End of the road: Thailand tightens up rules on foreign tourist vehicles

[DerringDo]

10 days advance notice for permission seems fair if you're planning a long trip on the road anyway.

If you're based here in Thailand can't really see it affecting you, nor from Singapore or Malaysia.

If you're bringing your own motor home and food what revenue are you bringing into the country. To me it's like taking your own food and drink to a nice restaurant and using the finest China and cutlery, bending a few spoons, breaking a few plates and then leaving without so much as a Thank You.

[cumgranosalum]

May one wonder if this decision does not clash with all kinds of international conventions signed by Thailand?

Maybe - the problem is that both China and Thailand are notorious for not having signed many of those international treaties...

[Mangkhut]

The ban of foreign plated motorbikes into Thailand (except Laos, Malaysia and S'pore plated) are meaningless and ridiciolous. "They cause accidents and ecological harm" ? Wipe your own front and backyard first. Thais dont even weat a helmet and pile unprotected toddlers on their mopeds and drunk driving are more of a rule than an exception, even amongst the brownshirts.

The few hundred overlanders that passes through Thailand pr year - I havent hear about one accident amongst them. And those from neighbour countries except L, M and S cannot cause much harm either.

Other countries are opening up such as Myanmar and theres also rumours that Vietnam will. Thailand on the other hand....

[KamalaRider]

So, unless they are going to ban all hiring of motorbikes by tourists, why are motorbikes being banned?

Next step.

[Deli]

To ease traffic, they should start to limit the numbers of taxis and tuk tuks in tours areas

[cumgranosalum]

It really doesn’t matter where these vehicles are from....it is the PRINCIPLE that is important - what they are doing is using a load of observed but ill-researched reasons.

They simply have no idea what the impact of foreign traffic is as they are not referring to any reliable studies. All this is just the usual knee-jerk reaction.

In fact if you look at Europe, the free flow of traffic is one of the most import pillars of the economy (UKIP note).

These people are brining money/cash into the country - the vehicles don’t drive on fresh air - they buy fuel, food and contrary to most arguments they use hotels too.... (RVs are only a small part of the traffic and I suspect they use hotels from time to time too.

It is quite clear that there is a burgeoning middle class in ALL countries in the region (including Thailand) and they will want to be able to drive around the region.

HCM is less than 1000 KM from Bangkok - an overnight stop and you’re there - if ASEAN was functioning as it should.

Chinese border is less than 250 km from the Thai border.

India is only one country away from Thailand.........

Yet all the Thai government can do is think of ways to keep people out

Edited March 16, 2016 by cumgranosalum

[seedy]

Troll / Flaming / Off Topic post removed

Keep the Personal Attacks off this Forum

[Damaz6052]

There goes Phuket Bike Week! Many Malaysians and Singaporeans come to Thailand for this festival.

[Bluespunk]

So, unless they are going to ban all hiring of motorbikes by tourists, why are motorbikes being banned?

a

Read it again it's stated tourists driving motorcycles INTO Thailand

Why ban bikes but not riding bikes? If a tourist can ride a bike, why can they not bring their own into the country?

If the concern is safety and ability to ride, why ban bikes but not hiring of bikes? Motorbikes are basically all the same.

If those bringing bikes in need this certificate, why do those hiring them not need it?

It's all about making money in my view, otherwise applying this policy to bikes makes no sense at all.

All clear now?

Edited March 16, 2016 by Bluespunk

[cumgranosalum]

OK , I know there have been some significant issues with long convoys of Chinese cars and camper vans and the assorted issues with camper vans parking en masse at tourist attractions and popular spots and then just dumping their rubbish and worse... no need to go into further details.

The inclusion of motorbikes in this does make one scratch ones head and wonder why but the main motorcycle traffic into Thailand is from Malaysia and Singapore and they aren't affected here ....... however once again it is great example of " Ready Fire Aim"..... I wish the Land Transport Office in coming up with this would have devoted the same energy to regulating and cleaning up the minivan taxi/ transport industry here .... especially in the hot spots ( Phuket/ Krabi/ Samui)....the threat to tourism and pure data on numbers of people killed by this largely unregulated and lawless association of Minivan transport companies and their ill trained, often over tired and quite often drugged to the eyeballs drivers is immense.

Barely a week goes by when you don't read about minivan skidding off the road and the associated carnage and all of us have seen the breakneck speed at which allot of these drivers go at .......... This tightening up on rules here is a soft option .. why ?? .. because they can actually enforce it via border control/ immigration..... tackling the real issues that Land Transport should be looking at well that might have to come another day .....

Ps. before anyone comments I have seen the recent press re restricting the minivans in their long haul scope some but alas without solid training, education, vehicle safety checks and monitoring systems in place this is akin to Canute and the waves .

.

" no need to go into further details." - yes there is!

I've seen "convoys" of Chinese vehicles and I'd like to see some thoroughly researched analysis of the effects they have. This is, of course, of no interest to the Thai authorities who never base any decisions it would seem on scientific principles.

Even if these "convoys" were shown to be a real a nuisance, how does this represent a rational solution? Surely a solution would be to break up the convoys or insist on smaller groups travelling together.

The truth is that the Thai authorities are not prepared for anything like this - they don't have the tools to deal with it and rather than bother, they take the usual Thai response - "no have".

In the end Thailand will in a the near or far future have to admit foreign traffic and they will need to cope with it; just as we have in Europe...it isn't a great problem and if Thailand went to Europe they'd soon get informed of the real problems and how to deal with them - again Thailand’s history of listening to advice from outside is limited.

There is a major change in the region and it is coming from the middle-classes of those countries - these people are educated, have money and influence - it would be a good idea for the Thai authorities and the authorities of other countries to look at what is going on and listen to the people - rather than be motivated by their own self-interest, greed and xenophobia..

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PS - Minivans have not been restricted yet - it is just another example of ill-researched, poorly conceived ideas by the authorities

[BudRight]

Yay, another "don't come here" rule. I'm sure numbers from TAT will soar.

Edited March 16, 2016 by BudRight

[cumgranosalum]

There goes Phuket Bike Week! Many Malaysians and Singaporeans come to Thailand for this festival.

the new regs do not affect Laos, Malaysia and Singapore who already have agreements with Thailand.

one of the problems here is the unpreparedness of the Thai authorities. They didn't see this coming - even though they have been setting up trade agreement and BUILDING ROADS - they now are in a situation where they quickly need to set up agreements with other ASEAN countries and China and India.

There natural dislike of all things foreign does help though.

[BKResort]

Already customs at Chiang Kong are banning the entry of motor homes and trailers without any previous notice... Imagine the surprise of Chinese driving all the way...for?

[cumgranosalum]

Why the ban was addressed in another thread a few weeks ago. The Chinese are crapping up the tourist locations with there motorhomes. Bringing there own place to stay and there own food. Now....not known for being the neatest people on the planet, and seeing or reading about how they use public toilets some would see this as a plus.

I dont think it has anything to do with road safety this being the deadliest place in the world to drive and all.

Bottom line is the money they are not spending on hotels and for food.

"The Chinese are crapping up the tourist locations with there motorhomes." - this is not substantiated and the rest of the post is totally without any substantive evidence too based on supposition abnd assumption....in fact an RV is quite an expensive way to go on holiday and brings a lot of cash into the economy - not least of all fuel....and if you think these people don't spend - een on hotels you need to think again.

[LannaGuy]

I actually think this is a good idea as the tourist vehicles are untaxed and most uninsured and any way to cut down on pollution and excess traffic is a good thing.

[Linden]

I might have space in shipping container any bikes or cars back to Europe. Hope its not happening overnight.

[andy8017]

It's for safety reasons-they don't want the visitor to pick up bad Thai driving habits and take them back home

[seedy]

More of the Same Removed

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[Transporter]

Who thinks up this stuff...........?

Thai folk in my country can drive where they like, in what they like....................

Why has LOS a ploblem............?

Because LOS does not always mean Land Of Smiles, There are other words starting with S that describe the rules more worryingly.

[cumgranosalum]

I actually think this is a good idea as the tourist vehicles are untaxed and most uninsured and any way to cut down on pollution and excess traffic is a good thing.

In Europe you only pay road tax if yo are keeping your car for a longer period - e.g. - over 6 months. I don't pay road tax in Laos or Malaysia.

You need insurance. - I do pay for insurance - in Laos I get a year's cover. i Malaysia I buy what they tell me to on the border. I don't see why the Thai authorities can't do this with the Chinese. They could also negotiate a reciprocal agreement for Thais into China.

So "banning or these "delaying" tactics do nothing about that - what they should do is either have an agreement with China over insurance or sell insurance at the border. in fact motor insurance in Thailand is cheap, but not very effective as people - Thai people- can drive legally with the minimum of 3rd party cover. So to bring them on a par with or even above Thai drivers would not cost a fortune.

as for more traffic - well that is really a myth - if these people don't bring there own car, there is every chance they will need to use native transport.

the fact is that traffic on all roads in the region is increasing exponentially and to try and keep it separate within nation borders is just nonsense.

[tomyumchai]

i havnt even seen a chinese campervan yet and we are travelling round the north. at most ive seen a line of around 14 chinese cars with a thai police bike escort and they were driving far better than any thais.

[crocken]

I don't think anyone has been permitted to bring a vehicle into Cambodia for a long time...even from Thailand.

[samjaidee]

I don't think anyone has been permitted to bring a vehicle into Cambodia for a long time...even from Thailand.

People buy motorbikes in Vietnam and go to Cambodia, Laos and sometimes Thailand on a daily basis. Literally dozens or more every day.

I've been to Cambodia on my motorbike many times. Never once have I told anyone at the border that I'm driving a motorbike. They don't care, either in Vietnam or Cambodia.

EDIT I've also seen Cambodian cars, trucks and buses in Vietnam and vice versa.

Edited March 16, 2016 by samjaidee

[cumgranosalum]

I had a conversation with a Chinese "convoy" at a PTT near Rayong - they weren't actually driving as a convoy, they were just interspersed amongst the traffic. They all stopped at a PTT - so money being spent there - I couldn't work out where they were from I think Kunming/Yunnan. Some spoke a bit of Thai and several spoke English.

They had SUVs, no RVs, and were staying at resorts. They were polite civil and educated, LHD cars. I had been on the same roads as them for about 60 km and I can't say their driving was noticeably bad - in fact it seemed exemplary.

This of course does not mean that there aren't bad drivers coming into the country - but how you would spot one in THAILAND"s traffic is beyond me!

[casindonet]

Guess border towns like Kapchoeng, Prasart, Surin will stand to lose more on this new ruling. Just imagine how much income the police check points will lose w/o Cambodian cars. Businesses like macro, big-c, Tesco & others, private & government medical centers have lots of Cambodian customers too. All cars already have to pay 200 baht per entry to this 3 towns not including the entry stamp on their passport.

[casindonet]

I don't think anyone has been permitted to bring a vehicle into Cambodia for a long time...even from Thailand.

Really? Seen lots of thai cars & buses at the border check point everyday enroute to siem reap. Been like this for the past 7-8 yrs.

[LannaGuy]

I actually think this is a good idea as the tourist vehicles are untaxed and most uninsured and any way to cut down on pollution and excess traffic is a good thing.

In Europe you only pay road tax if yo are keeping your car for a longer period - e.g. - over 6 months. I don't pay road tax in Laos or Malaysia.

You need insurance. - I do pay for insurance - in Laos I get a year's cover. i Malaysia I buy what they tell me to on the border. I don't see why the Thai authorities can't do this with the Chinese. They could also negotiate a reciprocal agreement for Thais into China.

So "banning or these "delaying" tactics do nothing about that - what they should do is either have an agreement with China over insurance or sell insurance at the border. in fact motor insurance in Thailand is cheap, but not very effective as people - Thai people- can drive legally with the minimum of 3rd party cover. So to bring them on a par with or even above Thai drivers would not cost a fortune.

as for more traffic - well that is really a myth - if these people don't bring there own car, there is every chance they will need to use native transport.

the fact is that traffic on all roads in the region is increasing exponentially and to try and keep it separate within nation borders is just nonsense.

of course countries should control incoming traffic and anything that cuts down pollution is good for me and the environment

[terminatorchiangmai]

Thailand should tighten up on its own smoky vehicles without [plates , light and so on, and take them of the roads first.

I welcome all these new and well maintained cars from China.

[kannot]

No problem for the Chinese, who will drive to other local countries and spend money there instead of Thailand.

good news then!

[cumgranosalum]

I actually think this is a good idea as the tourist vehicles are untaxed and most uninsured and any way to cut down on pollution and excess traffic is a good thing.

In Europe you only pay road tax if yo are keeping your car for a longer period - e.g. - over 6 months. I don't pay road tax in Laos or Malaysia.

You need insurance. - I do pay for insurance - in Laos I get a year's cover. i Malaysia I buy what they tell me to on the border. I don't see why the Thai authorities can't do this with the Chinese. They could also negotiate a reciprocal agreement for Thais into China.

So "banning or these "delaying" tactics do nothing about that - what they should do is either have an agreement with China over insurance or sell insurance at the border. in fact motor insurance in Thailand is cheap, but not very effective as people - Thai people- can drive legally with the minimum of 3rd party cover. So to bring them on a par with or even above Thai drivers would not cost a fortune.

as for more traffic - well that is really a myth - if these people don't bring there own car, there is every chance they will need to use native transport.

the fact is that traffic on all roads in the region is increasing exponentially and to try and keep it separate within nation borders is just nonsense.

of course countries should control incoming traffic and anything that cuts down pollution is good for me and the environment

So it cuts down pollution? Does pollution respect borders? does it have a passport?

incominghg traffic is trade - it brings in money.

Those who an't bring a car truck will use other modes of transport - e.g. car hire so the idea you are preventing pollution is just pie in the sky.

Edited March 16, 2016 by cumgranosalum