Husband and wife's life in ruins because of family of boy, 15, who reversed into them

[webfact]

Husband and wife's life in ruins because of family of boy, 15, who reversed into them

 

Picture: TNews

 

A stricken husband and wife have gone online to talk about their lives that have been ruined following a road accident.

 

And they have slammed the family who allowed a 15 year old to be at the wheel.

 

Wanchai Phakaew, 44, and his wife Araya, 39,were crossing the road from a market in Khao Khor, Petchabun, when they were reversed into on a hill and dragged many meters down the road.

 

The pick-up was being driven by a 15 year old boy. The boy's parents are from Chiang Rai and rent fields in the area to grow strawberries.

 

Wanchai suffered a broken back. He has had to have surgery and only recently returned home where he is only now just able to sit up. His wife suffered a broken arm and other injuries.

 

They were farmers but are now unable to earn a living and have to employ outside help to tend their land.

 

The cost of treatment was 100,000 baht. Only 70,000 was covered in the insurance of the boy's family.

 

Wanchai has had to pay the rest out of his own pocket.

 

Police have asked him to come in to discuss the matter but he is unable to walk yet.

 

Wanchai slammed the family for allowing a 15 year old to be at the wheel. He said had it been an adult they would have known they had hit something and made the decision to put on the brakes.

 

"A 15 year old should not be driving," he told Tnews after a video of their plight was shared on the page of "Phanrekuay" on Facebook.

 

The horrendous accident - that was caught on tape - was on August 17 and caused much comment in the media.

 

Tnews named the boy but Thaivisa are withholding his name.

 

Source: TNews

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-09-08

[steven100]

stupid parents.

[theoldgit]

I think the victims were lucky the insurers paid anything, though I'm not sure lucky is the right word, the boy was not old enough to drive, so no licence and, thus I would have thought uninsured.

I'm afraid it's indicative of the total disregard to law and order, common decency and an absence of wanting to do the right thing by some people in this country.

[edwinchester]

"Only 70,000 was covered in the insurance of the boy's family."

 

Always amazes me how low the cover is on some of these insurance policies but then I think again and realise life seems to be valued very cheaply here. 

[Artisi]

Parents allowed it, parents pay - simple, but in this society, who cares, I wasn't driving it was my kid - so tough luck. 

[darksidedog]

I note the laziness of the cops who expect a man who cant walk to come to them to make a statement. Through no fault of their own they are out of work and out of pocket. I am sure the boys family will become more generous when they are facing criminal charges, if the cops can ever be bothered to file them of course.

[Briggsy]

3 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

I think the victims were lucky the insurers paid anything, though I'm not sure lucky is the right word, the boy was not old enough to drive, so no licence and, thus I would have thought uninsured.

I'm afraid it's indicative of the total disregard to law and order, common decency and an absence of wanting to do the right thing by some people in this country.

Multiply this easily preventable accident by 30 or so and you have the daily victim toll in Thailand. I am just referring to serious life-changing injuries here. That is tens of thousands of people with disabilities and pain for the rest of their lives.

 

This has been the situation for decades. It is an utter failure of the authorities, in particular the police. The improvement in accident rates from other South East Asian countries shows something can be done about it if an effort is made.

[colinneil]

5 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

I note the laziness of the cops who expect a man who cant walk to come to them to make a statement. Through no fault of their own they are out of work and out of pocket. I am sure the boys family will become more generous when they are facing criminal charges, if the cops can ever be bothered to file them of course.

darksidedog, surely you know that the police will only do something if there is money to be made.

These poor people are not in a position to give the police any money so sfa will be done.

[DM07]

Will the boy get 48 hours of social work in a hospital of his choice?

 

[Techno Viking]

53 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

"Only 70,000 was covered in the insurance of the boy's family."

 

Always amazes me how low the cover is on some of these insurance policies but then I think again and realise life seems to be valued very cheaply here. 

I thought the Compulsory insurance only pays out up to Bt.50,000 for injury so they did well the get Bt.70,000.

 

Any non compulsory insurance (1 st clas/2nd class etc etc) if they had it would not have covered due to the unlicensed driver.

 

 

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Wanchai has had to pay the rest out of his own pocket.

surely there is some civil remedy here, that some lawyer would take up pro bono; likely would include actual expenses plus a high reward for loss of ability to work

[jerojero]

Not allowed to drive, along with the thousands of 10 year old's on motorbikes.

[seajae]

here in Thailand the parents like to brag about their under age kids riding/driving on the roads, until such time as the road rules are enforced and the parents of these under age kids are held responsible and face charges as well as paying restitution nothing will change.  Hopefully they will be able to have the parents of the driver charged and made to pay for all the damages and future lost wages of the ones injured but it will require the police to actually do their jobs, something that rarely happens here

[ubonjoe]

A post using all capital letters has been removed. From the Forum Rules

Quote

Forum Netiquette
 1. Please do not post in all capital letters, bold, unusual fonts, sizes or colors. It can be difficult to read.

 

[sweatalot]

cant they file criminal charges against the parents ?

Isn't it that normally the police then brings them together and if they agree to pay enough money they drop the charges?

[anthobkk]

How come an insurance will pay for the damages if the driver is not insured at all. 15 years old driver is not in the policy.

 

The family should seek damages directly from the parents of this boy. 

 

I never understand how justices works in Thailand.

 

Back home, if this shit happens, the parents of that kid would have to pay from their own pocket, will face criminal charges for allowing the kid to drive and the kid would be in trouble too.

[FitnessHealthTravel]

Kids ride and drive everywhere in Thailand. The smaller the place/Island the more common. Hit one of them with your car or bike and if you survive the beating on the side of the road from the locals you then have to pay the medical and damages. Nothing will happen to the kid. Interesting how that works here.

[edwinchester]

15 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

Kids ride and drive everywhere in Thailand. The smaller the place/Island the more common. Hit one of them with your car or bike and if you survive the beating on the side of the road from the locals you then have to pay the medical and damages. Nothing will happen to the kid. Interesting how that works here.

"It's justice Jim but not as we know it."

[tkramer]

This is not just a 'one-off' occurrence. The daily news is loaded with a constant bombardment regularly occurring mindlessness.

 

Truth be told...the greatest part about living in Thailand (from an anthropological point of view) is that you get to witness first-hand how people lived, thought, and acted 5000 years ago.

[jak2002003]

6 minutes ago, tkramer said:

This is not just a 'one-off' occurrence. The daily news is loaded with a constant bombardment regularly occurring mindlessness.

 

Truth be told...the greatest part about living in Thailand (from an anthropological point of view) is that you get to witness first-hand how people lived, thought, and acted 2000 years ago.

How dare you!!!  What in ignorant nasty comment to make about people that lived 2000 years ago!  

 

Don't you know that 2000 years ago people had a lot more intelligence and good sense then they do now?!!! 

 

Humanity is going into reverse... some people here (and around the globe) have virtually zero survival or self preservation skills.. all they know about is smart phones and social media photos of themselves..... they have no clue how to socially interact in real life, and are oblivious to their environment or anything going on around them.  

 

[Bangkok Barry]

If a child is driving anything and has an accident then the parents should be fined or jailed for allowing it. No point in expecting the police to stop them before they are involved in an accident because is never going to happen. My own brother-in-law is a policeman and allows his 10-year old son to ride a motorbike. A young nephew did too, until he fell off as it was too heavy for him to control. Another relative, a 13-year old girl, came off a bike and injured herself just last week. A kid in the village killed someone with his bike and the police didn't even get involved. Too much paperwork. Money changed hands between the families, that's all. No doubt the killer was back on the road the next day. People here just don't care.

[amvet]

31 minutes ago, tkramer said:

This is not just a 'one-off' occurrence. The daily news is loaded with a constant bombardment regularly occurring mindlessness.

 

Truth be told...the greatest part about living in Thailand (from an anthropological point of view) is that you get to witness first-hand how people lived, thought, and acted 5000 years ago.

This from a man whose country elected Trump?  555.  Sorry but Thais seem quite civilized compared to the US or those folks who approved Brexit. 

[YetAnother]

7 hours ago, seajae said:

here in Thailand the parents like to brag about their under age kids riding/driving on the roads

i see cases like that, and analog cases; it is a bit disgusting but it helps knowing which people to minimize your interactions with

[Jonmarleesco]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Police have asked him to come in to discuss the matter

A fifteen-year old was driving - no licence, no insurance, no competence (notwithstanding he's Thai). Yet the RTP needs one of the victims to 'come in to discuss the matter'? Perhaps they should start by interviewing the kid and his parents, then considering charges.

[Jonmarleesco]

30 minutes ago, amvet said:

This from a man whose country elected Trump?  555.  Sorry but Thais seem quite civilized compared to the US or those folks who approved Brexit. 

It needs a vote to elect a president - or for a majority to indicate that they're overly p_____d off with the EU.

 

And I'm not sure where civilised comes into it.

[amvet]

21 minutes ago, Jonmarleesco said:

It needs a vote to elect a president - or for a majority to indicate that they're overly p_____d off with the EU.

 

And I'm not sure where civilised comes into it.

The people voted.  Trump nor Brexit would have made it in Thailand.  Thais are smarter than that. Actually just kidding you because you are stereotyping all Thais over a few isolated incidents just as I'm stereotyping Americans or Brits.   

[1duckyboy]

Maybe making the 15-year-old driver work the accident victims' farm would be good for everyone, Of course it won't happen, though.

[Maggusoil]

Profoundly ridiculous, no matter how you look at it, especially the governments, fantastic ineptitude to bring a remotely realistic relationship between victims and the ruthless sharks that sell what they call insurance in this country. 

I've watched how these sharks subdue the expectations of the victims with glossy talk and intimidation. Its disgusting. The cops will watch on pretty well helplessly, because its the job of an administrative government to make sure that the insurance companies give the service they are actually designed for. 

Nobody, especially the rural poor have any idea of what their rights are. Most of them probably could not even read an insurance contract.

[metisdead]

Here's the original topic about this incident:

 

Video: Horrific scenes as 15 year old reverses over couple in pick-up

[Mrjlh]

If you watch the video, the truck drives left to right through the scene.  Then a few seconds later the man & wife are seen walking right to left in the scene on the road.  What we can't see is there had to be some interaction between them and the boy because suddenly you can see the same truck previously backing up at speed running them over.  I suspect words were exchanged and this is a case of road rage. Still a 15 year old should not have been driving.