Thailand Scooter Safety: What We Learned Before Riding Daily

Name: Thailand Scooter Safety: What We Learned Before Riding Daily
Uploaded: 2026-10-31T12:05:15+00:00
Duration: 19 min 15 s
Channel: Lloyd & Mandy

00:17Okay so if you've ever traveled to Thailand you've more than likely either ridden a motorbike or

00:22scooter or been on the back of one and that's mostly because it's the most affordable and

00:27easiest way to get around in Southeast Asia especially Thailand most rental places don't

00:33even ask you for a driver's license or a deposit sometimes you just have to give over your passport

00:39and you can rent a motorbike for as little as five dollars a day they don't even ask for insurance

00:45but did you know that on average every year in Thailand over 15,000 people die from motorcycle

00:52accidents that is actually insane I just found this out yesterday

01:26so obviously this is how Mandy and I have been getting around since we moved to Thailand and

01:31honestly all of our travels through Southeast Asia and for the most part we've felt pretty safe

01:37we try to wear our helmets almost all of the time but I'm not gonna lie we're not perfect and

01:42there's

01:42been times when we have gone without well that's something that's gonna have to change especially

01:47with Mandy being pregnant like I don't think the risk is worth the reward of not wearing a helmet

01:54and not being safe all the time I'm not saying that we're gonna stop riding motorbikes we're probably

02:00going to keep riding a motorbike around but we're definitely going to have to reassess

02:05the safety of it and how we approach it

03:03the safety of the car is that we're going to be able to do the safety of it and I

03:04don't have to

03:04risk the safety of being pregnant because of the safety of it and trying to get out of the safety

03:05of

04:13So the way I found out this statistic about the amount of motorcycle deaths every year

04:18in Thailand is I just went and got my Thai motorbike driver's license and I had to actually

04:24take the course from scratch, like a full-on motorbike driver's license.

04:28And that's because while I do have a license in Australia, it was only a learner's motorbike

04:35license, which means I can ride a motorbike in Australia, but there are some conditions.

04:40Technically, I shouldn't even be driving a motorbike in Thailand, despite the fact that

04:44you can get away with it.

04:45I've been in Bahrain for six months and I've not been stopped by police once.

04:50I've been told that if you wear a helmet, you should be fine.

04:53But that doesn't mean I'm going to be covered by insurance.

04:56And that doesn't mean if I have an accident, something bad isn't going to happen.

05:00I'm actually going to put out a full-length video about how to get your Thai driver's license

05:04and motorbike license in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

05:08It was actually pretty easy.

05:09It's just more time-consuming.

05:11I had to spend two full days at the driving school, which was kind of annoying, but in order

05:17to have the right legal documents to be driving a motorbike, that's just what I had to do.

06:08Okay, guys, so just quickly, before I get into all of these statistics and some of these

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08:04Now we'll get back into the video.

08:08But honestly, one thing that affected me the most was at this driving school, they sat

08:12us down for a good two hours and showed us videos of the worst motorbike accidents you

08:21can imagine in Thailand.

08:23I mean, some of these were absolutely horrific.

08:26I saw a guy go through an intersection and get cleaned up by a car and go,

08:33somersaulting two stories in the air, hit a telephone pole and then hit the ground.

08:38It was honestly really graphic.

08:41But the part that really stood out the most, that really struck me, was the amount of deaths

08:46that take place every year in Thailand because of motorbikes.

08:49As I mentioned earlier in the video, there's around 20,000 deaths per year just on the roads

08:56in Thailand.

08:57And out of those 20,000, 15,000 are motorcyclists, which when you think about it is just crazy

09:05for a country of only 70 million people.

09:08If you compare that to Australia, which has around 25 million people, we see an annual

09:14death rate of about 1,200 people.

09:18So 15,000 just from motorbikes alone is kind of insane.

09:23Now that's not just limited to Thailand.

09:25There's actually similar numbers in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, Bali in

09:32particular, where there's a lot of tourists.

09:33So I'm going to read an article that I found from the Bangkok Post, which was written last

09:38year, which kind of explains this in depth.

09:42So it starts off by saying Thailand's roads are death traps.

09:46Indeed, the deadliest in the region and among the 10 most dangerous in the world.

09:51I had no idea.

09:51Despite a raft of measures to make those roads safe, nothing will change if nothing is done

09:56to save motorcycle riders.

09:58Why?

09:58Because motorcyclists account for 74% of road deaths in Thailand, as I said.

10:05And despite ongoing efforts to improve road safety, the number of road deaths show no sign

10:09of slowing down.

10:10So in other words, it's not getting any better.

10:13It's actually getting worse.

10:15So the problems are manifold.

10:17Due to Thailand's gross disparity, most people cannot access public transportation and can't

10:23afford to own their own personal cars.

10:25So if you're ever in Bangkok or a big city, even Hua Hin, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, you'll see

10:31a lot of motorbike taxis getting around.

10:33In fact, that's how most people get around.

10:36And 90% of the time, they will ask you to wear a helmet, but a lot of the time

10:41they don't.

10:42It says here that at present, there are more than 22 million registered motorbikes in Thailand.

10:4822 million registered motorbikes out of a population of 70 million.

10:52It also says weak legal enforcement is to blame of the 17.9 million traffic tickets, 17.9 million

11:01traffic tickets issued in 2022, 14 million were unpaid.

11:09So in other words, the Thai police are pulling people over and giving them traffic fines and

11:13people are just basically ripping them up and throwing them out.

11:16So it goes on here to basically say that in other countries, research has played a key

11:21role in creating a knowledge base and measures to reduce the frequency of severe road accidents.

11:28From 2001 to 2010, the research focused on the behavior of road users, particularly on the

11:33attitudes that cause accidents.

11:36However, from 2011 to 2020, studies have started to pay more attention to the effectiveness of

11:42policies and measures, focusing on the effects on vulnerable groups like the elderly and pedestrians.

11:49And that's something you don't think about too much in Thailand is that the elderly still

11:54get around on motorbikes.

11:56You'll see elderly people riding motorbikes around because they really have no other choice.

11:59It says here they reviewed over 2000 road safety studies conducted in Thailand over the past

12:0620 years and found that 37% of them focused on road users' risky behavior.

12:10In addition to human error, 23% of the research done during this period examined unsafe road

12:16conditions and 15% on road safety management.

12:19Although motorcycles are the primary cause of traffic accidents and fatalities, only 10% of

12:25the research focused on motorcyclists and the use of safety equipment like helmets.

12:30So you get the gist.

12:31This is obviously a huge deal in Thailand and something that the people are trying to overcome

12:37and bring the numbers down.

12:39And as you can see in the article, the main reason for the amount of motorcycle deaths

12:44and accidents is because there's just so many motorbikes around and so many people that ride

12:49motorbikes.

12:51Having a car in Thailand is sort of a little bit of a luxury.

12:55And if you drive around anywhere in Thailand, even in Bangkok, you're going to notice there's

12:59heaps of people not wearing helmets.

13:01I actually noticed this when we were first in Thailand and I was in the car with a friend

13:06of ours named Chon.

13:08He's got a YouTube channel called Friends from Thailand if you want to follow it.

13:11Quick plug.

13:11I noticed nobody had helmets on that were riding motorbikes and I always wondered if there was

13:17a law about it.

13:18So I asked him and he said, yeah, no, it's illegal to drive without a helmet on.

13:24And I was like, but no one has a helmet on.

13:27I can see 20 bikes.

13:28This is in Bangkok.

13:29I can see 20 bikes around and nobody has a helmet on.

13:33And he kind of just shrugged his shoulders.

13:34Like, yeah, it's just kind of the way it is.

13:36Not to mention, they don't have what we call in Australia booze buses, which is checkpoints

13:42where they will actually stop you for no reason and just give you a breathalyzer check to make

13:47sure that you're not drink driving.

13:49And I believe that a lot of the accidents that take place in Thailand, mostly because

13:54of the video I watched, is due to drunk driving at night.

13:57I actually saw a really big story, which probably a lot of you guys have seen by now as well,

14:03where two Kiwi brothers were arrested in Phuket for apparently evading police.

14:10And they allegedly sped past a police station, which is a huge no-no here in Thailand.

14:16And it's a sign of disrespect.

14:17And when the police officer chased them down, apparently he drew his weapon.

14:23This is all alleged, I'm only going off what I've read and seen online.

14:27But there is a video of the two brothers actually fighting the police officer and taking his

14:33gun off him, which is kind of insane.

14:35Apparently the two guys weren't licensed and I think they weren't wearing helmets, but

14:40I'm not too sure about that.

14:42One of the guys was actually an MMA fighter and he was able to take control of the police

14:48officer, which honestly did not look great on video.

14:52And I don't think the Thai people are really going to appreciate that video.

14:56It's kind of doing the rounds at the moment and it's honestly giving tourists a pretty

15:00bad name.

15:01I don't know all the details to this story, but it's pretty alarming and it kind of goes

15:05to show the lack of concern for road rules in Thailand in general.

15:11And I'm not perfect.

15:13I'm not sitting here telling you that I've followed all of the road rules all the time

15:16either.

15:17Part of the problem is when you drive around Thailand, you see families of people, literally

15:23like four people on a scooter, none of them have helmets on and they seem to just be going

15:28about their business.

15:29And it kind of gives you this false sense of security, like it's okay.

15:33But it wasn't until I hung out with a friend of mine here in Hua Hin, who was a former

15:39fireman

15:40and I think they call it an EMT, emergency response.

15:44So he was basically a paramedic.

15:46And he was really hesitant to hire a scooter because of all the things he's seen while he

15:52was working as an EMT and the horrific accidents.

15:54And to be honest, after seeing the videos I saw the other day, I don't really blame him.

15:59Also, another factor is that you can get away with breaking the rules here a little bit.

16:05Like if you're driving without a license or a helmet on and you get pulled over by the

16:09police, while there is a maximum penalty, which is quite large, you can most of the time get

16:17away with paying a small fine.

16:18And this is the same in places like Bali.

16:21It's kind of known that you can get away with it a little bit and that doesn't make it right.

16:26But I think that's what lulls people into a false sense of security.

16:29But that still doesn't make it safe.

16:31While getting arrested or getting a big fine or thrown in jail might seem bad, that's not

16:37even the worst case scenario.

16:39The worst case scenario is getting into an accident and injuring or God forbid, killing

16:46you or your passenger or somebody else.

16:49So while driving without a license or a helmet at the time, it might seem like a small risk,

16:56but I'm not sure if the risk really outweighs the reward, if that makes sense.

17:02Not to mention, if you do get into an accident and you hurt yourself or somebody else and you

17:07don't have a license or you don't have a helmet on for whatever reason, I think the police are

17:12the least of your worries.

17:13You're probably not going to be covered by insurance.

17:15And you could be looking at a massive hospital bill for either yourself or the other person.

17:20So I don't know.

17:20I mean, I guess it's up to you whether or not you think it is safe to drive a motorbike

17:26or

17:26a scooter in Thailand.

17:27From personal experience, we've felt pretty safe most of the time, especially here where

17:33we live in Hua Hin.

17:34We don't drive on any main roads, really.

17:37It's mostly back roads.

17:38We don't go fast.

17:40We wear our helmets most of the time, but I can tell you right now, I'm wearing my helmet

17:45all the time from now on.

17:46And Mandy is definitely wearing a helmet.

17:49I think my opinion has changed a little bit, not only from the videos that I saw, but having

17:55a pregnant wife and a baby on the way has really made me start to question some of the

18:00risks that I take.

18:01And I think that's a normal progression with any person.

18:04My takeaway is if you're going to ride a motorbike or a scooter in Thailand, make sure for one,

18:10you have experience, you have the right license, you have insurance and always, always wear a

18:17helmet and never drive drunk.

18:18As easy as it might seem to be to just get away with it.

18:22I really don't know if it's worth it.

18:24So while I am still riding my bike in Thailand, I think I'm going to be riding around with Mandy

18:31a lot less, especially as the months progress with the pregnancy.

18:36And I'm actually in the process of getting my Thai car license so we can buy a car here soon.

18:42And I mean, when baby Lloyd and Mandy comes along, there's no way I'm putting it on a motorbike.

18:48At least not until maybe it's a little bit older.

18:51I'm not sure, but for now, I think I'm going to minimize our risks and probably play it a

18:59lot safer than what we have in the past.

Thailand Scooter Safety: What We Learned Before Riding Daily

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