Some of you may know that myself, wife and son were involved in a collision a while back. It was quite bad, a motorcycle pulled out in front of my car whilst he was doing a U turn (we were doing around 90km in the middle lane of 3 lane highway, 4 lanes if you count the U turn lane). He was in his sixties and wearing no helmet. He swears the whole thing was my fault, although I'm pretty confident all he can really remember is waking up a week or so later..
He was badly hurt. My family nor I were, thank god (...no thanks to him).
After several visits to the police station, and despite the advice of some, it was clear that to end the matter it was best to pay over some money to the injured party.
The amount was the key to the whole thing, they initially wanted 80k, I told them I'd pay 10k (insert holy grail quote - 10 sheckles for that, you must be mad etc).
Long story short, we agreed some while back to pay 'sam moo-un' (30k).
I'm not a rich man, to me, 30k is 30k (around 600 quid) and it's more difficult to swallow when you come from the UK, where this matter would be open and shut (mate, you weren't wearing a helmet, you drove across me, on a motorway, end of, goodbye).
But, when in Rome, and having to sit opposite his wife in the final meeting (who was always OK with me, despite clearly difficult circumstances) I said no problem to 30k let it be an end to the whole damn thing (which had dragged on, albeit in the background, for too long).
Some may think I should pay more... some may think I should not have paid at all.
To be frank, the father and son involved were difficult people. I was threatened by the son in front of the cops, and called alot of names by the father (he refused any responsibility). I'm aware some of it is 'heat of the moment' stuff, but it left a bad taste, and a reluctance on my part to give anything, especially as I was the only one down on hands and knees in the road trying to keep the bugger alive, whilst all the other onlookers ignored any pleas to lend a hand..
(If somebody can offer any explanation why all the bystanders were so reluctant to help out, please let me know, because I am still having trouble understanding this part of thai culture).
Anyways, it's over now, thank Christ.
(side note: even though we settled, I hear from the law guy they are still unhappy, refusing to pay the cops 3k admin fee, stomping their feet saying I should pay it). Some people are just never satisfied, after all, it's a miracle this guy is still breathing....
Is there any sort of moral to the story?
Not really. It was horrible. In hindsight I feel better for paying some money, not sure how I'd feel now if I just walked away and ignored it all.
I'm very glad he survived, and wish him all the best... I suppose if he'd of been more passive 'post-accident', he may have got less money, so I guess that makes some sense?
The REAL moral of the story? Watch those ROADS in THAILAND folks. Accidents are very much dealt with between the parties involved, 'mediated' over by the police.
By all means, if you are involved in an accident and feel like it wasn't your fault say so and stand your ground... depending on the circumstances it may possibly blow over... At some points during this mess, I was up for seeing it through to court, looking back the thought seems absurd now, and it would probably have never happened... I could have probably dug my heels in, but in hindsight I'm glad I didn't.
Sometimes it better to pay up and move on... Mai pen arai and all that... Watch out for those motorcyclists, especially the ones without helmets, or 'Sam Moo-un's', as I now call them.
