A recent evening out with new friends prompted a conversation about riding motorbikes in Thailand. Chris and I share a bike but he's the driver and I always ride pillion. Always. I don't drive a motorbike in Thailand and probably never will, but I have my reasons why.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a risk taker and I'd go so far to say I'm a safety nut. I'm that girl who won't go sky diving and I always buckle my seat belt. And I won't do something if I know the chances of me getting hurt, losing money, or experiencing negative consequences are high.
So boring, I know.
With that said, I made the conscious decision not to drive a motorbike after Chris and I moved to Thailand. That was nearly three years ago and I still don't know how to drive one. Sure, I miss my big girl independence that I used to have when I drove a car and I'm regularly inconvenienced by the time wasted walking or hailing a songthaew to get around Chiang Mai, but I have my reasons. Like I like living
01 I have a not-so-great track record
Let's just say I've gotten in a few accidents in my good ol' driving days back in the USA. I was very lucky that in most of the accidents the damage was done solely to my vehicle and in none of the accidents was anyone injured, myself included.
Silly things, like the one time the light turned green and I started to go (because that's what you're supposed to do) but the car in front of me didn't.
Or that other time I was actively avoiding a collision with someone else and ended up causing another accident in the process.
Yup, just my luck.
I admit that I can get distracted easily. Since riding a motorbike requires a superhuman level of concentration to avoid and prevent accidents, I'd be a big, fat FAILURE.
02 I'm not confident in my motorcycle driving ability
I learned how to ride a horse by getting on its back and holding on. But that is not how I want to learn how to ride a motorbike.
I guess any beginner lacks confidence. Arguably confidence grows with practice, but I've tried riding a motorbike twice and as soon as I hopped on the seat I was ready to get off. The motorbike was heavy and wobbly and when I reflexively put my foot down to stable myself while practicing turns and making u-turns, my leg got yanked back. Ouch! The alternative was to not put my foot down and therefore topple over sideways and scrape up the rental and one side of my body. It was pretty much a lose-lose situation and not fun at all.
Plus unlike a bicycle, if I was riding a motorbike and it fell over (god forbid ON me), would I be strong enough to pick it up? If I'm not strong enough to physically manhandle the motorbike, then I have no business riding it.
I think my biggest heartache is the throttle. Why on earth would someone design the throttle to fail safe in the accelerating position!? Having to pull the throttle backwards to go is the reason countless "superman" accidents happen. SMH.
Why doesn't the throttle require a forward push to accelerate? Or a sensitive throttle thumb control? I'd be so much more confident knowing that I wouldn't accidentally rev the engine as I straddled the bike and take off flying. Because that's exactly what I want to do in life: be yanked by the handlebar of a bike and possibly tear a ligament in my knee or something. We know someone who that happened to!
I get one chance to counter steer properly, prevent myself from stalling, or successfully dodge potholes - one chance - or else I crash. If you ask me, those are some pretty lousy statistics.
03 I'm not ready to accept the consequences of an accident
I live close to a major clinic in Chiang Mai's Old City and I've seen my fair share of tourists (although a few Thai people, too) painfully limping out with bright white bandages plastered over ankles, knees, and elbows.
As a beginner driver, I am not ready to accept the consequences of my sub-par driving skills. Sorry, but displaying purple, disfiguring road rash for the next five years of my life is not on my bucket list. Or, say, having a limp or an achy bone that never ever goes away. Nope, no thank you. I'm thirty, have never broken a bone, and wish to keep it that way. Too bad it's likely to happen since I'm a newb.
I don't have the skills to properly dodge a dog dashing across the road, a car suddenly pulling out in front of me, or a surprise pothole. That's not to say Chris's driving skills will keep us completely out of harm's way (because there are still crazy drivers out there), but he's definitely a much safer, more experienced driver than I am, lessening the chance of us getting into an accident.
At least when I'm a passenger, I trust Chris to handle situations far better than I can. He's taken a week-long motorcycle safety course and had several years of experience driving motorcycles in the USA before coming to Thailand.
As a motorbike driver, I'd hold the heavy weight of responsibility in my hands, too. Since beginners are high risk drivers, if I were to hurt someone I wouldn't be ready for the consequences of dealing with a legal battle, let alone one in a foreign country!
04 It will always be my fault
At least in the USA, if you get in an accident the person at fault is usually correctly blamed. But in Thailand, all I've ever read on forums and learned from other people sharing their experiences is that the foreigner is always to blame for causing the accident. Some hodgepodge about "if the foreigner wasn't in Thailand, the accident would have never happened to begin with."
Sure, if I cause an accident I have enough integrity to accept the blame, but if I didn't cause an accident and got slapped with the blame and bill, I think I would see red.
As a person who accepts responsibility and consequences of my own actions, I expect the same if someone else were to hit me. Unfortunately as the foreigner, I am automatically assumed by the public eye to be the person with more money and in Thai society that's the person who automatically is responsible for paying for an accident, regardless of who's at fault.
I can't wrap my head around it and I refuse to play that game.05 I'm afraid of hit and runs
To be entirely honest, if I were to get into an accident, I'm not sure that I trust whatever Thai person or random tourist that hit me to actually call for help if no one else was around!
Hit and run accidents happen a lot here. Although compulsory insurance is mandatory in Thailand, A) does the driver actually have it and B) will it be enough? The thought of paying a huge medical bill or replacing a motorbike out-of-pocket can easily convince someone to flee the scene of an accident they caused. And how many tourists do you think have a cellphone with a functioning Thai SIM card before they go zipping around on Thailand's roads? I know I didn't get a SIM card when I took my first trip to Thailand in 2012.
I don't want to be riding around by myself and something happen where I'm left alone, bleeding and broken on the side of the road. At least if I'm riding with Chris, he's there with me and there may be a better chance that one of us isn't knocked out and is physically capable of calling the police or functional enough to help the other person.
I don't drive a motorbike in Thailand and may never do it
Maybe I'm being too cautious and should really give driving a motorbike another try. But at the end of the day, I know my limitations and it's more important for me to be a functional human being than some vegetable hooked up in a hospital somewhere.
There may come a time that I work up my courage to drive a motorbike in Thailand, but for now I'm content with sitting behind Chris on a bike. At least he's an awesome driver!
Would you drive a motorbike in Thailand without prior experience?
Chris and Angela sold everything, paid off their debt, and ultimately figured a way out of the nine to five grind in the United States. Today they are living full time in Chiang Mai, Thailand, guiding and inspiring future expats towards amazing lives abroad! For more updates follow them on , , and . To see a full list of posts check out the .
