Riding a motorbike in Thailand is not as simple as splashing down some baht and off you go.
Many tourists unfortunately think and act that way.
Over 22,000+ motorcyclist’s are killed each year in Thailand.
That amounts to ~ 60 people per day, everyday of the year.
Understand Thailand is not a hotbed of professional drivers.
In many cases, accidents are not the fault of the motorbike driver, but the fault of other everyday motorists out and about, doing their job.
Also I imagine there are MANY unlicensed drivers in Thailand.
Combine that with the Thai mentality that the road belongs to me, and you can see why there are over 60 deaths each day of the year.
Before you ever get on a motorbike in Thailand on your holiday, understand these things.
Understand that there may be unlicensed drivers, impatient drivers, drivers that don’t follow the road laws, drivers that are careless and in a hurry, wreck-less drivers and drunk drivers.
Defensive driving takes on a completely different meaning here and you need to be always on top of watching out for other drivers.