Thailand Tips #17: I’ve Been Hit and I Can’t Get Up

This is an extension of tip 16, but it deserves it’s own post.

IF for some reason in Thailand you’ve been hit by a car, truck, bus, or anything big enough to kill you if it ran over you a few times…

PICK YOURSELF OFF THE GROUND QUICK.

Why do I say this?

Certain unscrupulous Thai drivers of huge dump trucks, buses and other vehicles have been known to back up over someone laying in the street that they just crashed into.

Why?

To make sure they’re really dead and can’t press charges in court.

Why?

In Thai accidents if you’re judged to be responsible for someone’s injuries and they’re severe and put the person out of work for a while – or a lifetime – the court will insist you pay for that person’s living expenses for however long it takes to get back to normal.

There are well known – reported cases of even Bangkok bus drivers doing this.

Bang, they smack into a motorbike rider or a pedestrian. They hit the reverse and make sure they really flatten the person so there is no court case.

No, not joking. No, it’s not an urban myth. The frequency it happens might be partly myth – but the actual practice is real.

I wrote another post about this same crazy Thai driver phenomenon and more about driving in Thailand earlier.

How can you stay safe in Thailand?

You can start by getting Thailand Survival Guide 101.

Thai Black Book.

For a current state of the country – see the ultimate Thailand Guide – Thai Black Book – your guide to staying safe in Thailand

Thai Black Book information site- >

Thailand Tips #16: Traffic Accidents

In my opinion your best bet in a traffic accident is to offer some money to the other person(s) involved and get out of there quick.

You might think you’re covered by some insurance. You might be, you might not.

Thais assume that the foreigner was wrong in most (any?) accidents. There’s a good reason for that – Thais think you can afford to pay for it, is the general assumption.

Don’t ever run away after an accident as you’ll be caught and beaten AND pay for all the damages, hospital bills. Better to offer some cash – a few thousand baht and wai a few times – making sure everyone is smiling and OK with the arrangement. If it’s a huge crash the police will likely be involved and you’re better off to get a Thai lawyer that speaks excellent English or you’ll be paying for the whole mess.

Remember, the general rule of accidents is that the farang (foreigner) is responsible. You can call the police and plead your case if you like – but I think much, much better to offer some cash and call it a loss. Probably you were doing something that contributed to the crash anyway!

What do I mean by that?

Driving a motorbike on the roads of Thailand for 100,000 km I’ve learned some things about the way Thais drive. I know when to compensate for someone ready to do something stupid because I have to do it almost everytime I drive. It’s part of the safe way to drive in Thailand – know what idiots are about to do and compensate for it before they do it and run you off the road, smack into you or worse.

Another reason to bust out the cash and hit the road again as soon as possible is because if the police DO come there will a bunch of Thais explaining in Thai to the police what happened and you speaking in English attempting to sway someone into believing your perspective.

How can you stay safe in Thailand?

You can start by getting Thailand Survival Guide 101.

Thai Black Book.

For a current state of the country – see the ultimate Thailand Guide – Thai Black Book – your guide to staying safe in Thailand

Thai Black Book information site- >

Accidents in Thailand: Accidents happen when they want… yeah, Jing Jing!

Accidents in Thailand:
On the Road or Hiking in the Forest…

Accidents happen anytime. Never planned for and not able to be seen before they happen. They’re not logical. You can’t not wear your helmet because you think you won’t have an accident going a short distance. Many accidents happen on short trips.

Since being in Asia I’ve seen the results of many motorbike accidents… victims laying in the road still… nobody moves them… they are usually bleeding from some orifice, but not always. Sometimes you’d guess they’re sleeping. There is no attempt made by bystanders to revive the person or wake them if they happen to be just unconscious and not dead yet. I’ve not seen any efforts anyway.

After an accident they linger around just standing by the person or persons that are dead or unconscious. They don’t look at the person and often times they are laughing softly.

The Thais’ have a culture that accepts death more easily than we westerners do. They believe it’s karmic fate – a buddhist concept – and that if it’s time, it’s time. There is no sense worrying about when it will come -it will just come. This attitude is reflected in their driving. Many drive montorcycles or cars and trucks without regard to themselves or others.

In America everything is more dramatic. If we have an accident there we have people screaming, we have 19 police, firemen, ambulance, onlookers… everyone taking part in the drama. The Thais’ just wait for a pickup truck to come and pick up the body or the unconscious person and take him/her to the hospital.

I spent a night in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a major hospital in the northeast of Thailand just a couple months ago. I was there from 6 pm until 8 am the next morning. I was there because my American friend had a motorbike accident at 2 in the morning and ran into 3 Thai teenagers on a motorbike. Not sure what happened but witnesses said the 3 teens didn’t have lights on their motorcycle at the time of the accident. My friend went to the ICU unconscious and didn’t wake up for 6 hours. Anyway, this story isn’t about that.

So, sitting in his room in the ICU I keep seeing a dog come into where the patients are. One of the staff brought her dog to work as she usually did. In America even unclean people are not allowed in the ICU. Usually visitors can stay only minutes before being rushed out. Here my friend was in an ICU room with a dog visitor. Incredible. Then I saw a cat. No lie… Anyway – the animals stayed out of his area.

As I sat there that night I watched 4 people die on the tables. Particularly disturbing was a child, a girl about 9 years old. When she was brought in she was not breathing. She had a cervical collar on her neck and they were squeezing a plastic balloon to fill her lungs with air. Apparently her heart was still beating because I could read the heart rate monitor and see when it changed. The HRM went to zero multiple times during their efforts and they switched from chest compressions and breathing help to just breathing help as her own heart began to beat. I could also see her breathing rate monitor and sometimes she was OK and sometimes nothing.

Sometimes her breathing was OK on her own and her heart wouldn’t beat… so they did chest compressions. They did this for 30 minutes until the doctor there told them to stop. The heart did not show any signs of improvement. They then used the electrical stimulation to attempt to start the heart, and tried multiple times – but nothing worked. The doctor then said “die”, took out a form and wrote down time of death. They took her pulse in neck and wrist. They checked the monitor. Nothing for heart rate… but, the girls chest was still going up and down a little bit. The breathing rate monitor said 12 for a while after they stopped chest compressions… then 10…9.. 4… and then finally zeroed after over 30 minutes.

The mom, father and sister arrived just as they were pronouncing the girl dead… and they watched as the breathing slowed down to nothing. The mom was crying – but not sobbing. Just quiet tears and holding onto her husband tightly. The father cried lightly. The sister was in shock and didn’t cry just held onto the parents and looked wide eyed at her sister covered over by the sheet.

Accidents are anytime and absolutely any place. .

I drove to a waterfall 2 weeks ago. As we were just getting started across this open field we saw this house (see photo) with a tree that had fallen through it years ago. We then heard a loud ripping of something through the forest and coming down the hill. Just in back of us – 20 meters away was a large roundish boulder that shot out of the woods and flew across the freshly mowed lawn. Had we been any slower one of us might be dead…

So… wear your helmet. Use your belt. Take your kids to see an ICU ward or a mortuary sometime. Give them a taste of death… the hollowness… the suddenness… the unexplainable taste that will put the fear of caution in them.