A lesson in Thai cuture

georgefromcanada

georgefromcanada

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A couple of weeks ago I went to the next village at 7 in the morning for my deep fried pieces of dough that make a reasonable substitute for bread for my breakfast. The village is located along a thoroughfare to Sisaket. I parked off the road and crossed the street to the small shop. When I got back to the car a truck had parked directly in front of me, 3/4 on the road. I got in the car shoulder checked, backed up so I could pull out, shoulder checked again and proceeded to pull out with my signal light on.
As I got my nose out into traffic I see two men standing on the road beside the truck, I hesitated as I couldn t see incoming traffic well and would need to now enter the incoming lane. I then proceeded into the incoming lane only to be hit at the front wheel of the car.
An scooter driven by a 14 year old with no license nor plate was driving on the wrong side of the road. The police and an ambulance were called, she was whisked away to Sisaket hospital, thankfully she was wearing a helmet.
2 senior ( 3 stars on their shoulders) arrived took photos and talked to witnesses. I was invited to the police station.
The young lady's hip was broken. The police officers explained it was my fault although I was not ticketed.
I have first class insurance and the victim"s hospital bills were paid and her scooter was repaired. An appointment was made to settle the accident claim at the police station.
I arrived with my wife, my in-laws and a lawyer. The victim brought 8 people, relatives and the village chief.
They immediately demanded 200,000 baht for compensation which was quickly rejected. They then requested 500,000. My lawyer ( a friend who didn't charge me a single baht) advised them we would rather litigate than pay that amount.
After an hour and half lunch break, suggested by the same senior police officer we resumed negotiating. The police officer suggested that I pay the two tickets the victim had been given and a token amount for her inconvenience. I offered 30,000 baht and would pay her fines as after all it was my fault the police caught her driving without a license. The cash was promptly displayed and accepted.
After everything was signed the police officer took me aside and told me through my wife that he liked my haircut. LOL as I ask for white three sides, the Royal Thai Police standard issue. Harmony between villages is important and although the victims family did not get a tractor nor combine as compensation no one lost face. I am thankful
it wasn't 3 kids on the scooter or god forbid a poor couple with a baby standing between them.
The monk at the temple has blessed our car again, sprinkled me with water but upon learning of a spider bite on my ankle that refuses to heal has informed us that I am in need of magical intervention as the accident could have been predicted. We also donated 5000 baht to the chinese temple in Sisaket that buries the indigent for good measure. The magic will take place Tuesday morning with my mother in law preparing the prerequisites from her own bag of assorted potions and spells
 
It looks like you have forked out around 40,000baht (maybe more) plus loss of no claim bonus, because an underaged, uninsured motorbike driver, on the wrong side of the road hit your car. My sympathies towards the girl and her greedy family would not have extended further than the calling of an ambulance.

I will refrain from comment on your final paragraph.
 
My younger brother was on his motorcycle near Pai in December when a car pulled out of a side road without stopping. He hit the car near the rear tail light. The police and an ambulance were called. The police arrived first and the officer took a statement from the driver of the car and wrote his report. The ambulance arrived and the officer asked by brother to sign the statement written in Thai. My brother refused and the officer told the ambulance to go away. My brother relented of course and was taken to hospital where it was discovered he had two broken arms.
The statement read that it was his fault as the car driver had his signal light on. He also agreed to pay any damages.
Last week the insurance man phoned and asked for 20,000 baht compensation for the damages. My brother through his wife said that it was odd to come to such a nice round number and asked for a receipt for the work done on the car. The insurance man hung up and has not called back.
I too feel that I was not solely at fault, but I hesitated when I couldn't see around the men standing beside the truck and didn't shoulder check again. The villages around us including our own are made up of just 2 or 3 families and everyone is related. Somewhat like the deep south in America I believe. Magic, spells and ghosts are all as much a part of the lives of my neighbors as Facebook is.
 
Many years ago, my was car hit by a kid on a scooter, right by the SSK police station. Rider was underage/no licence/no Insurance/No light on(at night-time)/No crash helmet/No road tax.

That cost me 2,000b and I greatly begrudged paying anything. No magic or fairies were harmed!
 
georgefromcanada said:
My younger brother was on his motorcycle near Pai in December when a car pulled out of a side road without stopping. He hit the car near the rear tail light. The police and an ambulance were called. The police arrived first and the officer took a statement from the driver of the car and wrote his report. The ambulance arrived and the officer asked by brother to sign the statement written in Thai. My brother refused and the officer told the ambulance to go away. My brother relented of course and was taken to hospital where it was discovered he had two broken arms.
The statement read that it was his fault as the car driver had his signal light on. He also agreed to pay any damages.
Last week the insurance man phoned and asked for 20,000 baht compensation for the damages. My brother through his wife said that it was odd to come to such a nice round number and asked for a receipt for the work done on the car. The insurance man hung up and has not called back.
I too feel that I was not solely at fault, but I hesitated when I couldn't see around the men standing beside the truck and didn't shoulder check again. The villages around us including our own are made up of just 2 or 3 families and everyone is related. Somewhat like the deep south in America I believe. Magic, spells and ghosts are all as much a part of the lives of my neighbors as Facebook
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I sympathise with you George, and the problem with all the inter-related families in close proximity. I have the same problem here. If I refused help, I am sure my wife would assist behind my back. I would however leave magic, spells and ghosts purely to the villagers, and would have no part in it. Stay home and have a beer or 3 would be preferable. :)
 
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When I was hit by a motorcy back in 2000 (my truck had 700km on the clock) the kid's mother asked me to admit that the accident was my fault as her son (not to be seen again) had no licence and no insurance. I refused but my insurance agent agreed to pay the policeman in charge, ฿500.00 to make it all go away. Then the cheeky ******* wanted me to reimburse him because he paid cash. I paid him because I was somewhat naive at that time.
 
A very similar circumstance happened to me about 7 years ago. Happened in Ubon. I was doing a U turn when an old lady on the wrong side of the road, unlicensed and unregistered and barley sighted due to cataracts hit me when I was still stationary. My first class insurance looked after everything. The agent, a young man was absolutely fantastic advocate for me. He handled all the negotiations with the police and the injured party. The only out of pocket I had was 10,000 Baht sorry money that I had to give personally to the aggrieved party. Oh almost forgot I also had to give 6 reams of copy paper to the BIB.
Because of that young man I still insure with the same company even though their policies are a bit dearer then others. Dhipaya Insurance.
PS
I also had ghost trouble that needed to be settled, funny that....

As farangs we are always in the wrong regardless of circumstance. It can never be as bad as an old friend of mine (now passed) was sitting in his car, in the car park at Bib C Khon Kaen when hit by a drunk motor cyclist. He had the book thrown at him. He should of never taken it to court. The court proved that if he had never been born his car would not of been parked there. Ergo his fault. He was Canadian by the way. That happened around 2000, I doubt things have changed that much.
 
These stories remind me of living and driving in Saudi Arabia for many years. The one golden rule that all ex-pats learned was to never stop or assist if they came across a road accident. By some warped logic, the ex-pat would get the blame for anything and everything that happened, even though he was never involved in the first place. If you stopped to provide first aid and the person died, you would be responsible for their death. The logic, though warped to most westerners, was the same as @Rice's comments above. If you had never been born, you would never have been there, you would never have rendered assistance, and the person would never have died. Definitely, a lose-lose situation. The golden rule was simple, don't stop, drive on by.
 
nomad97 said:
These stories remind me of living and driving in Saudi Arabia for many years. The one golden rule that all ex-pats learned was to never stop or assist if they came across a road accident. By some warped logic, the ex-pat would get the blame for anything and everything that happened, even though he was never involved in the first place. If you stopped to provide first aid and the person died, you would be responsible for their death. The logic, though warped to most westerners, was the same as @Rice's comments above. If you had never been born, you would never have been there, you would never have rendered assistance, and the person would never have died. Definitely, a lose-lose situation. The golden rule was simple, don't stop, drive on by.
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Amen to that.
 
nomad97 said:
These stories remind me of living and driving in Saudi Arabia for many years. The one golden rule that all ex-pats learned was to never stop or assist if they came across a road accident. By some warped logic, the ex-pat would get the blame for anything and everything that happened, even though he was never involved in the first place. If you stopped to provide first aid and the person died, you would be responsible for their death. The logic, though warped to most westerners, was the same as @Rice's comments above. If you had never been born, you would never have been there, you would never have rendered assistance, and the person would never have died. Definitely, a lose-lose situation. The golden rule was simple, don't stop, drive on by.
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This happened to me twice : seeing an accident, wanting to stop to assist but my wive (at that time) "ordered" me not to stop and forget about it !!!! If a farang stops for an assist he WILL be blamed for everything !!!
 
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