January, 2003

These were my first impressions of Thailand:After agreeing the price to Pattaya (B 1,000), and loading the baggage into the taxi, I was just starting to believe I was in the correct country, when my first experience of Thai driving skills - between the Domestic terminal and the expressway on-ramp - convinced me of it. The idiocy of the truck that carved us up made the taxi driver ask me for a cigarette – something no other taxi driver has done since; ergo, it was a seriously close shave. It set my opinion of Thai driving logic (and skills) from that moment on. An opinion that has never changed, and maybe never will, which is why I was pleased recently to read that several government agencies have combined to combat the unlicensed driver problem in Chiang Mai.

Over 50% of motorcyclists in the city have no license, and have never attended driver training or testing, stated the various agencies holding road shows and training days around the city on December 7th. That these coincided with ‘Big Bike Week’ is to be applauded as clever thinking. The presence of the house-priced cycles attracted wannabe big bikers and teenage tyros to the driver training and testing stands. Maybe some inroads will be made into 2001’s two million injured or killed on the Kingdom’s roads, of which 80% were reported as being motorcyclists.

Everyone knows regulation without enforcement doesn’t work, and that the police are underpaid and probably also under-motivated when it comes to traffic offence prosecution. Thus taking the correction back to the root of the problem may help. Drivers need training by competent and licensed trainers, not by similarly unqualified or unlicensed family members. This is mostly true with local car drivers. Driving a bike in Chiang Mai, narrow escapes and near misses happen many times a day, almost always caused by car drivers – normally in new, expensive, flashy models (or songtaew – but they’re a lost cause). Owners of expensive cars usually get my message to back off via a Paddington Bear ‘hard stare’, which says, “You cannot do enough damage to my bike to make the repairs more expensive than those to just one panel of your car.” It works, most of the time.
As expatriates, we all know these and the other traffic problems, which intrude on the enjoyment of living in Thailand’s northern capital. But what do the tourists think? The following data is part of a survey of 67 random tourists interviewed by my students.

Thirty-two of the interviewees were first time visitors, 19 were 2nd time visitors, the other 16 ranged from 3rd to 14th time visitors. It is significant that 51 (76%) were 1st or 2nd time arrivals; three years ago this would have been 50% according to Immigration Department website figures. Are fewer people returning, or are we just getting increased ‘newbies’ on top of the same returnees? It begs further analysis.

It is important to recognise that the interviewers were Thai students – normally we could expect tourists to avoid negativity (out of politeness) in this situation. That they did not should be a sobering lesson to all who drive in the city. The interviews were conducted in the first week of December 2002, coinciding with Big Bike Week, Nimmanhaemin Street Promenade, Chiang Mai Food Festival and several other lesser events.
Some interviewees gave more than one answer to each open question, but all gave personal opinions. A multi-choice answer was supplied only for the ‘pavements & crossings better or worse’ question.

Question 1 – If you have visited Chiang Mai before, do you feel that traveling around the city is now easier or more difficult?
Easier (18), Same (3), More difficult (11).

All who said it was easier were 2nd time visitors, due to remembering city routes from their first visit, or now being comfortable using songtaew. However, almost everyone interviewed (57) stated traffic levels, and almost a third (20) that driving standards made them uncomfortable when moving around the city.
Question 2 – What aspect of travelling in the city annoys you the most?
Volume of traffic / traffic jams (39); Air pollution from vehicles (14); Poor driving skills (10); Dual pricing for Thais & foreigners (8); Cost is expensive (5); Noisy vehicles / motorcycles (5); No opinion (5); Not enough English direction signs (3); Weather / heat & humidity (3); Poor public transport (2); Frequency of accidents (1).Allowing for people giving more than one opinion, almost everyone showed degrees of concern about traffic conditions in the city. The next significant group of complaints revolved around dual and over pricing. On that, respondents came from the Americas, Europe and East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan). Reactions are therefore global. Question 3 – Which one thing should be done most to improve travelling around Chiang Mai? Traffic management / traffic laws enforcement (20); Improve public transport options (12); Improve city appearance / conserve traditional northern features (11); Improve city cleanliness (11); Improve air / noise pollution (8); Create pedestrian streets / safety systems (5); No opinion (5); Move traffic out of inner city (4); Improve street lighting / direction signs (4); Create bicycle paths closed to motor vehicles (1). Allowing for multiple opinions, most answers related to the use of Chiang Mai’s roads, especially forcing drivers to stop at pedestrian crossings, and to obey one-way systems.
Question 4 – Are Chiang Mai’s pavements (sidewalks) & road crossings better or worse than those in your own city?
Pavements = Better (3), Same (11), Worse (53) in Chiang
Mai.Crossings = Better (1), Same (6), Worse (60) in Chiang Mai.
No further comment required.
Question 5 – What do you think should be done to make the pavements & crossings better in Chiang Mai?
Pavements = Repair, improve width and/or surface, make safer to use (13); Clean & tidy them (10); Better signs (4); Clear of obstructions (3); Repaint (2); Increase pedestrian-only areas (2). Crossings = Make drivers stop for pedestrians (23); Install pedestrian controlled traffic lights (14); Improve design/visibility of crossing (12); Improve penalty enforcement against drivers (6); Increase number of crossings (5); No opinion (6). The primary concern was for pedestrian safety in answers to this open question – many expressed extreme worry that drivers did not stop for pedestrians using (or wanting to use) crossings. This left many feeling unsafe when crossing the road. A similar topic emerged concerning pavements; most visitors felt uncomfortable using them, as obstructions or surface damage forced pedestrians onto the road. Several asked why so many vehicles use pavements instead of the roads when bypassing traffic jams.

In these few questions, I believe that solid evidence can be interpreted as to one reason why our repeat visitor numbers appear to be falling – tourists feel less safe than previously when moving around Chiang Mai. Personal safety worries about terrorists have impacts on numbers travelling – the same worries about in-city travelling will influence new arrivals and returnees too.
Thailand has fully suitable traffic laws already. Now tourists say that they need to be enforced: clearing of vehicles from footpaths is needed; drivers need trained and licensed to operate their vehicles safely; non-complying drivers should be prosecuted and punished; and polluting vehicles should be removed from the roads. Such is the summary of tourist opinion.

Our existing public transport options need to be improved – where are the large ‘standard fare’ stickers, in Thai and English, which were previously inside every songtaew? How can a tourist know if a red pick-up is licensed and authorised, or not? Should we introduce meters for tuk-tuks? Before improvements occur, do we have to wait for an unlicensed driver to attack a tourist (Don Muang style), or for an outraged passenger, feeling cheated, to beat a tuk-tuk driver into hospital?

A vehicle, like a gun, is harmless - unless a human decides to use it. Western countries and cities have had a century to mature with motor vehicles. For Thailand, mass vehicle ownership arrived much more recently, and has swamped both the country and its ability to adjust to the new order on the roads. Gone are the days when a galloping, sentient animal was the fastest transport. Motor vehicles do not yet have eyes and brains to help them avoid hitting each other – and I sometimes wonder if the drivers do.

Yet, we must ask if all of these ‘faults’ are the reasons we choose to visit, or live in, a culture different from our own. Should visitors to the kingdom, as tourists or expats, impose their home country standards on another’s sovereign state, homogenising the far-flung and exotic destinations that draw us from the apron strings of our own societies, just so that we can be ‘at home, away from home?’ Does such ‘civilising’ and ‘playing field leveling’ not come at a price? Do all parties volunteer to pay it?

By Garry Harbottle-Johnson
©December 2002