Just want share what happend yesterday on my way to Pattaya! bad accident

[ALFREDO]

 

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Not my style!

I do what I believe is right and not what my Thai GF wants I do or not do. I am to mature for that. My conscience would not agree with that.

I had never a problem with that attitude!

Come since 1990 to TH and live in TH since 1998 with families and children.

My partners have not my education my age, my experience. Can never lead me to show a wrong behavior in my mind!

 

Yeah you say that now don't you. So put yourself in this position. You see the kid drowning and you run over to the shore. You pick the kid up and lay him on his back and start giving him mouth to mouth and chest compressions. You try franticly to get the boy to breathe but cannot. He goes a shade of grey then white then dead. His mother comes over and starts to hit you across the head with a bottle of Sang Som saying that you have killed her son. The BiB turn up and arrest you for the murder of a Thai kid.

You and or your wife, GF, look to many cheap (Thai?) Soap operas, movies.

In my home country you will be arrested for =Failure to assistance= if you do nothing!

I am not sure what the outcome for you in TH is, when somebody is the whole story filming from behind on his Mobile.

Maybe your GF could have started her Mobile to Video your "HELP", if she is so fearful!

For me, you have an "insane attitude".

Edited July 22, 2013 by ALFREDO

[misterphil]

You and or your wife, GF, look to many cheap (Thai?) Soap operas, movies.

In my home country you will be arrested for =Failure to assistance= if you do nothing!

I am not sure what the outcome for you in TH is, when somebody is the whole story filming from behind on his Mobile.

Maybe your GF could have started her Mobile to Video your "HELP", if she is so fearful!

For me, you have an "insane attitude".

 

Me and my wife "Look" too many Thai soap operas? I thought this was the English speaking Thai Visa forum????? Yes in my home Country you would have a problem for not assisting, but you are not in your home Country are you????? And what's this crap about filming stories on a mobile?

[Constantinople]

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Possibly one of the most disgraceful and selfish posts I have ever had the misfortune to read, absolutely wrong in every way.

[misterphil]

 

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Possibly one of the most disgraceful and selfish posts I have ever had the misfortune to read, absolutely wrong in every way.

 

You werent there, you don't know. It all happened in a matter of seconds and was over very quickly.

[NoshowJones]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

Agreed... This is a daft urban myth... well... not entirely a myth however, there have been one or two 'First hand' reports on Thai Visa.com of someone getting stung. However, there have been many more 'First hand' reports of people (Westerners) stopping and helping, doing the right thing and not being implicated in any negative way. I am one of those people who have stopped and helped and would do so again.

Op: Well done for stopping and helping when many others would forget their humanity and carry on hiding behind some barstool rumour.

This topic will now no doubt turn into a debate regarding the rights and wrongs of stopping to help. IMO: Its morally wrong not to stop and help, even if helping is preventing others from moving a victim until trained help arrives, or if trained you can help by ensuring airway and circulation etc and minimise bleeding etc while also being careful yourself.

In the example of the Op above it appears another car or bike impacted with the existing accident (unless I read the Op incorrectly). In the case where I have helped one of the things I did was to get a group of guys to head on down the road to warn traffic by waving the light on their mobile phones. This was to protect myself, I didn't want a car hitting me.... Thus: with this in mind, I wouldn't help if I considered it physically dangerous to do so - Each situation needs to be judged individually, the paranoid risk of 'will I take the blame' shouldn't come into the decision making process when trying to help someone.

That is a good reply Richard, I think now I would stop and think, every situation is different, my mate was travelling home and his wife was driving, they came across an obviously underage girl who had come off her motorbike, the bike was damaged, but she was only slightly hurt, they took her home to her parents, then drove off, a short time later the girls parents were at their home demanding money. He told them to beat it. It seems the girl had told her parents that my mates wife was responsible. I have heard and read lots of reports in the 8 years I have been here about Farangs getting stung.

[Banzai99]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

And your experience is ?

[canman]

Opposite of what? Not being prosecuted of helping people? Sorry can't do that.

I doubt that Thailand has a Good Samaritan Law. As distateful as it is, unless you have specific training it is unwise to interfer with an accident victim. In the case of a child obviously drowning right in front of you I would certainly not hesitate to assist, in the case of a car accident, unless there were other immediate dangers I would most likely protect the scene only and wait for EMS. Possibly tend to serious bleeding but that would be the most anyone should do. Never move a victim unless they are in imminent danger.

[farang000999]

Two Words: Dash Cam.

[i claudius]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

Actually its not an urban myth ,many years ago before i was married to my present wife i was with a girlfriend in a taxi ,we came upon an accident and my girlfriend wanted to take the guy to hospital ,the taxi driver refused point blank ,saying that he would get the blame. also a few years ago i was hit by a motorbike who tried to undertake as i was turning left ,well the outcome was they all tried to blame me and wanted money ,i refused and luckily had good insurance,so stood my ground ,so not always such an urban myth.

Edited July 23, 2013 by i claudius

[thelongshoot]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

I have experienced it twice in 10 years. Both times it happened within a few months though.

First time: Im sitting at a T junction in Hua Hin, waiting for a gap in traffic. The nose of my car is firmly behind the line and not protuding. A guy on a motorbike idles past at around 20KMH. He looks like he cant decide between turning left into my road or going straight and wobbles the bike, slips in a puddle and lands on his arse. Nothing major, just a grazed elbow. I get out of my truck, walk over to him (10 yards) help him up and dust him off. I go to get back into my car and he says "pai nai... wait for police'. I try to drive away, motocycle taxi dudes block me and wont let me move. MIB turn up, ask for 2000 baht. I say no, he laughs and says ok and drives away. Two more coppers come and take 'both sides' of the story. They say 2000 baht, and he is happy. I call the tourist police who arive and we all go to the station. I stood firm for 3 hours and eventualy got p1ssed off with sitting in the station. I took out 1000 baht, threw it at the guys feet and called him a dog, in Thai. he just laughed and picked up the money.

Second time: Two guys on a motorbike go flying past me while I am sitting at lights. They come off at speed, skidding down the road. My mate who was with me said "dont stop, remember what happened last time" to which i said "there is no way in hell anyone could corolate my involvment with two drunk kids who flew off there bike 25 yards from me. cut to the chase, they did. They proclaimed i nudged my nose out with made them jump and come off. This despite the fact that they were laughably far away and my car was in park. They wanted 10,000 baht. I said i would happily spend the rest of my life in prison to avoid being taken for an idiot again and off we all went to the station. There was cameras at the lights and I demanded they pull the footage as it would show i was just sitting in my car, stationary. They said the cameras dont work. 2 hours later its down to 5000 baht. Again, i pulled out 1000 baht, threw it at the kids feet and called them dogs. The police went nuts at this, and i went nuts back. Everyone lost there temper quite a bit untill a friendly trafic cop i know came in and defused the situation. I dont know what sort of rank the trafic cop commands as i only ever see him riding up and down beach road pulling people over for minor offences but he must have been a seargent or something as he gave me the 1000 baht back, said he was sorry about this, and told me to leave.

I just thought of a third time: Driving through Khon Kean with my ex gf. She is driving, I am passanger. Mum and Brother in the back seat. Young girl pulls out of knowehere and we smack her head on. She just sort of pulled out, seen us coming, and froze like a rabbit in headlights. She must have flown 20 feet before ending up in a ditch. Her bike was totaly wrote off. Everyone in the car just froze and I said "jesus christ get out and help her!" I dashed over to the ditch fully expecting her to be dead and to my amazment, she just had a split lip. A real NASTY split lip almost like someone took a surgeons knife and opened her lip from the bottom of her nose all the way down. She will definatley have a hair lip type scar for life and she was such a pretty thing i did feel so sad for her. Age 16, poor kid. I got her in the back of gf truck, sat with her in the open back and cradled her all the way to hospital while she sat in mute shock. Got to hospital, family come, insurance people come. We establish that she is not badly injured and trundle off to the cop shop. Witnesses are spoke with by the police who all say the girl just pulled out of a side road and drove straight into us, leaving us with no chance. Witnesses all state my gf was driving to the speed limit and driving carefully. Insurance people, without hesitation and after gathering all facts, sided with my gf. It was fully established by all parties that it was the kids fault. Despite this, me my ex gf and the kids family together with insurance guy sat in the cop shop while they ranted and raved about how there pretty girl is scared for life and they wanted compensating 150,000 baht. I must have said 1000 times "but its not our fault, its been established it is her wrong not ours" but it all fell on deaf ears.

The funny thing? I wasnt even farking driving - yet it was me they were tearing into for money.

I was actualy going to offer some help anyway. This kid was so sweet and pretty and i couldnt get it out of my head that If i hadnt have asked to drive up to KK from my gf's village, she would be a picture of health now and in some strange way, because of my decision to go KK, that girl was now scarred for life and whilst it was not my fault, i felt that i should help. As soon as they started asking for money, i took a whole different view and insisted i would give them fark all. I was just another ferang they wanted to stitch up. Even the insurance guy looked ashamed. Of course i did not hold firm as there is only a certain amount of time i can sit in a station for and so i pulled out 5,000 baht and said "i sware on the life of my father you will not get one single baht more from me so either take this, or take nothing". They refused, demanded 150,000. It went down to 100,000. Then 80,000. I just sat there and refused to speak to anyone. I was sitting on a chair for 2 more hours with 5,000 baht in my hand saying nothing at all. Eventualy the cop said to the family "look at him, the guy is never going to budge from 5,000. Just take it". They took it and gave me a mouthfull of abuse all the way out of the cop shop to there cars.

So it does happen.

[pinfold]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

And your experience is ?

It is a fact,if your within sight of an accident ,the farang will get the blame. Once sat at traffic lights 3 idiots on a bike not interested in stopping at the the red light went ploughing on,hit by of all things a farang. Now every Thai within a million miles of the accident swore it was farangs fault,the only thing that saved him was my Thai GF shouting above all the Thai hecklers that it was the Thais fault. I told her if she did nothing for the farang I would dump her there and then. The Thais will try it on each and every event,seen it all too often

[EyesWideOpen]

Being stitched up by the police certainly happens if you are in an accident, not quite so sure they can do that if your only a bystander. I was driving a flashy looking BMW bike in Chantaburi. I had the green light at an intersection , and a drunk Thai guy runs the red light, and I ended up T boning into him as I had no time to react. I broke my shoulder, and my bike was pretty smashed up as well.

At the police station, they were trying to get money from me...I told them that would occur when they say pigs flying by the windows. Needless to say this did not endear me to them, and a lot of arguing was going on. Finally a Sargent shows up who was at the crash scene, he tells them it was not my fault, and they reluctantly let me go.

As a final topper to this lovely bit of " Thainess" , they told my girlfriend the vague threat for me to never show my face in Chantaburi again. Never forget the job of the police is to collect money, who is actually at fault has almost no relevance. So if they tried to stitch up a farang bystander I would not be overly amazed.. :-)

[Mossfinn]

And another pissing contest starts.

And another request for valid information is treated with disdain.

[joepattaya1961]

Very simple.........if an accident has just happened and there are people around.......pass and go!!

This has nothing to do with bashing, it's a fact that Westerners but also wealthy Thais respond to accidents in the same way.

Of course the action of the OP is understandable but not automatically wise.

[joepattaya1961]

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Time to shop for a new wife.....Anyone that would watch a child die, and advocate doing nothing has some serious issues. And you perhaps need to take a look at your internal compass if what she said made sense to you. You are lucky the child did not die, or you would have had nightmares the rest of your life.

The only issue here is self-preservation.

In my home-country you are required to assist. If you fail to assist you may face serious charges.

[Tolley]

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Time to shop for a new wife.....Anyone that would watch a child die, and advocate doing nothing has some serious issues. And you perhaps need to take a look at your internal compass if what she said made sense to you. You are lucky the child did not die, or you would have had nightmares the rest of your life.

The only issue here is self-preservation.

In my home-country you are required to assist. If you fail to assist you may face serious charges.

I find it hard to believe that you couldnt draw attention to the issue without necessarily getting physically involved.

It would be a natural reaction for most people to shout out or gesticulate etc to draw attention to the problem.

On a more general note I am surprised how scared of your average peasant Thai many members on this forum seem to be.

Sometimes you need to stand up for yourself especially when you are in the right.

That doesnt mean you have to be rude or overly agressive just assertive.

Of course each situation needs to be judged on its individual merits but I have had quite a few minor altercations with thais and I wont back down if i am clearly in the right but I also maintain a cool head.

[longballlarry]

I remember a few years ago, we were driving on a small soi, and a boy, no older than about 10, flew past us on his moped, as he went around the corner a truck pulled out from a side junction, the boy braked and the front wheel buckled and he slid along the road for about 20 yards. The pick up driver looked at him screaming in the road, and drove off. The boy had lost a lot of skin on his leg, arm and face. We got out, and my wife spoke to him. We patched him up, put him in the car and he directed us to his house about a mile away. When we took him out of the back of the car to his mum in the garden, she started wailing and crying, and fell to her knees. She started shouting at my wife. When my wife explained what had happened, and was nothing to do with us, the mums crocodile tears stopped, she then smacked her son across the head, and marched him by the ear, into the house. No compo so clearly no thankyou.

[pinfold]

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Time to shop for a new wife.....Anyone that would watch a child die, and advocate doing nothing has some serious issues. And you perhaps need to take a look at your internal compass if what she said made sense to you. You are lucky the child did not die, or you would have had nightmares the rest of your life.

The only issue here is self-preservation.

In my home-country you are required to assist. If you fail to assist you may face serious charges.

I find it hard to believe that you couldnt draw attention to the issue without necessarily getting physically involved.

It would be a natural reaction for most people to shout out or gesticulate etc to draw attention to the problem.

On a more general note I am surprised how scared of your average peasant Thai many members on this forum seem to be.

Sometimes you need to stand up for yourself especially when you are in the right.

That doesnt mean you have to be rude or overly agressive just assertive.

Of course each situation needs to be judged on its individual merits but I have had quite a few minor altercations with thais and I wont back down if i am clearly in the right but I also maintain a cool head.

Oh Yeah! Cannot wait until your hauled down to the nearest cop shop,you'll certainly will not be keeping the "cool head"

Edited July 23, 2013 by pinfold

[mataleo]

i could not do all by myself like stop trafic, put triangle, i was thinking all about it, i know it all

thai were chilling on the side on motorbike, people who hit him not even approach him, just call phones

and it was so quick before other car hit him, may b 40s - 60s

i had to jump through hard shoulder on the side, i thought that car will go on the side too

when i got up i saw my gf scream, as she thought its me under car

but it was this guy

girl comes out of the car and walk away start phoning

then police come so i bounced off

my gf was the same, like why u go, i should not go this and that, but i can think for myself i dont need anyone advice what to do in situations...

whats upset me and shok me was that almost no one did anything

after i went there one thai man follow me, he try stop trafic, but it was dark, and girl driver was blind, or on the phone!

she was doing like 80-100km/h

may b anything on net news about sunday sukumvit road accident?

peace

[Mossfinn]

Opposite of what? Not being prosecuted of helping people? Sorry can't do that.

I doubt that Thailand has a Good Samaritan Law. As distateful as it is, unless you have specific training it is unwise to interfer with an accident victim. In the case of a child obviously drowning right in front of you I would certainly not hesitate to assist, in the case of a car accident, unless there were other immediate dangers I would most likely protect the scene only and wait for EMS. Possibly tend to serious bleeding but that would be the most anyone should do. Never move a victim unless they are in imminent danger.

Quite agree

[mataleo]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

I have experienced it twice in 10 years. Both times it happened within a few months though.

First time: Im sitting at a T junction in Hua Hin, waiting for a gap in traffic. The nose of my car is firmly behind the line and not protuding. A guy on a motorbike idles past at around 20KMH. He looks like he cant decide between turning left into my road or going straight and wobbles the bike, slips in a puddle and lands on his arse. Nothing major, just a grazed elbow. I get out of my truck, walk over to him (10 yards) help him up and dust him off. I go to get back into my car and he says "pai nai... wait for police'. I try to drive away, motocycle taxi dudes block me and wont let me move. MIB turn up, ask for 2000 baht. I say no, he laughs and says ok and drives away. Two more coppers come and take 'both sides' of the story. They say 2000 baht, and he is happy. I call the tourist police who arive and we all go to the station. I stood firm for 3 hours and eventualy got p1ssed off with sitting in the station. I took out 1000 baht, threw it at the guys feet and called him a dog, in Thai. he just laughed and picked up the money.

Second time: Two guys on a motorbike go flying past me while I am sitting at lights. They come off at speed, skidding down the road. My mate who was with me said "dont stop, remember what happened last time" to which i said "there is no way in hell anyone could corolate my involvment with two drunk kids who flew off there bike 25 yards from me. cut to the chase, they did. They proclaimed i nudged my nose out with made them jump and come off. This despite the fact that they were laughably far away and my car was in park. They wanted 10,000 baht. I said i would happily spend the rest of my life in prison to avoid being taken for an idiot again and off we all went to the station. There was cameras at the lights and I demanded they pull the footage as it would show i was just sitting in my car, stationary. They said the cameras dont work. 2 hours later its down to 5000 baht. Again, i pulled out 1000 baht, threw it at the kids feet and called them dogs. The police went nuts at this, and i went nuts back. Everyone lost there temper quite a bit untill a friendly trafic cop i know came in and defused the situation. I dont know what sort of rank the trafic cop commands as i only ever see him riding up and down beach road pulling people over for minor offences but he must have been a seargent or something as he gave me the 1000 baht back, said he was sorry about this, and told me to leave.

I just thought of a third time: Driving through Khon Kean with my ex gf. She is driving, I am passanger. Mum and Brother in the back seat. Young girl pulls out of knowehere and we smack her head on. She just sort of pulled out, seen us coming, and froze like a rabbit in headlights. She must have flown 20 feet before ending up in a ditch. Her bike was totaly wrote off. Everyone in the car just froze and I said "jesus christ get out and help her!" I dashed over to the ditch fully expecting her to be dead and to my amazment, she just had a split lip. A real NASTY split lip almost like someone took a surgeons knife and opened her lip from the bottom of her nose all the way down. She will definatley have a hair lip type scar for life and she was such a pretty thing i did feel so sad for her. Age 16, poor kid. I got her in the back of gf truck, sat with her in the open back and cradled her all the way to hospital while she sat in mute shock. Got to hospital, family come, insurance people come. We establish that she is not badly injured and trundle off to the cop shop. Witnesses are spoke with by the police who all say the girl just pulled out of a side road and drove straight into us, leaving us with no chance. Witnesses all state my gf was driving to the speed limit and driving carefully. Insurance people, without hesitation and after gathering all facts, sided with my gf. It was fully established by all parties that it was the kids fault. Despite this, me my ex gf and the kids family together with insurance guy sat in the cop shop while they ranted and raved about how there pretty girl is scared for life and they wanted compensating 150,000 baht. I must have said 1000 times "but its not our fault, its been established it is her wrong not ours" but it all fell on deaf ears.

The funny thing? I wasnt even farking driving - yet it was me they were tearing into for money.

I was actualy going to offer some help anyway. This kid was so sweet and pretty and i couldnt get it out of my head that If i hadnt have asked to drive up to KK from my gf's village, she would be a picture of health now and in some strange way, because of my decision to go KK, that girl was now scarred for life and whilst it was not my fault, i felt that i should help. As soon as they started asking for money, i took a whole different view and insisted i would give them fark all. I was just another ferang they wanted to stitch up. Even the insurance guy looked ashamed. Of course i did not hold firm as there is only a certain amount of time i can sit in a station for and so i pulled out 5,000 baht and said "i sware on the life of my father you will not get one single baht more from me so either take this, or take nothing". They refused, demanded 150,000. It went down to 100,000. Then 80,000. I just sat there and refused to speak to anyone. I was sitting on a chair for 2 more hours with 5,000 baht in my hand saying nothing at all. Eventualy the cop said to the family "look at him, the guy is never going to budge from 5,000. Just take it". They took it and gave me a mouthfull of abuse all the way out of the cop shop to there cars.

So it does happen.

i c

thats pretty f. up

for thoes reasons i might not help in future

this country is crazy....

[Munger]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

AS usual, "soi 41" thinks it is thai bashing.

[MrHammer]

It was very difficult to understand the OPs English, painful even. I couldn't understand.

[mataleo]

It was very difficult to understand the OPs English, painful even. I couldn't understand.

i appologised for it in first post

i am polish, and was still in shock when writing it so couldnt be bother...

[Neeranam]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

In Pattaya perhaps - if you are a tourist.

I've known guys there to be hit by another car and end up paying!

In the real Thailand this wouldn't happen to me if I stopped to help someone.

However, it is often wise to 'flee the scene' if you have caused an accident, especially if you hit a m/c in your car. I don't mean deny responsibility but to deal with it later.

To the OP - it is not a Thai thing to ignore others. I've seen the same in my country in cities where people collapsing on the pavement are ignored for hours by passersby.

[Neeranam]

It was very difficult to understand the OPs English, painful even. I couldn't understand.

At least he made the effort to learn another language and try to post, and he did apologize for it.

[Neeranam]

 

I in the past have helped farang when they have had an accident, but I'm not so sure that you should get involved with locals. One example is I was sat on the beach with my wife and a young Thai kid was playing in the sea near where we were sat. He seemed to fall over in the water and he was face down and not moving. I said to my wife that the kid was drowning and needed to help. She stopped me and said No I cant get involved. I said he's drowning he will die, and she said if you go over there and help and he does die you will get the blame for his death. Its a strange world we live in and we need to understand different countries cultural differences or we shouldn't be here. They're buddhist and they believe what will be will be. I believe the same rule applies in Singapore, help and it goes wrong and the finger is pointed at you. Fortunately for the kid his mother noticed and she picked him up by his ankle and literally shook the water out of his lungs and he was fine. Coughing and spluttering for a while but was OK.

Not my style!

I do what I believe is right and not what my Thai GF wants I do or not do. I am to mature for that. My conscience would not agree with that.

I had never a problem with that attitude!

Come since 1990 to TH and live in TH since 1998 with families and children.

My partners have not my education my age, my experience. Can never lead me to show a wrong behavior in my mind!

 

Yeah you say that now don't you. So put yourself in this position. You see the kid drowning and you run over to the shore. You pick the kid up and lay him on his back and start giving him mouth to mouth and chest compressions. You try franticly to get the boy to breathe but cannot. He goes a shade of grey then white then dead. His mother comes over and starts to hit you across the head with a bottle of Sang Som saying that you have killed her son. The BiB turn up and arrest you for the murder of a Thai kid.

Amazing and total rubbish some of it.

Firstly, if you live here thinking that a Thai life is different from a non-Thai life, you are deluded.

I saw a Thai kid drowning in a swimming pool once. Doesn't matter what nationality I would so the same as I did. I got him out the pool as fast as I could. He couldn't stand so I put him in the 'recovery' position and slapped him on the back. In a minute he was back to normal and his mother had rushed over and the appreciation was something I'll never forget. Even years later when I go back to that pool, there is often someone who will remember.

I agree Alfredo.

Don't believe half what your Thai gf says.

[mataleo]

It was very difficult to understand the OPs English, painful even. I couldn't understand.

At least he made the effort to learn another language and try to post, and he did apologize for it.

acctually my english is good, I lived in london 9 years

i just cant be bothered, and i was writing in rush + shock

sorry

Edited July 23, 2013 by mataleo

[mataleo]

cant find nothing on news ehh

[richard_smith237]

If you see a traffic accident in Thailand, you get away as fast as you can, or you could end up being blamed, the first thing Thais will do is try and find a way of getting money from you. This is not Thai bashing. It is fact.

Another urban myth originating from the barstools!

Have you experienced it first hand?

I have experienced it twice in 10 years. Both times it happened within a few months though.

First time: Im sitting at a T junction in Hua Hin, waiting for a gap in traffic. The nose of my car is firmly behind the line and not protuding. A guy on a motorbike idles past at around 20KMH. He looks like he cant decide between turning left into my road or going straight and wobbles the bike, slips in a puddle and lands on his arse. Nothing major, just a grazed elbow. I get out of my truck, walk over to him (10 yards) help him up and dust him off. I go to get back into my car and he says "pai nai... wait for police'. I try to drive away, motocycle taxi dudes block me and wont let me move. MIB turn up, ask for 2000 baht. I say no, he laughs and says ok and drives away. Two more coppers come and take 'both sides' of the story. They say 2000 baht, and he is happy. I call the tourist police who arive and we all go to the station. I stood firm for 3 hours and eventualy got p1ssed off with sitting in the station. I took out 1000 baht, threw it at the guys feet and called him a dog, in Thai. he just laughed and picked up the money.

Second time: Two guys on a motorbike go flying past me while I am sitting at lights. They come off at speed, skidding down the road. My mate who was with me said "dont stop, remember what happened last time" to which i said "there is no way in hell anyone could corolate my involvment with two drunk kids who flew off there bike 25 yards from me. cut to the chase, they did. They proclaimed i nudged my nose out with made them jump and come off. This despite the fact that they were laughably far away and my car was in park. They wanted 10,000 baht. I said i would happily spend the rest of my life in prison to avoid being taken for an idiot again and off we all went to the station. There was cameras at the lights and I demanded they pull the footage as it would show i was just sitting in my car, stationary. They said the cameras dont work. 2 hours later its down to 5000 baht. Again, i pulled out 1000 baht, threw it at the kids feet and called them dogs. The police went nuts at this, and i went nuts back. Everyone lost there temper quite a bit untill a friendly trafic cop i know came in and defused the situation. I dont know what sort of rank the trafic cop commands as i only ever see him riding up and down beach road pulling people over for minor offences but he must have been a seargent or something as he gave me the 1000 baht back, said he was sorry about this, and told me to leave.

I just thought of a third time: Driving through Khon Kean with my ex gf. She is driving, I am passanger. Mum and Brother in the back seat. Young girl pulls out of knowehere and we smack her head on. She just sort of pulled out, seen us coming, and froze like a rabbit in headlights. She must have flown 20 feet before ending up in a ditch. Her bike was totaly wrote off. Everyone in the car just froze and I said "jesus christ get out and help her!" I dashed over to the ditch fully expecting her to be dead and to my amazment, she just had a split lip. A real NASTY split lip almost like someone took a surgeons knife and opened her lip from the bottom of her nose all the way down. She will definatley have a hair lip type scar for life and she was such a pretty thing i did feel so sad for her. Age 16, poor kid. I got her in the back of gf truck, sat with her in the open back and cradled her all the way to hospital while she sat in mute shock. Got to hospital, family come, insurance people come. We establish that she is not badly injured and trundle off to the cop shop. Witnesses are spoke with by the police who all say the girl just pulled out of a side road and drove straight into us, leaving us with no chance. Witnesses all state my gf was driving to the speed limit and driving carefully. Insurance people, without hesitation and after gathering all facts, sided with my gf. It was fully established by all parties that it was the kids fault. Despite this, me my ex gf and the kids family together with insurance guy sat in the cop shop while they ranted and raved about how there pretty girl is scared for life and they wanted compensating 150,000 baht. I must have said 1000 times "but its not our fault, its been established it is her wrong not ours" but it all fell on deaf ears.

The funny thing? I wasnt even farking driving - yet it was me they were tearing into for money.

I was actualy going to offer some help anyway. This kid was so sweet and pretty and i couldnt get it out of my head that If i hadnt have asked to drive up to KK from my gf's village, she would be a picture of health now and in some strange way, because of my decision to go KK, that girl was now scarred for life and whilst it was not my fault, i felt that i should help. As soon as they started asking for money, i took a whole different view and insisted i would give them fark all. I was just another ferang they wanted to stitch up. Even the insurance guy looked ashamed. Of course i did not hold firm as there is only a certain amount of time i can sit in a station for and so i pulled out 5,000 baht and said "i sware on the life of my father you will not get one single baht more from me so either take this, or take nothing". They refused, demanded 150,000. It went down to 100,000. Then 80,000. I just sat there and refused to speak to anyone. I was sitting on a chair for 2 more hours with 5,000 baht in my hand saying nothing at all. Eventualy the cop said to the family "look at him, the guy is never going to budge from 5,000. Just take it". They took it and gave me a mouthfull of abuse all the way out of the cop shop to there cars.

So it does happen.

These are fine examples of how screwed up this society can be sometimes.... That said, these events and hearing about them would not prevent me from assisting in an accident (If its not unsafe to do so).

I have dash-cam's on my car which would unequivocally exonerate me from any blame in such circumstances. I also have the added confidence of having a number of friends in the RTP and a well placed FIL who could back me up in the event someone decided to try it on.

I dont believe any of the above incidents are a 'blame the farang' type, I suspect they are simply a form of social welfare dished out by the police.. i.e. the wealthier party can afford to 'help out' the poorer party, who in the cases above are on the bike.

My FIL's driver killed a guy on a pushbike - He was cycling across a 6 lane highway without looking at the passing traffic. The sad part is that the guy on the pushbike was mentally disabled and should have been supervised. While I believe my FIL's driver was innocent as this accident was unavoidable, my FIL paid the family 50,000 baht as a form of compensation for their loss. I on the other hand believe the family of the mentally disabled guy should have been held responsible...

Accountability differs significantly between Thailand and our Western countries... it's often confusing and illogical and a little scary for those of us who worry about being on the wrong end of blame especially when innocent. A dash-cam can make a significant difference in most circumstances however, I'd advise anyone to get one.