Which Side of the Road Does Thailand Drive On, and How Do You Get Used to It?

Run through these points before your first drive. Mistakes happen most where the action is habitual and done on autopilot: pulling out of a car park, a petrol station or a side road, turning across traffic, entering a roundabout.

Adjusting is easier in three steps. First an empty car park or a quiet street: get a feel for the car's size and the wheel position. Then a straight road with light traffic, without traffic lights or roundabouts. Then an ordinary drive in town. From the airport, the straight, wide roads of the north suit a first drive: Mai Khao, Nai Thon, Bang Tao.

For the first few kilometres keep your speed down and say "left" out loud each time you pull onto a road. Leave the mountain roads out of your first drive: where they are is shown in the guide to dangerous roads.

• An empty car park or a quiet street
• A straight road without traffic lights or roundabouts
• Town and hills once the pattern has set in

The most common slip is switching on the wipers instead of the indicator: on many right-hand-drive cars the stalks are mirrored. It is harmless and passes after 10–15 minutes of practice. The second is looking for the mirror on the wrong side when changing lanes.

The third is more dangerous: after a turn or when pulling out of a car park or petrol station, the car drifts into the right-hand lane out of habit. Before a left turn take the far left lane, before a right turn the far right lane, and remember that a right turn crosses oncoming traffic.

• Wipers instead of the indicator: harmless, gone in 10–15 minutes
• Check your mirrors deliberately for the first 15–20 minutes
• After every turn, check that you are in the left lane

Roundabouts run clockwise, and traffic already on the roundabout has priority. If you leave at the next exit, keep to the left lane; if you go further round, keep right. Signal before your exit, not as you enter. Motorbikes often change lanes on roundabouts without signalling, so check your mirrors more often than usual.

Most roundabouts in Phuket are small and calm. The large ones are at Central Festival and Chalong Circle; on your first drives it is easier to let the navigation app route you around Chalong Circle at rush hour.

• Clockwise, give way to traffic already on the roundabout
• Next exit: left lane; further round: right lane
• Signal before your exit

After a long overnight flight it is wiser to put off the first drive until morning: in the first hours driving on the left needs more attention, and tiredness lowers it. Only the main roads are lit, and it gets dark on the island at around 6:30 pm. You can collect the car at your hotel in the morning: delivery is charged at the district rate, see car rental with delivery. Pick-up and return at HKT airport are free.

• After an overnight flight, drive in the morning
• First drives in daylight
• You can get the car at your hotel, delivery at the district rate