I found a good article about traffic rules & issues in Thailand (esp. Chiang Mai). 

http://www.chiangmailocator.com/wiki-traffic-rules-in-thailand-and-how-to-avoid-traffic-accidents-p169

thanks ! i learnt a lot

This is the best explanation of the driving habits we see here daily and I particularly appreciated the insight it gave into the "Thai Logic" behind many of the ways drivers behave here that up to now I had just put down to dumb-lazy-crazyness.  They should make reading this part of the driving test for foreigners.  Bookmark it.

 

Many thanks for posting.

Well...that explains pretty much everything.

 

The writer should be nominated for a Noble Peace Prize for that article, countless lives will be saved if it was made compulsory reading before arriving here.

An absolutely spot on report that should be required reading for Farangs attempting to navigate the roads in Thailand. Understanding the Thai psyche when driving will help a lot us to Jai Yen Yen and get to our destinations safely and sanely. Many thanks.

Seems to be leaving out running red lights completely. It's more or less a national pastime here. 

If you click on the link to the WHO analysis and look at the graphs by user, Thailand is normal for cars, bicycles and pedestrians, but for deaths of motorbike riders they are off the scale, globally, in South East Asia and when looking at similar level income countries.

 

But the government is targeting mini-vans.....

Don't trust your life on any analysis. Things change - conditions differ. Saying "This is the way it is" will get you injured or killed. When I first came here the driving style was described to me by a 30 year Expat as "Think of it like a flow of water. It will flow into any vacant space" Best description I have heard yet.

On Saturday, January 07, 2017 at 9:36 PM, Trujillo said:

Seems to be leaving out running red lights completely. It's more or less a national pastime here. 

 

I dont have a problem much with that, if people are too brain dead to check for red light runners before proceeding through an intersection on a change of lights and get wiped out then it's Dawinism

Personally I love driving here. I mean where else can you drive like a complete maniac and get away with it? Weaving in and out of lanes, overtaking, undertaking, topping over 190kph and with no fear of recrimination apart from a pennies fine if caught by a speeding camera, which are few and far between. You can even do all of the above whilst hammered out of your box and nobody cares.

 

Every day is a Canonball Run day....

1 hour ago, sharktooth said:

Personally I love driving here. I mean where else can you drive like a complete maniac and get away with it? Weaving in and out of lanes, overtaking, undertaking, topping over 190kph and with no fear of recrimination apart from a pennies fine if caught by a speeding camera, which are few and far between. You can even do all of the above whilst hammered out of your box and nobody cares.

 

Every day is a Canonball Run day....

 

Many people like yourselves don't see or realise the damage they leave behind after they are luckily enough to make it home.

 

 

RIP to the motorcycle rider.

The link is really well written right up to the part when I realized it was written by someone who doesnt ride bikes (much).. 

 

Dont lean in corners ?? Erm ok.. Care to explain the physics of that particular magic trick ?? 

ok Thailand your absurd driving system obviously doesnt work because you are the second most dangerous place in the world to drive.   its time for a makeover

 

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein 

Driving here 15 years. Never a multi Vehicle accident. Adapt. Not hard.

The only rule here is me first

On 1/8/2017 at 11:50 PM, sharktooth said:

Personally I love driving here. I mean where else can you drive like a complete maniac and get away with it? Weaving in and out of lanes, overtaking, undertaking, topping over 190kph and with no fear of recrimination apart from a pennies fine if caught by a speeding camera, which are few and far between. You can even do all of the above whilst hammered out of your box and nobody cares.

 

Every day is a Canonball Run day....

 

Unbelievable, but probably a wind up.