richard_smith237

I have had similar issues... and found a clause which stated... “not covered for dangerous activities’... It took me two months to get in writing that I was covered for - Recreational diving (under certification) - Skiing on piste (or Off piste with an instructor) - Motorcling (when licensed) - Passenger on a Motorcycle taxi - Riding a bicycle The insurance seemed extremely reluctant to get pushed into a corner about specifics. Particularly the ‘skiing cover’... and argued they’d decided the level of cover when they evaluate the extent of injury to decide if I was skiing dangerously or not !!!.... IMO - while Liverpool Lou will ALWAYS defend the insurance company, I have the very opposite opinion and believe they hide behind ambiguity and imprecise or advanced terminology to give themselves potential wiggle room. I was rejected a medical claim through such ambiguity (to the tune of 130,000 baht - April Int’l).... since changed insurance companies.

Agree... we only have the opening article and very little else to go on. BUT... it would appear that the relatives are under the impression (or they gave the media the impression) that they have to prove their injured relative was wearing a helmet before they’d reverse a decision regarding cover. This is perhaps where the clumsy reporting comes into it... Or rather, we are so familiar with shoddy, clumsy reporting that often raises more questions than answered that we simply have no idea and are simply left completely in the dark, which is a shame... because it really would be good information for all of us IF insurances are wiggling out of payouts over something they can’t prove. Thus: What proof does the insurance company have that the injured party was either not wearing an helmet or not wearing one properly ???... And as this is such an important piece of information why was not reported upon ???? two possible answers here IMO: 1) The helmet issue is a non-issue - this is not why insurance was denied (insurance was denied for another reason, i.e. no motorcycles clause in the insurance). 2) OR...as you mentioned, no licence etc So... Perhaps the whole ‘helmet debate’ is simply moot (from an insurance perspective).

IS it ????.... IF the only reason the insurance company is denying the claim is that they are ‘levying the accusation’ that the injured party was not wearing a helmet, surely they need proof ??? OR... is there another reason they are not paying out and this ‘helmet / no helmet’ debate is something which has arisen from a misunderstanding by one of the family who were interviewed by the media or even mis-reporting.

It is this part of the story which interests me. I may be mistaken, but the family are quoted as saying [The tourist's family are now trying to raise £200,000 as it has not been possible to prove whether the man was wearing a helmet or not] This implies to me that the insurance company would cover the costs IF it could be proven that a helmet was being worn. Is there no onus on the insurance company to prove that a helmet was not being worn ??? i.e. IF I am involved in a car accident and am taken to hospital - could my insurance argue I was not wearing a seatbelt and refuse me cover ?.... IF I have a motorcycle accident, could my insurance accuse me of not wearing a helmet and refuse cover ??? What proof does the insurance company have that the injured party was not wearing a helmet (I agree, he probably wasn’t - but surely they’d need to be able to prove that and the onus should be on the insurance company).

To be a local, they say show me your address not your citizenship. That's the difference. Agreed.... Some many (people), posters such as stuttering dave don’t comprihined the difference between residency and citizenship.... The examples he has presented from the USA highlight dual pricing based on residency.... i.e. Thai who lives within (had residency) wit that state while receive the same resident discount and when crossing that state line may pay a higher price along with any other ‘out of state’ tourist. Any resident, regardless of nationality will have a parking sticker allowing them to park for less, regardless of the nationality of the resident. DDDave is also very wrong with all his examples... - When (IF) there is a difference a museum or public attraction charges the same rates to all Residents regardless of the nationality (i.e. a Thai resident of the UK pays the same rate as a British Resident of the UK), non-residents of any nationality may pay higher entrance fees - but this is not based on Nationality, its based on Residency. US National Parks do NOT charge Non-Citizens higher fees... they charge NON-Residents higher fees, a Thai can become a resident of any state and receive the same discount as any other resident from that state. This does not happen in Thailand - we can prove residency (Work Permit, Yellow Tabien Baan, Pink ID, Thai Driving licience etc), but none of this flies... the dual pricing is not based on residency, its based on nationality and is thus, unfair and a practice which is illegal in many nations. SO... Those of you who want to enter the debate regarding Dual Pricing - FIRST understand the difference between Citizenship (Nationality) and Residency, because you’re making yourselves look uneducated when you quote the same rubbish dddave has above.

When the government legalises and sectional dual pricing, it simply opens the door and sends the message to all officials and operator that ‘anything is fair game’..... That said: Those pickups priced a reasonable service that isn’t ridiculously inflated: - 150 baht for a full pickup which could be 10 of you... down to another part of the island for dinner etc... And... IF they weren’t controlled in numbers with a licensing, then there would be way too many on the island and it would be overcrowded with them (if it isn’t already) - think there are about the right amount of numbers of these pickups.

Thats surprising... I guess it depends where you are though, for the most part, I’m surprised when I get and there is no some sort of hassle ranging from seatbelt not working, to drivers being disgusting creatures, to brakes or part of the car sounding like its about ti fall apart.... and then there’s the actual refusals etc such as below... Depending on the area, at most times of day... with strong predictability drivers will: 1) Just quote a flat fare (I get back out) 2) Pull up (doors locked) and open the window (I won’t even talk with them) 3) Pull Op, I open he door and ask (they say cannot) 4) Pull up, I get in, they drive off, refuse the meter, I tell them to stop and get out. 5) Pull up, I get, state my direction, try to go a different direction, I have to demand they go in my direction (I’ve been here over 20 years and often know better than them). 6) Pull up, I get in, state my direction, driver clearly understands, asks me which route I want to take, and takes it, confirms before taking the exit I want... get to our direction without hassle, driver gets a nice tip.

This is the same as those inane responses complaining abut the price of a car here - do guys alway need to be reminded that at they are ’not in Kansas anymore’ ??????? ( a common used response to those who completely miss the point of a thread ).... In my home town I pay £250 for a taxi back home... In Bangkok a the taxi’s are charging 500B Thats 20x less... the difference is the distances are longer, the vehicles are better, the driver is safer.... and its a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Country !!!..... ITs all irrelevant what happens elsewhere. A Taxi from DM into town probably included 80 bat in tolls... and about 280 to 320 baht on the meter. Anything else is the driver trying to pocket extra - which is fair enough IF the driver is running a private taxi and that is his quoted fair upon booking. BUT, a tourist arriving at the airport is expecting to pay the legal metered fee, the face a rip-off at the very first step upon entering Thailand potentially setting the tone for the rest of their vacation. ------ Then, with the official Taxi’s.... some, the rear seatbelt doesn't work... other’s want to take the 50b receipt (so you have no recurse for complaint if they’ve take that slip)... entitles and Thainess slip through the gaps very quickly and it sends to a substandard service. I’ve had friends who have drivers fall as sleep and found the cars drifting lanes, pr drivers who want to stop off at the rest room (bathroom break), or need fuel etc.... I dont want to watching every exit just incase the driver pulls off at the last second without warning thus embedding us into a 30-60m packet of gridlock traffic when we could have circumnavigated it on the toll way. - No - it costs more - But is AOT limo all the way from me (its 1200 baht) but 99 % of potential issues are avoided... you get the quickest route and just swtich off...

This an example of what can and does happen when he foreigner in involved is simply weak... I know people won’t like that, but its a reality - in such cases the Police aren’t really blaming the foreigner, they’re just taking the path of least resistance and if the foreigner quickly accepts blame the BiB can just get one with what ever it was they weren’t doing...

So you are wearing a mask for a perfectly logical and sensible reason.... You aren’t wearing a mask just because everyone else is.

Not sure what you are waffling on about but during covid they were worn because.......... covid. No flies on you is there Sherlock !! Of course you aren’t sure... you haven’t learned to read properly yet !! ‘BEFORE’ covid !!...

Are they going to be fast tracked ???... Or, perhaps its not he cheating, its the getting caught thats the issue !!!

If we accept the figure that 5% were wearing face masks before covid. And now, after Covid 5% are not... Do you really think that all / most / the majority of those who are now wearing masks are doing so because of pollution that has always existed ??? How does that explain most people wearing masks in shopping malls and supermarkets where the air is clean ? NO... the majority of mask wearers are not wearing masks because coincidentally through covid they found some new understanding of air-pollution... They are wearing them because they did through covid and most don't want to be different and risk drawing undue attention now (i.e. bad citizens - not mask wearing)...

And a good one.....???? Is it... I mean unless the bank is extremely busy its rather pointless. I don’t mind wearing the mask if asked to (no issues there)... I’m more interested in thought processes and reasoning in such situations and whether the request is borne of critical thought or simply ‘doing something because someone thinks it should be done’... (look at us we’re being careful - mentality).

Another that knows nothing............ I think its a fair point to question whether or not masks stopped the spread - they clearly didn’t. Perhaps the better question is if masks limited the extent of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 - I believe it did. A lot of the mask discussion argues from the extremes of absolutes, whereby the reality is that on a community / nationwide level at the height of the pandemic when symptoms were serious isolation and mask wearing were effective but not water tight. The questions now needs to be asked if Covid-19 is still serious enough to necessitate mask wearing, people have used anecdote, but the ‘I know a guy who’ argument is a very poor attempt to punch holes in a an argument involving the general population. Many nations have decided mask wearing is no longer effective or necessary. Thailand has also officially decided mask wearing is no longer effective or necessary, yet much of society still wears a mask. Are all these individuals critically evaluating the effectiveness of mask wearing or are they wearing a mask because everyone else is ??? We’ve tried to discuss how mask wearing can impact communication and how that could have a negative impact on society on a whole - comparisons have been made with cultures in which ‘facial covering’ is the norm and used as an example of how those societies differ - we’re not allowed down that path of comparison for some reason... So, we’ll just have to limit that facet of the discussion to specifically whether or not we believe a society in which communication is hindered is impacted any manner, particularly from a mental health perspective. i.e. IF masks impact the ease of communication by hiding, micro-expressions, a passing smiles etc is there any impact to the health of society? is the general mood slightly less than it would be otherwise? do those very shy people and introverts feels any greater exclusion or isolation? In a large society these factors could be measurable. In the current situation I believe that the social impact of a whole society wearing masks is greater than the benefit they provide to society form a health perspective. Note: that is not to contradict the individuals choice to wear a mask due to pollution or when in a crowded environment... But, when society wears masks as a result of the ‘bandwagon effect’ whereby the vast majority are only wearing masks because everyone else is and they don't want to stand out, then I consider the potential advantages of wearing a mask are outweigh by the potential impact of doing so Now.. we’re not permitted to discuss examples of society where a significant proportion appears to be a negatively impact by such facial covering, so we’ll have to evaluate whether this negative impact is actually a thing or not... i.e. Question... In a society of 70 million - IF all are wearing masks would we see an increase those needing treatment for mental heath concerns?, would we see an increase in suicides? Would we see an increase in community crime?....

I think blaming the op for not being observant enough is extremely sanctimonious - he [Eloquent Pilgrim] stated "but you could easily have avoided the accident with a split second glance in your door mirror before turning.” That is sanctimonious and unfair IMO. Its not as if the Op was driving down the road, jumping lights etc... I find it unreasonable to suggest from the comfort of keyboard that a driver can always see what these motorcyclists are up to when they ‘dart out of nowhere’... One of the reasons I haven’t clipped motorcyclists in similar situations is blind luck and in some cases centimetres have mattered !!... I imagine that if we are being honest with ourselves, many of us can say the same. IF any driver believes they are so observant they can avoid any accident through the skill of their observations and defensive driving, they in for a lesson when their luck runs out.

No mocking... this is a discussion forum and throwing out theories, suspicious, interpretations etc exactly what forums such as this are for... If we are not permitted theories and discussions - we’d simply be reading the news. I think this is a decent theory and I’d agree, quite a possibility.

Yet its sometimes impossible... Eyes on stalks, head on a swivel, checking mirrors, blindspots, shoulder-checks... I’ll lost count of the amount of times I’ve so very nearly clipped a motorcycle when about to turn right and also very commonly when about to turn left... it was only through fortune that this didn’t happen. In my younger years here I was also involved in a very similar incident. Turning right... a van driving the wrong way up the clear bus lane (oncoming lane) hit me as I turned. He’d turned right onto the bus-lane and instead of joining the queuing traffic, just continued up the wrong side of the road (3 lanes on my side / 2 oncoming lanes (busses only) which was empty. The BiB were fair - the other van had no insurance, on the advice of my insurance guy I agreed to 50% and my insurance paid for my damages only. When people drive the way they do here its impossible to catch all of them all of the time and an incident is inevitable and can’t be avoided. It's easy for the sanctimonious to suggest we should have seen them / checked more carefully etc, but those same characters completely overlook reality... until it happens to them !.

Careful.... that won’t sit well with the sanctimonious judgment that Jimn is tripping over himself to dispatch !!! ????

Don't believe what the Ex SAS guy at the bar always tells you...

Were you able to make a copy ?... Could you not download it and send them the video of the incident ? In the past after witnessing an accident caught on Dash-cam, I gave the BiB a copy of the Dash-cam footage (sent via LineMessenger). Now you have to buy a new SD card...

How is someone able to recognise that a taxi driver is ‘pretending he knows’ ? If you take taxis a lot I understand that there are some ‘giveaways’, but for a newbie, I double they’ll be able to notice. Additionally, in the past (earlier years), I had to stay very alert and make sure the taxi driver did not take the wrong exit etc, for doing so could add a long time to the journey. I recall not paying attention at all when heading out to Don Muang... I dont know how it was even possible, but the taxi driver ended up heading south-bound on the Chaeng Wattana Expressway way rather than North-bound on the Don Muang Tollway !!!... I nearly missed my flight ! For someone who doesn’t want to worry about this stuff... I’d suggest getting the Airport Limo (AOT - IF they have them at DM).

Do AOT Limousine (Taxi) operate from the the baggage hall at Don Muang ? IF so, this would be the best way. Other options are Grab... Most regularly taxi’s will ’should know’... but.. you are taking a chance they might not which could be a hassle after a long flight.

Soon there will be another announcement from Immigraition that processing of each individual passenger only takes 90 seconds !!! This has gone on so long, does anyone in a position of decision making power actually care enough to genuinely impact change and improvement ?

The forced wearing of religious head-gear is not the same as mask wearing - the only similarity drawn is that religious head-gear that covers the face also impedes communication, those in societies in which this ‘face covering’ is prevalent are not known for their free communication - rather they are observed to be silent, muted, controlled... Meanwhile, where mask wearing for some is an informed choice, either due to protection from pollution or all viruses (N-95 masks), it would appear that a significant proportion of Thai society are wearing a mask not through informed choice but through personal concern that they may stand out if they don’t (the bandwagon effect). In a society where the vast majority of people wear masks communication may be hindered, people do not see the smile, the seemingly insignificant micro-interactions that matter to some and make a difference to others... These interactions make a difference on a subconscious level even if we do not consciously notice this, these interactions matter to a community where the very shy, the strongly introverted and people on the fringes may otherwise lack contact and feel isolated etc. People, such as yourself Trans, may not recognise or understand how such interaction matters to a community, but it does, and a community in which communication is hindered even slightly may be slightly less content - this is somewhat immeasurable except for extreme cases such as numbers for treatment of mental health and even as far as suicides. Now, someone may chose to grab hold of a ’straw’ from that comment, Gaslight that I have implied ‘if people have to wear masks they will commit suicide’ (I know how some can cling to such comments on this forum), but thats not what I mean, I mean that a society in which communication is hindered is going to be less content than a society in which there is no hinderance to communication whatsoever and a less content society and with it some social consequences. Thus, the question I have thought about is: Does mask wearing hinder communication, with absolute certainty it does. The question must then be posed: Does the non-wearing of mask present any greater risk to the physical health of society vs any impact of mask wearing on a societies mental heath (note: we’re no longer at the height of a Pandemic). Regarding pollution - I would suggest yes - but there is no need to wear a mask indoors then (in shopping centres etc) Regarding Covid, I would suggest no. Some people are still hysterical about covid, however, I believe there are greater risks to health from Influenza outbreaks than posed by Covid-19 in it current guise. These are the reasons I would wear a mask outdoors on days where pollution is considered high, also why I would wear a mask (N-95) on public transport (i.e. BTS)... These are also the reasons why I agree that mask wearing due to a ’bandwagon’ effect could potentially be detrimental to the wellbeing of a society in general.