Thai DLT: Applications for driver licenses averages 500,000 per month

[webfact]

DLT: Applications for driver licenses averages 500,000 per month

BANGKOK, 2 June 2015, (NNT) - The Department of Land Transport (DLT) has reiterated that old driver licenses are still valid, while the average number of license applications reaches 500,000.

DLT Director-General Therapong Rodprasert brushed aside rumors that old driver licenses will be rendered officially obsolete. He stressed that this claim is false and urged the public to refrain from sharing misinformation online.

Mr. Therapong said motorists can replace their old licenses with smart card licenses at any time for a processing fee of 100 baht. He added that the new card would retain all of the previous benefits.

An average of 20,000 driver licenses are processed daily, which translates to 500,000 licenses monthly. The department head believed these numbers will remain stable in the future.


-- NNT 2015-06-02

[PatOngo]

Thankfully not all of them can afford to buy cars.

[ChrisY1]

500,000 driving licence applications processed per month???.....I take it that this refers to the new style licences and new applicants......Thailand could never process these types of numbers per month...I doubt many countries could either!

If this is an example of statistics here in Thailand, then something is very wrong..(as it usually is) !

Frightening numbers!!

[stoli]

Somebody has picked the wrong numbers today. 500,000 a month? Never..... Where are my facts? Just common sense.

[Phuketboy]

So many applying for licences but how many are actually doing driver training to learn how to drive? Thai's can't drive for shit.

I remember doing my Thai licence renewal last year and the driving standard of Thai's was shocking. One lady damaged the underside of the car while reverse parking, another even managed to crash the car into the testers office/box on the course. Guess what…. they both still got their licence. When waiting for the actual licence, I couldn't believe it and actually laughed when the one who crashed was called out. One of the officers issuing the licence asked why I laughed, I said because she just crashed the car doing 10km/hr, now she has a licence and will be driving home at 100km/hr, how much damage or death you think she will cause. His answer, welcome to Thailand.

[ratcatcher]

Thankfully not all of them can afford to buy cars.

That's because the majority of them will be driving motorcycles and pissing you off even more.

[fred Kubasa]

His bosses probably believe this hugely inflated figure and will hire another 56 relatives to handle the crush !