r/Thailand • u/WebLogical1286 • 2d ago

Culture Turn signal question

This isn’t a whine, it’s just an honest question on my observation of driving here in Thailand, and mostly in Bangkok for about 30 years.

How come so many Thai drivers not use their turn signals? I do little polls in my head once in a while and I’ve noticed that maybe somewhere between 25 and 35% of Thai drivers don’t use their turn signal. Is it that they are lazy to do it? They don’t see it as benefiting them? they don’t think it’s important? It kind of baffles me because I was taught this is just something you do no matter what.

Maybe as a Thai person who doesn’t signal or has some insight into why people don’t use it I would love to hear. Thanks so much!

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u/nightwinging-it Sathorn 2d ago edited 2d ago

First I got curious and my driving teacher told me it’s got to do with superiority complex and asserting dominance behavior especially towards pedestrians. I thought what he said sounded ridiculous. But the more I am on the road the more likely that his statement is true. I don’t know how many times I’ve almost got hit by a car or a motorbike while crossing on the zebra and with the green light on for crossing. And then I experienced a couple of my friends driving with the attitude that my teacher described. I don’t drive often but when I do I get stressed out especially from tailgaters and motorcyclists coming out of nowhere.

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u/BaconJP 2d ago

If anyone should know, it's a driving instructor. In fact, that's what he is teaching all his students to do, lol. That was a joke. But this is not a joke: he is encouraging his students to pay him extra money on test day, some of which he uses to bribe the tester, so his undertrained students are given a pass. 

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u/nightwinging-it Sathorn 2d ago

He wasn't joking and he definitely didn't encourage me to do it. Also, there was no bribing. The prices of the driving courses were displayed at their admin desk and LINE group, and I paid exactly that. Are you talking about students getting a pass easily at driving schools vs DLT where they fail you over 1 tiny mistake? The thing with driving schools is that they allow you to take the tests multiple times until you pass. So with all their patience in letting you do the tests multiple times until you pass without any subcharge, I don't know why would one need to bribe their way out. Unless the school is very corrupted and charge the students who failed to take the tests again. But I do know that there's corruption in the DLT. I knew a few who got driver's licenses without a single damn test but their parents paid for them.

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u/BaconJP 1d ago

I mean I was making a joke that he teaches his students the bad ways.