If someone is hurt, dial 1669. For anything else — a crash with no injuries, a dispute at the roadside, a police stop you do not understand — dial 1155, the Tourist Police, because it is the one line staffed to answer you in English.
That is the whole answer. The card below is for the moment when you cannot remember it, and for the numbers that matter once the immediate emergency is over.
- Injuries1669
- English-speaking police1155
- General police191
Save this before you need it. Copy it into your phone's notes app, or print it and put it in the glovebox. A card you have to unlock a phone and search for is a card you will not find one-handed at the roadside.
The card
1. If it is happening now
| Dial | Who answers, and when to use it |
|---|---|
| 1669 | Ambulance and medical emergency. The national emergency medical line, run by the National Institute for Emergency Medicine. Use it for any injury. Do not wait to work out whose fault the crash was. |
| 1155 | Tourist Police. English-speaking, 24 hours. The fastest route to a police officer who can understand you and translate at the scene or at the station. |
| 191 | Police, general emergency. The national emergency line, answered in Thai. Use it if 1155 is not getting through and there is no time to wait. |
| 199 | Fire and rescue. Also the number for a vehicle fire. |
2. Depending on the road you are on
| Dial | Who answers, and when to use it |
|---|---|
| 1193 | Highway Police. Crashes and breakdowns on a highway rather than a city street. |
| 1543 | Expressway Authority (EXAT). Press 1 for an accident or emergency on a Bangkok expressway, 24 hours. Press 3 for traffic conditions. |
| 1586 | Department of Highways. Road conditions and incidents; press 7 for the intercity motorways. |
| 1146 | Department of Rural Roads. For the small numbered roads the highway department does not run. |
| 1197 | Traffic Control and Command Centre. Traffic conditions and traffic-police matters. |
3. Afterwards
| Dial | Who answers, and when to use it |
|---|---|
| 1672 | Tourism Authority of Thailand call centre, 08:00–20:00. General help and translation for visitors. |
| 1584 | Department of Land Transport. Complaints about taxis, buses and other licensed transport, 24 hours. |
| 1220 | Traffic-fine call centre (the police ticket system), if a payment does not show up. |
| 1178 | Immigration Bureau. Not an emergency line, but the number you want if an incident affects your permission to stay. |
4. Eight phrases to read down the phone
| English | Thai | Say it roughly as |
|---|---|---|
| Help! | ช่วยด้วย | chûay dûay |
| There has been an accident. | มีอุบัติเหตุ | mee ù-bàt-dtì-hèet |
| Someone is hurt. | มีคนเจ็บ | mee kon jèp |
| Call an ambulance. | เรียกรถพยาบาล | rîak rót pá-yaa-baan |
| Call the police. | เรียกตำรวจมา | rîak dtam-rùat maa |
| I can't speak Thai. | พูดภาษาไทยไม่ได้ | pôot paa-sǎa thai mâi dâai |
| Where is the hospital? | โรงพยาบาลอยู่ที่ไหน | rohng pá-yaa-baan yòo têe-nǎi |
| I am at … (say the place name) | ฉันอยู่ที่ … | chǎn yòo têe … |
Why this list is short on Thai
Thai is tonal. The same syllable said on a different pitch is a different word, and a frightened foreigner reading a romanisation off a screen will very often not be understood. That is not a reason to leave the phrases out — showing the Thai script to someone standing next to you works even when your pronunciation does not — but it is the reason this list stops at eight. Every line above was checked against a dictionary or a published phrasebook rather than written from memory, and anything that could not be checked was left out.
The practical order is: show the Thai, then dial 1155. Hand your phone to a bystander with the script on screen, and let the Tourist Police do the talking once they answer. If you are calling 1669 yourself and cannot get past the language, say the English words "accident" and "hospital" slowly — dispatchers hear them constantly — and then repeat the place name.
The location is the hard part, not the language
Ambulance crews need a place, not a description. Before you dial, open your maps app and read out the road number and the nearest kilometre marker, or the name of the nearest petrol station, temple or 7-Eleven. On a highway, the small concrete posts at the roadside give the route number and the distance along it — that is the single most useful thing you can read out. More on how those work in Thai highway numbers and distance signs.
What actually happens when you call 1669
1669 dispatches, but it does not deliver. Emergency ambulances in Thailand are run by a mix of hospital services and volunteer rescue foundations, and which one arrives depends on where you are. In a city that usually means a fast response; on a rural road at night it can mean a long wait and a pickup truck. Nothing about that changes what you should do — call, stay where you are, keep the casualty still — but it is worth knowing so the wait does not make you think the call failed.
Where you are taken matters more than most visitors expect. Private hospitals in the tourist provinces are excellent and expensive; government hospitals are cheaper and busier. Both will want payment or an insurance guarantee, which is why your policy number belongs on this card too. That is covered in Thai hospitals after a crash and what it costs and in medical evacuation and repatriation.
Before you drive off with this saved
Three things belong next to these numbers in your phone, and none of them are on the card because they are yours: your travel insurance emergency line and policy number, the rental shop's number, and your embassy's. Add them now. Then read the accident action plan, which is the step-by-step version of what to do in the first ten minutes, and what to do after a road accident in Thailand for the full picture.
If the incident is a police stop rather than a crash, the number is still 1155 — see when to call the Tourist Police, who cannot overrule a traffic officer but can turn up and translate, which changes a roadside encounter more than anything else available to you. And if nothing is broken except the vehicle, start at roadside assistance and who to call.
Check your cover before you need this card. Riding without the right licence for the vehicle is the most common reason a claim is refused in Thailand, and it is decided long before anyone dials 1669. See does travel insurance cover driving in Thailand.
Is 191 the same as 999 or 911?
It is the closest equivalent: 191 is the Royal Thai Police emergency call centre and it is answered around the clock. The difference is language. There is no guarantee of an English speaker on 191, which is why 1155 is the better first call for a visitor, and 1669 the better first call if anyone is hurt.
Are these numbers free, and do they work on a foreign SIM?
They are free, and they are short national numbers dialled without an area code. Dial them exactly as written, with no country code and no leading zero. If you are roaming on a foreign SIM and a short number will not connect, that is a network setting rather than the service being unavailable — a Thai SIM or eSIM avoids the problem entirely and costs very little.
Should I call the police after a minor bump?
Usually yes, if there is any damage and any chance of a claim, because Thai insurers work from the scene rather than from a form filled in afterwards. The insurance surveyor, not the police, is often the person who decides fault. That whole process is set out in what to do after a road accident.
Why is there no number here for a tow truck?
Because there is no national one. Recovery in Thailand is arranged locally, through the road authority for the road you are on (1193, 1543 or 1586 above), through your rental company, or through whichever garage the police call. Start with the road authority and the rental shop, in that order.
Can I trust the romanised Thai to be understood?
Only partly, and you should assume it will not be. Thai tones do most of the work in these words. Treat the romanisation as a prompt for you and the Thai script as the thing you show to a person — and use 1155 whenever there is time, because an English-speaking officer beats a phrase card every time.
What if the number I need is not here?
Then it probably could not be verified from an official Thai source, and we left it out rather than print something wrong. The widely circulated number for the JS100 traffic radio station is the main example: it is a private broadcaster, not a public service, and we found no government page confirming it.