Ministry of Transportation

Now legal to drive

After 90 days in the country, you are required under Thai law to obtain a Thai drivers license. While it has not been a continuous 90 days, it was time to deal with that official issue. From previous writings, you will know that the bureaucracy here can be overwhelming. Usually after every experience with a government department, I am amazed at the amount of time it takes to do anything, but also that the outcome is actually more efficient that what I experienced previous to coming here. The motor vehicle branch is a daunting ministry to deal with in just about any jurisdiction in the world. My driver license experience in Canada had been nightmares. You would automatically set aside 1/2 a day to renew your drivers license. With that experience, I was very dubious about how to prepare here for this license department.
I found a number of excellent web sites, that explained the reasons and processes. But in all they emphasized that the time to get this would be a long day with lots of paper and lots of inspections and verifications.

To get prepared to complete the necessary documents and copy what needed to be copied, I had a nice organized stack of 13 pages and two photographs. I needed to duplicate this, as I wanted to be able to drive both a car and a motorcycle. In Canada, I had one license that allowed the appropriate vehicles and listed restrictions. Here you require a separate license for each type of vehicle. Hence the duplication of documents.  You also require a medical examination and a letter from the doctor to say that you are fit to operate a motor vehicle. I popped into the local clinic one evening and got my letter. The doctor is the same one who gave Clive his rabies vaccinations, and remembered me being along with him. We tend to get asked if we are brothers, and have found it best to just say yes, as it gets too complicated for some people. Maybe after 26 years, there is something to that business of beginning to look like your partner. He completed the form and said there was no charge for this, but if I wished I could donate to the children's hospital charity for which there was a donation box in the reception.

At the Department of Transportation, they allow you to bring a Thai speaking person with you to assist if you wish, so I enlisted Dul for the journey through the department of transportation. This proved to be a valuable lesson to remember in the future. Not because of the language issue, but simply the knowledge and the connections, which count for about 50% of the success of virtually any transaction. Luckily Mr. Dul has friends in many places it seems, not the least being the department of transport.

All advise suggest you arrive early (IE:830 or before). On Monday unfortunately the plans of an early rise were not met, and we found ourselves arriving at 0900. I was happy to see that there was virtually no one around. My hopes soared. At about the time I was making plans in my head for an early lunch, I was advised that the branch had moved on the previous Friday. We began to walk in the direction indicated and about 1/2 way there, decided that it was a lot further than we had planned, but to go back and get the motorbike would be useless. As I approached the brand new building, I was struck by the very large number of motorbikes parked and double parked. It was about this time, I saw picnic tables lined up full of seated people, and a line up that went from inside the building to the parking lot. Mr. Dul, simply passed the lineup and began to wander the hallways, eventually motioning me to a desk in a hallway, where his friend worked. After a brief chat and a scan of my documents, she decided that I required 2 original residency documents from the immigration department, but gave me a que number and told us to go and be back within the hour, or we would not be getting anything today. I slowly made my way back to the motorbike, dreading the visit to the immigration office, while Mr. Dul whistled and seemed happy and assured that this would be a small short visit. So off we headed. Again I was surprised at the few people in the immigration offices. By this time of day, especially on a Monday it would be teeming with people doing immigration things. Having been there three previous times, I have decided that they have assigned one officer for me. Every time I go, I get the same officer. I even ran into him at another government department one day and he stopped to chat, so I felt perhaps I had some rapport with him. I spoke in my limited Thai and he beamed at me, told me my Thai was getting good and then proceeded to have a rapid discussion with Mr. Dul in Thai. He wrote a duplicate residency certificate and off we went back to the license office. But not before joking that I would have to come back because I would probably fail the first time.

By now the line-up was very long and we bypassed the lineup and headed to a large room where they seat about 60 people. I sat and we watched a road safety movie about how to drive in Thailand. It looked very civil and orderly. Turn signals, full stops, looking left and right and parking in a marked parking space. I should also note that out front of the offices is a large road track, complete with round-about's, bridges and parking lots. It is apparently where you do the road test. When I asked about going on the road with the examiner, I was told that this is not how it is done. Motorbikes use the same course, but with the addition of parking cones, for doing the ziz-zag and figure of 8. I also thought that the video was so out of reality for the real roadways. In my discussions I have heard that about 50% of the vehicles driven here are by people without licenses. That would include the 10 year old's I see standing on the pegs (because they are too short to sit down to shift gears or brake) zipping down the road to go to the market to get some produce for mom. Clive so far has seen the most amazing example, when the boy who looked to be 10 was scooting along the roadway with his about 4 year old brother between his legs holding onto the handle bars. On the way to the motor vehicle offices, I saw a dad with a youngster on his lap. Dad was having a smoke and chatting on the cell phone, and junior was in control of the steering and throttle. In many ways, I could actually see my younger brother Steven being one of those 10 year old's, had we not been raised in Canada.

There were only about 5 of us non-Thai’s in the room, and as each person was called to the front of the room, I noticed that we non-Thai continued to sit. The room had cleared significantly in the next 1/2 hour and then the non-Thai began to get called to the front of the room. As I went a new crew of about 60 people swarmed into the room and took their seats. I had been observing the front-of-the-room activity and saw that this was where they did the three tests required to determine your physical capacity to drive. The first teats consisted of sitting on a chair with a set of brake and accelerator pedals on a board on the floor. In front of you was a monitor with a red light and a green light and a scale that was illuminated with red LED’s. You accelerated when the light was green and then braked when the light went red. The LED’s measured your stopping distance. If you missed the stop, the machine let our a non-stop screech. Looked pretty simple, so I took my seat, with the remaining non-Thai watching and the class of 60 being told by the instructor how the test worked. The light went green, I accelerated. The light went red and I shifted to the brake pedal. The lights on the LED went to the top and the machine screeched. The machine reset and I went at it again, only to repeat the failure. I was asked to step aside while the next applicant did his test. I watched and saw that my problem was that I had let my foot off the accelerator and not stomped full force on the brake pedal. After watching 2 others do the same, I was told that I could have my second, and last try. This time I repeated the stomp on the brake and I passed well within limits. The test is apparently a reflex measurement, so easing on the brake to slow down to a stop was not part of the objective. This information I have passed to Clive for when he goes.

I was told to remain seated while the instructor sat next to a large circle covered in red, yellow and green dots of various sizes. She would point to a dot and I responded with identifying the colour. Now to the front of the room to a desk where I was passed a booklet with a series of dots wherein was embedded numbers. Depth perception testing I suspect. This I passed as well. I had watch a previous applicant who simply skipped the pages where he did not know the number, and the instructor would flip the page back to him. So I suspected I had passed as she did not make me repeat anything. I should also add that this one instructor manages three clients simultaneously. While one is doing the reflect test, she is listening to the person reading the number book and she runs the colour test while the person is next in line getting ready to do the reflex test. This is done in batches of 60 clients. having now passed all the tests and proven my driving licensing (BC and International drivers license), I now headed to the window to get a que number and wait until I am called to desk #2. I turn over all of the documents I have, plus a slip of paper from the examiner and the clerk puts the data into the computer, collects my 160Baht ($5.25) and sends me to booth #5. I sit in a cubicle that has a mirror and a brush so I can spruce myself up for my license photo. Unlike my last photo in BC where I had to remove my glasses and not smile. They encourage a smile and want the glasses on, as it is a restriction, so the police can tell if I have glasses on in a photo, I am supposed to be wearing them and not looking for a small number code somewhere on the back of the license. A numbers of photos are taken, until I agree that that particular photo is my best shot. I am sent to a bench where I sit for about 5 minutes and am called back to booth #5, passed two brand new licenses and walk out 2 hours after this all began with my legal Thai drivers license and recognized ID. happy that I no longer have to carry around my passport, international Drivers license and my BC drivers license. I was a bit surprised that they did not take possession of the licenses, but somewhat grateful, as upon a return trip to Canada, I am sure producing a Thai drivers license may be an issue for some of the men and women in blue/red or black.

I am also happy to know that there is a two tiered pricing system for some attractions, such as the national parks. With Thai ID I now pay the Thai price and not the foreigners pricing.

Of all of the efficiencies, I was most happy that I did not have to rely on Canada Post to get a license to me in the mail a week or two after I had completed my work at the motor vehicle branch. Given the volume of people to process, they seem to manage the workload at an efficient rate, and not once in the time I was there did I see a window close for someone to go for a break. People took breaks, but someone else just went and took over the window.

A few days later, as Clive and I were in the big city of Phuket, we managed to come out of the city about 4PM on a Friday. This is, as we have learned, but tend to recall, when we are in the middle of it every time, is the worst time to be on the roadways. It is no longer just the 7-11 that poses the danger zones (see previous Kites), but you now add the school grounds, as literally hundred of motorbikes careen onto the roadways, to mix with the Friday rush hour traffic. I am convinced that no mater where I go in the world, all driver brains go into relax mode on a Friday afternoon. Craziness abounds and speed seems to be the essential necessity. At one point the 6 marked lanes have managed to become 10. As I was bypassing a truck, and utilizing the express lane, also known as the sidewalk in most other countries, I realized, that perhaps I have indeed assimilated into the driving pattern of Phuket. Alongside the sidewalk on the grass were hundreds of school children all waving very large Thai and Royal family flags on solid flag poles with very nicely gold embossed arrow shaped tips on top. I can only assume they would be the second wave of motorbikes in about 15 minutes, and glad I had missed that exodus..