Foreigner driving in Thailand using friend's car
Dec 27, 2019, 12:49 pm
#31
Join Date: Jun 2017
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This is not to discourage you, go, have fun. But be hyper-alert and careful.
Dec 28, 2019, 7:36 am
#32
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Hmmmm, don’t know about that. I have driven from the North to the South and back again, and as most posters have indicated, the highways outside of cities are generally OK, but make no mistake, Thai drivers are aggressive and fast. Thailand has one of highest road fatality rate per capita in the world. The worst is in the South, particularly Phuket.
This is not to discourage you, go, have fun. But be hyper-alert and careful.
This is not to discourage you, go, have fun. But be hyper-alert and careful.
Thai drivers do not obey traffic rules. They also overtake from any side they want including off the road and where the emergency stopping or vehicles are supposed to drive. Yes it is a bit better on the highways but get into any town and its a free for all. That is why there are so many accidents around and especially scooters.
Dec 28, 2019, 7:52 am
#33
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Upcountry Maui, HI
Posts: 13,303
Thai drivers do not obey traffic rules. They also overtake from any side they want including off the road and where the emergency stopping or vehicles are supposed to drive. Yes it is a bit better on the highways but get into any town and its a free for all. That is why there are so many accidents around and especially scooters.
It's not so bad, it's different. Rather than drive like your vehicle is a weapon, give way to other drivers, even if you think they are doing something bad or stupid. If there's traffic and there's space for another lane, cars will occupy that space and other cars will move over to let them do it.
It's not hard to get used to. And there's nothing terrible about it.
The U-turns on the highways on the other hand are very dangerous, especially when a truck does it. In cities and more populated areas, they tend to build u-turn ramps, but in many other places they just have the old u-turn lanes in the fast lanes of the highways. Combined with essentially no speed enforcement, it gets dangerous. They keep building more u-turn ramps and closing the old u-turn lanes, but not fast enough.
-David
Last edited by LIH Prem; Dec 28, 2019 at 8:01 am
Jul 30, 2021, 9:44 am
#35
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Jul 31, 2021, 3:54 am
#37
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