Ok guys, today was my 3rd not responsible car accident in 9 months. Everything started when a van, driving godspeed, decided to cut my way by turning left from the central lane, which wasn't dedicated to turn left. Again, I am the one loosing my car for an estimated one month because somebody decided not to follow the road safety code.

The good point is that I have nothing to pay. The police gave him a 100% responsability even after his lies as I had some quite solid evidence of his behavior and, after screaming on him a few minutes after the accident, made him admit his fault. The bad one is that my car is going to worth nothing now. The guy dealt with the insurances to pay only 15000 baht. Of course, he begged not to pay too much as he had no money (screw you, you just had to follow the road safety code), however, I am not the right guy to take you in pitty when you drive like an idiot.

When are you going to stop putting the fault on your education or on your wallet and starting looking at what you can do better to improve this country. Is that so complicated to continue when you see an arrow pointing straight on your lane or you seriously need a university degree to understand that?

I'm seriously thinking of buying a tank to drive in this country. People are just too stupid to own cars around here. Follow the rules or ride your bicycles.

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

The state of the Thai roads is indeed perilous, but if you subject yourself to them you should accept the consequences, railing at the situation isn't going to change it.

I've managed to stay very content with my life in Thailand, designed in such a way that I do not need to drive a car very often, maybe 8 times, total 100 hours in fourteen years. Can be done, not that hard if safety and peace of mind are that important to you. . .

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

I do have a cam! Very helpful and that was one of my evidence

12 years driving here no major accidents despite close calls on a daily basis. They were close calls and not accidents for a reason. If I didn't drive with a hyper vigilance, anticipating what idiotic maneuvers other drivers were going to pull at any given time, I would be in 3 wrecks every day before getting to the market. Check your ego. There is not such thing as "right of way" in Thailand. Being perfect on the road here is not good enough. You must learn the Thai way of driving and conform or you will not survive the roads here, period.

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

and a side cam and a back cam , and even a top cam

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

I do have a cam! Very helpful and that was one of my evidence

I have always wondered why people in Thailand don't outfit a beater vehicle with cameras then go ramming into expensive cars that are violating the rules of the road (not hard to find) and then claiming medical against them using video evidence

What's new here ?

Learn how to drive.

The state of the Thai roads is indeed perilous, but if you subject yourself to them you should accept the consequences, railing at the situation isn't going to change it.

I've managed to stay very content with my life in Thailand, designed in such a way that I do not need to drive a car very often, maybe 8 times, total 100 hours in fourteen years. Can be done, not that hard if safety and peace of mind are that important to you. . .

Adapting myself, I still have to look to the right when I turn right and not seeing the motorcycle arriving wrong way by the left and i still look to the left while turning on the left even if the truck on the right arrive godspeed and is already in my car before i can see it from the edge of my eye. I guess I am just very unlucky. However, i should admit that I am constantly on the road. Already 21000 kilo after 9 months.

Driving in thailand is fun and challenging. Anticipation and awareness every moment needed. Expect always the unexpected.

Learn how to drive.

My thoughts exactly, I do hope he comes back with pictures of the newly purchased tank.

OP I do hope you don't live anywhere near me. You sound like an insurance liability!

Well, as i've previously said, I never paid a BAHT on my car. Or it was the faulty driver's insurance paying for the damages, or like this time. My insurance paid but we made sure that they won't raise out monthly payment by next year. Despite the fact that I am quite unlucky with car accidents here, I still manage my way through pretty well. Everything can be done as long as you follow the laws and you have the right friends. One thing we never mention but here is an advice in case this happen to you. Bring a lawyer to the police station.

OP I do hope you don't live anywhere near me. You sound like an insurance liability!

Are you such a bad driver than ?

Stop driving like you own the road and have a godly right of way when you are not at fault and you might get into less accidents

As many drivers do not know the traffic rules in thailand, they only have respect and fear for a vehicle bigger than the 1's they drive themselves. When they look ahead ofcourse. Mirrors on/in vehicles are there for vanityreasons.

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

I do have a cam! Very helpful and that was one of my evidence

I have always wondered why people in Thailand don't outfit a beater vehicle with cameras then go ramming into expensive cars that are violating the rules of the road (not hard to find) and then claiming medical against them using video evidence

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:start:

A it would be stupid, illegal and immoral

B it would be dangerous

C do it the wrong way to the wrong guy and it's even more dangerous

D compensation amounts here are ridiculously small

E odds are you wouldn't even win anyway

:loop:

Stop driving like you own the road and have a godly right of way when you are not at fault and you might get into less accidents

It sounds like yet another idiot driving a minibus who thinks he owns the road not the OP. What's new ?

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

and a side cam and a back cam , and even a top cam

Where can you buy the cameras google uses for street view? But a video version

12 years driving here no major accidents despite close calls on a daily basis. They were close calls and not accidents for a reason. If I didn't drive with a hyper vigilance, anticipating what idiotic maneuvers other drivers were going to pull at any given time, I would be in 3 wrecks every day before getting to the market. Check your ego. There is not such thing as "right of way" in Thailand. Being perfect on the road here is not good enough. You must learn the Thai way of driving and conform or you will not survive the roads here, period.

Shhhh, don't let the OP know the secret. He seems happy enough claiming the moral high ground while being without a vehicle for months at a time. Your words are wasted on him.

I agree with the OP idea about drivers here BUT I am sure that if OP was better/faster/smarter he would avoid these accidents.

All the things that happen on the road here are so easy to anticipate, they all have the same bad driving habits.

I can see an accident coming from 200 meters when I see the bastxrds driving their minibus...

Last idea, you should by a Benz because Thai drivers are like cops and scared to have problems with the influential rich owner of the car, so they usually prefer to calm down !

Edited June 14, 201313 yr by bangkokstick

I agree with the OP idea about drivers here BUT I am sure that if OP was better/faster/smarter he would avoid these accidents.

All the things that happen on the road here are so easy to anticipate, they all have the same bad driving habits.

I can see an accident coming from 200 meters when I see the bastxrds driving their minibus...

Last idea, you should by a Benz because Thai drivers are like cops and scared to have problems with the influential rich owner of the car, so they usually prefer to calm down !

Well, I do have a Benz but I mostly keep it at home as I prefers to ride my Ford. That's true, there is a difference in how people treat me if I drive my Benz or my Ford. Quite stupid but considering the fact that everything is money related here, I am not surprised.

Well, here are a few things I registered during this accident. I do believe this guy just deserved what happened to him as the accident arrived right in front of the only policeman in the city. The second thing is that he caused the accident and tried to flee, like the previous car accidents I had. He definitely heard the noise but you know, "mai pen arai". What's worrying in this is that how many car accidents are being caused by stupid driving and the guy just leave as if nothing happened.

One more thing is that I still can't believe this guy never seen me on the left lane. He was behind me in the central lane and drove very fast to turn left from the central lane. From the time I've seen him from the edge of my eye, my mirror was already gone and the only thing I could do was to stop letting him destroy all the right side of my car. Put that all together and I think people seriously don't care about causing accidents.

One more thing is that I have doubts about the faulty driver to learn from his mistake. I am totally sure, and it is the Thai way, that the guy went home last night saying: "bad farang! I had to give money to the farang! Farang mai dee!" Instead of understanding that I saved his ass having insurances on my car and that he paid only 15000 BAHT to my insurance company instead of paying the dammages he did on my car, what worth over 100K BAHT.

By the way, I often hear people complaining about the police and everything. I never had such a problem. The police always been very professionnal towards me what make me think that maybe only a few foreigners that comes here for bad purposes get themselves into troubles with the police. Actually, justice system in Thailand is simple, they punish the consequence and not the act. Drive wrong way if you want but don't cause an accident, as simple as that.

I wonder where the OP lives, some areas definitely seem to be worse than others, Driving to Chiang Mai was horrifying, Bangkok I find is ok. My main care around here is the motorcycles as I drive the kid into school every morning. I took my wife's grandson to emergency last week, second accident in a year, no helmet then of course, and doesn't wear one now. Same for the other grandson.

We just can't understand this mentality, can we? Giving way to somebody in order to unblock traffic receives no acknowledgement, and unfortunately the occasional courteous Thai is so unexpected that I don't acknowledge him either, as I don't trust him.

Anyway, I assume that anyone on the road near me is going to do something stupid, soon.

Looking at official statistics, Switzerland had nearly as many fatalities per 100 000 population as Thailand now 30 years ago. Draconian police measures and traffic engineering has reduced the figure to 20% of what it was then. This isn't going to happen in Thailand, is it?

Edited June 14, 201313 yr by cooked

Instead of understanding that I saved his ass having insurances on my car and that he paid only 15000 BAHT to my insurance company instead of paying the dammages he did on my car, what worth over 100K BAHT.

What was the Bt.15k for and why did he pay anything to your insurance company when it would be his taking the financial hit and him paying them the excess.

If I run into 3 buttheads in 9 months, I probably need to take a look at my own driving skills and habits.

The accidents may not be my fault, but perhaps there's something I could have done to avoid them.

Perhaps?

Instead of understanding that I saved his ass having insurances on my car and that he paid only 15000 BAHT to my insurance company instead of paying the dammages he did on my car, what worth over 100K BAHT.

What was the Bt.15k for and why did he pay anything to your insurance company when it would be his taking the financial hit and him paying them the excess.

The 15k BAHT was an agreement between him and the insurance company before they know the real price of the entire damages he did to my car. I and the lawyer made sure that if there had supplementary fees, the insurance company and the faulty driver were the one paying and not me. The lawyer also made sure that my insurance were not to raise next year as I had 0 responsability in the accident.

Instead of understanding that I saved his ass having insurances on my car and that he paid only 15000 BAHT to my insurance company instead of paying the dammages he did on my car, what worth over 100K BAHT.

What was the Bt.15k for and why did he pay anything to your insurance company when it would be his taking the financial hit and him paying them the excess.

The 15k BAHT was an agreement between him and the insurance company before they know the real price of the entire damages he did to my car. I and the lawyer made sure that if there had supplementary fees, the insurance company and the faulty driver were the one paying and not me. The lawyer also made sure that my insurance were not to raise next year as I had 0 responsability in the accident.

All well ends well.

I have no idea as where the resolve to this OP lies, but to say ... glad that you were in a car and not on a Bike, otherwise you may not be here to regale the tale.

.

Get a dash cam.. Will help in the future as you seem to be prone to accidents !

I do have a cam! Very helpful and that was one of my evidence

I have always wondered why people in Thailand don't outfit a beater vehicle with cameras then go ramming into expensive cars that are violating the rules of the road (not hard to find) and then claiming medical against them using video evidence

Iguess the main reason is that the compensation is so low. Just a few thousand baht.

But....... if the driver insults you and damages your reputation you can sue him for millions.