Heartbreak for family of Australian man seriously injured in hit and run on Koh Samui

[rooster59]

Heartbreak for family of Australian man seriously injured in hit and run on Koh Samui

 

Ben French has been fighting for life since crashing his scooter last Wednesday. (9NEWS)

 

The family of an Australian man who was severely injured after being involved in a hit and run accident on Koh Samui have been told he is unlikely to survive.

 

Benjamin French, 36, was on the island to attend a friends wedding when he was hit by a car while riding a motorcycle at around 4am on 28th March.

 

He suffered catastrophic injuries which included breaks to all of his ribs, punctured lungs, breaks to his spinal cord and several injuries to his brain.

 

While Benjamin had travel insurance he did not have an Australian motorcycle license and because of this his insurance company refused to pay out.

 

The insurance company said the lack of a motorcycle license invalidated Benjamin’s insurance policy.

 

Left with hefty medical bills which stood at approximately $20,000 per day, Benjamin’s family launched a GoFundMe appeal to raise funds in order to fly him back to Australia using the Medevac service.

 

The fundraising appeal reached the $90,000 target and on Friday, Benjamin was flown back to Perth and taken to the intensive care unit at the Royal Perth Hospital.

 

However, shortly after arrival Benjamin suffered two strokes and now doctors have told his family that he is unlikely to regain consciousness for his coma, 9 News reported.

 

The family now face medical bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars for Benjamin’s treatment in Thailand, which included having his part of his skull removed, brain surgery and blood transfusions.

 

Source: 9 News

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-04-08

[darksidedog]

Very sad news. I had hoped given the money people generously donated that the care he was getting would help him recover.

The roads here are seriously dangerous for the unwary and inexperienced, so it really is time that bikes can only be rented to people with valid licenses. I know the profit made will stop this happening, but in a country full of Buddhist ideals, life really should be more valuable than money.

[Lingba]

good ole hit and run on Thailand..by nice responsible morons..

[meatboy]

1 minute ago, darksidedog said:

Very sad news. I had hoped given the money people generously donated that the care he was getting would help him recover.

The roads here are seriously dangerous for the unwary and inexperienced, so it really is time that bikes can only be rented to people with valid licenses. I know the profit made will stop this happening, but in a country full of Buddhist ideals, life really should be more valuable than money.

just hope all the Australians read this before coming here.

[ThreeEyedRaven]

2 minutes ago, meatboy said:

just hope all the Australians read this before coming here.

Not just the Aussies. There are crash victims from everywhere. Very few, if any seem to have the slightest clue about the dangers.

I feel really sad for his family.

[smedly]

sad story indeed

 

but how are his family or anyone else responsible for "his" medical bills

[moana]

7 minutes ago, smedly said:

how are his family or anyone else responsible for "his" medical bills

They probably signed quite a few papers in order to get him treated, and are now bound contractually.

[AGareth2]

when there is life there is hope

needs a miracle though

[Pat in Pattaya]

What about the scum that hit him?

 

Breaks my heart reading (regular) stuff like this.

[jenny2017]

49 minutes ago, Lingba said:

good ole hit and run on Thailand..by nice responsible morons..

It wasn't a hit and run. 

 

    There'll be the day when they must decide to switch the machines off. I hope some people will read this sad story. 

[taipan1949]

Excuse me BUT, riding around Thailand at 4:00am on a scooter when probably 90% of the drivers are either drunk or on ya ba???? When I lived and worked in Thailand we were advised, by whom I will not say, if you hit something at night shut off your lights and drive like hell because if you stop the person you may have hit, wearing black and walking down the middle of the road, will have more relatives come out of the work and you will never be able to pay them all. Also another trick the Thais used to pull and we were told never to stop at night. The Thais would wait for us leaving Map Ta Phut if we had to work overtime and into the night they would drive up behind our trucks and hit us to make us stop. I guess a few stopped and were beaten and robbed and some lost their company trucks. Night time is dangerous in Thailand.

[sanemax]

59 minutes ago, Lingba said:

good ole hit and run on Thailand..by nice responsible morons..

This wasnt a hit and run, and the unfortunate guy wasnt acting responsibly .

[jenny2017]

29 minutes ago, taipan1949 said:

Excuse me BUT, riding around Thailand at 4:00am on a scooter when probably 90% of the drivers are either drunk or on ya ba???? When I lived and worked in Thailand we were advised, by whom I will not say, if you hit something at night shut off your lights and drive like hell because if you stop the person you may have hit, wearing black and walking down the middle of the road, will have more relatives come out of the work and you will never be able to pay them all. Also another trick the Thais used to pull and we were told never to stop at night. The Thais would wait for us leaving Map Ta Phut if we had to work overtime and into the night they would drive up behind our trucks and hit us to make us stop. I guess a few stopped and were beaten and robbed and some lost their company trucks. Night time is dangerous in Thailand.

What does that mean? "I guess a few stopped and were beaten and robbed and some lost their company trucks?" Have you got a link? 

[smedly]

25 minutes ago, sanemax said:

This wasnt a hit and run, and the unfortunate guy wasnt acting responsibly .

I think most people (without digging deeper) are going on the topic title, perhaps you know more, why not share

[metisdead]

A post containing a link to the Daily Mail has been removed. The Daily Mail was blocked a couple years ago, some Thai internet service providers seem to allow the Daily Mail while some service providers still block them:

 

[sanemax]

11 minutes ago, smedly said:

I think most people (without digging deeper) are going on the topic title, perhaps you know more, why not share

It was in the original thread that no other vehicles were involved

[samsensam]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

Very sad news. I had hoped given the money people generously donated that the care he was getting would help him recover.

The roads here are seriously dangerous for the unwary and inexperienced, so it really is time that bikes can only be rented to people with valid licenses. I know the profit made will stop this happening, but in a country full of Buddhist ideals, life really should be more valuable than money.

 

i agree with your sentiments regarding the injured man, however why do you put the onus of responsibility on the renter and not the rentee? it is common knowledge the roads in thailand are the most dangerous in the world for motorcycle riders. therefore it is up to the rentee, as responsible adults, to ensure they have adequate insurance, protective clothing and experience if they intend to ride a motorcycle here - and even then, personally, i would advise against it due to the behaviour of other road users.

[darksidedog]

15 minutes ago, samsensam said:

 

i agree with your sentiments regarding the injured man, however why do you put the onus of responsibility on the renter and not the rentee? it is common knowledge the roads in thailand are the most dangerous in the world for motorcycle riders. therefore it is up to the rentee, as responsible adults, to ensure they have adequate insurance, protective clothing and experience if they intend to ride a motorcycle here - and even then, personally, i would advise against it due to the behaviour of other road users.

Try renting a car in England without a license and see how far you get. They won't rent you a vehicle without one, regardless of if they lose a deal. There are very good reasons why they do so. Aside from the legalities, without a license and experience, their vehicle is likely to be damaged.

Here, the renters don't really care, because there is no legal comeback on them, and they get the money from you for any damages anyway.

The fact they rent them out so easy leads people to believe they don't really need a license and ride off oblivious to the fact that they have no insurance either.

Most also don't have the first clue how to ride a bike, or any awareness that they are on roads full of reckless, speeding idiots, who have almost total disregard for the laws or other motorists. While this is common knowledge here, for first time visitors, it is not. It is a recipe for disaster, that regularly ends up just like this sad case.

[Tchooptip]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

This wasnt a hit and run, and the unfortunate guy wasnt acting responsibly .

A few days ago we read his sister telling no one else was involved, he lost control of his bike alone. so???? 

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

sad story indeed

 

but how are his family or anyone else responsible for "his" medical bills

That's a very good question.

[jenny2017]

Just now, possum1931 said:

That's a very good question.

He wasn't able to sign anything, so I'd guess his family must have signed up for him. 

[marko kok prong]

I basically avoid even driving my car at night,Dak -Daks with no lights ,motorbikes with no lights,dogs, cars who refuse to lower the high beam ,Tractors often with a bright white light shining from the rear so you don't know if it is coming at you or away. It's bad enough in the day time,let alone in the dark.Also nothing would persaude me to drive a motorbike in Thailand.

[sanemax]

2 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

A few days ago we read his sister telling no one else was involved, he lost control of his bike alone. so???? 

so....................it wasnt a hit and run , like stated in the post that I was replying to

[sanemax]

As his condition deteriorated after his long flight back to Australia , it may have been better to keep him in hospital in Thailand .

  Thailand has world class hospitals, but, the expense would have to be taken into consideration

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, moana said:

They probably signed quite a few papers in order to get him treated, and are now bound contractually.

I think Thailand must accept a lot of the blame for this for allowing rental companies to hire out motorbikes to people who are not qualified to ride them, and probably not insuring their bikes for people who are qualified to ride them.

[NoshowJones]

20 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Try renting a car in England without a license and see how far you get. They won't rent you a vehicle without one, regardless of if they lose a deal. There are very good reasons why they do so. Aside from the legalities, without a license and experience, their vehicle is likely to be damaged.

Here, the renters don't really care, because there is no legal comeback on them, and they get the money from you for any damages anyway.

The fact they rent them out so easy leads people to believe they don't really need a license and ride off oblivious to the fact that they have no insurance either.

Most also don't have the first clue how to ride a bike, or any awareness that they are on roads full of reckless, speeding idiots, who have almost total disregard for the laws or other motorists. While this is common knowledge here, for first time visitors, it is not. It is a recipe for disaster, that regularly ends up just like this sad case.

Excellent post, and I just cannot understand anyone clicking on "sad".

[StefanBBK]

As his condition deteriorated after his long flight back to Australia , it may have been better to keep him in hospital in Thailand .
  Thailand has world class hospitals, but, the expense would have to be taken into consideration

shame that cost had to be the determinating factor.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[BigC]

Allot of the big accidents happen around early hours of the morning 

[jenny2017]

11 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I think Thailand must accept a lot of the blame for this for allowing rental companies to hire out motorbikes to people who are not qualified to ride them, and probably not insuring their bikes for people who are qualified to ride them.

Why Thailand? The shops must offer a special insurance that covers all expenses, including hospital and damage to the bike.

And bikes for rent should be checked every three to six months if the brakes, tires, chains, etc are good.

The cops must check on these shop owners and if they don't follow, a hefty fine should change their mind.

And of course no bikes for people without a license, a helmet of good quality a must? Would that be too much? 

[NoshowJones]

20 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

He wasn't able to sign anything, so I'd guess his family must have signed up for him. 

From Australia?