British national charged for road fatality in Phuket

[richard_smith237]

I've nearly hit numerous bikes when turning left off a main road into a smaller road.

The issue I have that simply checking my left mirror is not enough as the bikes are also driving down the pavements.

Thus: At busy periods when I turn left I have to come stop and edge left, the bikes just keep on going !...

Can it be proven that she was indicating left ?

Can it be proven that the bike was 'undertaking' which in itself is illegal.

If I'm picturing this correctly - I can't see how the lady can be at fault when she is turning left.

I hope this lady is dealt with fairly.... It will be interesting to follow.

[pacovl46]

She probably won't get a 500 Baht slap on her wrist.

[Muhendis]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Was the motorbike driver in a lane proper or trying to squeeze by in the same lane occupied by the car? If the latter HE was driving recklessly

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Stupid question. Of course the motor bike was trying to squeeze by. Thats what they do here. Also he needed to go fast enough to lose control and hit the utility pole with enough force to kill himself.

My condolences to the family of the boy and I hope the lady driver can get over her terrible experience. It is my hope that lessons will be learned but sadly I think not.

[technologybytes]

In the midst of all the arguing about who did what, lets not forget that a young man is dead. It's a tragedy in any event.

In this case, whilst the accident MAY have been caused by a foreigner, the DEATH was probably caused by not wearing a helmet. Any driver, Thai or Farang would feel bad at being accused of causing the death of a motorcyclist who was not wearing a helmet.. after all, that's what helmets are for.

[TheFishman1]

I only hope her Dad own a big company then she have no problem natural the Thai not wearing a helmet will not be a issue or if he was drinking

[simon43]

I know this junction well. The left turn can be taken quite fast, and there is a 'run-up' left lane (hard-shoulder) that many vehicles who are turning left use to avoid traffic queuing to go straight on at the traffic lights at that junction.

I would suggest that the motorbike was intending to go straight on at the lights, and Faye was taking the left. If the bike was on her left, it is quite possible that she simply did not see him, especially since it was midnight. A small motorbike will not display much light when side-on. and he may have been in her blind spot.

In any case, another un-necessary death, and I hope the true facts of this accident are found, and that Faye is given a fair trial.

Simon

[dennisgb45]

Actually there is a reason drivers may not know the road laws. Whilst taking the Thai drivers theory test, which was translated into English, the question was. You are travelling along a road and wish to turn into a road on the left. Who do you give way to? the multiple guess answers were. A. Cars coming from the left hand side. B. cars going straight on. C cars approaching and right turning into the road...

When I pointed out all answers were incorrect they marked a wrong answer correct.

IMHO I don't think anyone who refuses to wear a helmet has any claim for damages. This poor chap died from Head injuries, which surely would be prevented with a helmet. It is akin to someone claiming damages when they don't wear a seat belt. rip young man, but maybe more publicity should be raised about helmets again. Yes if she was in the wrong persecute but not wearing a helmet was maybe the cause of death..

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

This poor chap died from Head injuries, which surely would be prevented with a helmet.

What an assinine statement. While helmets do prevent some injuries & deaths, you can not sit at your computer and make that statement.

[andreandre]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Ms Faye inside her car..

According to you who knows all..who is he??

Nuff said,,,,

Re-read the article. It plainly says she has been charged. He is dead. You don't charge dead people.

In fact, there's a subtle clue in the title, "British national charged", and that national happens to be a woman called Faye.

May I suggest a trip to an optometrist?

Nuff said

Yes,of course you may suggest whatever you like sir, but the problem is not with my eyes,....you should well remember the very appropriate for you old adage along the lines of..;

Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear or in new age..posting on forums,before brain is engaged,

I know full well what was said in the article..10 points to you for getting that part right..i agree 100% and yes , i do understand that you dont charge dead people...brilliant ,thank you!..i often wondered..NOT!

But sadly for you, in your haste to e-bash me you got it all wrong chum, you see, if you had read and observed you would have seen this from steven;#12;

"For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet."

...and this above is what i replied to...get it now?

He got it wrong, i pointed it out ,,...simples.....and you jumped in boots and all and..''VOILA" ... egg on face, nah daeng, etc ,etc..

Nuff said

[Loles]

Rest in Peace young guy, what a wasting of value.

[Carrerakiss]

17, so no driving license and no helmet.

Car was making a left turn, so not crossing over any lanes.... where was the bike. Without doubt I would say it was in one of two places:

Under cutting the car before it turned, or in the lane the car was turning into, thus on the wrong side of the road.

The people here have no concept or clue of how to properly turn onto/into a road, they typically first cut across the oncoming lane to make their turn shorter, I would guess that this young illegal driver was doing just that when the car turned onto that road and he was in the wrong lane about to turn on to that main road.

Absolutely spot on. I've lost count of the number of times I have been "undertaken" when signaling to turn left, and equally, overtaken when signaling to turn right. I have no idea what the ACTUAL road laws are in Thailand, only what they are in my home country. At home, in each case the motorbike rider would be in the wrong. But here.........

[nakhonandy]

The article should note that charging the driver with reckless driving causing death in an accident like this is standard procedure until an investigation can be completed. It's one of the reasons why people flee accident scenes here.

But the drivers nearly always turn themselves in or are tracked down, so can you further explain your reasoning that this is why people flee scenes here, exspecially if it is just standard procedure until an investigation?

Yes the drugs or alchohol are out of their body by the time they turn themselves in. Straightforward.

[Cuban]

Cars give way to bikes motorised or not.

From the info given she appears to be driving without adequate awareness of other road users.

TIT so extra road sense is required even if she was indicating etc

RIP young man whatever the situation you did not deserver to die like this.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Cuban

[KarenBravo]

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

...

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Ms Faye inside her car..

According to you who knows all..who is he??

Nuff said,,,,

Re-read the article. It plainly says she has been charged. He is dead. You don't charge dead people.

In fact, there's a subtle clue in the title, "British national charged", and that national happens to be a woman called Faye.

May I suggest a trip to an optometrist?

Nuff said

Yes,of course you may suggest whatever you like sir, but the problem is not with my eyes,....you should well remember the very appropriate for you old adage along the lines of..;

Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear or in new age..posting on forums,before brain is engaged,

I know full well what was said in the article..10 points to you for getting that part right..i agree 100% and yes , i do understand that you dont charge dead people...brilliant ,thank you!..i often wondered..NOT!

But sadly for you, in your haste to e-bash me you got it all wrong chum, you see, if you had read and observed you would have seen this from steven;#12;

"For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet."

...and this above is what i replied to...get it now?

He got it wrong, i pointed it out ,,...simples.....and you jumped in boots and all and..''VOILA" ... egg on face, nah daeng, etc ,etc..

Nuff said

Yup, you got me fair and square.

I'm off to see an optometrist.........

Edited November 8, 2013 by KarenBravo

[Suradit69]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Ah, the Thai rider must be at fault.........

Yes, someone in the TV Kangaroo Court has already decided he was drunk and a bloody idiot, evidence apparently acquired from the vantage point of a barstool.

Enough said indeed. One of the chosen, blameless people has spoken.

Bloody idiot, he must know the score

Do you understand the word "fatality" used in the thread heading?

Edited November 8, 2013 by Suradit69

[andreandre]

Re-read the article. It plainly says she has been charged. He is dead. You don't charge dead people.

In fact, there's a subtle clue in the title, "British national charged", and that national happens to be a woman called Faye.

May I suggest a trip to an optometrist?

Nuff said

Yes,of course you may suggest whatever you like sir, but the problem is not with my eyes,....you should well remember the very appropriate for you old adage along the lines of..;

Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear or in new age..posting on forums,before brain is engaged,

I know full well what was said in the article..10 points to you for getting that part right..i agree 100% and yes , i do understand that you dont charge dead people...brilliant ,thank you!..i often wondered..NOT!

But sadly for you, in your haste to e-bash me you got it all wrong chum, you see, if you had read and observed you would have seen this from steven;#12;

"For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet."

...and this above is what i replied to...get it now?

He got it wrong, i pointed it out ,,...simples.....and you jumped in boots and all and..''VOILA" ... egg on face, nah daeng, etc ,etc..

Nuff said

Yup, you got me fair and square.

I'm off to see an optometrist.........

[Just1Voice]

I can't count the number of times over the past 6 years that I have used my turn signal well before the actual turn, slowed down and slowly eased over, and have had MOM'S (Morons on Motorbikes) invariably try to squeeze past me.

Just about a year ago I was coming home on my CBR, only doing about 45 in the motorbike lane on 121. A 10 wheel flat bed truck pulls up beside me. I think he's going to keep going, but suddenly slams on the breaks and makes a sharp left hand turn right in front of me into a business. Only had reaction time enough to jerk the wheel to the left and take a 2 month old bike into the ditch. Some people saw what happened, stopped to help me and called the cops. Long story short, he had to pay for the bike repairs.

[nakhonandy]

Interesting, on 2nd road by Central in Pattaya 2 weeks ago, I get off a Baht bus, paying the man and a drunk farang drives up the inside, also no helmet. One o'çlock in the afternoon.

Happens all the time.

[jocko]

I have on many occasions given advice to new drivers to Thailand your kerbside wing mirror is the one you have to look at the most dont assume because you have indicated that you are turning left that motorbikes are gonna take any notice.

A similar thing is happening in the in the UK especially in London where pedal cyclists put them selves in dangerous when a massive truck is turning left and cut inside to get a quick getaway i see it all there all the time.

Never try to teach Thais the highway code it will only confuses them.

[bangon04]

Cars give way to bikes motorised or not.

From the info given she appears to be driving without adequate awareness of other road users.

TIT so extra road sense is required even if she was indicating etc

RIP young man whatever the situation you did not deserver to die like this.

She is also guilty of the obvious offence of "Driving while Farang" This deserves a fine at the very least....

[wooloomooloo]

From the info given she appears to be driving without adequate awareness of other road users.

Sounds good, Cuban.

I am aware of the lack of lights [the ones that let people know you are there in the darkness] and lack of crash helmets, or secured at that.

I'm reminded of the late 70s graffiti tag, with arrows - overtakers and undertakers.

[Cuban]

Sometimes the old ways were the best ways.

The advantage of a Trafficator was that as well as the light the movement stood out.

Seems that there is a design idea here but not yet selling them.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Cuban

[smileydude]

From my personal experience I have little faith in the justice handed out by police.

They tend to favor the side that has less money so that they can use it as a tool to extort from the side with more.

Like one previous poster said, "when a car hits a motorcycle the car is usually responsible". Pretty much self explanatory now why car owners are always on the wrong when involved in an accident with "motorsai".

Best bet is to have your insurance company negotiate it out instead of trying to argue with the cops as they're the only person on your side as its in their best interests. Money and compensation always wins over logic. It can even get you out of legal predicaments. TIT, nuff said.

[NomadJoe]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

Generally charges come after the investigation.

Generally yes, but not so in Thailand. The police have stated this a number of times in previous reports. In an accident causing death, the surviving driver is almost always immediately charged pending investigation regardless of initial indications of fault. It may not mean anything at all.

[LivinginKata]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

Generally charges come after the investigation.

Generally yes, but not so in Thailand. The police have stated this a number of times in previous reports. In an accident causing death, the surviving driver is almost always immediately charged pending investigation

regardless of initial indications of fault. It may not mean anything at all.

And often in the case of a death the suspect is jailed and bail must be posted. That's why it's very important to have insurance that provides a bail bond provision, usually 200,000 Baht.

[LivinginKata]

Off topic post removed. Let's stay on this particular case.

[impulse]

The article should note that charging the driver with reckless driving causing death in an accident like this is standard procedure until an investigation can be completed. It's one of the reasons why people flee accident scenes here.

But the drivers nearly always turn themselves in or are tracked down, so can you further explain your reasoning that this is why people flee scenes here, exspecially if it is just standard procedure until an investigation?

Yes the drugs or alchohol are out of their body by the time they turn themselves in. Straightforward.

Not so straightforward.

Perhaps they don't want to end up like this guy in Pattaya, who stayed at the scene...

He had been assaulted by others involved in the crash and was in a dazed state. The suspect was subjected to a breathalyzer test but it came back negative for alcohol in his system.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/680465-one-dead-14-injured-german-arrested-following-jomtien-beach-road-crash/

[tyler2208]

had something similar happen to me a few years ago which ended in 1 fatality, i was driving from chiang mai to chiang rai, it was very early in the morning so the roads where fairly clear, i was on the highway in the right hand lane with two cars in front of me i was just mainting the same speed as the cars in front (but probably speeding a bit if im honest) anyway there was a mororbike in the left hand lane with with two people on it (driver plus pillion) anyway in a split second of the car in front of me passing the bike, the bike cut right across into the right hand lane in front of me, i braked as hard as i could but impossible to stop in time, my car smashed straight into the bike, tge windscreen smashed before i skidded to a stop, i immedietly got out the car but could not see the bike or any people at first until i look further down the road behind me, i could see the bike totally mangled at the side of the road then i saw one young thai man face down in the middle of the road but i could not see the other person anywhere, buy now some people had started to come out from some off the small houses nearby at the same time the guy that was face down in the road started to try and get up but was wobbly and covered in blood and then colllapsed back to the floor, at the same time a thai lady frim ine of the houses came over and told me the other man was dead and pointed to his location which was a ditch at the side of the road approx 10 meters ahead of where my car had come to a stop i walked over and knew she was right, but i tried to apply cpr to little effect, anyway shortly after the police, ambulances, fire brigade arrived and local news crew soon followed, i talked with the police about what happened and signed some forms (i am fortunate to be fluent in thai and read and write thai also), anyway my car was smashed to pieces up front and could not be driven, so the police arranged a tow truck to take my car to the police station, i went back to the police station with the police, whilst on the journey to the police station the police werw laughing and joking and saying "don't worry about it, it happens all the time along this road" but i was still worried (about getting f***ed over if im honest). But upon arriving at the police station they asked me how i would get back to chiang mai ect ect (i had already called my wife who was at work at the time but she left work and was on route to pick me up) the police asked for a copy of my passport and my telephone number and said they would be in touch! once my wife arrived we decided to go to the hospital and visit the injured boy where we also met with his father at this bedside, the father of the injured boy gave us the phone number for the family of the dead boy so we could contact them, anyway we called them there and then and were invited round to the house (i didn't want to go for obvious reasons but having grown up here i know how things work and decided to bite the bullet and go, we arrived at the house and as soon as we parked the car we could hear loud crying from the house, so we knew we were at the right place, anyway i was obviously met with contempt and a lot of bame calling but we remained calm, paid our respects and agreed that we would all meet at the police station once the police contacted us, then we left, anyway the this whole matter dragged on for the best part of a year (the wheels turn slowly here) we had to make regular drives all the way to chiang rai to meet with police, families concerned, district attorney ect, I even went to the funeral (reccomended) in the end the police chared the driver of the bike (the injured one) with dangerous driving for cutting in front of me, i was also charged with dangerous driving for speeding, we both agreed to pay money to the family (which is normal here even if your 100% blamess, especially in thailand the bigger vehicle is always in the wrong) by agreeing a settlement with the family is much easier when going to court because it can be dealt with in one day, i was given a 4000 baht fine and 2 years probation. I will say that throughout the whole matter the police were always fair and decent with me, infact when the families of the the two boys were trying to shift all the blame on to me the police actually got angry with the thais and told them that the whole thing in his opinion was the motorbike drivers fault and the only reason i was being charged was because i was over the speed limit (which was detenined by a crash scene incestigation team who had a whole report illustrating skid/brake marks, point of collision ect) the family of the injured boy tried to ask for money from me at first but the police told them that he had no right to ask for money from me as ge caused the accident and if anything i was entitled to sue him for damages to my car! so i cant say a bad word about the police during this whole case. I feel sorry for the lady who was involved in this accident because either way (guilty or not) it will a horrible long drawn out procedure. I want to list a few things that i strongly advise:

if you cant speak, read and write thai at educated thai levels then make sure you have someone yiu can trust help translate everything and if you are not clear on exactly what is being translated for you then DONT sign anything until you are

try not to panic! i know its easier said then done, but this is not the west, even if you are at fault you will not go to prison for this as long as you see this process through proparly.

each time when you are asked to go to the police station regarding this matter, make sure you go! dress politely and keep calm

you will no doubt at some stage come face to face with the family, put on a brave face and ve polite, if they insult you dont get sucked into an argument just remain calm, emotions can and probably will run high!

i persnally would ask to attend the funeral, it will be one of the hardest things you ever have to do, but it it goes along way here, i did it when it happened to me, it was horrible people pointing at me, calling me a murderer, but i got through it, i went on the advice of my thai friends who have experience with this! (almost everyone in thailand will be related to someone or known someone who has been involved in a fatal road accident at some point, the reason it it reccomended you go is because when this case is read in court, they will take lots of things into account befire passing sentance, i.e did you flee the seen, have you shown compassion to the family involved, have you made an effort to contribute to funeral expencess and in turn attend the funeral, all of things will be taken into account and used when passing sentance... so do it for yourself not for them!

when discussing financial settlements do not assume what they ask for is what they are going to get, if you can agree on amount before going to court it makes things so much easier because there is no dispute, if you cant agree then you will end up going to court many times and the court have the power to look at all your finacial assets here and will decide what you can afford to pay, so if you can agree before court DO IT but dont agree to there first demand, in my case they tried it on at first at 700,000 but settled at 250,000 which i could have declined and let the courts decide, but i didnt want my finances gone over with a fibe tooth comb and i wanted my car back so i could fix it, you wont get your car back until this matter is over because its evidence. so i decided to pay the money so i could get on with my life, but whatever happens things things cost in thailand (farang or thai) and my thai friend who had something similar happen settled on 300,000 so i didn't feel i was being shafted.

dont try and bribe your way out of this it wont work, this matter must go to court because someone died! you will be paying money either way so just follow the procedure. Like i said even if you are 100% at fault you will not gonto jail as it was an accident, thai law is does not punish genuine accidents with prison sentances! unless you show total lack of remorse or compassion and are unwilling to pay any money ect

check with your insurance company what they cover for in the event of death, even the cheap legal insurance you get when you tax your vehicle pays out around 100,000 but that is if you plead guilty

with regard to pleading guilty or not guilty, this decision is completely your alone to make, there are pro's and cons to both! if you plead guilty then the court is much lighter in sentencing also your insurance company will be liable to help with some compensation to the family, but you will be expected to pay money yourself, you will also get probation 1 or 2 years, which you have to be careful what you do, because any law you break (i dont mean not wearing yiur seat belt) but say drink driving for example will land you in jail for both matters and your sentance will run consecutively! but sometimes here pleading guilty is the easiest way to go! if you plead not guilty then you must plead your case in court, if found not guilty then you are home and dry, no probation to worry about and you will not legally be bound to offer any financial compensation to the family! however if you plead not guilty but are found guilty then that is a totally different animal! you will be legally bound to pay what the court and family decides you should pay and you will face a strong possibility of jail. so please consider your decision wisley, one thing you should note is that yiu can change your plea at anytime before you case is read in court and sometimes during!

to summarise.. i am not a lawyer but have been through this myself and have an indepth undertanding and knowledge of how this works!

the only differences between us (this is more of an assumtion so sorry if i am wrong) is i can speak read and write fluent thai so i could deal with the police, families, district attorney and read and understand all the neccassary documents myself, all documents submitted from you must in thai, i was capable of writing/typing these myslef, if you are not then dont attemt it, as this has no margin for error on your part, if you can rad and understand a thai newspaper back to front as well as you can read one in english then i would say you are capable of doing this without any help from a translater, but if you cant then please please get someone you trust or someone reputable to translate for you! dont let the police get someone to translate!!!! they are morons and whatever you say or is said to you will probably be distorted and inaccurate

the other possible differnece is that i had a free lawyer (father of thai friend) who gave me lots of free good advice and actually travelled up to chaing rai the day of the court hearing and pleaded my case on my behalf (i bought him a gift after it was all over)

so i would (if you can afford it! try and get a reputable lawyer)

sorry for the long post, i never really bother to post here but after i read this article i thought maybe it would be nice to know that another foreigner (english) has been through this and lived to tell the tale!

the other thing i would say is to try and not dwell on comments you will probably heat from sone foreigners, i got them all too! things like.. you should flee the country (the police never took my passport) or the police are going to shake you down for a small fortune, yes you are foreigner but the laws for you and thais in this situation are the same, i cabt comment on how the police that are handling your case will treat you but they cant really take the piss too much when they know that the case must go before a judge, different when tge buck stips with them (pardon the pun) but this matter cant be dealt with by the police they can only charge the people concerned and submit the paperwork to the district attorney who will then commence procedings... im sure there will be a few keyboard warriors here who will be salavating over the oppurtunity to tell me how wrong i am and that a brown envelope under the table can make this all go away! but it cant and anyone who tells you otherwise is full of s**t.

if you have any other questions or want a more in depth description of what was involved in between my accident and the court date almost a year later you can pm me

sorry if there are lots of spelling mistakes or bad grammer in my post... i dont have time to check it all

[chooka]

'The 17-year-old Mr Patiphan, who was not wearing a helmet' - and had he been drinking too? Bloody idiot, he must know the score riding a bike in Phuket without a helmet ...

'Nuff said, but the foreigner gets the blame ...

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

Generally charges come after the investigation.

Generally yes, but not so in Thailand. The police have stated this a number of times in previous reports. In an accident causing death, the surviving driver is almost always immediately charged pending investigation regardless of initial indications of fault. It may not mean anything at all.

I am not comfortable with that concept. I wouldn't be impressed if I was charged with something, banged up in the Hilton for a couple of weeks or longer whilst they investigate to see if you have in fact committed an offence. Then they determine that you have done nothing wrong and it is on your way, no sorry for the custody or depriving you of your liberties. Geez If we tried to do that in Australia we would probably find ourselves facing false imprisonment charges. We can't lay a charge until we have all the facts and they have checked by a superior.

[stevenl]

Maybe, but we don't know that yet.

For the moment he is charged so the accident can be investigated, that is why he is charged. Nobody is blamed as of yet.

Nuff said, the foreigner feels disgruntled without any facts.

Generally charges come after the investigation.

Generally yes, but not so in Thailand. The police have stated this a number of times in previous reports. In an accident causing death, the surviving driver is almost always immediately charged pending investigation regardless of initial indications of fault. It may not mean anything at all.

I am not comfortable with that concept. I wouldn't be impressed if I was charged with something, banged up in the Hilton for a couple of weeks or longer whilst they investigate to see if you have in fact committed an offence. Then they determine that you have done nothing wrong and it is on your way, no sorry for the custody or depriving you of your liberties. Geez If we tried to do that in Australia we would probably find ourselves facing false imprisonment charges. We can't lay a charge until we have all the facts and they have checked by a superior.

That's why you need insurance with bail bond.

It really does not matter whether you're comfortable with the system yes ir no, it is the system.

[tyler2208]

she has probably been arrested on suspision of causing death by wreckless or dangerouse driving, same can happen in the west and then you are bailed to return whilst the police continue there inquires, after my accident here, about 3 months after i was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, fingerprinted and had my picture taken but no bail was neccessary, it was not until the day of court ( which is concidered 1st day of proceedings that i was required to make bail either cash 120,000 or land title ect cash is better becuae its quicker to secure the bond, if using land title ect can take 2 or 3 days to process and you must remain in jail until it had been processed! the day i arrived at court i had to wait in the court jail while my wife posted bail, i had to remain in jail (same day) while my case was read before the judge but because i had pleaded guilty and had agreed a settlement with family already, i was given a fine (payable at the court) and 2 year probation, i eas released from the court jail/holding cell immedietly and was able to get my bail money refunded there and then, had i not pleaded guilty or reached a prior settlement agreement with the family then my case would have nit been concluded that day! i would have been released from jail pending further court hearings under my bail terms, once the all subsequent hearings been attended and the case concluded i would be have been able to apply for my bail money to be refunded which would take up to 3 months!! and would have been returned by cheque, i onlu was able to get my bail money back the same day and in cash because we had only just paid it a few hours before hand and my case was concluded that day.

the police can legally charge her with causing death by wreckless or dangerous driving but they can not determain if she is guilty or not, that is for the court to decide, unless she of course pleads guilty in which case the police still can not punish her or fine her, they must submit the case to the district attorney for that amphur who will in turn decide to prosecute her or not, if they go ahead then her case will be heard in court and any fines probation ect can only be impossed by the court, the police can only fine people for crimes that do not need to be heard in court, i.e fighting can ve dealt with by fining the persons concerned 500 baht (as long as both parties plead guilty and are not suing each other) but more serious crimes i.e drink driving causing death by dangerous driving all require thr case being hears in court and all fines punishments be decided by and handed out by the court.