Sometimes you just have to say no!

People are so funny, a friend that lives up by Nung Bua Lampo had an accident on his motorcycle a 1100 CC sport bike T boned a honda wave, she turned in front of him, he laid the bike down but hit her anyway. Her bike not bad damage the bike he was riding medium damage if he was not an excellent mechainc, but he is so no big bucks involved. Injuries to both parties to tell the truth I think he had the more signicant soft tissue injury to his shoulder. Her cuts a bruises but for her that meant that she stayed in the hospital for a bit. In the States she would not have been admitted.

He is completly licenced lights on, helmet, bike registered and properly insured. Her none the previous. Witnesses available stating she was at fault and eventually she admitted her mistake of turning in front of him.

He was sweating blood as this was his first time through this in Thailand, I gave him my favorite lady attornies name. With all the horror stories of cops here in Thailand he knew he was going to get nailed. My advice fight don't lay down for it. Others pay the lady and move on.

Well sure enough she showed with a demand for 100K. Ray Ria made a call to the Police station for him. He took the position of I wasn't wrong and she was very lucky that he was demanding money from her. He stood his ground and sure enough he paid nothing.

Truth is he could have filed suit agianst her and won, but in the end if all you have is a uncollectable judgement you've won nothing but a piece of paper, Same as everywhere not just Thailand.

In my experience with these Issan cops, is that I have always been treated fairly. So my suggestion is if your wrong and you know it pay up. If your not say no and tell them you prefer to go to court. Your vehicle will remain in impund but so will thiers. Your going to pay 20k for a filing fee and and then attorney fees, but they have to 10k to file answer and pay thier attorney. The Police only resolve these things if there is an agreement by both parties.

When it comes to brass tacks most Thai's will fold if you stand up, they simply can't afford to take the chance, of spending that money and possibly losing.

The assumption is we are rich and by Thai standards most of us are, but there are Thai's in my neighborhood that could by and sell me ten times a day. When things go wrong for them they don't just throw, go away money at the problem. Why should we ?

Don't misunderstand wht I'm saying if your wrong pay up and try to keep the losses down, but if your right don't follow the rumor mill and give up the go away money. Believe me all the Thai's expect you to do just that. If you stand up for yourself you stand a very good chance on being treated fairly.

Good advise there Ray.

Another piece of advise; If you're ever unfortunate to be in an accident with another vehicle never try to move either of the damaged vehicles until the police and insurance company arrive, and even if in the middle of a busy road. The insurance claim may be void if the vehicles are moved. If it were the other persons fault, leave your vehicle where the accident happened and wait for the insurance company to arrive, they will do everything in their power to fight your case if the accident was caused by the other party. If you have a camera with you take some photos, just incase anything

Yep I agree with Lee......

But remember that most insurance companies requires a Thai licens if you been in the country more then 3 months. less then 3 months an international licences is good enough and your licens has to be for the right kind of vehicle,
bike licens for bike...

Seaserpent wrote:But remember that most insurance companies requires a Thai licens if you been in the country more then 3 months. less then 3 months an international licences is good enough and your licens has to be for the right kind of vehicle, bike licens for bike...

But anyone with a tourist visa cannot get a Thai driver's license. Hmmm.

I agree with Ray!One of the problems though,is getting Thai witnesses to come forward on your behalf!

Your supposed to have a Non O or equivlant to get a Thai drivers lic. It does require a letter from immigration to obtain one.

In the scenario laid out no Thai witneses came foward nor did any in my accident.

If you stand your ground and your right you will probably be OK if you don't fold.

Remember I'm saying if you are right. Or of there demands are redicules in the one explained 100K was just insane. Even if the guy had been wrong there weer no more then 20K in damages at the max.

100K just seems to be a good round number to Thai's dealing with farrangs

Mainer wrote:But anyone with a tourist visa cannot get a Thai driver's license. Hmmm.

A tourist visa is exactly that - for tourists. There are not many places you can go to in the world on holiday and get a driving licence for that country, and here is no different. Same with a work permit - why would a tourist want to work (apart from those who like doing volunteer work on their holidays).
A non immigrant is, in effect stating that you are here long term or even resident here which is why it is a requirement to work and obtain a Thailand driving licence.

Those wishing to drive anything here should have (preferably) an international driving permit (last time I checked was the equivilant of 280 baht for one year) - or at the very least a driving licence issued in your home country.

Unfortunately not many rental companies care about the legalities of whether you actually have a licence to drive whatever they are renting you - but you bet that if you have an accident - then every minute detail will be covered and you will be up s**t creek !

I read a recent post on here where someone was fined 100 baht for not carrying their licence and got stopped. This could be the same as not actually having one (in another instance for example) but rather than make the person produce it at the police station later - they are fined 100 baht and allowed to drive off.

There is a long long way to go for Thailand to catch up with the modern world !

Paul wrote:

Mainer wrote:But anyone with a tourist visa cannot get a Thai driver's license. Hmmm.

Those wishing to drive anything here should have (preferably) an international driving permit (last time I checked was the equivilant of 280 baht for one year) - or at the very least a driving licence issued in your home country.

Paul, you seemed to missed the original message of the post. It has to do with problems arising from an accident. And if you do not have a driver's license, that can get you into a much bigger mess than anyone needs. Sure, if you get stoped for a routine check, there is no problem. You pay the 200 baht fine and off you go. Should you have a serious accident and injure or kill someone, it would be best if you were legal.

I got my car and motorcycle license a few weeks ago. People asked me "Why, this is Thailand. Noone cares." But, I care. A tourist who is here over 90 days, should not drive, according to what was posted here.

I hope this helps.

I took the point completely and I agree with it too.

I was just thinking the other day that in my opinion foreigners here are probrably amongst the most law abiding people who are here.
We know only too well that if a situation arises we will always be in the wrong and also we have so much more to lose if we are caught doing something we shouldn't.
Of course there will always be those who think anything goes here in Thailand -so I can get away with almost anything.
For example those who go to Pattaya for 2 weeks, rent the biggest motorcycle they can find and drive around in shorts and flip flops with no crash helmet on.

Yeah - anything goes here, until you get caught or wrap yourself around a street light with a 750cc Honda on top of you.

If it started at grass roots and your licence was checked properly by the rental company - half the problems would be solved. And failure to produce your licence when asked by the police should result in seizure of the vehicle until you can produce your licence. 100 or 200 baht fine is hardly a deterrent.

Paul wrote:If it started at grass roots and your licence was checked properly by the rental company - half the problems would be solved. And failure to produce your licence when asked by the police should result in seizure of the vehicle until you can produce your licence. 100 or 200 baht fine is hardly a deterrent.

Firstly, there is no way that a license can be checked "properly" by any rental company. I have rented cars around the world on just my States issued license and have never had it "checked" other than the issuance date and expiry date. That is all that any car rental company can do.

Similarly, in any other country that I have been in - the failure or inability to produce a license has never resulted in the seizure of the vehicle. In those situations, typically all that happens is a person will receive a citation. Typically then, if the person can produce the license at a later date, the citation is dropped and there is no fine.

I would venture a guess that the 100 or 200 Baht fine has been a deterrent with the Thais. When the police started fining people for not having a license, there was a made rush by everyone to the motor vehicle department to get a license. If you are suggesting that falangs be treated differently - then you are opening up a whole new can of worms which would make all the other postings made complaining about the different standards to be a waste of bandwidth.

I must say - I am getting a bit nervous with some of you guys. I have seen in the past couple of days people wanting to have more regulations here in Thailand. Typically, those regulations are to meet your own interpretations of a "utopian" society. In other words - some of you seem to be wanting to impose your standards on the Thais and everyone else here in Thailand. Maybe its time for some of you to make a reality check and go back to your original countries to experience what self serving regulations do to your own lifestyle.

Doc said:
I must say - I am getting a bit nervous with some of you guys. I have seen in the past couple of days people wanting to have more regulations here in Thailand. Typically, those regulations are to meet your own interpretations of a "utopian" society. In other words - some of you seem to be wanting to impose your standards on the Thais and everyone else here in Thailand. Maybe its time for some of you to make a reality check and go back to your original countries to experience what self serving regulations do to your own lifestyle.


I agree with this statement!But most people want their cake plus eat yours too!
Sometimes we can become so acclimated to the environment we are most used to,it is easy to assume that the ''good'' things should be naturally put in place here!
It is also easy to forget the enjoyment of other areas that are less restrictive than our old environments!
This is a completely different type of society.If they made all the changes to ''improve'' their system,the cost of living might be prohibitive to most!
Some things ,at times ,can seem unbearable,but then I think of how I feel most of the time while living here,versus how I would feel living back in falangland!
''Acceptance is the key to all my problems''(stolen from a 12 stepper)

Paul wrote:If it started at grass roots and your licence was checked properly by the rental company - half the problems would be solved

Well I don't think anyone can disagree with that comment. That is the case in most of the rest of the world and indeed should be the case over here. I certainly don't consider that to be imposing our standards on the Thais.

Ok there may be limitations on how well another country can check the validity of a different countries license, but that's no reason for not checking at all.

Similarly, in any other country that I have been in - the failure or inability to produce a license has never resulted in the seizure of the vehicle. In those situations, typically all that happens is a person will receive a citation. Typically then, if the person can produce the license at a later date, the citation is dropped and there is no fine.

just to say....
i the UK now there are plenty of cameras fixed and mobile units that instantly check the vehicle details and the police waiting 100 meters up the road will pull you in, if that person has no license/insurance/road tax or outstanding fines or tickets and they will check at roadside, the vehicle will be seized.
i see this every week.

For example those who go to Pattaya for 2 weeks, rent the biggest motorcycle they can find and drive around in shorts and flip flops with no crash helmet on.

Yeah - anything goes here, until you get caught or wrap yourself around a street light with a 750cc Honda on top of you.

the first bit sounds familiar to me all be it 15-18 years ago.

the second bit, you would also have to stump up the cost of the expensive Big Bike too !! (if you are still in the land of the living)

beer monkey wrote:

For example those who go to Pattaya for 2 weeks, rent the biggest motorcycle they can find and drive around in shorts and flip flops with no crash helmet on.

Yeah - anything goes here, until you get caught or wrap yourself around a street light with a 750cc Honda on top of you.

the first bit sounds familiar to me all be it 15-18 years ago.

the second bit, you would also have to stump up the cost of the expensive Big Bike too !! (if you are still in the land of the living)

15 -18 years ago ???
I see it twenty times every day !!!!!

Whenever there is a roar of a motorcyle thundering away from the traffic lights down Beach Road or second road - you can bet its a farang on a huge rented bike dressed in shorts and sandals !

OK guys I've lost it here, the original thought was not to give in so easily if your involved in a traffic accident. I'm sure that is not what Doc is talking about. It seems this came up when the drivers license was mentioned, is that what we are now discussing?

If that is the case I'm sure there must be some provison in Thai Law to allow the usage of a valid license from the home country for a limited time for tourist. In California for example you have ten days from residency to obtain a California drivers license and to register your vehicles in the state.

Motorcycling I happen to love it it is my release, tha being said I do it responsibly. There is absolutely no doubt about it, it is a dangerous hobby. It is rare for me to even have a beer and when I do the bike or any other vehicle is not what I want to be involved with. If I'm on the bike it's limited to one beer and no more and I change the way I ride leave more distance between cars ect. A much more cautious approach.

I for one don't believe that 160 is a good cruising speed but I know many that do. I don't believe laying it into corners on a public road and making sparks with the pegs is the best approach, I can do it and know many who do. But you have to be totaly insane to get on a rental bike that you are no used to and try to do those kind of things, but many do.

In the states you ride like that and it goes wrong and you become a veg then the rest of the community will be supporting you for the rest of your veg life. Not so in Thailand.

For me riding is touring I want to see the scenery. not the line of the road to see how close I can get to crashing without doing so. I understand why guys do it, it's a heck of a rush. But in my carreer I had all that I wanted, not quiet like chasing a guy down a dark alley that has a gun in his hand, but pretty close. Some people need to excercise that demon, I don't. Mine a been well worked out.

The flip side to all of it is when you lose control it may not be just you who is injuried. These bikes are heavy the guy hit us one the 750, the entire front end of his pickup was wiped out. Imagine what that would do to a pedestrian at speed.

I would say that some of this is not about regulation but simple common since, but I can only control what I do.

Well did I get the jist of the topic Not sure