Had An Accident And Feel Like Im Getting Stiched? Can Anyone Help?

[MaiChai]

The Thai perspective: you are the poo yai with the big car and money, they are small fry that mean nothing. I know this sounds harsh, but thats the way things work here. Do you think they have lots of money to fight you legally? Do you think they could wait for the Thai legal system to resolve this one; in my experience you can drag out a course case for years, whilst continuously feeding money to the lawyers! Everyone is insured (well the bike is) so hospital treatment costs are covered. Then the bike repairs; bikes are cheap to fix. Loss of income from not working (assuming they had a job anyway); 5k per month; 3 months max=15k. No more than 25k as another poster mentioned. Bike accidents happen all the time; your case is only interesting because you are a farang. You can probably sweaten up the police; police like helping farangs, gives them status and brightens up their day having the full attention of a farang! I should not worry. You could leave the country for a while and they would not even be able to find you

Who is the bmw registered to? A girlfriend/wife?

[jackr]

Any update, Kish?

They haven't done you over through non-payment I hope

[jackr]

[lannarebirth]

I wouldn't even think about going to court if I were you. A blood alcohol content of greater than .05% constitutes a DWI here in Thailand. Your level was over 3 times that. Negotiate for a lower compensation if you want, but I wouldn't let the court get a crack at me if I were you.

[jackr]

[jackr]

[jackr]

[jackr]

[PETERTHEEATER]

Hi there,

thanks everyone for your views. Does anyone here know what sort of out come I could expect if I took it to court. Now I realise that anything could happen in court, but Im assuming that the law is the law written in black and white. The same for everone, Thai or Falang. Or is this not the case? If this is the case then what sort of money would the judge ask me to pay? Say worst case, the judge thinks its my fault because I was over the limit and the kid was never tested so as far as hes concerned the kid was stone cold sober. What sort of compensation could I expect to have to pay? ball park figures?

I mean I know a thai guy who has a Suzuki GSXR1300 motorbike, crashed into a Honda Dream. Killed the guy and paid 100000b? So should I just let this play out in court or am I being silly even thinking about contesting the 120k? Plus what would the court say in regards to payment? I mean I dont have 120k? would they allow me to pay it in installments?

Any advice is more than welcome but if there are any lawyers out there reading this then please let me know your thoughts. As Im finding it very hard to beleive that my lawyer is on my side. I would have expected him after they finished off at 120K to have said that in light of it being 50/50 fault and my car having inexcess of 85K damage 120-85=35K and they devide that beween them. I would be happy with this as an outcome. But I cant see the families going for that.

Thanks again,

Kish

You say that you don't have 120k. Yet you have lived in Chiengmai for several years. On what basis are you residing in the Kingdom? If you are not here legally then that will really add to your troubles.

[RKASA]

3 am drunk driving and it not your fault??? just walk down the street shooting random at buildings your not realing meaning to hit anything are you? You know, They should duck. Hey I am driving here! I know it is easy to pick at someone and they feel bad about what happened, but the time to think is before you drink. Tuk Tuks are alot cheaper then these bills, leave the car home, then you can drink alot more anyway.

[CWMcMurray]

A well educated Thai friend of mine once told me that when a car and a motorcycle get into and accident the car is almost always held responsible regardless of the facts. That being said, the compensation that courts give out are nothing compaired to the west and would probably never reach 120,000 baht for what you described.

But if you were drunk then it may be better to pay them off in orer to prevent it going to court and being help criminally liable.

[jackr]

Kish

[Mamboking]

3 am drunk driving and it not your fault??? just walk down the street shooting random at buildings your not realing meaning to hit anything are you? You know, They should duck. Hey I am driving here! I know it is easy to pick at someone and they feel bad about what happened, but the time to think is before you drink. Tuk Tuks are alot cheaper then these bills, leave the car home, then you can drink alot more anyway.

Hey! If you can't help, if you have no advise, shut your mouth up! Stop that ######ing moralities! Everybody smart until the same happend to you!

[dchi2031]

Maybe Kish fleed or maybe just trolling.

[Bpraim1]

3 am drunk driving and it not your fault??? just walk down the street shooting random at buildings your not realing meaning to hit anything are you? You know, They should duck. Hey I am driving here! I know it is easy to pick at someone and they feel bad about what happened, but the time to think is before you drink. Tuk Tuks are alot cheaper then these bills, leave the car home, then you can drink alot more anyway.

Hey! If you can't help, if you have no advise, shut your mouth up! Stop that ######ing moralities! Everybody smart until the same happend to you!

He does have a point! If you are drunk why drive!

I use arm canes and a wheelchair to get around FOR LIFE after someone thought they could drive after a few drinks! I don't know why people come over here and think they are above the rule of law.

Yes this land is full of corruption, that we all complain about till it works in our favor.

try doing alittle drunk drive'n in your home land and see where the penalty leads!!!!!

Think before you drink!

[Maigo6]

Hey! If you can't help, if you have no advise, shut your mouth up! Stop that ######ing moralities! Everybody smart until the same happend to you!

Yeah, how about if it was you, or your Son or your Daughter, or your GF or wife lying in the road with broken legs after being involved in an accident with a drunk driver?

Still have the same attitude?

Drink driving laws are in place for a reason, you break the law, you get caught, you pay.

If it was my Family involved in this accident, I would sting you for every Baht you had, or else I would see you thrown in Jail, I would do a deal with the Police to make sure you could not worm your way out of it too.

[mark100]

Hi there,

Ok, I have been living in chiangmai for a few years and have an old BMW 3series. I was driving home one night after being out for a friends birthday. Then all of a sudden some thai guy smashed into the front of my car on his Honda wave with his girlfriend on the back.

I stopped and called the police and ambulance as the guy driving looked in a bad way. They went off to hospital as did I. I was fine (shaken but fine) but the police wanted to check my blood alchol level. The 19year old driving has a broken leg and a broken arm and his 17 year old girlfriend has a broken leg. both the boy and the girl were in hospital for approx. 1 week. The bills for both came to no more than 40k (which I beleive has already been paid for by the insurance company).

This all happened a little over a month ago. I have yet to get my boold alcohol results as the hospital have said they cant issue the results and I have to go to check at the police station. The police have also not given me the results but Im fairly sure that I was over the limit.

Now, the guy driving the Honda wave, hit my car on my side of the road, hit the front left corner of the car (so he had to be on my side), doesnt have a drivers licence, wasnt wearing a helmet and was probably drunk ( it was 3am, what else was he doing out at this time) but wasnt tested for alcohol at the police station.

I have been to see the families at the police station 3 times now (as well as visiting them in the hospital). The first time they wanted 300k each!!! I dissagreed and went off the find a lawyer (tougher than I had thought to find an honest and good one). The second time I went with my lawyer and they stuck to there original 600k (for the 2 people). The police man and my lawyer both said that this was a rediculous figure and wanted them to come down so I offered 100k (50k each). They declined my offer and stuck to 600k. Finally, on saturday just gone I went back to talk and we agreed on 120k (60k each). Now I didnt sign anything to this effect as I said I would like to seek advice from other parties.

Ok, 120k is a ###### site better than 600k but I still feel that this kid was in the wrong, plus I have over 60k of damage to my car, who is going to pay for that? Not once has anyone mentioned my car, who is going to help me with fixing my car etc. Noone has mentioned fault? It doesnt seem right that we are talking money before anyone has decided on whos fault it is.

Now my question is, reading what I have written above do you think that I should do? Just bite the bullet and pay them (even though I still have to go to court) or should I say NO! you are wrong you didnt even have a drivers licence (you shouldnt have been on the road in the first place) you hit me, I didnt hit you! you hit me on my side of the road whilst driving way too fast (his girlfriend ended up approx 10meters away from him and 20odd meters from the accident (so he must have been flying for them to have gone so far (as the police have agreed))) and I dont want to pay you I want you to pay me to fix my car?

Now originally I was willing to help them (not because I thought it was my fault but because I wanted to help), but after they came to the table with a stupid number like 600k I decided they were only interested in taking this falang to the cleaners and I was no longer interested in helping them.

If I take this to court, would I win? and even if I lost would I have to pay this much or would it be more??? Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated as I have heard it all (everyone has different advice (but noone has said something that is set in stone)). Plus I wold really like to hear from someone that knows the law in Thailand.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS. PREFFERABLY FROM PEOPLE THAT KNOW AND NOT FROM THOSE THAT ARE GUESSING...

Many thanks,

Kish

I saw case in the paper in Pattaya a few years age where an english guy was driving home one night after a night out, he was in a car and he hit a bike coming the other way on the wrong side of the road with no lights on, the thai was drunk and the english guy sober. The police decided in favour of the thai, how much he payed i don't know??

Personally i doubt any falang will win against a Thai in these cases, it always costs something the question is how much ?? l feel you will have to except the blame but if you went to court i don't think you would pay more than 20-30k per person.

In pattaya its more a case of who you know in the local Police department, and how much you can pay them, although it must be said its not as bad as it used to be!!

l drive big sportsbikes and cars in Thailand and i always try to keep some money in the bank for the unknown.

Stick it out and offer them no more than 20k each. Good Luck Mark

[DMG333]

I saw case in the paper in Pattaya a few years age where an english guy was driving home one night after a night out, he was in a car and he hit a bike coming the other way on the wrong side of the road with no lights on, the thai was drunk and the english guy sober. The police decided in favour of the thai, how much he payed i don't know??

Personally i doubt any falang will win against a Thai in these cases, it always costs something the question is how much ?? l feel you will have to except the blame but if you went to court i don't think you would pay more than 20-30k per person.

In pattaya its more a case of who you know in the local Police department, and how much you can pay them, although it must be said its not as bad as it used to be!!

l drive big sportsbikes and cars in Thailand and i always try to keep some money in the bank for the unknown.

Stick it out and offer them no more than 20k each. Good Luck Mark

SADLY, the legal system on Thai road is somewhat confusing and funny. And in this case, I believe it got nothing to do in terms of favouring the Thais. As what I had read in the Thai newspaper, the Thai traffic system is in favour of small vehicles i.e. those hel_l riding-moskitoes-motorcycles. Below are a few examples of the past.

Example 1: An appoaching truck hit a motorcycle riding in an anti-direction (the motorcycle was running away from a police motor bike). Conclusion = the truck driver had committed a traffic offense for hitting the bike!!!!!

Example 2: A motorcyclist was hit on the other side of the road by a toyota camry flied over and land in front of a approaching Isuzu and was injured again. The court said the Isuzu driver was fully at fault. CONFUSED!!!!!!

Example 3: A motor cyclist (he is one of those "superman" that offered his bike as a public transport with a orange uniform) rode against the traffic on a one-way traffic hit an approaching honda. The biker was seriously injured and the honda was damaged, but the Honda driver who was also injured was liable for the damages

Example 4: Something other than motor bikes, recently someone jump down from an overhead bridge in Vipawadi area and landed on an approaching car, U guess it, the innocent driver need to pay for all the damages!!!

The point is regardless if you are a foreigner or Thai, the traffic rule here protects those who uses smaller vehicles. At least that what we had read from the newspaper.

Edited August 12, 2007 by DMG333