Meeting to ensure road safety as tourists now travel more on personal cars to Thailand

[Tomtomtom69]

"One Thai driver who was hit by a Chinese driver about 3 weeks ago said his car was heavily damaged and the garage has estimated the repair cost at 200,000 baht.

He said that negotiation with the Chinese driver was also hard, as he needed a translator to do the talking for him.

But most importantly, he said the Chinese vehicles had no insurance coverage.

Until today, he has not received any payments for the damages caused, as the Chinese driver has already flown home."

He hit a Thai driver, went to a Thai mechanic in Thailand and was quoted 200,000 for repairs.

The translation was difficult as ehe Chinese guy could clearly see he was dealing with a dishonest piece of kwai dung as many of us do each day. A scam was immininent therefore he walked away without further discussion thus not giving any insurance details before flying home as many...... WAIT....Flew home? In the uninsured Chinese vehicle he hit him with???

Sounds like the Chinese vehicle was totaled and scrapped leaving the Chinese driver with no option but to fly back home without his car. However, that doesn't excuse the Chinese driver from his responsibility. He should have been held in Thailand until compensation was arranged. Even if it was nowhere near 200,000 Baht. It could however be that the Thai driver he hit was driving an expensive imported car or just became a total wreck hence the large bill.

[Tomtomtom69]

And usually nowadays aren't agreements between two countries bilateral, I mean that both nationality cars can enter each country. Especially between such close friends as TH and China.

Exactly. You've hit the nail there. Often it's China requesting reciprocity on many issues, so the fact that the Chinese have been taking advantage of Thailand's lax entry requirements for foreign vehicles whereas Thais wanting to head in the other direction are given a slap in the face, is puzzling to say the least. If I were a Thai government minister I would have brought up this issue with the Chinese long ago and if they didn't agree to my request to allow Thai vehicles into China freely (at least to a number of southern provinces as per the GSM CBTA agreement that the ADB was instrumental in negotiating) I would have told them OK: no more Chinese vehicles in Thailand except under the same circumstances as what you impose on us.

Of course, this was never really a big deal up until now as the numbers of Chinese vehicles driving to Thailand was never very large up until 2014 or 2015 and especially this CNY. I mean 4000 Chinese vehicles during CNY? That's insane! The road traffic congestion alone is a major concern. Of course I remember an article from a very pro-Chinese bilingual magazine, focusing on trade, business, economic and social relations between Thailand and China called "Mekong" from 2011 or 2012 I think it was. The magazine I haven't seen in Thailand, but the Thai consulate in Kunming and a number of other places like some of the universities there carry copies. The article mentioned how the then still under construction 4th Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge could, once completed, during Chinese holidays allow up to 10,000 (yes 10,000!! are they insane, how could customs/immigration ever have coped with such numbers?) Chinese vehicles A DAY to cross into Thailand! No mention whatsoever about Thai vehicles or Lao vehicles crossing, even though the bridge connects Thailand and Laos directly, not China (it's as if the bridge would benefit only China and Chinese drivers - as the article seemed to imply). While there has never been 10,000 vehicles a day crossing (fortunately not even close) 4,000 in around 2-3 weeks is already a very large number and I'm glad something is being done about it, though it's probably not enough as the proposed 500 Baht entry fee (in addition to requiring insurance, advance permission, submission of travel itineraries, driver's licences etc.) is still far less than what the Chinese require of Thais with their 3 month advance notice, vehicle condition check, temporary Chinese driver's licence, guide and most of all, major deposit. However, it's a start and will certainly cut down on the number of Chinese vehicles driving in Thailand by the time it's implemented. If it's not enough of a deterrent by then, further measures will probably be imposed.

Actually come to think of it, the article may have mentioned 10,000 vehicles during the entire holiday periods such as CNY rather than per day, however, for all intents and purposes their definition of holiday I think extends for only a week or so rather than the very extended holidays many Chinese actually take for CNY. Can't remember exactly coz it has been around 4 or 5 years now but you get the point.

[Tomtomtom69]

I'm wondering who the 'schmuck ' is here mate. I can see where you are coming from, but you seem unable to express yourself sufficiently succinctly to be correctly understood. You mention 'right side drive' in your response, which could well mean having the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car or equally it could mean driving on the right, or both I guess. However, in your initial comment you write about a 'right-hand drive traffic system' note the word 'traffic', which means driving on the right hand side of the road, in anyone's language. In the same sentence you then mention a 'left hand system', which to someone with a modicum of intelligence, who thought they were following the reasoning of someone with an IQ slightly above moron rating, would tend to imply driving on the left hand side of the road. If you want to write about right hand drive and left hand drive cars, then say so and we will all understand to what your feeble mind is referring. As for being too drunk to think rationally, I don't drink, maybe you should lay off it a bit and give what's left of your brain cells a chance?

Name calling aside, internationally recognized standards refer to right or left hand drive systems based which side the driver sits.

The author of the article in the OP got this confused as well so no need to worry.

TH

The internationally recognized standard is Left-hand drive (LHD) and Right-hand drive (RHD), referring to the position of the steering wheel and more importantly, when referring to the traffic laws of a particular country, Left-hand traffic and Right-hand traffic. By using these terms accurately, there is no confusion. I can see where the confusion of the author came from, as he/she may be dyslexic or simply have problems distinguishing between the two (quite a few people do) BUT for the rest of us it should be quite straightforward.

Note that one should generally be referring more to the SIDE of the road traffic moves on than the side of the steering wheel. This is because in many countries not only does one see foreign registered vehicles with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side based on the traffic rules in that particular country, but also, many locally registered vehicles have their steering wheels on the "wrong" side. Therefore, it is inappropriate and confusing to refer continuously to RHD or LHD when one should rather be referring to Left-hand or Right-hand TRAFFIC.

Some countries where this is common include:

Mongolia (Right-hand traffic; lots of RHD vehicles)

Russia (Right-hand traffic; lots of RHD vehicles, particularly in the far east of the country)

Myanmar (Right-hand traffic; 90% of all locally registered vehicles have RHD)

US Virgin Islands (Left-hand traffic; mostly LHD vehicles)

Samoa (western) (Left-hand traffic; lots of LHD vehicles since the country only switched to left-hand traffic in 2009)

Cambodia (Right-hand traffic; large numbers of RHD vehicles in the west of the country, smaller numbers in Phnom Penh)

I'm not sure to whom you are referring as being dyslexic, I hope not me, because I certainly am not. I concur with your comments, when we talk about left and right we should be referring to the side of the road that we actually drive on. Or have I misunderstood?

Sorry if I wasn't being clear enough - I was referring to the writer of the article or people like him/her. Not you.

[davehowden]

Look on the bright side, the Chinese cars all have blue plates!

[DrTuner]

Easily solved. Check for first insurance at border and have a line of Somchais with their beaten up pickups waiting on the Thai side to collect the cash from the inevitable crash. Chinese tend to understand when it hurts the wallet.