Crash, boom, bang !

[Kerryd]

So, this happened on my most recent road trip in Thailand.
 

I had a minor accident in Si Sa Ket a couple weeks ago. I'd left an intersection after waiting for the light to change and was riding normally as I'd noticed there was a police check just past the lights. I'm not a fast rider anyways as I prefer to enjoy the ride, not set speed records.
The police waved me through and I was only about 1km from my destination so I wasn't in a hurry and was doing maybe 45-50 km/hr. Small scooter in the left lane ahead of me, right lane was clear so I moved over expecting to pass the scooter. Suddenly the scooter started pulling into the lane ahead of me (no signal lights and the drivers head never moved so I know he didn't look as I was watching him). I move further to the right and he moves further over as well. If I didn't know better I'd have sworn he was deliberately trying to force me into the oncoming traffic. I thought I'd still be able to get by him when he suddenly started to make a right turn directly in front of me ! Holey **** !!

I tried to get around him and almost made it. Just barely clipped him but it was enough to send me flying and skidding down the road.

 

I recall telling myself I should roll to try and avoid road rash but then I realized I'd already stopped moving. I got to my knees and starting slamming the ground with my hands while cursing very loudly. I started to get up and people around me were telling me to stay down, thinking I may have been hurt. I slammed the ground a couple more times while educating the locals in some of the more common profanities used in the English language. Did a quick "function test" and determined that all my bits and pieces were still attached and unbroken and then stood up to survey the damage. 

The people on the other bike were being helped to their feet and there was an Emergency crew there already (probably from the checkpoint at the intersection which was less than 500 meters away). Seems I went about 50 feet before coming to a stop and bits of my bike were strewn along the center divider strip (4 lane road with a painted strip in the middle about a meter wide). 
Some onlookers helped me stand my bike up as it was leaking fuel onto the road. The medics came over to check me out but I waved them off as I didn't see/feel anything that need attention.

I was quite pi$$ed off as everything had been going so well up to that point. It was about 10:30 in the morning, fine weather, good roads and light traffic. I'd ridden from Pattaya to Korat one day, then to Khon Kaen for a couple days, then to Sakon Nakhon for a couple more and was almost at the halfway point of that day's ride. It was a matter of a few seconds/couple of meters and everything would have been fine. Or if the other driver had of simply LOOKED (and/or signalled) before deciding to cut across 2 lanes and making a turn.

The police were there very quickly and I told the senior officer what had happened (as far as I was concerned). He pointed at my GoPro but I told him it wasn't recording because the battery had died hours earlier. Bluddy thing has a battery life of maybe 2 hours and I'd already been riding for nearly 5 1/2 hours. (Ordering a new camera system with front and rear cameras that runs off of bike power though of course I'm hoping it won't be an issue in the future.)
I then pulled out a thingy that had the 24 contact number for the insurance company and he pointed at that and said "Insurance ?". I said yes and suddenly it was like nothing mattered anymore. No one was concerned about who did what or how. They loaded the scooter into a truck and took it to the police station. My bike wouldn't start and after about 15 tries, one cop helped me push it into a covered parking area near a bank branch. I then hopped on the back of his scooter and we went to the local police station. I called a friend to let him know what had happened and that I'd need his staff to come get the bike as it wasn't rideable.

Called the Insurance company and they dispatched a rep from Si Sa Ket. About an hour later he showed up. I explained to him what happened, he talked to the police guy I'd spoken to previously. Insurance guy had me sign a blank form and then took off to take photos of the scooter and then he went to where my bike was and took more pics.
About an hour later, an old couple (looked like they were in their mid-70s at least!!) showed up. They were the ones on the other bike. They were both walking and talking normally, no signs of any damage but they had a bag full of different kinds of pills the hospital had given them. I tried to ask if they were OK but no one seemed too concerned either way.

The Insurance guy came back, talked to the old couple for a few minutes and finished some paperwork. Then we all went to another room and waited for a different police officer to make a report of some kind, which me and the other driver had to sign (no idea what it said of course). The Insurance guy said we had to pay a small fine for "being involved in a motorcycle accident" and that was it ! (Naturally, I was the only one who had to actually pay but I wasn't going to complain about a 400 baht fine at that point.)
The old guy didn't have to pay anything and the Insurance guy said they'd take care of his hospital bill and repairs to his scooter. I looked at his scooter. The only thing that seemed broken was his right mirror !! No idea if the guy had a licence, or insurance (even the mandatory kind) or if the bike was even registered. 

I was shaking my head at how they got away with almost no damage or apparent injuries while my bike was in pieces and I had a throbbing pain that started in my right hip about 30 minutes after I arrived at the police station. It seems that I had almost gotten around them and basically their bike just fell over but my evasive manoeuvre resulted in me going for a tumble. 
Once the fine was paid, the Insurance guy had a talk with the old couple and we drove to a shop where the Insurance guy had a short convo with a woman who was rather agitated, then the old couple got back on their scooter and rode off.

The Insurance guy took me to my bike. I told him I was going to get a room at a local spot a couple hundred meters down the road but wasn't sure if the bike would start. Surprisingly, the bike started on the first try. Had to wrench the hand controls more or less back into place and there was an issue with the clutch but I was able to start putting down the road with the Insurance guy behind me. He apparently noticed that I didn't know where the hotel (ummm - sort of hotel) was and went ahead of me to lead the way and when we got there he made sure they had a room available and that I was good to go, then he took off. Seemed like a decent fellow.

All in all, it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4 hours from the time of the accident until I was in the hotel room waiting for my buddy's staff to come get the bike. I had checked myself out a little better when I was at the police station. My leather jacket had some scuffing on the right sleeve and that was it. No damage to my pants, boots or helmet at all. Had a tiny little cut on my little finger on my right hand and somehow, another tiny little cut in the joint between the index and middle finger of my left hand despite the fact I'd been wearing gloves. I guess I somehow landed on my right arm and hip, rolled onto my stomach and that was it. (Had a might nice bruise develop on my right hip a couple days later and some pain and stiffness in the area, but a week later I was pretty much back to normal).

The big hassle now is getting all the parts to repair the bike. New crash guard. New foot boards, mirrors, control levers, headlight, spot lamp, saddle bag and saddlebag bracket. Pretty much all of the damage was "cosmetic" and no damage to the wheels/forks/fender/frame/engine/etc. Luckily I had been going fairly slow at the time. I can imagine what the result could have been had I been doing 90-100 km/hr instead of 45-50. (Then I tell myself that if I had of been driving faster, I would have been long gone before the old guy decided to suddenly cut across the road, but you can't foretell those things of course. If I'd been riding faster I may have encountered another incident somewhere else on the road that I would have missed if I'd been riding slower.)

What may be the most annoying thing about the whole incident (beside the fact it wouldn't have happened at all if grandpa had of been paying attention) is that I was riding in my normal, safe and sane fashion yet I watch friends ride (and drive) like raped apes on steroids all the time and they never seem to have any problems !
My buddy used me as an excuse to take a short holiday to come "rescue me" and then take his wife home to Nong Khai for a day so she could do the Songkran thang with her mom. My buddy was driving fairly normally and we still almost ended up in a couple of accidents in his SUV from other drivers doing stupid things, like suddenly changing lanes without signalling or literally stopping in the middle of the right lane for no apparent reason then making a right turn or turning onto a main road without looking for oncoming traffic (all the "usual" things). He's one of the guys that normally rides his big bike like it's Death Race 2000 every time he gets on it but he's slowed down a bit in recent years. 

I was imagining what I would say if I was in 2 accidents in 2 days, with 2 different vehicles in 2 different places but under almost the exact same circumstances (no, we didn't go buy lottery tickets that had "222" in the number - but I did challenge people to look at my big black bruise a couple days later to see if they could see any "lucky" numbers in it) !!

 

 Oh well, rainy season is almost here anyways and that was going to be my last "big" trip for this riding season. Lots of time to get the bike fixed and take some shorter trips before next fall and then I can plan on going back to Si Sa Ket and finishing that trip. Might have to make one to Nong Khai in late October as well to see the "Naga Fireballs" and then off to Chiang Mai in early December again. 
Still want to make a trip into Laos one day as well to go see the Plain of Jars and if that goes well, maybe ride the bike to Siam Reap in the New Year (took a taxi from the border last year as I was travelling with some friends that where here on holiday). 
 

 

 

 

[JonnyF]

Glad it wasn't more serious. 

 

Most of the close calls I've had have been bikes and cars moving from the "slow" lane into the "fast" lane to make a U Turn. I swear they just do this without looking. If I see a U Turn I used to worry about the people coming the other direction turning into me, but now I'm just as worried about the people going the same direction as me as they often decide to take the U Turn last minute and swerve across me. Scooters are the worst as they don't want to ride in the fast lane for long so they stay left as long as possible then lurch across with no warning.

 

Had another couple of close calls overtaking slow moving large cement trucks. People cross the road just in front of the truck not thinking that anyone could be overtaking the truck at a higher speed. It's scary stuff out there.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

Is there a summarised version?

[Odysseus123]

14 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Is there a summarised version?

Came,saw,crashed.

[Kerryd]

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Is there a summarised version?

Was riding in Si Sa Ket.

Got cut off by a senior citizen who cut across 2 lanes and tried to make a right turn in front of me.

Took just 4 hours from time of accident until everything was finalized and I was "on my way" again.

Only paid a 400 baht ticket.

Didn't win the lottery.

[DILLIGAD]

So, this happened on my most recent road trip in Thailand.
 
I had a minor accident in Si Sa Ket a couple weeks ago. I'd left an intersection after waiting for the light to change and was riding normally as I'd noticed there was a police check just past the lights. I'm not a fast rider anyways as I prefer to enjoy the ride, not set speed records.
The police waved me through and I was only about 1km from my destination so I wasn't in a hurry and was doing maybe 45-50 km/hr. Small scooter in the left lane ahead of me, right lane was clear so I moved over expecting to pass the scooter. Suddenly the scooter started pulling into the lane ahead of me (no signal lights and the drivers head never moved so I know he didn't look as I was watching him). I move further to the right and he moves further over as well. If I didn't know better I'd have sworn he was deliberately trying to force me into the oncoming traffic. I thought I'd still be able to get by him when he suddenly started to make a right turn directly in front of me ! Holey **** !!
I tried to get around him and almost made it. Just barely clipped him but it was enough to send me flying and skidding down the road.
 
I recall telling myself I should roll to try and avoid road rash but then I realized I'd already stopped moving. I got to my knees and starting slamming the ground with my hands while cursing very loudly. I started to get up and people around me were telling me to stay down, thinking I may have been hurt. I slammed the ground a couple more times while educating the locals in some of the more common profanities used in the English language. Did a quick "function test" and determined that all my bits and pieces were still attached and unbroken and then stood up to survey the damage. 
The people on the other bike were being helped to their feet and there was an Emergency crew there already (probably from the checkpoint at the intersection which was less than 500 meters away). Seems I went about 50 feet before coming to a stop and bits of my bike were strewn along the center divider strip (4 lane road with a painted strip in the middle about a meter wide). 
Some onlookers helped me stand my bike up as it was leaking fuel onto the road. The medics came over to check me out but I waved them off as I didn't see/feel anything that need attention.

I was quite pi$$ed off as everything had been going so well up to that point. It was about 10:30 in the morning, fine weather, good roads and light traffic. I'd ridden from Pattaya to Korat one day, then to Khon Kaen for a couple days, then to Sakon Nakhon for a couple more and was almost at the halfway point of that day's ride. It was a matter of a few seconds/couple of meters and everything would have been fine. Or if the other driver had of simply LOOKED (and/or signalled) before deciding to cut across 2 lanes and making a turn.

The police were there very quickly and I told the senior officer what had happened (as far as I was concerned). He pointed at my GoPro but I told him it wasn't recording because the battery had died hours earlier. Bluddy thing has a battery life of maybe 2 hours and I'd already been riding for nearly 5 1/2 hours. (Ordering a new camera system with front and rear cameras that runs off of bike power though of course I'm hoping it won't be an issue in the future.)
I then pulled out a thingy that had the 24 contact number for the insurance company and he pointed at that and said "Insurance ?". I said yes and suddenly it was like nothing mattered anymore. No one was concerned about who did what or how. They loaded the scooter into a truck and took it to the police station. My bike wouldn't start and after about 15 tries, one cop helped me push it into a covered parking area near a bank branch. I then hopped on the back of his scooter and we went to the local police station. I called a friend to let him know what had happened and that I'd need his staff to come get the bike as it wasn't rideable.

Called the Insurance company and they dispatched a rep from Si Sa Ket. About an hour later he showed up. I explained to him what happened, he talked to the police guy I'd spoken to previously. Insurance guy had me sign a blank form and then took off to take photos of the scooter and then he went to where my bike was and took more pics.
About an hour later, an old couple (looked like they were in their mid-70s at least!!) showed up. They were the ones on the other bike. They were both walking and talking normally, no signs of any damage but they had a bag full of different kinds of pills the hospital had given them. I tried to ask if they were OK but no one seemed too concerned either way.

The Insurance guy came back, talked to the old couple for a few minutes and finished some paperwork. Then we all went to another room and waited for a different police officer to make a report of some kind, which me and the other driver had to sign (no idea what it said of course). The Insurance guy said we had to pay a small fine for "being involved in a motorcycle accident" and that was it ! (Naturally, I was the only one who had to actually pay but I wasn't going to complain about a 400 baht fine at that point.)
The old guy didn't have to pay anything and the Insurance guy said they'd take care of his hospital bill and repairs to his scooter. I looked at his scooter. The only thing that seemed broken was his right mirror !! No idea if the guy had a licence, or insurance (even the mandatory kind) or if the bike was even registered. 

I was shaking my head at how they got away with almost no damage or apparent injuries while my bike was in pieces and I had a throbbing pain that started in my right hip about 30 minutes after I arrived at the police station. It seems that I had almost gotten around them and basically their bike just fell over but my evasive manoeuvre resulted in me going for a tumble. 
Once the fine was paid, the Insurance guy had a talk with the old couple and we drove to a shop where the Insurance guy had a short convo with a woman who was rather agitated, then the old couple got back on their scooter and rode off.
The Insurance guy took me to my bike. I told him I was going to get a room at a local spot a couple hundred meters down the road but wasn't sure if the bike would start. Surprisingly, the bike started on the first try. Had to wrench the hand controls more or less back into place and there was an issue with the clutch but I was able to start putting down the road with the Insurance guy behind me. He apparently noticed that I didn't know where the hotel (ummm - sort of hotel) was and went ahead of me to lead the way and when we got there he made sure they had a room available and that I was good to go, then he took off. Seemed like a decent fellow.

All in all, it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4 hours from the time of the accident until I was in the hotel room waiting for my buddy's staff to come get the bike. I had checked myself out a little better when I was at the police station. My leather jacket had some scuffing on the right sleeve and that was it. No damage to my pants, boots or helmet at all. Had a tiny little cut on my little finger on my right hand and somehow, another tiny little cut in the joint between the index and middle finger of my left hand despite the fact I'd been wearing gloves. I guess I somehow landed on my right arm and hip, rolled onto my stomach and that was it. (Had a might nice bruise develop on my right hip a couple days later and some pain and stiffness in the area, but a week later I was pretty much back to normal).

The big hassle now is getting all the parts to repair the bike. New crash guard. New foot boards, mirrors, control levers, headlight, spot lamp, saddle bag and saddlebag bracket. Pretty much all of the damage was "cosmetic" and no damage to the wheels/forks/fender/frame/engine/etc. Luckily I had been going fairly slow at the time. I can imagine what the result could have been had I been doing 90-100 km/hr instead of 45-50. (Then I tell myself that if I had of been driving faster, I would have been long gone before the old guy decided to suddenly cut across the road, but you can't foretell those things of course. If I'd been riding faster I may have encountered another incident somewhere else on the road that I would have missed if I'd been riding slower.)

What may be the most annoying thing about the whole incident (beside the fact it wouldn't have happened at all if grandpa had of been paying attention) is that I was riding in my normal, safe and sane fashion yet I watch friends ride (and drive) like raped apes on steroids all the time and they never seem to have any problems !
My buddy used me as an excuse to take a short holiday to come "rescue me" and then take his wife home to Nong Khai for a day so she could do the Songkran thang with her mom. My buddy was driving fairly normally and we still almost ended up in a couple of accidents in his SUV from other drivers doing stupid things, like suddenly changing lanes without signalling or literally stopping in the middle of the right lane for no apparent reason then making a right turn or turning onto a main road without looking for oncoming traffic (all the "usual" things). He's one of the guys that normally rides his big bike like it's Death Race 2000 every time he gets on it but he's slowed down a bit in recent years. 

I was imagining what I would say if I was in 2 accidents in 2 days, with 2 different vehicles in 2 different places but under almost the exact same circumstances (no, we didn't go buy lottery tickets that had "222" in the number - but I did challenge people to look at my big black bruise a couple days later to see if they could see any "lucky" numbers in it) !!
 
 Oh well, rainy season is almost here anyways and that was going to be my last "big" trip for this riding season. Lots of time to get the bike fixed and take some shorter trips before next fall and then I can plan on going back to Si Sa Ket and finishing that trip. Might have to make one to Nong Khai in late October as well to see the "Naga Fireballs" and then off to Chiang Mai in early December again. 
Still want to make a trip into Laos one day as well to go see the Plain of Jars and if that goes well, maybe ride the bike to Siam Reap in the New Year (took a taxi from the border last year as I was travelling with some friends that where here on holiday). 
 
 
 
 

Having lived in Sisaket province for the last 6 years, I believe the standard of driving/riding there is atrocious even for Thai standards. The local BIB see that you have insurance and that’s an immediate ‘get out of jail’ card for them to do no further work and go back to watching TV or to the bar.


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[johng]

When they cut across to the right you should go left...not more right.

[Fruit Trader]

Just a small adjustment to the short version.

 

Was riding in Si Sa Ket.

Got two warnings that a senior citizen was about to make the classic Thai right turn.

Made the wrong move and got cut off as he tried to make a right turn in front of me.

Took just 4 hours from time of accident until everything was finalized and I was "on my way" again.

Only paid a 400 baht ticket.

Didn't win the lottery.

[BBJ]

So the moral of the story is don't ride too close to the numpty in front!

[Kerryd]

31 minutes ago, johng said:

When they cut across to the right you should go left...not more right.

If he'd been further ahead of me then yes. As it was, had I tried to go to the left of him I was likely to have hit the rear of his bike (or t-boned him)as he was ahead of me but travelling slower. When he first started into my lane it looked like that was all he was doing, changing lanes (for no apparent reason that was obvious). As there'd been no indication of his intentions (like a turn signal or brake lights), and considering that I was going quite a bit faster, it looked like it should have been an easy thing to just edge a bit more to the right and go around him.

Until he suddenly turned.

 

Hard to make this to scale in a way that makes sense. Basically, he was on the left side of the left lane. I was in the right lane. He starts to move across towards the right lane, I shift more to the right to give him room, still expecting to pass in in a couple seconds.

He moves into my lane, I move over until I'm almost on the divider. 

Suddenly he tries to turn right. Apparently he'd decided to take that little entranceway to those shops on the right side of the road.

 

Obviously, if I'd known that was his plan I could have hit the brakes and then went around his left side (assuming he didn't suddenly notice me and also hit the brakes in which case I might have ended up t-boning him).  For all I knew, he may have been planning on turning further down the road where the white pickup is turning (above the upside down bike). 

I found it almost ironic that when I went to google maps to look at where it happened, there is a scooter going the wrong way in the middle of the road on the other side. 

It was also a pi$$ off that I'd bought the GoPro for almost this exact reason, to record the "near misses" and crazy things people do. I had modified my original one so the I could plug in the charging cable and hook it up to a USB charger I installed. However, the plastic mount for that one broke on a previous road trip somewhere one night when I was between Buriram and Sa Kaeo and the camera flew off somewhere. I hadn't modified the case of the new one (i.e. cut a hole in it) and found out during this trip it would only record for about 2 hours before the battery died. 

Somehow though, I don't think it would have mattered if I had of recorded it and it showed everything just as I explained it, as it seemed that as soon as they knew I had insurance, they literally stopped everything, packed up and headed back to the police station.

[InMyShadow]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Is there a summarised version?

From what I can gather he hit the other bike from behind but isn't happy at being at fault.

[Agusts]

The attitude of riders and drivers here is that I am going to come in front of you, cut you off or block you, but I don't care, instead you should take care of me. ... !? I have seen this many times, the idea is that the other party should slow down or pass them or take evasive action, because... !!!!  Well, I don't know what is the reason or entitlement they have/feel. The thing is most of the time the other party does slow down and takes care of them (an also here they never blow the horn to tell people of their wrong doing - so they never know, they get used to it), but these people usually end up in an accident or even worse dead, because the other party one day can not take care of them - say a big bus or truck who can't really slow down in time.....

 

My experience is they never (hardly) signal or look, or take notice of others signalling, specially on bikes, because many people forget to switch it off anyway... ! Everyone expect you to just go in straight line, they pass you left and right like crazy. But they themselves change lanes like maniacs.

 

Glad you are okay, I am surprised you were watching the guy closely and saw him changing lane, but still couldn't avoid him, sometime it just happens. A maneuver like that (no look or signal) is a red flag for me, stay well away from that dangerous moron....

 

 

[moe666]

6 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Was riding in Si Sa Ket.

Got cut off by a senior citizen who cut across 2 lanes and tried to make a right turn in front of me.

Took just 4 hours from time of accident until everything was finalized and I was "on my way" again.

Only paid a 400 baht ticket.

Didn't win the lottery.

Your 400b fine was for reckless driving, they hammered you for the accident falling to close. Happy to hear no major injuries.

[jackdd]

When he pulled in your direction without looking you should obviously have either accelerated or slowed down, but well... shit happens, now it's too late

When you told them that you have insurance they just said it's 100% your fault, so you had to pay the fine and your insurance pays for the damages, no no-claim bonus next year, effectively you pay. In such a situation you should not sign an empty form.

[poanoi]

this is how both accidents happened to me,

the only thing that differ is that you have no apparent rage 

over being cut off with the result you are in a world of pain.

as an extra bonus, the police wants the falang to take the blame,

even when the thai dont have a DL

 

[poanoi]

9 hours ago, Agusts said:

Glad you are okay, I am surprised you were watching the guy closely and saw him changing lane, but still couldn't avoid him, sometime it just happens. A maneuver like that (no look or signal) is a red flag for me, stay well away from that dangerous moron....

 

 

i can explain it: the one in front of you changed lane into the lane you are driving without waiting for you to pass and without making a signal,

you get that cold lump in your chest but hope that was the end of it,

and then you take over, but just as your front wheel is in width with their back wheel, they do it yet again ! cut you off and there is no time for anything this time

[KhaoYai]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

When he pulled in your direction without looking you should obviously have either accelerated or slowed down, but well... shit happens, now it's too late

When you told them that you have insurance they just said it's 100% your fault, so you had to pay the fine and your insurance pays for the damages, no no-claim bonus next year, effectively you pay. In such a situation you should not sign an empty form.

Agreed! (except for the riding advice) I would not have backed down on that one. No claims bonus can be up to 50%. I don't know how much your insurance is but the full premuim on my bike is 14,000 so if yours is similar you could find yourself losing 7000 baht in the first year and a lessening amount each year until you obtain full no claims again. He's cut across you and failed to indicate - he's clearly to blame. Problem is, he's almost certainly only got compulsory insurance so you needed the police to agree with you and order him to pay for your damage.........................although I accept that's 'in theory' - the reality is probably very different. 

 

I certainly wouldn't have signed any blank form. Let's say this guy goes home and talks to relatives who, on hearing you had insurance, wind him up.  All of a sudden he's got all sorts of injuries which of course, his doctor will confirm (for a fee) and remember, your insurance almost certainly has a limit (usually pittifully low) on what it will pay for a third party's medical expenses - you pay any shortfall.

 

In 2011, I was on the back of a motorbike taxi in Bangkok when a car taxi pulled out on us and smashed me up fairly bad.  I was in hospital for 2 weeks, off work for a further 6 weeks and in pain from my 6 broken ribs for about 18 months.  My total claim against the taxi driver was 1.3 million baht.  I received 100,000 because unbelievably, the taxi driver only had 3rd class insurance - apparently that's quite legal in Thailand!  I was told to take him to court for the other 1.2 million but he was penniless - I wasn't about to pay out more money for lawyers to chase non existing money.  You however, will be regarded as a worthwhile chase and they could come after you.

 

Hopefully none of what I'm suggesting will happen and you've heard the last of the matter. But for future reference - take note.

[dotpoom]

14 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Is there a summarised version?

I'm waiting for the "paperback" .

[zyphodb]

Sounds like a fairly normal happening on Thai roads, not the actual accident but the lane changing without looking, what I always do as soon as they start to do this, or pull out from a side street is give a couple of toots of my horn so that they realize that someone's there, most Thais won't do this for fear of making someone lose face but as far as I'm concerned this is the number one reason for having a horn in the first place, as long as you give them a couple of blips rather than a long blare they don't take offence, well mostly anyway, and if it saves an accident.....

[Andrew Dwyer]

In the BIB’s eyes you have insurance therefore you are not confident and therefore the accident is all your fault.

Those people who don’t have insurance are obviously capable riders and can not be at fault in any “ incident “ !! [emoji51]

 

Joking apart, glad you didn’t suffer any serious or long term injuries.

 

[poanoi]

49 minutes ago, zyphodb said:

Sounds like a fairly normal happening on Thai roads, not the actual accident but the lane changing without looking, what I always do as soon as they start to do this, or pull out from a side street is give a couple of toots of my horn so that they realize that someone's there, most Thais won't do this for fear of making someone lose face but as far as I'm concerned this is the number one reason for having a horn in the first place, as long as you give them a couple of blips rather than a long blare they don't take offence, well mostly anyway, and if it saves an accident.....

i'm going to take this advice to me and exercise it when i see suspicious

behavior, it could have prevented 1 of my 2 accidents.

but the 2nd accident there was no prior shoddy driving,

it was just turning into a soi when my front wheel was in line with his back wheel

[DILLIGAD]

this is how both accidents happened to me,
the only thing that differ is that you have no apparent rage 
over being cut off with the result you are in a world of pain.
as an extra bonus, the police wants the falang to take the blame,
even when the thai dont have a DL
 

True. Had this twice in Sisaket. Both times, not my fault as I was stationery!
The local police are a joke.


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[Cutter]

Thanks for sharing. I've ridden over 50,000 km on a big bike in Thailand so far and know too well all the near misses one encounters because of lack of awareness of other drivers.

Glad to hear that you're ok and back on the bike for more adventures.

[alanrchase]

If a motorcycle ahead and to the left of me starts to move to the right I hit the brakes not give it more throttle.

[Bangkok Barry]

You don't mention that you braked when the other bike started to pull in front of you. Did you? That might have helped, rather than trying to ride around him.

[Mansell]

On my Versys I installed annoyingly loud air horns and would sound them approaching U turns when I saw cars or bikes there.....never had a problem. Ultimately the problem was yours, you are passing and it is your job to stay clear of whom you are passing. Of course the old guy was a nitwit and probably won't live much longer riding without signaling. I find the worst drivers/riders are when they are within a few clicks of where they live....they usually left their brain at home. 

[Elkski]

Part 2...

 

You find out insurance company has paid 2,500,000 baht

[maximillian]

3 hours ago, dotpoom said:

I'm waiting for the "paperback" .

 

Don't be so mean, dotpoom !

[Minnehaha]

18 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Is there a summarised version?

I hit a bike from behind and was at fault but feel I am not. 

[Classic Ray]

This is a case where you could have legitimately used your horn to give warning of approach. I know it's not customary here, but it does work, even if they curse you afterwards.