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About this tool
Thai road rules for visitors: which side to drive on, speed limits, blood-alcohol limits and the licence a car or motorbike actually needs.
The Driving in Thailand Rules Explainer sets out what a visitor needs before driving in Thailand: you drive on the left in a right-hand-drive car, signs are in km/h, and the licence must cover the class of vehicle you are actually using. It applies the 2021 speed regulation — 80 km/h inside municipal areas, 90 km/h outside them and up to 120 km/h on designated four-lane sections — together with the 2017 alcohol regulation, which sets 50 mg per 100 ml of blood for an ordinary licence holder and 20 mg for anyone under 20, on a probationary licence, or unlicensed.
Open Driving in Thailand Rules Explainer on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Under Your details, pick What you plan to drive — Car or pickup, or Motorbike or scooter — tick whether your licence covers motorcycles, and choose the documents you will carry.
Set the Type of licence you hold, Your age (years) and Length of stay (days).
Read your legal blood-alcohol limit of 50 mg or 20 mg per 100 ml, the Speed limits for cars table in km/h and mph, and the Morning-after estimate from the Widmark equation.
A car licence carries no motorcycle entitlement, and the tool says so before you pay a rental deposit.
Age and licence type both drop the limit from 50 mg to 20 mg per 100 ml.
Flashing headlights, U-turn bridges and left-on-red rules that reverse what European and American drivers expect.
Yes, if your licence was issued outside ASEAN. Thailand is a party to both the 1949 Geneva and 1968 Vienna conventions, so either type of International Driving Permit is accepted when carried with your original licence. A home licence on its own is not enough: you are treated as unlicensed, which is a fineable offence and gives an insurer grounds to decline a claim.
No. Thai law requires a licence valid for the class of vehicle, and a car licence carries no motorcycle entitlement. Riding without one leaves you unlicensed, which excludes you from the compulsory Por Ror Bor insurance and from virtually every travel insurance policy — so the hospital bill after a crash falls on you in full. Rental shops will still hand over the key; that is not the same as being legal.
50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, which is 0.05 %, for an ordinary licence holder aged 20 or over. It drops to 20 mg per 100 ml for drivers under 20, for holders of a temporary or probationary licence, and for anyone driving without a valid licence or while suspended. A first offence carries up to a year's imprisonment, a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 baht and at least six months' licence suspension, and refusing a breath test is treated as an admission.
80 km/h inside municipal areas including Bangkok and Pattaya, 90 km/h outside them, and up to 120 km/h for cars on designated four-lane motorway and highway sections since the 2021 ministerial regulation. Those 120 km/h sections also carry a 100 km/h minimum in the right-hand lane, so driving too slowly there is an offence in its own right. Motorcycles, buses and trucks are held to lower figures on the same roads.