New Thai driving licenses to bring the country up to international standards

[juice777]

sounds like the Thai government is getting ready to run via radio voice/data link what we call in the USA "wants and warrants" on the NCIC system. Instant info on your police radio or in vehicle data terminal:
 
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ncic
 
That means no more not paying your traffic fines without the system flagging you for arrest.
 
Linking to the immigration data base will follow.

Let's hope so but I doubt it.

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[Jonmarleesco]

From 4th September? That's interesting because I got my licence in June, for which I paid B305 while the crib sheet mentioned B205; I assumed either dual priced or an extra fee. A magnetic strip but no sign of a QR code. Is that between the paper and smart versions? Or the semi-smart version?

Edited August 15, 2017 by Jonmarleesco

[inThailand]

2 hours ago, juice777 said:

So a Thai person get on the road in the UK with just there Thai driving licence. Wow that's terrifying. And I bet a nightmare for them. I sure following the rules must be a right pain in the ass and a unique experience at the same time.

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Yes, I was amazed the USA rental car company accepted a Thai DL. What a joke!

[bberrythailand]

12 hours ago, Khun Robert said:

As long as I read daily:

You can rent motorbike in Thailand without License, but drive slowly and carefully,

Stupid Police, they fined me 500 Thb because I had no helmet,

Corrupt Police, they fined me 10.000 Thb for driving under influance,

 

I disagree.

 

I also disagree, you should be fined 100000 for DUI !

 

 

[Get Real]

12 hours ago, Khun Robert said:

As long as I read daily:

You can rent motorbike in Thailand without License, but drive slowly and carefully,

Stupid Police, they fined me 500 Thb because I had no helmet,

Corrupt Police, they fined me 10.000 Thb for driving under influance,

 

I disagree.

Oopps! That´s just because you do not have any knowledge.

 

You actually can´t rent a motorbike in Thailand if you follow the law. Unfortunately the rentals don´t do and let people rent without. There is no regulation that you must drive slow. Only that you must follow the maximum speed signs.

 

Police are not stupid for fining you driving wothout helmet. That would probably happen in most of peoples home countries too. You are stupid out of 2 reasons. 1. You drive without helmet. 2. You pay to high fine. The fine is 200 Bath.

 

There is absoultely not anything bad with a fine of 10000 Thb for a DUI or a DWI. It´s neither corrupt. There are just heavy fines for that, and it should be. Lucky you didn´t get som jail time too. Again, here you are stupid to think that you can, that think it´s allowed to drive drunk or after drinking.

[bbbbooboo]

hmmm..... will a smart drivers licence make you smarter on the road( if you have one in Thailand, I guess?)

[billy54]

I had the same expirience in the UK , on renting a car , i had my UK license but because of i have lived away for so long they preferred my Thai license ,without the IDL attachment ,

[cnx355]

It would have been smarter and more to international standard to have only one driver  licence  that  indicate the classes you can drive. Not to have 1 licences for each type like they have now.

[Maejo Man]

8 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

I have had a plastic licence with a magnetic strip for about 15 years which is valid for my lifetime.  I think I had a paper one before that but they haven't issued paper ones for many years.     

They stopped the issue of lifetime licences 20 odd years ago, and if you look at your new plastic one you will find it has to be renewed every 5 years on or before your birth date 

[heybuz]

9 hours ago, Dave67 said:

Next up hands free steering wheel so you can text and talk to your friends a family without getting nicked

i have wondered when driverless cars are allowed on the road and an accident occurs with the driverless car being at fault who will be held responsible, the person sitting in the car or the manufacturer of said vehicle.as the car is driverless who has the responsibility.

[Blue Muton]

7 hours ago, observer90210 said:

An intelligent step to modernise the issue would be to simplify the process for farangs to obtain a Thai licence on presenting their homeland driving permit.

Seemed pretty straightforward to me when I got mine.

[maximillian]

14 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

I am not so sure about this as some farangs are worse than the Thais.

True indeed. Two of my "friends" are driving like madmen to please their over inflated egos, trying to impress their young ladies who are scared to death when riding with them.

And even bragging about their "skills". Old fools they are.

[cooked]

16 hours ago, khwaibah said:

 

This is not new news the 5 year Thai DL has been a smart card for about 10 years and is the only Thai DL that can be used overseas. Thais have been able to exchange their old paper licenses for the 5 year DL for the pass 10 years. You can put the 2 year temporary DL in this same catogory as being a smart card. To my knowledge a paper DL has not been issued for 11 years.

That's what I thought, I was confused.

Thailand is weird.

[Dave67]

14 minutes ago, heybuz said:

i have wondered when driverless cars are allowed on the road and an accident occurs with the driverless car being at fault who will be held responsible, the person sitting in the car or the manufacturer of said vehicle.as the car is driverless who has the responsibility.

Probably a driverless car would be the only way to stop the carnage on the roads. They would be programmed to stop at red lights, keep in the proper lane, not change lanes 3 at a time, remain inside the speed limit, keep on the correct side of the road, not cut corners, stay out of box junctions, not do U Turns on a freeway,not move if they were over loaded, not move is over worn tyres were detected to avoid slippery road syndrome, not get pissed up and fall asleep at the wheel or drive like a lunatic, not get road  rage,not ram another car,,flash light to give way, not talk on the phone or send text messages, not double park or park where there is only one lane and probably more.

 

I  am all for driverless cars and hope Thailand becomes a  quality hub of driverless cars with no damage to their reputation or image or there will a crackdown. TAT have predicted driverless cars will result in  200 Million tourists visiting the Kindom every year.

[Ace of Pop]

i have wondered when driverless cars are allowed on the road and an accident occurs with the driverless car being at fault who will be held responsible, the person sitting in the car or the manufacturer of said vehicle.as the car is driverless who has the responsibility.

As for hands free texing this phone works fine.just go to Hands free,use Messenger and Talk,it types it out in millisecs. [emoji337]️


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[Raymonddiaz]

18 hours ago, gummy said:

Farangs yes,  Thais no

I saw some nasty farang drivers on Thai roads but i must admit Thais are crazier 55555.

[Rancid]

18 hours ago, gummy said:

Farangs yes,  Thais no

Actually have driven with two different farangs who scared the sh*t out of me, generally the skills are better but not always the attitude.

 

When they said driving licenses to international standards I foolishly thought they were going to require certain skill levels, but of course it was about making the card fancier.

[Arkady]

Sanith said his department would stop issuing paper driving licences on August 15.

 

Does anyone know what this refers to?  I have not seen anything other than plastic licences with magnetic strips for over 10 years.  Is he referring to one year licences for new drivers?   Sounds like this press release was an old re-released by mistake, except the QR code must be new.

[TheMacMan]

The ONLY comments I have to say to this are:

WOW!  I didn't know there still were paper licences here.... I have had the plastic ones with a strip on them for the last 5 years....

Giving a modern plastic license (as pointed out here) does not bring the driver up to international standards....

 

The "You must watch this" Thai driving rules information "video" you have to watch at the driving offices looks like an OLD, old 1970's English VHS that has been ported over to DVD.

The ironic part is that they are telling me (in that video) that I should NOT have a diesel belching out black fumes, I should always have front and rear lights working, tyres with good grip/tread and drive in the left hand lane unless overtaking, do not sit in the right hand lane... and many other things that I KNOW and adhere to.....

My car ticks all the boxes, is serviced and the brakes work (unlike many buses!)

I genuinely cannot say the same for the many vans, bikes and buses chucking out clouds of black smoke every-time they accelerate, no lights on or working at night, driving the wrong way towards me on the wrong side of the road... and my personal favourite.... no lights physically there at all on the pickups because they have all been smashed.... (an instant fine and ban and car taken off the road in Europe!)

Sorry, but no!..... An enforced piece of plastic as a driving licence in no way makes things meet international driving standards.  Enforcing the rules and standards of the actual driving would be a great start and building block though....

The rules really need to be enforced, in order to improve things for everyone in Thailand....

[pumpjack]

if  a farang produced one of these new " smart driving licences "         it would make no difference. 

 

you would still be asked for money   !! 

[masuk]

20 hours ago, helloagain said:

NO

Reminds me of a comment in a book about Thailand which I read recently:  "I was fined by the police for being over the limit on my motor bike after I'd had a few whiskies.  I never knew there was a limit".

[Destiny1990]

Did they change the law that a one year international driving lisence can only be used for 2 months in Thailand?

[Thingamabob]

Paper licences..?

[Happyman58]

Wont matter much most Thais dont even have a license anyway Just a minor detail for them lol

[Blue Muton]

23 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Did they change the law that a one year international driving lisence can only be used for 2 months in Thailand?

No, it's still the same as ever -although the nominal validity of an international driving licence is one year, it can only be used for 90 days after arrival in any country.

[Blue Muton]

On 8/16/2017 at 0:56 PM, pumpjack said:

if  a farang produced one of these new " smart driving licences "         it would make no difference. 

 

you would still be asked for money   !! 

Well that's a bit of a wild generalisation. I've been stopped at checkpoints dozens of times across several different provinces and I've yet to be asked for a satang.