always put an end to this problem The word "right" says it all.. All others drive on the WRONG side. Seriously most developed countries drive on the right the rest should just adjust.

Oh YES......MOST developed countries drive on the right.....But what about those ig.......t ones....let's say British??? What happens there concerning EU seems not belong to any development...

They should for once and always put an end to this problem The word "right" says it all.. All others drive on the WRONG side. Seriously most developed countries drive on the right the rest should just adjust.

Oh YES......MOST developed countries drive on the right.....But what about those ig.......t ones....let's say British??? What happens there concerning EU seems not belong to any development...

The British are an island nation, they never been keen to change their ways. They still got outdated measurements like stones while everyone uses metric system in science and stuff. They are just suborn and a bit outdated i think its best let them be and feel special like "Corkey"

Seriously disappointment that they never converted to the standard. I think they are pissed their strange system of measurements never made it while metric did.

The official usage of metric/imperial systems.

The official usage of metric/imperial systems.

Nice.. but he Brits still seem to use stones pounds (not the currency) ect. So official use does not tell the whole story.

I have seen on more than one occasion tourists go the wrong direction on the Chalong roundabout. The Thais just parted for them like it was a normal occurrence.

The British no longer use pounds and ounces when weighing things. It's against the law. Distances are in miles, as is in the USA, but to make things more difficult the American mile is not the same as an English mile, nor is an American gallon. I don't think the Japanese would want to switch to driving on the right. I wonder why after the War the Americans didn't make them change over, there couldn't have been many vehicles left in Japan at that time.

one night i got off a ferry in Belgium in my UK car at about 3am. i drove for about 20km on a major highway, fortunately with no traffic, as it turned out i was on the wrong lane going the wrong way.

In the '90s I owned a stone cottage high in the French Pyrenees. The local food was the best I had ever tasted, as were their wines. Late one evening, I once drove 20km back to my house from a French restaurant, after having consumed one of the best meals (and wines) of my life - not realising that I drove all the way back on the left side of the road. (Yes, I admit it - I was blind drunk...)

Myanmar is an interesting country in that it (like Sweden), changed over from driving on the left to driving on the right. For Sweden, there were logical reasons, (neighbouring land-border countries drive on the right etc).

For Myanmar, the reason for the change is usually given as that either the ruling general had a dream that everyone should drive on the right, (and Buddhists like to listen to dreams!). Or that he was simply snubbing the legacy of the colonial British.

Whatever the reason, Yangon is still chockablock with right hand drive cars, with an equal number of left hand drive cars. That makes driving and overtaking in Yabngon 'interesting'

BTW, the German guy in my OP realised his mistake, stopped, and as he was reversing slowly back a little, to enable him to proceed on the left, an elderly Thai gentleman taking the corner hit him ... er ... or maybe the German hit the Thai car... anyway, I just translated until the RTP arrived.

Edited November 4, 201411 yr by simon43

Yep only third world countries and countries that are just strange and like to go against logical things drive on the left. They should change it all to the right, the right is the right position. The word right is self explanatory. Its those crazy islanders that mess things up.

I was really surprised how many countries drive on the right hand side! I always thought it was just America and Canada. Turns out I was quite wrong.

Look at this:

Right-left.jpg

About 65% of the world's population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 35% in countries with left-hand traffic. About 90% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right and 10% on the left.

Yep only third world countries and countries that are just strange and like to go against logical things drive on the left. They should change it all to the right, the right is the right position. The word right is self explanatory. Its those crazy islanders that mess things up.

and even worst- don't use the metric system.who want to convert inches,fahrenheit,yards,stones and so on...

^{The use of Imperial measurements in Myanmar is certainly true. When I lived there I was amazed to find that my students discussed walking distances in terms of furlongs, a measurement which is really only used in the UK for horse-racing distances and measurements at sea.}

I was really surprised how many countries drive on the right hand side! I always thought it was just America and Canada. Turns out I was quite wrong.

Look at this:

Right-left.jpg

About 65% of the world's population live in countries with right-hand traffic and 35% in countries with left-hand traffic. About 90% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right and 10% on the left.

Yep only third world countries and countries that are just strange and like to go against logical things drive on the left. They should change it all to the right, the right is the right position. The word right is self explanatory. Its those crazy islanders that mess things up.

and even worst- don't use the metric system.who want to convert inches,fahrenheit,yards,stones and so on...

Yes the Brits and Americans resist the better system (metric) because they want to hold on to their odd ways not willing to accept measurements that were not invented by them. In a way they are real Thai.. there is a better way but pride and face keeps them using their old fashioned crazy ways.