Driving in Bangkok is a true test of a person’s patient and bladder control. Traffic is irrational and unforgiving to say the least. Nothing seems to make sense and people drive as if they own the road. Traffic laws are more like suggestions than anything people should abide by. It also doesn’t help that you can bribe your way out of a traffic violation once you are caught.. Thank god that people eventually stop when they see the red light. Crossing the street as a pedestrian is also a test of courage. As I mentioned earlier, people “eventually” stop once they see the red light so you should always check before crossing. Not only that, but people tends to go before the light turns green too. Especially with the new “Smart Light” (how ironic), where you see how long before the light changes, people treat it as if it’s the starting signal for the Formula 1 race.
If you plan to go anywhere during rush hour by car, bus, or taxi; I would suggest tagging on at least an hour to your travel time. It doesn’t hurt to be there early, you don’t want to miss your flight or a show because you got stuck in traffic. Also, even if you don’t have to go, it’s a good idea to take care of your personal business before you start your journey. I can tell you from personal experience, more time than I care to remember where I really have to go but I’m stuck in traffic. I have stories and they aren’t pretty but I’ll save it for some other day. If possible, my advice would be to take the sky train or subway to reach your destination. The sky train and subway should get you close to where you want to go and hopefully out of the more congested area and that taking a taxi from there isn’t as painful. Unless you know the roads, for the sake of your sanity I would suggest you let the locals handle the driving. The local seems to cope better with people cutting in front of them without signaling and what not. Just put it this way, everyone here drives like a taxi driver in New York, if you know what I mean.
Direction and flow of traffic is also another mind boggling aspect of driving in Bangkok. You have no idea which mad scientist came up with this. If you read this far you probably could tell I’m not a big fan of driving in Bangkok, but I digress. Certain lanes you can go against the traffic but only at certain time. Certain places only a bus can turn right. It’s like there is an exception to every rule. Street signs are also another matter. It’s odd how not every sign follows the same phonetic or naming convention. For example one sign would say “Rama IX” and another sign would say “Praram 9” (Rama is the English version and Praram is the Thai). There really isn’t consistency anywhere.
Once you get out of the city some sort of order is restored to the world. The further you get from the city, the more pleasant driving become baring the road condition. You’ll get to take in the sight more and not have to worry about getting run off the road by a bus.
Road condition is another matter. You can be driving on a section that is smooth as butter and all of a sudden your car dips about 10cm and bounced up because you hit a crater the size of the Grand Canyon. So be careful while you drive, watch for the potholes especially when it’s raining. Then there is driving at night. Even on major roads, not everywhere is brightly lit. I’m not sure if this is the right way to help the earth and conserve energy but it sure as hell takes away from the safety of driving at night.  There could be street lamps but either they aren’t turned on or are just out of commission.
OK, it’s not really as bad as I make it out to be but it could be really frustrating at time. Traffic in Bangkok is just like any other major city, just more congested and less organized. All I’m saying is you should be prepared before venturing out to the war zone that is known as the streets of Bangkok.
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