Suggestion To Make Yourself Scarce

[Eureka]

I think in Los Angeles if you are a passenger in a Taxi you are held legally responsible for any thing that happens. the logic goes that the Taxi has been hired by you so therefore the driver has become your employee.

Do not know if this would play in LOS but a falang passenger might be seen as fair game.

America surely is the land of opportunity (for Lawyers). If this law truely is on the books then the War on Terrorism should have been directed at their own legal "system".

[CarlBkk]

Your friend was "silly" because it sounds from your story like she accepted being at fault quickly because the other driver "knew" a policeman. After 20+ years in Thailand I would imagine her to have a little more assertiveness and either NOT accept this verdict or contact "some police friends" of her own to get a second verdict. Farangs that pay up too quickly without being at fault encourage other farangs to be taken for fools. Before long it will become an undocumented law.

The discussion lasted more than an hour, and she being an honest person just didn't happen to have a corrupt cop to call in an emergency like the other people did. She did have her Thai staff helping with the argument. After 20+ years they have fought other bad judgments at police stations and have learned it to be pointless.

Encourage other farangs to be taken for fools? How does that even make sense? Did someone encourage you to make comments based on guesses?

"After 20+ years they have fought other bad judgments at police stations and have learned it to be pointless." I guess we as farangs should all give up now then. If so much as a street vendor who you have a dispute with knows a policeman it's not worth trying to get justice right?

I can tell you something, I do hope that most ex pats here don't talk for an hour to a cop when a traffic accident was clearly not their fault and they have several colleagues as witnesses, and then finally accept the "farang is guilty" verdict on the street. Rather than pump that money the way of a dishonest local I hope most of us would at least try and fight it. If a court of law doesn't believe the witnesses, but do believe a low-ranking officer who came to the scene late, then they deserve some bad publicity as a last resort.

In my last comment I meant that the more farangs who are willing to easily give up their dosh when they are not at fault will increase the chances of corrupt/immoral folk thinking that's the norm and trying it on every time.

[jdinasia]

sometimes things just don't ring true ... no insurance reps in Pattaya on a sunday is one of them

[canuckamuck]

sometimes things just don't ring true ... no insurance reps in Pattaya on a sunday is one of them

Who said it was in Pattaya? Quit filling in the details and then getting upset about your assumptions.

The accident happened in Sriracha.

I have to add one piece of info though, I was mistaken about the reason no rep arrived on our behalf. That particular vehicle only had public liabilty and was not covered for collision. I was reminded of that last night. That does not explain why their rep never showed, or explain why the vehicle which was not in motion was found liable when the driver of the other vehicle admitted making an error. This is purely a case of corruption, and my friends are very busy people. Too busy to fight for a longshot at justice on that particular week. I am sorry if you still find them to be problem. I think at least some of your disgust should be towards the crooked cop.

[JaiDamJungLoei]

When I started traveling internationally for my large US based corporation back in 1996, I received training on travel security from the company security office. One of the stories they told was of a company executive riding in a taxi in BKK during a visit in 1994.

Seems the guy was in suit and tie with briefcase in hand in the back of a taxi. Along the way from his hotel to a meeting, they came upon a traffic accident that had recently occurred. The taxi driver stopped the cab, got out and went to talk to the police who were already on the scene. The executive figured the driver was offering to help out. But, after a few seconds of talking the driver came back to the cab with the police officer. The officer made the guy get out of the taxi and immediately arrested him for causing the accident! Seems they had found a farang who could pay for it all.

After being thrown in jail, the guy called the company, the company hired lawyers and tried in several visits to judges over 4 days to get him out of jail, with no luck. The company finally gave up and paid about US$35K to settle everything, because they figured their executive wouldn’t survive much longer in a Thai jail. The money was to pay for funerals for a couple of the accident victims, medical bills for everyone else, and to repair both cars. I’m sure there was some ‘fees’ in there as well.

The company’s recommendation in any similar situation was to throw money at the cab driver and walk away as fast as possible without attracting attention in any third world country.

Remember, this was 13 years ago. With the way tourism has grown I don’t think it would happen today in Thailand, even in Isaan. I also think it would not have happened if the executive had been dressed like a tourist.

While driving in Thailand in the last few years I’ve not been in an accident, but I have been stopped at many police check points. I’ve never gotten any hassle from the police, just friendly questions about who I was, where I lived, where I was going, etc.