CityNews – The national driving test in Thailand has seen a change from the 1st of June where it has become a lot harder. However, it seems that the applicants in Chiang Mai have not studied hard enough to counteract the increased requirements of the test.
The Department of Land Transport has recently increased the number of multiple-choice questions in the driving test from 30 to 50 and has now enforced a 90% pass rate. The previous pass rate was at 75%.
Under the new rules, applicants need to answer 45 questions or more correctly. In the first day of tests in Chiang Mai, 90% of applicants failed, and only one person managed to answer all 50 questions correctly.
The department has revised its tests due to research findings that suggest many road accidents are due to a lack of Thai drivers ability. However it would seem that knowing 15% more about road signs would probably not significantly affect overall driving ability in Thailand.
On top of the change in testing, practical tests will be conducted with an E-driving system that is rolling out over Chiang Mai this month. Instead of examiners being present during driving tests, the test cars will be equipped with cameras and computers to monitor the driver.
According to Department Chief Asdsathai Rattanadilok Na Phuket, the new E-driving test will be more accurate and do away with the old system of passes or fails being issued only after a committee meeting has assessed the results.
It is speculated that in the first several months, the pass rate of applicants will drop from 70% to 30%.