Accident Story

[ljd1308]

Just looking to vent more than anything and share my experience....

We went to go to one of the islands today and went to Sattahip to get the ferry(myself, my wife, 2 kids, a friend and his wife(heavily pregnant)), getting up at 6am and leaving home at 7am.

So we were having a nice drive down there and in a relatively narrow street close to the pier we got stuck in a bit of traffic, as we were sitting there not moving i noticed a truck approaching from a side street. As the truck got closer to the intersection(and the side of my car) the girls in the back pointed out he was getting a bit close(driving slowly), so i beeped when he got to within about 10cms. Unfortunately this did not stop him and he just kept driving his truck into the front passenger window of our car and only stopped when the trucks bumper was about level with my passengers shoulder(he was virtually on my lap at this stage).

Now, he finally realised he was slowly crushing people to death and reversed........ Unfortunately once he did that he decided to drive forward into the car a second time, this time hitting the rear passenger window. In both instances the glass began to shatter(not completely as it was safety glass) onto first my friend and then my 3 year old daughter and his trucks bumper came 10-20 cms into the car completely ruining both doors and windows.

As you can imagine I was rather irate at this stage, but managed to take a breath and calm down a little bit before confronting the truck driver who just smiled and laughed....obviously that wound me up more, so my wife stepped in to deal with it.

The police were soon on the scene and luckily enough there was a police camera there and as soon as the driver realised that he confirmed what we said and called his insurance. I asked the police if he had been drinking(he looked like it) so they verbally asked him and he said no, that was the end of that.

We then all met at the police station and signed the insurance paperwork and then the police let us all go home(us driving a car with no windows and him in is truck).

Everyone is ok and the car is getting picked up this afternoon for repair so all is well that ends well, but.......

1 - He didn't even apologise to any of us, my 2 kids were covered in glance, bawling and too scared to get back in the car....but still he couldnt just say "Sorry"

2 - Hitting us once in those circumstances, it happens especially here in Thailand. But, when he reversed, adjusted slightly and did it again!?!?! Surely he should have been charged with something, reckless/careless/negligent driving?

3 - I think he was deaf, that is the only excuse not to hear the horn when i beeped it and he always leant in quite close and had people repeat when they were speaking. I know he had his license, but is there any follow up testing for elderly drivers here(he would be close to 70)? I think in Australia you need to retest every 3 years or so after 65(i'm not 100% sure as i am a way off that age yet)

Ps. As I am sure it will be brought up, I am fully licensed here(Australian License, Thai License and IDP), fully insured and taxed.

[seedy]

Derogatory post hidden. The OP's children clearly traumatized. Take that into consideration when you post.

[lostinisaan]

Be happy that the freak didn't drive faster. I almost got killed driving my own pick up to work at 6 am in the morning when a speeding and red light doing pick up hit me sideways and pushed my car many meters away. i was unconscious for a few hours, had serious injuries at my spine, broken ribs and various wounds that needed stitches.

The hospital i was brought to didn't even make one x-ray and i was sent home? I couldn't even sit on the back of a motorbike, so a worker from the hospital offered us to take me the 400 meters home for 500 baht only.

It took two more hospitals to find out how serious my injuries were. My car was redone twice, as the first garage didn't do a good job.

Would my wife have been with me, she would have been squeezed out. It took 18 months to get my car back and i guess it's useless to talk about the severe pain i had and all the circumstances.

Once the car was done, we took a shortcut to my wife's village and got hit by an airborne motorcycle, a Honda CBR 150.

I saw the bike in the air heading towards my windshield could hit the brakes and my front bumper absorbed a lot of energy.

Nothing is impossible here when you ask me. Drive safe. -

Edited April 9, 2016 by lostinisaan

[Don Mega]

Wow. the bumper came 200mm into the cabin of the vehicle at such a slow speed. I can understand the damage to the doors but the B pillar should have stood up to the intrusion better.

Would have been a horrific experience for all even moreso for the children. good to hear all came through unscathed.

What vehicle was it ?... I will avoid buying one of them if they are so weak and flimsy.

[ljd1308]

Wow. the bumper came 200mm into the cabin of the vehicle at such a slow speed. I can understand the damage to the doors but the B pillar should have stood up to the intrusion better.

Would have been a horrific experience for all even moreso for the children. good to hear all came through unscathed.

What vehicle was it ?... I will avoid buying one of them if they are so weak and flimsy.

It kinda avoided the pillar, the front right bumper of the truck came in the front window.....then he reversed and did the same with the back window. So while the pillar had some damage it wasn't the penetration point.

But our car is a 6 year old Toyota Vios, so you can imagine the height of his bumper lined up perfectly with the windows.

[ljd1308]

Be happy that the freak didn't drive faster. I almost got killed driving my own pick up to work at 6 am in the morning when a speeding and red light doing pick up hit me sideways and pushed my car many meters away. i was unconscious for a few hours, had serious injuries at my spine, broken ribs and various wounds that needed stitches.

The hospital i was brought to didn't even make one x-ray and i was sent home? I couldn't even sit on the back of a motorbike, so a worker from the hospital offered us to take me the 400 meters home for 500 baht only.

It took two more hospitals to find out how serious my injuries were. My car was redone twice, as the first garage didn't do a good job.

Would my wife have been with me, she would have been squeezed out. It took 18 months to get my car back and i guess it's useless to talk about the severe pain i had and all the circumstances.

Once the car was done, we took a shortcut to my wife's village and got hit by an airborne motorcycle, a Honda CBR 150.

I saw the bike in the air heading towards my windshield could hit the brakes and my front bumper absorbed a lot of energy.

Nothing is impossible here when you ask me. Drive safe. -

And there seems to be no recriminations for whoever is at fault, atleast you seem to be ok now.

I have had no issues on my few visits to hospitals though, so it just seems overall I got luckier than you

[WitawatWatawit]

Scary. The most disappointing thing is they didn't test him for alcohol. How shameful these police are - innocent people, including a couple of kiddies, have their lives put in danger and they don't give a rat's about throwing the book at someone who needs it, just get the paperwork done.

[Don Mega]

Wow. the bumper came 200mm into the cabin of the vehicle at such a slow speed. I can understand the damage to the doors but the B pillar should have stood up to the intrusion better.

Would have been a horrific experience for all even moreso for the children. good to hear all came through unscathed.

What vehicle was it ?... I will avoid buying one of them if they are so weak and flimsy.

It kinda avoided the pillar, the front right bumper of the truck came in the front window.....then he reversed and did the same with the back window. So while the pillar had some damage it wasn't the penetration point.

But our car is a 6 year old Toyota Vios, so you can imagine the height of his bumper lined up perfectly with the windows.

Oh ok. so the windows were popped and some minor cosmetic damage to the doors and pillar then.

[ljd1308]

Wow. the bumper came 200mm into the cabin of the vehicle at such a slow speed. I can understand the damage to the doors but the B pillar should have stood up to the intrusion better.

Would have been a horrific experience for all even moreso for the children. good to hear all came through unscathed.

What vehicle was it ?... I will avoid buying one of them if they are so weak and flimsy.

It kinda avoided the pillar, the front right bumper of the truck came in the front window.....then he reversed and did the same with the back window. So while the pillar had some damage it wasn't the penetration point.

But our car is a 6 year old Toyota Vios, so you can imagine the height of his bumper lined up perfectly with the windows.

Oh ok. so the windows were popped and some minor cosmetic damage to the doors and pillar then.

Yeah, though the doors have quite a large indentation top to bottom......given it was my first ever car accident I wouldn't call it minor, though it probably was

[seedy]

Post Discussing Moderation removed

[USNret]

Sounds to me like he was drunk. That's why he ignored the horn. Too bad there was no breath test.

[buythisdashcam]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

[ljd1308]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

Not really sure how I could avoid it as I was stuck in traffic unable to move for a few minutes when he drove up a side street and into the side of my car(twice).......I suppose I could never leave the house and could have avoided it that way.

The reason I would have expected him(or anyone) to say sorry for causing 2 accidents(afterall, he reversed and did it a second time) would be because any decent human apologises for their mistakes. If i bump into someone in the street I will apologise, if I drop a glass I will apologise and if i hit a stationary car twice I would apologise.

[JoeW]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

Not really sure how I could avoid it as I was stuck in traffic unable to move for a few minutes when he drove up a side street and into the side of my car(twice).......I suppose I could never leave the house and could have avoided it that way.

The reason I would have expected him(or anyone) to say sorry for causing 2 accidents(afterall, he reversed and did it a second time) would be because any decent human apologises for their mistakes. If i bump into someone in the street I will apologise, if I drop a glass I will apologise and if i hit a stationary car twice I would apologise.

Apologizing happens not so often though as to my experience. Got hit twice already and both times they didn't apologize for their mistake. It's just how it is.

Even if the insurance covers all, it's still annoying to not have a car for a couple of days / weeks.

[ljd1308]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

Not really sure how I could avoid it as I was stuck in traffic unable to move for a few minutes when he drove up a side street and into the side of my car(twice).......I suppose I could never leave the house and could have avoided it that way.

The reason I would have expected him(or anyone) to say sorry for causing 2 accidents(afterall, he reversed and did it a second time) would be because any decent human apologises for their mistakes. If i bump into someone in the street I will apologise, if I drop a glass I will apologise and if i hit a stationary car twice I would apologise.

Apologizing happens not so often though as to my experience. Got hit twice already and both times they didn't apologize for their mistake. It's just how it is.

Even if the insurance covers all, it's still annoying to not have a car for a couple of days / weeks.

Actually we got lucky with the insurance, i am not sure of the specifics as my wife worked it all out.....but as he was working it was under the company insurance which was apparently a high level and with that they have given us a replacement car. They tried to get out of doing it by telling the police they would give us 300 baht a day, but the police put their foot down and now we have a Fiesta to drive around in.

[ljd1308]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

Not really sure how I could avoid it as I was stuck in traffic unable to move for a few minutes when he drove up a side street and into the side of my car(twice).......I suppose I could never leave the house and could have avoided it that way.

The reason I would have expected him(or anyone) to say sorry for causing 2 accidents(afterall, he reversed and did it a second time) would be because any decent human apologises for their mistakes. If i bump into someone in the street I will apologise, if I drop a glass I will apologise and if i hit a stationary car twice I would apologise.

I've been here about 6 years and I often hear Thais apologise, maybe they do it a bit less than in the west but they do it all the same.

He admitted to the insurance agent and the police what he did, so the "face" thing wasn't the issue.....there were also plenty of witnesses and a video of it. I don't think it is too much to ask given he got away with it with virtually no repercussions.

Edited April 11, 2016 by seedy
Quote hidden post

[seedy]

Nonsense post Removed. Derogatory post Removed

[Khon Kaen Dave]

You were well,lucky bruv,it could have been a lot worse,what with kids in the car and such.Much respect to you for your tolerance and patience.

[Lampang2]

Maybe he did it on purpose.

Sometimes you wonder.

[1FinickyOne]

He could have been asleep - and woke drowsy half realizing what happened... but who knows - and who knows the follow-up. If he was working a job, likely he will lose it. He may never drive again.

Driving here is dangerous, even when you are not even driving. Thankfully you and your guests and children came out of it physically ok - if not understandably a bit traumatized..

I hope you continued onward and had a nice vacation.

[richard_smith237]

As you can imagine I was rather irate at this stage, but managed to take a breath and calm down a little bit before confronting the truck driver who just smiled and laughed....obviously that wound me up more, so my wife stepped in to deal with it.

I may well have difficulty controlling myself under a similar situation... the laugh may well have pushed me over the edge, although I like to think I could control myself.

I would also like to think I would have pushed the BiB for alcohol tests... really pushed it... But until I'm in a very similar situation its difficult to really know how I'd react.

Its very fortunate that the Op and his family were unscathed...

[ljd1308]

As you can imagine I was rather irate at this stage, but managed to take a breath and calm down a little bit before confronting the truck driver who just smiled and laughed....obviously that wound me up more, so my wife stepped in to deal with it.

I may well have difficulty controlling myself under a similar situation... the laugh may well have pushed me over the edge, although I like to think I could control myself.

I would also like to think I would have pushed the BiB for alcohol tests... really pushed it... But until I'm in a very similar situation its difficult to really know how I'd react.

Its very fortunate that the Op and his family were unscathed...

I asked a few different cops a few times and they all said no need as he wasn't drinking....none seemed to take it seriously, there wasn't too much i could do from there.

To be fair, i think he probably wasn't drinking.....but you would think they would test to be sure.

[canthai55]

Just a guess on my part - but might be blind, or so close to it that his license should be taken away. If his bumper hit the Vios windows, then the roof might well be close to the top of his hood when close. Bang ... What was that. Back up ... Bang. Altho' the chances of that happening are low to nil, and even if it did, the chances of him stopping driving are about the same.

[ljd1308]

Just a guess on my part - but might be blind, or so close to it that his license should be taken away. If his bumper hit the Vios windows, then the roof might well be close to the top of his hood when close. Bang ... What was that. Back up ... Bang. Altho' the chances of that happening are low to nil, and even if it did, the chances of him stopping driving are about the same.

I think that would be a fair guess, i am pretty sure he was atleast partially deaf.

But that is what has got me, once is an accident and you would think even if he was deaf and blind he would have felt the impact and known not to do it again.

[richard_smith237]

As you can imagine I was rather irate at this stage, but managed to take a breath and calm down a little bit before confronting the truck driver who just smiled and laughed....obviously that wound me up more, so my wife stepped in to deal with it.

I may well have difficulty controlling myself under a similar situation... the laugh may well have pushed me over the edge, although I like to think I could control myself.

I would also like to think I would have pushed the BiB for alcohol tests... really pushed it... But until I'm in a very similar situation its difficult to really know how I'd react.

Its very fortunate that the Op and his family were unscathed...

I asked a few different cops a few times and they all said no need as he wasn't drinking....none seemed to take it seriously, there wasn't too much i could do from there.

To be fair, i think he probably wasn't drinking.....but you would think they would test to be sure.

The BiB were being very lazy and taking the path of least resistance.... it was just an accident, however, if they breathalyse the truck driver and he is found to be drinking its more work for them... So, of course they would say he wasn't drinking...

In these situations it sometimes pays to be polite and firm, but insistent... the path of least resistance becomes following the law and regulations officially...

That said, I'm not suggesting things would have been any different had you been more insistent.

I'm wondering how an accident that you described could happen had the driver not been drinking or under the influence or something else...

[Rayk]

traumatized ? you exaggerate quite a lot. don't worry they will face a lot worst situations in their lives !!!

and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident.

why he didn't say sorry ? for what ? be happy already that he has an insurance...

[/quote " and anyway nobody is innocent in anything that happens to him, sorry but I am sure that there would have a way to avoid this accident."

What an utterly ridiculous comment you have just made.

If there was an award for such a asanine comment you would win hands down.

[ljd1308]

As you can imagine I was rather irate at this stage, but managed to take a breath and calm down a little bit before confronting the truck driver who just smiled and laughed....obviously that wound me up more, so my wife stepped in to deal with it.

I may well have difficulty controlling myself under a similar situation... the laugh may well have pushed me over the edge, although I like to think I could control myself.

I would also like to think I would have pushed the BiB for alcohol tests... really pushed it... But until I'm in a very similar situation its difficult to really know how I'd react.

Its very fortunate that the Op and his family were unscathed...

I asked a few different cops a few times and they all said no need as he wasn't drinking....none seemed to take it seriously, there wasn't too much i could do from there.

To be fair, i think he probably wasn't drinking.....but you would think they would test to be sure.

The BiB were being very lazy and taking the path of least resistance.... it was just an accident, however, if they breathalyse the truck driver and he is found to be drinking its more work for them... So, of course they would say he wasn't drinking...

In these situations it sometimes pays to be polite and firm, but insistent... the path of least resistance becomes following the law and regulations officially...

That said, I'm not suggesting things would have been any different had you been more insistent.

I'm wondering how an accident that you described could happen had the driver not been drinking or under the influence or something else...

That is the million dollar question, no matter how i think about it I cannot understand any reason for the 2nd one.

[off road pat]

Be happy that the freak didn't drive faster. I almost got killed driving my own pick up to work at 6 am in the morning when a speeding and red light doing pick up hit me sideways and pushed my car many meters away. i was unconscious for a few hours, had serious injuries at my spine, broken ribs and various wounds that needed stitches.

The hospital i was brought to didn't even make one x-ray and i was sent home? I couldn't even sit on the back of a motorbike, so a worker from the hospital offered us to take me the 400 meters home for 500 baht only.

It took two more hospitals to find out how serious my injuries were. My car was redone twice, as the first garage didn't do a good job.

Would my wife have been with me, she would have been squeezed out. It took 18 months to get my car back and i guess it's useless to talk about the severe pain i had and all the circumstances.

Once the car was done, we took a shortcut to my wife's village and got hit by an airborne motorcycle, a Honda CBR 150.

I saw the bike in the air heading towards my windshield could hit the brakes and my front bumper absorbed a lot of energy.

Nothing is impossible here when you ask me. Drive safe. -

Safe driving is only a small percentage of it, Luck has the greatest part of all.....!!!!

[riceyummm]

That laughing thing, I've seen it a hundred times. Most westerners in such a situation, including myself, would slap their heads, look sheepish, admit they screwed up, then apologize. Thai people usually laugh and never apologize, it's a face saving devise, an ingrained social response. To me an inability to admit you're wrong when you know you are is the shortest route to complete loss of face. This is a real clash of cultures.

[Gulfsailor]

The cops may have done you a favor by not doing a breathalyzer test on the truck driver. If he were to be over the limit his insurance wouldn't cover the damage. Then it is up to you to sue him in court to get the money, or if you have first class insurance they will cover it but your premium may go up the next year.