Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Driving and riding in Hua Hin and Thailand, all topics on cars, pickups, bikes, boats, licenses, roads, and motoring in general.
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Big Boy
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Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by Big Boy »

A discussion on the Bluport thread has thrown up the validity of many of Hua Hin's road signs. I wonder if this is why so many Thais ignore them.

Frank Hovis kindly provided a link to official Thai Road Signs, and it is evident that many of the signs used on Hua Hin's road infrastructure do not comply. It was suggested that the unofficial signs do not have to be obeyed.

I'll be the first to admit that I have been too lazy to study the official road signs in Thailand :oops: . Probably because the unofficial signs look official, and are usually easy to understand. If I follow instructions from an unofficial sign, and an accident results, who is liable?

I took this example earlier today while my wife was paying our electric bill.
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I accept that this is probably private land, so the signs here may not be enforceable, but they are representative of many road signs on Hua Hin's roads. In this instance, the signs indicate a clockwise traffic flow, but as I took the photo, I had to jump out of the way of a vehicle travelling anti-clockwise :D TIT

So, does anybody know the legality of the signs? Is there an official penalty for disobeying an unofficial sign? Why use these unofficial signs, when there are perfectly good official signs?

A place where such signs are regularly disobeyed is on Soi 94 outside the old Suey Vista. Only this morning I had a truck come the wrong way towards me - I just sat there, and enjoyed the show of a Thai reversing. I will not yield, but to be honest, I'm wondering if I am equally at fault.
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Re: Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by VincentD »

Jumps in...

BB, the locals seem to have a propensity to totally ignore authority and tend to thumb their noses up at said authority, official or not. Take the helmet law, for example.

I won't be surprised to find a 'No Entry' sign on the road opposite, probably indicating a one-way clockwise flow. However, the shortest distance between two points is typically a straight line, so it doesn't matter if you're going against the flow of traffic or driving on the wrong side of a dual carriageway.

Our village is private property, however some numpty found a convoluted way to get through to the main road, so this has become a defacto short cut during morning rush hours. We have got the BIB involved, but if there is no dosh in in for them they're not too inclined to come and enforce it, especially during high earning hours.
There is an appeal in the courts as well, but they can be frustratingly slow and the owner of the village, who is in her eighties, doesn't really give a hoot.

So, yes, official or not, the signs are just there to decorate the environs and give you something to look at as you drive by..
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Re: Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by RCer »

I'm on my phone, but a visit to Google asking for international road signs would be worth while.
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Re: Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by HHTel »

Well, surprise, surprise. Although Thailand is a signatory on the Vienna convention on Road Traffic, it has never been ratified.

That said, Thailand is not party to the accepted international road signs. If there are no 'official signs' issued by the Land Traffic Dept then any sign carries the same weight. i.e. none!
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Re: Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by Big Boy »

The official signs are at Frank's link, and they look like international signage.
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Re: Road Signs in Hua Hin (and maybe elsewhere)

Post by HHTel »

Looked at the link and it's a government site so those signs are the only official ones in Thailand.
They do seem to follow the internationally recognised signs although there's a couple I don't recall ever seeing before.
Anyway, the short answer is Yes, there are laid down official signage.
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