Do Thai people drive badly? This was my first impression when I arrived in Bangkok.
The contrast with driving in France and Spain is striking :
– Driving is on the left
– You see vehicles going in all directions
– There are scooters by the hundreds, which seem to respect no rules
– Pedestrians are vaguely tolerated, they have no priority over cars, on the contrary
– Cars stop at red lights, but not the ones turning left
– There are endless and very complex traffic light phases, with many lanes crossing each other, and during this time, scooters are crossing in all directions
– All vehicles, scooters, taxis, tuktuk, etc, disengage when they want and start from their parking place without taking care of the ones coming
Yes BUT: Since I’ve been in Bangkok (15 days), I haven’t seen any fender-benders, any accidents. It sometimes just passes by, but it always passes by
So I changed my first impression and now think Thais are exceptional drivers. That said, I wouldn’t mess with renting a scooter or car. Better to trust them, whether it’s getting into a taxi, tuktuk or on a moto-taxi (that I haven’t dared yet).
