A harsh sign, a serious message: Chiang Mai scooter and motorbike rental’s warning sparks debate online
A blunt warning on the wall of a Chiang Mai scooter and motorbike rental has gone viral again, reigniting debate over tourist road safety in Thailand.
The message hangs at the entrance to Cat Motors’ rental lot, the first thing every customer sees. It tells inexperienced riders, “If you have no driving experience, please choose another motorcycle rental service to commit suicide.”
The phrase has been shared widely across Facebook and Instagram in recent days, drawing sharply divided reactions. Some users called it cruel and offensive; others praised it as a rare moment of blunt honesty in an industry that often prioritises profit over safety. Many viral reposts misidentified the location. The updated signs at this scooter and motorbike rental in Chiang Mai now make that clear.
The founder says the language is intentional. “It’s blunt, and I understand it can sound harsh. But we see first-time riders underestimate Thailand’s roads every week. The goal is to create a pause, a moment where a person asks themselves: do I really have the experience for this?”
A licence, he says, proves nothing. “We’ve had people hand us a licence, get on the motorcycle, ride five metres and go down with it. Then it turns out the licence was bought online.” Cat Motors bike rental sometimes refuses to rent even when the paperwork is in order, if staff can see the rider is not in control. “We would rather lose the booking than send someone into traffic they are not ready for.”
The debate comes against a sobering backdrop. According to the World Health Organisation’s 2023 Global Status Report on Road Safety, Thailand recorded 25.4 road deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, placing it among the ten most dangerous countries in the world. According to data from Thailand’s Road Accident Victims Protection Company, motorcyclists accounted for 82% of all road fatalities in the country in 2024.
Behind every one of those numbers is a person who left home that morning with plans for the evening. Many of them were tourists on holiday, riding a bike for the first time.
A licence in your pocket is not the same as being ready for these roads. Unfortunately, this applies to every road in Thailand, every island and every city. Experienced drivers get caught out here, too. Some forget, in a split second, that traffic moves on the opposite side. Others find that junctions and road markings follow a logic they have never encountered before. Thailand’s roads have their own language. Learning it takes more than a plastic card in your wallet.
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