A friend of mine told me this story yesterday of how he witnessed an accident involving a pickup pulling out without looking (I was amazed to, never seen this before ) and a bike hit it side on sending the two young riders sprawling.
Anyway he, being a good citizen, stopped to see if the kids were okay. Moments later a cop arrived and fined him 500 baht; 'you farang, you pay'. Dumbfounded he was but had no choice but to make the cop a little richer as the tight brown suited schmuck had taken his keys.
Moral of the story is ... dont stop ... especially if you're a farang.
my wife crashed into a moped driver one one of the turn off canal road, or should I say he crashed into her while he was piss drunk, there was a cop sitting at a cafe and witnessed the whole thing, my wife was in a hire car and the cop said yeah all the guys fault blah blah, next day when we went to police station we were told that if we pay 10,000 Baht the guy who crashed into us will get a family friend to say he was driving the car and the numpty that crashed into us will get money for his bike and medical repairs and we could just leave without any more hassel.....now work that one out
This happens quite a bit in Thailand Mack111, basically they get another driver to admit responsibility for the accident so that they can claim on the cars insurance. Obviously the brown-shirts get a contribution for sorting this out, it would normally come from the guy on the bike, but if a farang is around it comes from them.
Not stopping if you witness an accident is good advice for most countries in Asia.
yeah, strangely enough the excess on the insurance was 9,000 Baht, so i guess with what you say the cop got 1000 Baht
i attemped to debate my way out of the thing but the cop in all fairness to him being upfront, he said this best way, you rich falang, this way everyone get money including him, me and the wife not have to atend a gazzillion visits to the police station.......then i loved it when he said he would buy me a beer also...you gotta love the logic
I went to eat with some Thai friends near Kaeng Krachan,after leaving their home,i drove up a hill,overtaking a girl on a motor cycle,shortly after overtaking her i came to a bend in the road,to find two motor cycles in pieces both on the opposite side of the road to me,and two young Thai boys laying in the road,one was obviously dead,they had obviously run head on into each other,with one on wrong side of the road.
I only had a split second to decide what to do,and i decided not to stop,having read some terrible stories about what happened to farangs helping accidents,and as i knew the girl on the motor cycle was right behind me,and it was only a couple of hundred yards to the village,i slowed to make sure the Thai girl stopped,and when i saw that she did, i carried on,i found it hard to drive home,i was feeling so bad,and ashamed of myself for not stopping.
The next day i saw my friends who i had eaten with,and they asked if i saw the accident,i was tempted to lie,as i was feeling so ashamed at not stopping,but i told them what i saw,they told me both boys died in the accident,both boys hit head on,without either wearing a crash helmet,both died straight away.and that if i had stopped i could have been in trouble,the villagers may well have blamed me for the accident,or worse the girl on the motor bike might have lied and blamed me,they all said it best if farang not stop,especialy as i was alone in my car.
Two years on and i know in my head it was best not to stop,but it still does not feel right,and i feel ashamed i did not stop ,even though there was nothing i could have done to help.
I've learnt over the years NOT to roll over to police fantasy. My wife always bails me out when I have any truck with the MIB. She would give me real stick if I paid money for nothing (think she's spent too long in the UK). Anyway, if you've done nothing wrong, we've found it works to stick to your guns.
Recently, I had a parking ticket for parking on the wrong side of the road outside 'All In Hua Hin'. Yes it was wrong but such a minor misdemeanor considering all the other violations when you look down the road. Went to the shop, paid the fine, but my wife dragged a cop out of the station and made him write tickets for the illegally parked cars along the road outside the station. He then asked my wife if she wanted any money from the fines!!! Also gave us a number and said that if we saw anyone doing wrong, to ring him. Not actually pushed that one though. I could end up dead by someone with a gun.
Just one example of several brushes with the law. Since the first time my wife got involved, I've never paid up just on the say so of a cop.
This shit used to happen a lot to me. There are two answers put up and shut up or have the phone number of a brown suit with lots of medals on hand this generally works in HH. Fortunatly we sold some land for a brown suit with medals so we no longer have these problems.
I tolerated four years of it and I do sympathise with all farrangs as we are seen as easy targets.
Now this is along the same thread lines a farrang that I know and despise killed one man and mamed another a while back, He was driving at three in the mornning pissed as a fart, his punishment 500,000 THB. So I guess the road laws or lack of them assisted unfortunatly at least one farrang. I personally think the b----------tard should be left to rot in hell.
I don`t drive while in Thailand,find it better to just hire a local.I walk into town every morning for exercise and breakfast.Last year as I was strolling into town,a pickup truck launched itself over the sidewalk into a field a few blocks from the Sport Villa.No one was seriously hurt but all the Thais (6 in all) in various stages of intoxicationhad cuts and scrapes...the truck was smashed pretty good.Didn`t take long for the police to arrive,as a curious bystander I stood off a ways and observed.After a few minutes I becamed bored with the arguing Thais and started back on my trek.I didn`t get 20 feet when a Thai policeman intercepted me,after a long tirade in Thai(of which I understood nothing) he whisked over to his car and an English speaking officer explained I was the cause of the accident as I had jumped in front of the pickup and by trying to avoid me the driver lost control.I was about a block away from the accident when it happened,but with all the finger pointing and accusations I thought it best to get out as quickly as possible....a 1000 baht note to each of the officers made it all go away...they told me I could leave and arrested one of the Thais I assume the driver.So as you see it is not even safe to stop when you are not driving.
Exactly Pete,
If you've done nothing wrong, then stick up for your rights.
I get really upset to hear that some farangs have ripped off by the police. Just say NO. And take me to the big police station and I'll call my Embassy.
Might be banged up overnight, but never give an inch.
Assuming you've done nothing wrong.
To hell and back with them.
I agree if you have done nothing wrong (as I did in this case,just wrong place wrong time)and a few years ago I would have done exactly as you say...but me getting thrown in jail overnight or worse is not going to stop the corruption......I`m too old to be the martyr and a couple thousand baht is a cheap remedy as far as I`m concerned...it`s fine and noble to stick up for ones rights but it is a matter of cost ...I would much rather lose some baht than go to jail for even a short time.On the same topic not many farrang find fault with the system when they are in the wrong and cheaply buy they`re way out....so I beieve we have to take the good with the bad and accept the things we can`t change.
quite interesting comments & quite a sad state of affairs really.
i haven't done any driving in thailand so i can't really comment to much myself.
my friend however has driven many a mile all over the country (i toured with him for 3 weeks).we were stopped quite a few times in various places around the north & east by police & army .there were always a few questions about why & where we were heading but generally we were treated politely & in a friendly manner.
my friend has been stopped & 'fined' for whatever reason several times but always & only in hua hin, bangkok or pattaya. he takes the option like you curber & pays for the sake of less hassle.
its each to his own when faced with the situation & its down to the individual to decide whether to pay or make a stand, but as long as people keep paying up for no apparent reason, the longer the corruption will continue. a vicious circle indeed.
as for the accident side of things,i do find it quite immoral that people would profit from somebodies misfortune & i would certainly find it hard to walk by if somebody was lying in the road injured & i could assist in anyway.just another case for the individual to decide i suppose.
Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
) and a bike hit it side on sending the two young riders sprawling.
