Driving in Thailand, not just Pattaya

[ting_tong 63]

First off, my friend a Thai policeman said "the Thais are the nicest people in the world..................until you put them in a car, or on a bike"

 

Just some observations, of my daily riding, and driving experiences:

 

1) Everything I have learned in the MSF classes for motorcycles (motorcycle safety foundation) have been used to avoid the bad one, I have seen some bad wrecks here.

2) Don’t allow anyone to come up from the back and ride along side you, as they may be talking on their phone, eating a sandwich or ice cream, holding an umbrella, holding all their groceries, and have a passenger on the back. They may also have the intention of trying to steal from you.

3) Either follow a rider, or be in front of them, watching what is going on.

4) Drive or ride with the intention, that the Thai will cut you off, do some radical insane move without warning.

5) Remember that a Thai will speed up to stop in front of you to turn into a drive way, forcing you to stop with them, then change their mind and go straight.

6) Red light running is a common everyday thing, and its OK to make a right turn at any time, from any lane.

7) Dogs that don’t know what the sound of a horn will cause problems for you. Most city dogs know a bike or car horn, as they have been hit before.

8) Barging forward into traffic is the Thai way of driving.

9) Right turns from the left lane is allowed 7 days a week, day and night.

10) Helmets for children and babies are not required.

11) A helmet is for the sake of avoiding the 200 baht fine.

12) Mirrors on a bike are for removing to make the bike look cool.

13) Headlights off at night is a stealthy way to travel.

14) A wet road in Thailand is bad news, there is lots of oil, and silicon sand, it makes for some nasty wipe outs in the first minutes of rain, best to park and walk away!

[Larryst 7]

Good report.

[Braveheart 0]

How True, How True!!!!

[Eneukman 1]

That's exactly why I refuse to get on the back of a motorbike in Pattaya full stop.

 

A few more I've seen.

 

15. It is in order to drive on the wrong side of the road.

16. Weaving from lane to lane is perfectly acceptable.

17. Brakes are to be used sparingly and only applied when absolutely necessary.

18. There is nothing wrong with having 5 people on one motorbike.

19. You are allowed to turn round and kiss your girlfriend whilst moving in a forwards direction.

20. The spot you are standing on in the middle of the road whilst waiting for a break in the traffic doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the motor cyclist who is coming up on the wrong side of the road and who is going to move over to the correct side of the road at the very place you are standing regardless of the fact that you were there first.

 

Alan

[BigDUSA 71]

Has anyone noticed how few Thai driver's wear glasses? Buddha must have graced them with 20-20 vision.

[ting_tong 63]

15. It is in order to drive on the wrong side of the road.

This applies to a bike, a car, trucks, and busses!

[Eneukman 1]

Has anyone noticed how few Thai driver's wear glasses? Buddha must have graced them with 20-20 vision.

I've noticed that as well - yet most of them seem able to identify between the Thai characters, which I need to look closely at to see which it is e.g ช ซ ค ด. It's fine if the font size is relatively large I tend to find that te font size used in written Thai tends to be on the small side.

 

Alan

[bangkapiboy 5]

the worst/scariest drivers are from the high-so vehicles. Passing on the left side is normalcy.

[ting_tong 63]

if they hit your parked vehicle, its the parked vehicles fault...............it should of not been there.

 

parking in 2 stalls, in a 45' angle is OK, if your car is new.

 

I have not seen a Thai parrallel park properly in Thailand yet?

 

Bad parking is the norm, its OK for your car to stick out into the street, and the front tire to be 1 meter away from the curb.

[jackcorbett 2]

After driving a motorbike here for a month now, I'll have to agree with the statements made here. It is complete insanity on the road due to a complete lack of respect for the rules of the road---any rules of the road that is. However, I will have to rate the Thai women drivers as being infinitely superior to the men. For the most part they drive much slower and seem to be much more respectful, have greater common sense, and exercise some degree of knowledge of proper driving habits. Many men are so full of testocerone and out to impress with their blistering speed antics on a 125 cc. bike. Westerners on the other hand are a varied lot. More than 50 % are pretty decent. However, a good percentage is obviously pretty drunk and still another substantual percentage are emulating the appalling driving habits of the Thai males.

[Braveheart 0]

Westerners on the other hand are a varied lot. More than 50 % are pretty decent. However, a good percentage is obviously pretty drunk and still another substantual percentage are emulating the appalling driving habits of the Thai males.

 

Makes me think about how often we blame the immigrants for being the bad drivers here at home. I also see a lot more road rage here at home.

[wacmedia 277]

Many men are so full of testocerone

 

Hi,

 

The moto-taxi guys I know are full of a lot of other things as well.

[sinkorswim 80]

I have been driving here for approx 1 year now and I hate it.

 

I bought a big Hi lux Vigo thinking people would avoid me but they do the opposite, as soon as they see a nice car they dont give a shit especially if a falang is driving. I have hade a SCHOOL bus drive get out of his car at 4pm in the afternoon he was driving a bus full of kids home and was not looking and nearly crashed into me when I stopped at the traffic lights he jumped out screaming and I looked and he had a machete in his hand walking towards the car . I was getting ready to run him over when the lights changed and I drove off. Thais are fucking nuts when driving and they are the most selfish drivers I have ever seen.

 

If I never had to drive again it would be too soon but I need my car for rainy season as it pisses down nearly every day.

[dotcom_OD 0]

tint your car totally blacked out

you can in asia....they do have what they call magic tint...it changes at night so you can see out but people cannot see in...

[jackcorbett 2]

Thais are fucking nuts when driving and they are the most selfish drivers I have ever seen.

Agreed about their being most selfish while driving not to mention a total unconcern for risk taking. Example in point---there is a winding road in front of Bangkok Bank that ultimately leads to Central Pattaya Road--which is my normal path to Carre Four. Another winding street feeds into this one. Normally the traffic heading straight has the right away before the vehicles that have to turn into this street, but most Thais pay no attention to this whatsoever prefering to simply dive right in and to let the other person sort things out even if this includes bodies.

 

Here's another good one. Thais especially while driving motorbikes upon approaching a busy intersection, say with four lane traffic will cross all four lanes to get to the other side. Doesn't it make a lot more sense to focus on one of two lanes immediately ahead of you, then make a left turn. You are not going the way you want to go but at this point if you want to reverse your direction or enter the street you were driving on that crossed the intersection. However, you now only have to focus on what's happening in two lanes instead of four while you were contemplating crossing four busy lanes. So simply turn right and pull a U turn or head to the curb and then pull out to head the opposite way. This is far safer since I believe the average human mind cannot account for what four lanes of traffic are doing all at the same time. One would think the Thais would do this but I've never seen it done.

 

But cheer up. You can always get a motorbike and do as nearly all Thais do. When all those cars start piling up in front of you inching their way along just take any continuing free space around them--three feet is enough and zoom to the head of the line. While Thais are very selfish drivers they fully expect you to return the favor and don't seem to mind. Try this maneuver in New York City and you are going to get all kinds of horns blasting at you and very possibly a few motorists trying to run you and your motorbike over. The Buddhist concept of tolerance cuts both ways.

[JollyMan 0]

Having driven regularly in Thailand now for four years, I can honestly say that the driving in Bangkok and Pattaya is crap but it is still surprising to me how few accidents that there are considering the amount of traffic, yes the bike and cars go at a hell of a pace but after a while you get some idea of the mentality of it all. Imagine a brainless idiot is driving whatever and you have it just expect them to do anything and there are no surprises when driving. One thing the drivers are not used to is aggressive driving and the Thia's do tend to chicken out, well most of the time anyway. One hint for driving is always keep 200 baht ready for the copper and don't bother with the paper work it saves so much time and trouble. Go to driving in the provinces and it's a different kettle of fish, chickens and dogs and cows don't understand that cars don't stop from 70 MPH at no notice the animals tend to wander out from nowhere, and as they make big dints they have right of way. oh a major rule to Thai driving is "Might has Right" the bigger the better driver you are. Drive at night and it's quite interesting coming up behind a smoking lorry with no rear lights you just cant see through the smoke and it disguises the outline of the vehicle. In the last two years I have driven 80,000km in Thailand and the car is still in one piece but I also know that to repair one panel and have it sprayed is 3,500baht each, tyres are another matter and if you are intending to drive fast check them as some roads leave a bit to be desired this tye gave way at 160 kmph on a motorway and still saved the rim I was lucky it was a back one.

Edited March 9, 2006 by mgc

[drilldr 0]

I noticed more on my last trip that not all but many thai drivers if they see you (and I'm guessing) are Falang, they tend to come right at you in an intimidating way. Like a bizarre game of chicken with you. I had this happen many times only to quickly get the hell out of the way or watch them make some kind of last second correction. It really rattled me a couple of times and it seemed that it was intentional as it was something I really ever saw between 2 thais. WTF I found I really had to have my head on a swivel and not let my guard down for a second. I just completed another MSF course and I can honestly say I think it saved my bacon a couple of times.

[Owen` 2]

FYI I've driven all over the world. Italy is worst of everywhere, but only slightly.

 

I don't intend to ever drive in Pattaya. I've seen too much insanity there. Seriously, think about what you deal with trying to cross Second Road on foot. Just close your eyes and think about it.

[jackcorbett 2]

Seriously, think about what you deal with trying to cross Second Road on foot. Just close your eyes and think about it.

Actually entering, then driving up Second Road is much easier to do and I believe safer on a bike than crossing it as a pedestrian. Think about it---when you are crossing it you are traveling either East or West so your ground speed is 0 miles an hour but the traffic headed North is typically going anywhere from 15 to 30 miles an hour. And you have to register in your brain the difference between your speed which is zero and the speed of all that traffic and that traffic is moving down four lanes at once.

 

But when I enter Second Road on my bike I'm focusing on just one lane of traffic at a time. So say I'm coming out of the guest house I'm staying at which is on the East side of 2nd Road. There really isn't that much to contend with in that far right lane as I enter it. And when I'm up to 15 to 30 miles an hour I can merge into the traffic on the next lane and so on as very few people are passing me at this point. But say I'm coming out of Royal Garden Plaza or a street near it on Second Road. This time I'll apply the same strategy only this time I'm coming into 2nd Road from the left or West side rather than the East. However, at this point there are a lot of baht buses on the right side of 2nd road or pulling out from a stop. Here one has to use common sense. If the taxi is moving down 2nd road down the second lane from left to right it is possible he's going to pull over to pick up passengers. So if one is passing to the taxi's left it is important to be very careful and to pull all the way over to the curb or to come to a complete stop behind the taxi--not matter what the taxi driver tries to pull. And if the taxi is already stopped it is often best to pass him on his left as he's "probably' not going to turn left before venturing out another lane to the right--but don't put even this past him. But unlike driving a car you don't need a traffic lane to pass him on the left. You only need 3 feet on a bike.

[jackcorbett 2]

I do think it's time to give certain Westerners their just do in the driving deportment. Yesterday I took Soi Six on my motorbike in order to travel down Beach Road to Mike's Shopping Mall. Well, there are all these speed bumps down Soi Six. Moreover there are food vendor's carts and all sorts of foot traffic that includes both girls and lady boys running after their falang prospects. Suddenly a motorbike cuts across my path from my left as I'm coming down the Soi about as far right as I can go. The bike comes in front of me at about a 45 degree angle and winds up just eight feet in front of me, the driver apparently thinking he has a divine right to whatever the hell he wants to do and damn the torpedos. Okay---I had just slowed down for a speed bump and it's just after my crossing it that this Westerner pulls this. At the end of the Soi I'm abreast of him. So I turn into the left lane of Beach Road--very carefully since there's no telling what this idiot is going to do when Voila, he pulls the same stunt again, careening from my left right in front of me as he twists his head from one side to the other to indicate---"Fuck it, I'm taking my chances." Then he immediately zooms over a lane to his right without even looking. There is a Western woman behind him which shows he has bad taste along with his bad manners.

[JollyMan 0]

FYI I've driven all over the world. Italy is worst of everywhere, but only slightly.

 

I don't intend to ever drive in Pattaya. I've seen too much insanity there. Seriously, think about what you deal with trying to cross Second Road on foot. Just close your eyes and think about it.

I am with you on that one driving in Italy is the worst in the world one city in particular. Potenza just South of Sorento they have traficlights that can show what ever colour they like and trafic takes no notice, one area no pavements so padestrians run from doorway to doorway to avoid the trafic. No lanes what so ever no white lines, the last time I drove there was about six years ago and I still bear the memory. Next to potenza I would say Bangkok, Paris and Rome rate good seconds.

[sinbinjack 251]

I am with you on that one driving in Italy is the worst in the world one city in particular. Potenza just South of Sorento they have traficlights that can show what ever colour they like and trafic takes no notice, one area no pavements so padestrians run from doorway to doorway to avoid the trafic. No lanes what so ever no white lines, the last time I drove there was about six years ago and I still bear the memory. Next to potenza I would say Bangkok, Paris and Rome rate good seconds.

If you think Italy is bad then try driving a 44ton artic up the Champs Elysée(I was a bit lost) but I wanted to do some sightseeing and I have never liked walking.

[JollyMan 0]

Sinbinjack

I know just what you mean I was towing a four wheel caravan through Paris and no idea where I was going, and didnt see any other caravans, not as bad as a 44 tonner though.

[Sammy 30]

Thai driver's are an absolute pleasure and delight after experiencing the horrid driver's in Brunei and worse yet in Kuala Lumpur.

[fi33er 1]

i bought a car in thailand last october and i had the challenge of teaching my tgf to drive, it's only a 1.3 automatic i didn't think it would be that hard but my god how wrong i was, she had already been recieving lessons from her friend and by the time i got to her it was all too late the rott had set in, her friend told her not to worry about any other traffic on the road apart from the car in front and not to worry about motorbikes as you are in a car and they will avoid you and for me that about sums it all up. the thais graduate from a motorbike to a car but they still have their motorbike head on whilst driving a car.