Driving in Thailand: licence, roads and tolls

An International Driving Permit is required, and the motorbike question decides whether your insurance means anything.

• Police check the permit at roadside stops, particularly in Phuket, Chiang Mai and Pattaya. Driving without it is an offence and, more expensively, means an accident is uninsured.
• A car licence does not cover a motorbike. Renting a scooter on a car licence is the single most common reason travel insurance refuses a medical claim here, and the hospital bill after a scooter accident is the most common large claim in the country.
• The alcohol limit is 0.05 % (50 mg/dl), but 0.02 % if you are driving without a valid licence - which is what you are doing if you have no International Driving Permit. The 0.02 % limit also covers drivers under 20 and provisional licence holders. A single beer can put you over it.
• A helmet is required by law on a motorcycle, and rented scooters in tourist areas are often unregistered and cannot legally be used on a public road at all - check the registration before you take one.
• Traffic drives on the left, and the Bangkok expressways are tolled at barriers with cash or an Easy Pass tag.
• Rural night driving is the risk, not the cities: unlit vehicles, dogs and pickup trucks with no rear lights.