Aussie woman’s birthday trip to Thailand a ‘holiday from hell’ after horror scooter crash

[Time Traveller]

Just as I thought when I read the headline, Another Travel Insurance propaganda infomercial promoted as if it's news.

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, tominbkk said:

Hmmmm, kind of sad if family and friends can't put together enough money to bring her home.   Also that the only money she had was for the trip and no other savings? Plus no insurance and not knowing how to ride a scooter properly.  Good luck to her, she'll need it!

Driving a scooter with very little experience ( assumed ) and much smaller wheels than a bike, turns faster and can catch you out, plus perhaps panic reactions to a horn behind you ie sudden grab at the brake makes it so much easier to fall off and give the following vehicle driver less chance to avoid you.

[fabphil]

Always always read the fine print and the do not cover inclusions, then read them again...insurance companies all differ with how they insure or dont insure riding or being on a motor cycle on various size motors....after u read the pdf on inclusion and exclusions ring them and email them to make sure.....thats my pennies worth, thats what i do....

[davidst01]

2 hours ago, Happy enough said:

"While Ms Liddle took out insurance before her trip, it appears her coverage does not insure her against this incident"

would be interesting to know why. most people know to make sure their insurance cover motorbikes when in thailand as chances are you are going to get on one at some point and well, the RTA figures speak for themselves. I have heard of people having insurance whether travel or expat where travelling on motorbikes was covered but they wouldn't pay out if you weren't wearing a helmet even if on mototaxi or your driving licence didn't cover you to ride motorbikes that kind of thing. at the end of the day most insurers are going to look for a way not to pay

that said, very unfortunate. one of so so many every year

on the 'covermore' policy one has to tick the box that you will be riding bikes. And you have to hold a bike license

[cottonpusher]

Whilst I wish her all the best and feel her pain I must ask the question if she is licensed (and was her friend for that matter) to ride a motorcycle in Australia or other parts of the world. I assume not otherwise the insurance would pay out.

Why would you choose a country where road deaths are some of the highest in the world to learn to ride a motorbike illegally?

You look old enough to know better.

Don't blame the country you are visiting for your mistake, sure the hygiene of the hospital is not as good as you expect but beggars can't be choosers!

[TechnikaIII]

3 hours ago, Happy enough said:

"While Ms Liddle took out insurance before her trip, it appears her coverage does not insure her against this incident"

would be interesting to know why. most people know to make sure their insurance cover motorbikes when in thailand as chances are you are going to get on one at some point and well, the RTA figures speak for themselves. I have heard of people having insurance whether travel or expat where travelling on motorbikes was covered but they wouldn't pay out if you weren't wearing a helmet even if on mototaxi or your driving licence didn't cover you to ride motorbikes that kind of thing. at the end of the day most insurers are going to look for a way not to pay

that said, very unfortunate. one of so so many every year

Typically, most "insurance" is all about the exclusion clauses.

 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

This is an all too tragic event which keeps reoccurring, perhaps governments

 

no

[Baerboxer]

3 hours ago, HooHaa said:

to the contrary, i would suggest that, to the vast majority of those who visit thailand, whether or not their insurance covers motorcycle accidents only occurs to them after a motorcycle accident.

 

Sadly I think that applies to most holiday makers who go anywhere. 

 

I had a friend who was a Holiday company rep on various Spanish and Greek islands. Same thing. Always warning people about renting scooters - are you experienced regular rider; are you aware of the driving differences; do you have insurance cover etc. 

Few listened. And many suffered injury and financial loss as a result.

[gamini]

3 hours ago, burgdawg said:

...the problem is multi-faceted. No easy solution other than word of this story to spread to the uninformed. Tragic. One must know their own limits to many things...swimming, motorbike riding, skiing, etc.

Falangs "assume" that scooters look "so innocent." Falling off two wheels, motorized or not is going to hurt. No one forced this gal to rent a motorbike. She made the rash decision.

 

All of us can do a better job telling others to "stay off all motorbikes." I advise many to hail a motorbike taxi. Or take a songataew.

I've been riding bicycles and motorcycles and scooter since I was six years old and I myself am shocked when friends "want me to teach them" how to ride a motorbike. Not on my watch! Many falangs that are newbies to Thailand are horrid pillion riders. Once, I stopped and order my passenger OFF my motorbike. He was so freaked out, he nearly caused a major accident. Tai women are the best pillion p;assengers in the world, no kidding---they've been on motorbikes their entire lives!

 

In USA, there is a $200 USD course offered by State Police and various motocycle shops sponsored by the MRF--Motorcycle Rider Foundation. An excellent course. Failing this course, my suggestion is devilishly simple---all driver's in the world wanting an International Driver's License must head to London! You got it----3-6 months of rigorous driving throughout England would shape up any driver from any country.

 

I landed at Newcastle in December 1972 and headed downthe M1 on my BMW R60/5. Excellent motorbike. I had never SEEN a roundabout before. My first one? I went round and round...figuring it all out. UK drivers are the best in the world. I would pull off the side of the road to take a break and was astonished when kind and inquisitive drivers checked to see if I was okay. I spent months riding about UK on my BMW. Here is the shocker---how come with the lousiest weather in the world, some of the top motorcyclists in the world hail from the UK? Just an observation. Brits take their motor vehicle skills very seriously.

 

Sorrow for this gal and her health. I hope docs can save her leg. Kon Tai assume that everyone in the world can handle a motorbike. Not so. Prayers to her and her family.

 

 

How do you come to the conclusion that Brit motor cyclists are some of the worlds best. You sound like some Brits claiming Brit food is the best in the world. Or have you driven in every country in the world  that you can make such a claim.

[cyberfarang]

3 hours ago, Happy enough said:

"While Ms Liddle took out insurance before her trip, it appears her coverage does not insure her against this incident"

would be interesting to know why. most people know to make sure their insurance cover motorbikes when in thailand as chances are you are going to get on one at some point and well, the RTA figures speak for themselves. I have heard of people having insurance whether travel or expat where travelling on motorbikes was covered but they wouldn't pay out if you weren't wearing a helmet even if on mototaxi or your driving licence didn't cover you to ride motorbikes that kind of thing. at the end of the day most insurers are going to look for a way not to pay

that said, very unfortunate. one of so so many every year

Loosely translated it means, the insurer may cover against accidents while riding motorbikes or motor scooter, but only if claimants are legally entitled to ride motorbikes. For example if their driving licences permit them to use motorbikes, and are 100% legal while on the road, they are wearing a helmet, the bike is taxed, insured and passed the annual government inspection. Many tourists in Thailand having virtually little or no experience riding motorbikes or of Thailand`s road, do not have a license to use motorbikes,  refuse to wear a helmet believing they can get away with breaking the laws here is easy, until something happens.

 

It`s not the fault of the insurance companies. Same old stories, time and time again, they just never learn.

[JungleBiker]

3 hours ago, burgdawg said:

Brits take their motor vehicle skills very seriously.

 

Thank you for the compliment sir. 

[pattayadgw]

While i feel for the young lady who has had the accident but i also feel it's about time the authorities jump all over the thousands of bike rentals companies and make sure they understand what is a real license... supply copies of australian, usa, uk, russian, chinese licenses to each and every rental company so they can cross-check to see if the persons license looks the same.  If the rental company provides a bike to a person who has no license and/or fake license and is caught, its straight to the big house for 12 months.  Remembering if a person has a fake and/or no license but has medical insurance... they wont be covered.  Think it maybe a good idea that any person renting a bike must show medical insurance and a real license before the company will give them a bike. 

[masuk]

3 hours ago, burgdawg said:

...the problem is multi-faceted. No easy solution other than word of this story to spread to the uninformed. Tragic. One must know their own limits to many things...swimming, motorbike riding, skiing, etc.

Falangs "assume" that scooters look "so innocent." Falling off two wheels, motorized or not is going to hurt. No one forced this gal to rent a motorbike. She made the rash decision.

 

All of us can do a better job telling others to "stay off all motorbikes." I advise many to hail a motorbike taxi. Or take a songataew.

I've been riding bicycles and motorcycles and scooter since I was six years old and I myself am shocked when friends "want me to teach them" how to ride a motorbike. Not on my watch! Many falangs that are newbies to Thailand are horrid pillion riders. Once, I stopped and order my passenger OFF my motorbike. He was so freaked out, he nearly caused a major accident. Tai women are the best pillion p;assengers in the world, no kidding---they've been on motorbikes their entire lives!

 

In USA, there is a $200 USD course offered by State Police and various motocycle shops sponsored by the MRF--Motorcycle Rider Foundation. An excellent course. Failing this course, my suggestion is devilishly simple---all driver's in the world wanting an International Driver's License must head to London! You got it----3-6 months of rigorous driving throughout England would shape up any driver from any country.

 

I landed at Newcastle in December 1972 and headed downthe M1 on my BMW R60/5. Excellent motorbike. I had never SEEN a roundabout before. My first one? I went round and round...figuring it all out. UK drivers are the best in the world. I would pull off the side of the road to take a break and was astonished when kind and inquisitive drivers checked to see if I was okay. I spent months riding about UK on my BMW. Here is the shocker---how come with the lousiest weather in the world, some of the top motorcyclists in the world hail from the UK? Just an observation. Brits take their motor vehicle skills very seriously.

 

Sorrow for this gal and her health. I hope docs can save her leg. Kon Tai assume that everyone in the world can handle a motorbike. Not so. Prayers to her and her family.

 

 

Strange comment about never having seen a traffic roundabout before.    

I once read that US forces faced a similar problem in the 1940s, when they arrived in the UK, and called them 'circular intersections', and many a jeep tracks were to be seen in the roundabout gardens.

Certainly they're part of the scenery all over Australia, even on multilane highways, and traffic flows very smoothly.

Not sure how safe they are in Thailand, as 'giving way to your right' is not always followed.

In Indonesia, it was very much a case of giving way to anything bigger than whatever you're riding/driving.

[ThaiWai]

That famous question "If everyone jumped off a bridge would you" comes to mind.  I see these tourists here in Phuket everyday (sorry to say mostly women but some guys too) on wobbly motorbikes not keeping up with traffic flow, in the wrong lane at the wrong time, not dressed for the weather, not wearing helmets, probably no motorcycle license or experience and often covered in bandages.  In Lotus the other day I saw a guy with the telltale bandage wrapped calves, wrists and elbows buying a full face helmet.  "A little late huh" I said.  If someone wants to kill themselves don't let me stop you but these people unknowingly put others at risk by driving in an unsafe manner.  I will keep saying it.  People refuse to take the taxis because of the mafia taxi rates and the motorbike seems like the cheapest option and since "everyone is doing it" risking their lives is a secondary thought.  Making all the taxis in Phuket use meters (with reasonable rates) will literally save lives.

[ThaiWai]

4 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

well she wont be doing that again !!

She won't be buying shoes in pairs anymore either it looks like.

[tonray]

9 minutes ago, gamini said:

How do you come to the conclusion that Brit motor cyclists are some of the worlds best. You sound like some Brits claiming Brit food is the best in the world. Or have you driven in every country in the world  that you can make such a claim.

By the time he had figured out how to exit the roundabout, Thatcher had reclaimed the Falklands and everything was right again. 

[Techno Viking]

they gunna be pissed when the rental company hands em bill for 300k to replace the scooter !

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, Thian said:

In that case the renter of the bike is responsible as well.

Responsible inasmuch as they simply facilitated the renters lack of judgement maybe. Nobody was forced at gunpoint to rent the bloody bike.

[ThaiWai]

3 hours ago, burgdawg said:

Brits take their motor vehicle skills very seriously.

Too bad they don't dental hygiene seriously.

[TKDfella]

I read the main article and apparently the lady's friend was in front. She heard 'beep beep' sounds and then finds her friend being hit by a bus then dragged under the wheels. So the question I'm asking who caused the accident? Anyone here read about witnesses to the accident?

[JungleBiker]

9 minutes ago, gamini said:

How do you come to the conclusion that Brit motor cyclists are some of the worlds best. 

2

He didn't conclude that. He said "some of the top motorcyclists in the world hail from the UK". Different meaning. He's talking about riders like the late Joey Dunlop, his nephew Michael Dunlop, Guy Martin, the late Mike Hailwood, the late Barry Sheene, Mick Grant, Ron Haslam, and many others that I don't know because I prefer bikes without engines!  

[NanLaew]

These stories always refer to the despair and hand-wringing helplessness of 'the loved ones' when in all reality it should refer to the despair and hand-wringing helplessness of 'the close friends and relatives of this incredibly dumb person'.

 

Absolutely no sympathy from NL in these instances.

 

None.

 

Nada.

 

Zilch.

[Tchooptip]

I can not say how many motorcycles and scooters I have had in my life, but a certain number. Among others, a 650 XJ, a KTM cross, a Yamaha TY trial, 2 or 3 Vespa 125 cc, a Gilera Runner 180cc 2stroke a real bomb in town by the way, and so on, life is long LOL

However, despite this experience,  I never qualified myself as a biker.
I ride a scooter every day for 5 years on Koh Samui, never more than 40 km/h in cities area and round 60 km/h on the road.

But...I am constantly overtaken at full speed by young or very young tourists the majority without helmets. What should I say?

No comment that's all.

I also have an SUV that I rarely take because parking is not easy in Samui,

every bend of the road I guess they will not be able to stay on their left and that I will find them in front of the car in the middle of the road,

I am right 99% of the time.

[farcanell]

4 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

I read the main article and apparently the lady's friend was in front. She heard 'beep beep' sounds and then finds her friend being hit by a bus then dragged under the wheels. So the question I'm asking who caused the accident? Anyone here read about witnesses to the accident?

Unfortunately people’s new to the area, wether experienced riders/ drivers or not, don’t know that “beep beep” really means “ get out of my way or I’ll run you down!”

 

im of the firm belief that any driver who has the time to beep his horn and flash his lights, also has the time to slow down and/ or avoid a collision, which is what he should be concentrating on, vs the “beep beeping”

 

that said... Thailand is definitely not the place to be learning how to ride a bike.

 

even as an experienced rider on a bigger bike, I’m continually amazed by the speed and manner that I’m overtaken.... every minute of every day that I’m on my own bike. It’s crazy

[spectrumisgreen]

3 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

I appreciate your candor and totally agree with you, but as we all know here in the LOS, its all about the money, money, money, in other words, Thai could think like this, i.e. opposed to us; OMB if we stop people coming in who don't have travel insurance, Thailand will sink

Well, no it wouldn't. Having adequate travel insurance is a personal responsibility. Considering the cost of flights, the extra cost of insurance isn't much to shout about, and people SHOULD be made to ensure they have it. Either way, jumping on a motorcycle on roads you have no idea about should be a simple no-no!! Its actually quite a 'Thai' way of thinking to assume something which looks, seems, so 'fun' couldn't possibly cause you serious harm!!! I've personally been riding my Honda-Click scooter here (in Chiang Mai) for almost nine years now, and me and my (Thai) girlfriend generally hire one when we travel south, but I still wouldn't recommend it to any visitor, especially on the 'crazier' roads around Phuket and Pattaya, especially as a friend of mine from my hometown in England, lost his son in such an accident here a few years back!!!

[Thian]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

My travel insurance is voided if I ride a m'bike over a certain cc and if I don't have a valid m'bike licence and if I am not wearing a helmet. Some policies require an extra payment to cover m'bikes.

 

The real problem is that some tourists leave their brains at immigration.

It's past time for any tourist to require travel insurance on arrival, or be denied entry. Too many stories about tourist's family "desperately" trying to raise money because the injured person didn't have insurance.

 

 

Yes but i had expected Aussie's to be smarter than this, driving motobike without license or insurance is just very dumb, in any country and especially in thailand.

 

And the Aussies know very well that thailand is so dangerous for them.

 

When i was on Samui in a resort a young aussie even drove into me when i stepped out of my bungalow, he drove his motobike into the resort over the walkingpaths. He was lucky i wasn't injured but it's time their government teaches them some manners before they go on holidays.

[cornishcarlos]

No mention in the story of what actually happened !! Just a bus hit her then ran over her...

Who was at fault ?

[thaiguzzi]

1 minute ago, cornishcarlos said:

No mention in the story of what actually happened !! Just a bus hit her then ran over her...

Who was at fault ?

Exactly. If the bus driver is at fault, his company should be paying for EVERYTHING. But, TIT....

[speckio]

I find it interesting that Thailand is the top deadly destination for Aussies traveling abroad.... and Australia is the country known as everything in Australia wants to kill you. 

 

Let me get this straight...these people have the wits to thrive in a place where everything is trying to kill them, but have a hard time surviving in the land of smiles!!!?????

Edited October 31, 2017 by speckio

[stevenl]

5 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

"My sister took a risk that she would never take here in Australia"

 

Therein lies the problem, but good luck to the young lady.

Different accident.