Ainu to be worried about daughter on scooter in Thailand?

Hi 👋 I live in Thailand and I would
very strongly encourage your daughter to hire a car instead. Please do everything you can to dissuade her from hiring a scooter. I would love to talk you down but ambulance sirens are the soundtrack to where I live and fatalities are averaging at 2.6 per day from RTAs.

Does she have a motorbike license?

I'd be worried too! The stats are horrendous. Where is she going and how does she know she'll need a scooter beforehand? I've been to Thailand maybe 10x since childhood to various areas. There is no way I'd ride a scooter, even in the height of my 20's, backpacking, confidence days.

Tuk Tuks are cheap, as are Songtheaws (its like an open aired, taxi mini bus). I'd be hiring a car before considering a scooter!

A close friend died there. She was half Thai and had spent most of here life there and was very used to using scooters. Another friend who had lived there 3yrs sustained life changing injuries when she hit a pot hole and flew off the bike into someones car. She had to pay off the police along with the persons car she hit.

1 issue with scooter Taxis, is that westerns often aren't used to riding as a passenger on a scooter either, so not always safer. Plus the risk of burns from the exhaust!

My advice if you can give her some budget and ask her to hire a jeep, if she’s in Thailand we hired jeeps for our boys to save the stress of the scooter, and you are right to be worried it’s so frequent.

That’s the one thing I insisted on when my dd went travelling in Thailand etc, that she not hire a scooter.
luckily she wasn’t bothered about it.
When I went to visit her, omg the traffic is horrendous!
And when I came back, a friends pal had died in a scooter accident in Thailand.
please try to dissuade her !

Your fear is not unreasonable. I am aware of two people who I went to school with who died from scooter accidents in Thailand in the past few years.

Unless she has passed her cbt in the uk, she most likely won’t be insured if she has an accident.

You’re not Aibu. I am a risk taker including when abroad. But they are very risky to hire. From where personal experience which I won’t go into. You’ve seen the stats yourself.

I think different to use the scooter cabs with someone else driving. But you really don’t know whether the scooter you hire works properly.

I would be worried, I get it. Also need to be aware re insurance.

I felt worried too, but all was well!
Be aware that not all insurance policies include riding scooters / motorbikes )or being passengers on them ) as standard.

I was that 21 yo. Never been on a moped before… fell off and scraped leg badly. Got an infection, went to hospital and made it back home ok. It did muck up my week on the beach though.

YANBU, Thai drivers can be pretty crazy. Also there’s the risk of being scammed by the rental companies, who charge thousands for minor or non existent damage.

Has she driven one before? I’ve done it in Thailand and quality of bike does vary a bit. Absolutely need to wear a helmet at all times. I did see a couple of people come off their bikes after bad weather. Road quality isn’t too bad but she should watch out for loose sand / gravel on the roads which can be really dangerous. I’d highly recommend her taking a CBT intro course before she goes. Can be done in a day and she’ll get to learn how to properly use and control her bike which will make it a bit safer.

Most people manage without any kind of incident but just worth being sensible about it.

It's a reasonable concern. When I lived in SE Asia I took my own motorbike helmet over with me. The ones there aren't fit for purpose, but are marginally better than nothing.