Thailand is an exceptionally dangerous place as far as the roads are concerned and in my limited time here I feel as though this has a lot to do with the ways in which the roads are policed. The actual tarmac here is actually very good in places like Chiang Mai and maintenance is done extremely well. The roads themselves are absolutely excellent and certainly a lot better than the ones I grew up with in USA.
What makes the roads so dangerous here in Thailand, or at least in Chiang Mai where I live, are the lack of enforcement of any rules for the most part. I don't want police to be all up in your shit all the times when you drive around the way they are in USA and other parts of the world, but there is no denying that there could be a better method of enforcement than they currently employ.
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The only sort of enforcement that I have ever witnessed in this city or any of the others I have been in Thailand are these easily spotted checkpoints that they will put up at the same places on various days of the month. You are more likely to see them at the start of the month than the end and there is some talk about the reason for this is that most people are paid monthly in Thailand and the police realize that everyone is as cashed up as they are going to be during the beginning of the month. This could be seen as an asshole tactic because they know they can steal as much money as possible at the beginning of the month, or it could be seen as compassion because the police are aware that most poorer people are barely making ends meet towards the end of the month. However you choose to look at it, this does seem to be the case.
The only exception to this that I can see is the drink driving checkpoints that seem to operate at night almost nightly around popular drinking establishments.
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When I got out drinking at night I take a Grab taxi or I ride my bicycle, so these do not frighten me at all and I am for them. Thailand has a very serious drink-driving problem and it needs to be tackled somehow, even though the drink drivers are probably allowed to pay their way through these checkpoints and honestly, that is likely their primary purpose: To make money for the officers rather than enforce any sort of safety regulations.
There is a reason why being a police officer is such a sought after position in this country and it isn't the government benefits.
Recently, I got a ticket for driving without a license at one of the checkpoints they regularly set up around the moat area downtown in Chiang Mai. I DO have a license, I just didn't have it on me. Rather than argue this point with the officers I just decided to pay the fine, which was 500 Baht. They were friendly during the entire thing and even had someone there that could speak English that explained to me that I could go to the police station with my license and argue my case to get my money back. I know from speaking to people that the police really really really do NOT want to give you your money back and it is frowned upon for anyone to attempt to do so. Therefore, and because 500 Baht is only around $15, I just decided to let it go.
What's funny about the situation is what the paper ticket entails.
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This is not my traffic ticket, it is someone else's who was silly enough to put their information online. Mine was more humorous and unfortunately it flew out of my bike cup holder while I was riding it days later. My ticket contained none of my real information and I just made up a name and address. Nobody at the checkpoint seemed overly concerned about whether or not my information was genuine anyway, they just wanted me to pay the fine.
Here is a fun aspect of getting a ticket at a checkpoint in Thailand: If you already have a ticket, they cannot (or wont) give you another one. This is meant to be valid for 3 days so in theory at least, I could drive helmetless, over the speed limit, without a license, on a stolen bike for 3 days and never face any consequences for it. I am sure if they bothered to actually look at the ticket that they would not have mercy on you for this for very long, but the way it worked for me was that since I kept the ticket in the cupholder that is easily accessible while driving the bike, anytime that I was flagged over towards the inspection area I simply flashed the ticket and the officers would wave me through the queue.
I don't know how long you could get away with this because the officers in question didn't even look at the paper to see the date of the offense on it. It could have been from months ago or even just a piece of paper. Seriously, none of the officers looked at the document at all.
It had occurred to me that I simply hang onto this ticket in the cupholder for ages and see how long it would get me out of trouble but honestly, I don't drive my bike that often and the paper flew out of the cupholder a few days later anyway. Why does a bike have a cupholder anyway? A suppose it is a convenient place to keep your beer while you are drink driving.