Scooters seem to outnumber cars in parts of Thailand. They are a common form of self or family transport, as well as a hired vehicle or delivery service, such as pizza delivery. In Bangkok scooters are usually driven by men and not women, probably because of the busy roads. In Chiang Mai men and women, as wells as teenage boys and girls, drive scooters. We saw many, many scooters parked in front of high schools and universities.

It was not unusual to see two or three people on a scooter. Several times we saw four people on a scooter, but three of them were young children.  And we often observed small dogs riding in the front basket of a scooter.  One of the scariest sights was a side car attached to a scooter with one or more propane tanks going over a bumpy road.

Driving a scooter without wearing a helmet is a 200 bat fine (about $6 US.) Since there are so many scooters on the road and bunched up in front of cars while waiting at intersections, police officers don’t attempt to pull offenders over to write a ticket. The officers just merely walk around the scooter drivers stopped at a red light and take 2 photos for each driver not wearing a helmet – one photo of the driver and one photo of the scooter’s rear license plate. Using a cell phone while driving a car or scooter is also a 200 bat fine.