PATTAYA, Thailand – For many long-term foreign visitors, Pattaya’s roads have become a symbol of everything that feels chaotic, inconsistent, and selectively enforced about local traffic laws. While accidents are a daily reality and social media is filled with clips of reckless motorbike riders weaving through traffic “Fast and Furious–style,” many foreigners say the deeper problem is not the speed or the congestion — it’s the sense that the rules don’t apply evenly to everyone.
Visitors point to a simple frustration: traffic laws seem optional for many drivers, with widespread lane violations, red-light running, sidewalk riding, and helmet avoidance. Yet despite the disorder, enforcement remains surprisingly light. “There’s a higher chance of winning the lottery than getting a traffic fine — and actually paying it,” one long-term visitor joked.
What foreigners notice most, however, is who gets stopped.
Many complain that checkpoints appear almost exclusively in tourist-heavy areas and often target rental scooters, short-term visitors, and anyone who “looks foreign.” To them, it feels less like safety enforcement and more like predictable revenue collection.
Meanwhile, residents say they rarely see similar pressure applied to local riders, even when violations are obvious. This fuels the widespread belief that police prioritize fining tourists because they are the easiest — and most profitable — targets.
Not all impressions are negative. Some people who recently relocated to Pattaya from Bangkok argue that the traffic here is “a breeze” by comparison. But even they admit the problem isn’t congestion — it’s consistency. “There are road rules,” one new resident said, “but no one follows them and the penalties are almost nonexistent.”
With Pattaya’s population growing and tourism booming again, many believe a long-term solution is needed — and fast. Some point to the proposed monorail system as the best hope for reducing congestion and restoring order. But with the project delayed for years and still stuck in planning stages, few are confident it will materialize anytime soon.
For now, foreigners say Pattaya’s road culture remains unchanged: rules that exist but aren’t enforced, riders who push limits daily, and a police system many believe focuses more on foreign wallets than road safety.
“This will not improve,” one resident said bluntly, “until the law actually applies to everyone.”
