its not all one sided

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, connda said:

I'm more interested in how your insurance company handled the situation. 
Although it seems as neither the local drivers nor the police actually understand Thai laws that apply to driving, I'm sure that insurance companies do.  They are the ones who lose money.  The insurance company will need to pay for your damages because the motorcycle driver didn't have insurance, but that should also mean that the insurance company will go after that driver for compensation.  The 500 THB to the cops does not make the damage to your car go away.  The motorcycle driver is still on the hook for civil damages.

That's very good, but you can't get blood out of a stone, and the insurance company will know that.

[IssanDad]

I’ve had 3 incidents with other vehicles. Result cash $$ from the other drivers everytime!!

from the first day I started driving in BKK traffic. I made sure the car was fitted out with 3 dash Cams (one also had a rear cam plug set up as well, so 4 camera’s. I also had a 5 inch LCD screen mounted in the centre consol/dash board in the car which could run real time cam footage depending on which cam I selected. I could also replay anything recorded straight away. It has proved to an excellant set up. All cams are HD. I ran two cams at the front and one at the rear. I also used the accessory cam plug in in one of the dash cams to run a cam on the rhs of the vehicle. Mounted above the seat belt pillar in rear opposite side I was recording to increase the viewing angle. 

The 3 incidents were.

1. Bus cut across my lane because driver perving at night girls on Suhkumvit road.  Driver stopped after I chased him. He paid me 3000bht. But insurance nailed him anyway.

2nd incident. Was some arogant guy (in this case Thai) aged 30-35. Girl friend in car. It started when he cut infront at a red light, aggressively and no indicator. Forcing me to break extra hard as he had eliminated my stopping distance. I flashed my lights at him. Some this damage his ego caused to loose face. So he started doing a random stopping game infront of me.. he did this 3 times I then indicated to move left. He tried to cut that off. So I indicated and moved right. He then swerved to the right cutting me off. At this stage I was pissed. So I contuined until I had hit his car in the side door at back.  10kph so no damage to the fortuna(not that I was worried particularly). But he had a lovely big dent in the rear door and back quarter panel. THAT GOT HIS ATTENTION!!555. He stopped his car and got out.. ready to creat a large drama and play victim. I was still furious with him. So as soon as I exited the car I went straight at him. I grabbed him by the throat at the same time as I kneed him in the test I also. Well that took the fight out of him. I then said in a loud voice..Lumpini police station now!!!!

so. He then drove off ahead constantly glancing and stopping to ensure I was following. We got to Lumpini police station and because was Thai he straight away engaged the officers with his story. How I ran into him and he was innocent. I had my AIRBOOK with me. So when RTP asked me I said here check this out and played all the footage of his driving (I stopped the video before it showed me exiting the car to assault him..this also never came up). 

Needless to say I had all the police including the on duty senior police all watching my video., saying “can not, Mai dee, and getting really upset with the thai guy and his driving. They made him give me 5000 baht for is driving behavior and any possible damage to my car(there was none). I wouldn’t recommend what I did and in hindsite I wouldn’t do it again do not assault another driver.. bad things can happen in thailand.. lots of people have guns in there cars.

 

3rd incident and orange MED (metropolitan electricity department) truck zoomed past me 60 kph plus and cut in so close, that he hit and shattered my left hand side mirror. We both pulled over. The driver started saying why I drive like that.. then his mate pointed at my dash cams and. Next minute the guy gave me 2000 bahtfor a new mirror. He Wai’d me and they left.. 

 

i swear by dash cams.. no local can bullsh..t a camera to the police or insurance.

[Russell17au]

I have 3 camera's in my pick up, 2 of them are Blackvue's one is mounted on the windscreen and faces front the other one is mounted in a box to protect it from the weather and faces the rear, these work great in that they record the video, GPS location, Date and Time, and also your speed. The other camera is mounted on the centre of the dash facing the drivers window and it works beautifully when the police officer places his hand in the window and says "speeding, 200baht" and I point to the camera which has recorded his demand and his name badge and his face, he very quickly tells me to go with no further demands. I used to use the Blackvue in Australia when I was driving trucks and I had a separate 16GB HD card for each day of the week and never had a recording problem. It is important to use good quality HD cards and not the cheap junk that is available.

[moogradod]

2 hours ago, Russell17au said:

I have 3 camera's in my pick up, 2 of them are Blackvue's one is mounted on the windscreen and faces front the other one is mounted in a box to protect it from the weather and faces the rear. The other camera is mounted on the centre of the dash facing the drivers window

May I ask what Dash Cam exactly (manufacturer, model) is the best (picture quality, small size, GPS etc.) available in Thailand ? The price does not matter, it just must be top notch. Listed in this thread are GIO Pro and Blackvue. I assume there are different models available.

 

@Russell17au

I did not understand where exactly you placed the third cam. In the middle of the roof in the passenger cabin ?

[Russell17au]

8 minutes ago, moogradod said:

May I ask what Dash Cam exactly (manufacturer, model) is the best (picture quality, small size, GPS etc.) available in Thailand ? The price does not matter, it just must be top notch. Listed in this thread are GIO Pro and Blackvue. I assume there are different models available.

 

@Russell17au

I did not understand where exactly you placed the third cam. In the middle of the roof in the passenger cabin ?

I mounted the third camera which is a Uniden sitting on top in the centre of the DASH facing the drivers window. All my cameras were purchased in Australia so I do not know what is available in Thailand

[thailand49]

Your post explains exactly why the police have no reason in being the judge and jury! They are part of the problem instead of enforcing the law already on the books they play doing Thai people a favor by allowing them to get away with this stuff and the insurance companies are no better just paying out the claim and then charging you later by raising your premium.

[roo860]

Your post explains exactly why the police have no reason in being the judge and jury! They are part of the problem instead of enforcing the law already on the books they play doing Thai people a favor by allowing them to get away with this stuff and the insurance companies are no better just paying out the claim and then charging you later by raising your premium.

My daughter had a similar problem in Chiang Mai, 2 young kids on a motorbike pulled out of a side road, hit her car, ambulance turned up, kid had no licence, cop said, they've got no money, your insurance will sort the car out. End of story.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[moogradod]

40 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

I mounted the third camera which is a Uniden sitting on top in the centre of the DASH facing the drivers window. All my cameras were purchased in Australia so I do not know what is available in Thailand

Thanks, but I do not know what a "Dash" is, even after looking it up in the dictionary as I am not a native speaker. As for the cams I made a quick research - it seems that the Blackvue DR900S is one of the best available (from Lazada). "Best" depends of course on ones requirements, but GPS (speed), good picture even at night, parking mode etc. are essential.

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, moogradod said:

Thanks, but I do not know what a "Dash" is, even after looking it up in the dictionary as I am not a native speaker. As for the cams I made a quick research - it seems that the Blackvue DR900S is one of the best available (from Lazada). "Best" depends of course on ones requirements, but GPS (speed), good picture even at night, parking mode etc. are essential.

 

Dash = Dashboard

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashboard

 

A number of years ago after some research I too considered BlackVue one of the best Dash-Cams available and at the time chose the DGR400 (or something like that)... since then the models have only become more advanced...  with each new car I have chosen another Dash-Cam (choosing not uninstall the cam and instead leaving it in the existing car to be sold on).... 

 

In any new car I would continue to purchase (and indeed have) a new Dash-Cam.

 

 

[Huckenfell]

Couple of years ago i was struck in the rear whilst sitting at a Red light, the car just left the scene but not before i was able to get part of its number plate. When the police arrived i tried to describe the other car, but they just pointed to my windscreen sticker saying "forget , you have insurance"    The insurance agent arrived but he also was not interested in my information. The car was a 3 month old VIOS and it sustaned Bht 140.000 damage. I actually found the car which hit me and its owner, his car still damaged, but neither Police of Insurance company were interested. Next year, my insurance went up from Bht15.000 Bht19.000 so i just dumped them.

[BigT73]

I am not sure of the brand but my BIL dashcam uploads to the cloud automatically every x mins. 

[LukKrueng]

On 12/9/2018 at 1:19 AM, richard_smith237 said:

Of course, you may no longer get a discount on your insurance premium next year as you have made a claim, but thats just the way it is here in Thailand. 

not true. If it was not his fault he will still get the discount next year. at least according to my personal experience

[catman20]

to be honest that does not sound good enough for me, you will lose your no claims bonus and your insurance may go up possibly next year all through no fault of your own.

 

 could you not have pushed charges against the young man for all the laws he has broken or said i will not pursue this if you pay me 5,000 baht which would properly cover your loss next time you renew your insurance.

[Wake Up]

Sorry OP for the accident. But I appreciate the way you handled it and then posted your experience and no one seriously hurt. 

[catman20]

15 hours ago, IssanDad said:

I’ve had 3 incidents with other vehicles. Result cash $$ from the other drivers everytime!!

from the first day I started driving in BKK traffic. I made sure the car was fitted out with 3 dash Cams (one also had a rear cam plug set up as well, so 4 camera’s. I also had a 5 inch LCD screen mounted in the centre consol/dash board in the car which could run real time cam footage depending on which cam I selected. I could also replay anything recorded straight away. It has proved to an excellant set up. All cams are HD. I ran two cams at the front and one at the rear. I also used the accessory cam plug in in one of the dash cams to run a cam on the rhs of the vehicle. Mounted above the seat belt pillar in rear opposite side I was recording to increase the viewing angle. 

The 3 incidents were.

1. Bus cut across my lane because driver perving at night girls on Suhkumvit road.  Driver stopped after I chased him. He paid me 3000bht. But insurance nailed him anyway.

2nd incident. Was some arogant guy (in this case Thai) aged 30-35. Girl friend in car. It started when he cut infront at a red light, aggressively and no indicator. Forcing me to break extra hard as he had eliminated my stopping distance. I flashed my lights at him. Some this damage his ego caused to loose face. So he started doing a random stopping game infront of me.. he did this 3 times I then indicated to move left. He tried to cut that off. So I indicated and moved right. He then swerved to the right cutting me off. At this stage I was pissed. So I contuined until I had hit his car in the side door at back.  10kph so no damage to the fortuna(not that I was worried particularly). But he had a lovely big dent in the rear door and back quarter panel. THAT GOT HIS ATTENTION!!555. He stopped his car and got out.. ready to creat a large drama and play victim. I was still furious with him. So as soon as I exited the car I went straight at him. I grabbed him by the throat at the same time as I kneed him in the test I also. Well that took the fight out of him. I then said in a loud voice..Lumpini police station now!!!!

so. He then drove off ahead constantly glancing and stopping to ensure I was following. We got to Lumpini police station and because was Thai he straight away engaged the officers with his story. How I ran into him and he was innocent. I had my AIRBOOK with me. So when RTP asked me I said here check this out and played all the footage of his driving (I stopped the video before it showed me exiting the car to assault him..this also never came up). 

Needless to say I had all the police including the on duty senior police all watching my video., saying “can not, Mai dee, and getting really upset with the thai guy and his driving. They made him give me 5000 baht for is driving behavior and any possible damage to my car(there was none). I wouldn’t recommend what I did and in hindsite I wouldn’t do it again do not assault another driver.. bad things can happen in thailand.. lots of people have guns in there cars.

 

3rd incident and orange MED (metropolitan electricity department) truck zoomed past me 60 kph plus and cut in so close, that he hit and shattered my left hand side mirror. We both pulled over. The driver started saying why I drive like that.. then his mate pointed at my dash cams and. Next minute the guy gave me 2000 bahtfor a new mirror. He Wai’d me and they left.. 

 

i swear by dash cams.. no local can bullsh..t a camera to the police or insurance.

if your story is all true i take my hat off to you, shame theirs not a few more real men in this country.

[Jaxxper]

Sounds like a good news story from your perspective. Glad no one seriously injured. Good post.

[scorecard]

On 12/9/2018 at 1:19 AM, richard_smith237 said:

Op... You handled the situation exactly as it should be handled... 

 

Some people love to make threats in this situation... quite amusing how quick they were to attempt to extort you. 

 

It seems you played the game well... Just let the insurance deal with it and of course, not accepting any fault. 

 

It's now up to your insurance to deal with the Motorcyclist - if they even bother. Of course, you may no longer get a discount on your insurance premium next year as you have made a claim, but thats just the way it is here in Thailand. 

 

It's up to the Police to deal with the illegal motorcyclist riding with no license - of course, they won't bother. 

 

The law is obviously on your side. 

 

 

Regarding Dash-Cams... reliability is an issue with the cheaper models, but many models require a time to time re-formatting of the memory card (The memory card is SanDisk - Class 10)

 

I do this about every 6 months or so with mine (when I remember), but I've never had issues extracting a 3min file when checking it. 

I use BlackVue and have found them reliable...  their new models forwards and rear facing look good. 

 

Slightly Off topic - but of note for the motorcyclists: 

I've just ordered the Innovv K2 dash-cam for my motorcycle (forward and rear facing)... just to cover me under similar circumstances... hope I'll never need to. 

 

 

 

On 12/9/2018 at 1:19 AM, richard_smith237 said:

 

 

 

Son's friend who seems to have good knowledge of this subject recently mentioned that there are now many much better quality cameras on the market, better features and still at good prices, compared to say 3 or 4 years ago and more.

 

In fact my Thai son recently bought 4 new cameras, all new models, facing forward and facing back, for the 2 family cars. He's quite happy with the much easier to use features, longer recording time etc., and much clearer picture and much wider picture. 

 

Good price because he bought 4 - all up 4,400Baht. 

[moogradod]

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

In fact my Thai son recently bought 4 new cameras, all new models, facing forward and facing back, for the 2 family cars. He's quite happy with the much easier to use features, longer recording time etc., and much clearer picture and much wider picture. 

 

Good price because he bought 4 - all up 4,400Baht. 

The latest Blackvue DR900S (rear and back) is about 30'000 THB up at Lazada. When you bought 4 for 4'400 (or even one) than it would be interesting to know which ones these were exactly. Somehow I feel cannot be the same league.