This is my motorcycle.   This is a Honda CBR 150R.   I paid $1600 for it new.  It's 3 years old now, it has has been driven about 32k.  I consistently get about 100 miles to the gallon of gasoline. I measured 33 inches from the ground to the bottom of the handle bar grip.

When Things Go Wrong

I typically like to take pictures and add them to the story as a way to help bring the story more to life.  In this case, the story is a sad one and I did not want to take any pictures of the actual event.  I remember too much for my own liking, but to have pictures of it would haunt me a little.   I would rather forget some of it....

At Happened at Sonkran...

The Thailand new year is wrapped up in a celebration called Sonkran.  Chances are that if you had been reading about Thailand for any length of time, you know of this holiday.   Sonkran lasts about 3 days and the bulk of this holiday is country wide free-for-all water fight.   People young and older, enjoy the light revelry of splashing each other and pouring water on each other.  The water is symbolically used to wash away the old year and bring you into the new year with a clean slate.  Generally, it's a wonderful celebration, but like all good things, it can get out of hand.    A fair number of people are drinking during this holiday and sadly quite a few loose their lives at Sonkran.  Of course needless to say, traffic is very strange, many people are on holiday and kids are all over the place.

I trying to enjoy Sokran the best that I can.  I typically close down the office and send everyone on a paid 3 day leave.   My building is physically located close to the main party area in town I can literally throw water down from my office onto the party goers and remain immune to their retaliation.   However, typically each day I have to venture out for light shopping and dinning.

Normally, I dawn a thin wet suit that I have still with me in my scuba equipment.  That tropical suit is just right to repel water attacks especially when that water happens to be ice cold.   And for the record, let me tell you, the "Tom Cruise" effect is brutal on Sonkan.   Seems like all the Thai want a chance to "tag up" and anoint the farang for the new year.   That may mean anything from a bucket of water, to wet talcum powder rubbed on your checks, to young drunk female riders who want to go off with you on the back of your motorcycle.

I can handle this revelry for a day or two without a fussy but it starts to wear on me on day three.

This year, 2006, was fairly uneventful as was the previous year 2005, and on.  It was day three, early in the afternoon and I was hungry.  I wanted to go to the food court inside our Lotus Tesco, however, I didn't want to go inside a business like that in my wet suit.

The day was a bit early (about 11 am), traffic was somewhat light and I theorized that this was my best opportunity to make a run for it in my normal clothes with the least risk of being total drenched.  So, I went out in normal attire and took my motorcycle.  I did fairly well, I managed to arrive a Lotus with passing only a few "water artillery" locations and managed to arrive unscathed.  I enjoyed my lunch and a few minutes of relaxing quiet time.

The Incident

Once I had finished my lunch, I again prepared myself to fight my way back to the office and avoid all the kids and roving pickup trucks full of barrels of water and people ready to dish it out on me.

I had only about 2 kilometers ahead of me.  It wasn't far.   I had done very well up to this point I had supreme confidence that I could pull it off again.   On my way back I had only 3 lights to travel through and if I timed it right I could get through them all again, without getting wet.

I was close to my place.   I was coming up to the last water outpost manned by kids.  I could see a clean finish in sight and I felt pretty confident I could get back without getting wet.

I was on a divided 4 lane highway.  I was in the outer left hand lane approaching my house.  As I was coming up to this final watering spot, a pickup truck with a mixed batch of kids in the back were stopped in the right inside lane.  (remember now, our traffic runs backwards because we use the left hand driving system).    So, when this truck stopped a number of kids came running out to battle it out with the kids in the truck.   Some of the youngsters from the sidewalk just heaved their bowls of water at the truck and ran back to the side walk and a couple of other were completely up to the truck and standing right next to it visiting with the others, and so fourth.

I was approaching slowly on the outside and saw an opportunity to slip by the whole group.   There was a moment where the crowed seemed to part, most were on the sidewalk far from the action and a few were still at the truck, and that looked like my best opportunity to pass.   So, I went for it. 

I had about 7 feet between me and the truck and even more room on the other side between me and the sidewalk.  I was certainly in the clear and moving along.  My action was to snap through there and be home.  I was just 5 doors away.

There was one smaller boy at the pickup truck on the outside of rear quarter panel facing the truck.  He had his bowl in hand.  He wasn't moving.   I saw him clearly and just as I was up to my target speed and coming directly toward the opening, he abruptly turned without looking and literally ran for the sidewalk.

I was exactly at the point of no return.  The boy could have not timed it more perfectly if even if he had known how to do so.  I was in a bad place.

The ground was wet.  The boy was entering my path and I was unable to make any adjustments to improve the situation.  I had no choice but to ride it out.   I could tell in the last second and a half that he was not going to make it completely front of the bike, I could judge that pretty easily but I did not know if he had enough leg speed to actually reach my position before I passed him.

At the moment of intersection, I felt a sharp strike to my right index finger.  That hand was holding my throttle on the right side of the bike.  I knew in that moment that I had hit him on the very top of his head.  I immediately grunted to myself "Owww" because I knew immediately that the force was fairly strong and for a small boy that would have hurt him.   The bike did not deviate from it's path, the impact was not enough to jar the steering.  I quickly brought the bike to a complete controlled stop in a fairly short distance.  I immediately kicked the stand down and swung off the bike and looked behind me.

In just a second, one of the younger teenage girls had picked the boy up off the ground.  I walked toward them.  He was beet red and crying at the top of his lungs and I saw a 1 inch gash on his head about 3 inches above his right temple.  He was starting to bleed.

I looked back at the sidewalk.   I saw only kids.   No adults.   The pickup truck in the street full a people began to ease off and continue on, and the girl holding the child walked down a driveway and disappeared behind a house.   I was left alone, in the street with a hand full of kids on the sidewalk.

I immediately prepared myself for an "incident".  I considered my situation and reflected back on what I had seen before.  Typically, the police like to impound vehicles as collateral until a conflict is resolved, and I had it in mind to prevent that if possible.

So I drove the bike about 80 feet up to my building and parked it in it's normal garage space.  This is exactly the picture you see up at the top.  That is my parking space.  The street is just outside and I struck the boy within a short distance on the same side of the road as my building.   (In reality, this is not really a garage but the first floor of my building).

I quickly looked over my bike, there was spattered droplets of powder on the fairing from Sonkran but no "wiped" areas on that side.  So, I could see the boy did not hit the bike.  Then, I thought for a moment, and realized, that he did not hit my leg either because I would have remembered the feeling of that impact on my leg and that just didn't happen.  So, I'm feeling better now that there is not a scratch or any sign of collision on the bike.   Evidently, the impact only transferred through my one finger.  Of course I'm not feeling very good at this point so any good news is comforting.

I exit my building closed the garage type door and locked it behind me.  I was outside on the sidewalk looking toward the area where I hit the boy.  I then immediately called on of my senior employees.  I called my most senior employee who has lived all his life in my town and knew most people is well respected.   The key purpose of having him with me in addition to translating, is that he knew how things were suppose to happen.  Few police officers would push a bad position with an inappropriate action in front of him.

The first police officer shows up in about 5 minutes.  He is a man in his late twenties, wearing a red and white Hawaiian type Sonkran shirt and jeans.  I didn't know this face.  He could have been anybody but obviously he is off-duty officer and probably a friend of the boy's family.  (of course the families are pretty extended here and who knows just how close the actual family he was).  He is complaining that I left the scene of a crime.  I told him there were no adults there and that I'm right here watching for the adults to show up.   I told him confidently - "You weren't there to see what happened".  I also tell him a translator is on the way so we could talk more clearly.    During my discourse with him, I am firm but not disrespectful.  I don't let him push me around but I am cooperative.

Police officer #2 shows up on motorcycle on duty and in full uniform.  I know his face.  He is a shorter rolly-polly heavier set officer who I have seen around town many times before.  Just about that time, my senior employee shows up.  The four of us are talking.   They ask me for copies of my drivers license, motorcycle registration and insurance papers.  At this point, I unlock my door and head up stairs to my office for the required paperwork.  My paperwork is legal and insurances are in order.

The officers had a lot of questions.  They walked down and also talked to some of the adults at the site of the accident.  They return and ask me more questions.  My senior man turns his head towards me during the course of discussions and say "He (younger officer in Hawaiian shirt) wants arrest you and take you to jail".  But my employee tells me not to be concerned about that.

Just about this time, officer #3 shows up with a standard duty police pick up truck.  Evidently, the third officer is in charge of the case and will be required to handle the paperwork.  That officer was very friendly towards me and he spoke decent English.   By the time the basics were done at the scene and hour had passed by since the incident.  As a group we didn't want to spend too much time there, because we wanted to travel to the hospital to see what was happening with the boy.   None of us had any idea of his condition.   This could be a pivotal issue in the case.  So, we all stepped into the truck and drove down to emergency room.  Officers #1 and #2 leave the scene relinquish the case.

Up to now I had been a little tense.  Officer #3 made me relax a bit, because I knew he was being more objective and looking for a common solutions for all parties.  

We arrive at the hospital, and to my surprise and perhaps relief, the little boy was patched up and discharged already.  He was heading home with his Mom out to the country.   Evidently he and Mom were visiting friends or family near my place.

Essentially, we were at a stopping point in the case for that day.  The police returned myself and my senior employee back to my office.  I believe this all happen on a Wednesday.

The Negotiation

We were in phone contact with the Mother within a day.   She expressed an interest in meeting with us to talk about the incident and discuss making closure.   Working through my employee, we agreed of course.  A meeting was set for the following Monday at another location about 2 km down the street from me.

That place was a very nice large cement home.  The owner had money.   We entered and we greeted properly and we were offered water, etc in normal Thai style.

My employee and I entered into a sitting room.  The man of the home was a local business man of some type, and the mother was a relation of his or a good friend.   I assumed that he was conducting the negotiation with her because she was not confident enough to do this on her own.  I assumed that she was a single mother, and her age was about 30ish.  I was previously told that she lived in the country chances are her income was low.

The first order of business was to bring in the child and let me see him.   I had my camera, I was ready to take the pictures in case we were not going to make it to an agreement and litigation ensued.    When he walked in I think realized that he must have been all of 3 or 4 years old.  

He was banged up pretty bad on the left side of his face.  This is the side that hit the pavement.   I see 6 to 8 stitches high on his left forehead, I see a swollen left eye area that follow the vertical contour of his face and a raspberry patch on his left cheek where the pavement sand-papered his skin.  Over all, I was happy to see his eye not damaged.   I didn't notice any other affected areas.  His arms and legs all looked good.  He was just having a very bad week and he was quiet and sullen.

They no doubt wanted me to see his condition quickly before the boy started healing too much.  I was of course was happy to get the negotiations started so the matter could be resolved without delay.

They did not ask hardly any questions.  They firmly had it in mind that I was unquestionably involved and responsible for the boy's conditions.  And they were right, to an extent.

I then directed the conversation to the money.  That was the going to be the issue. I asked them how much they wanted.

They asked for 10,000 baht.   I said that is quite a reasonable number.   They seemed pleased at my response.  I followed up with an admission that I was certainly driving too fast for the conditions of that day and if had been driving very slowly, this accident would not have happened.  They seemed agreeable to that statement. 

I had one primary question, and I asked this through my translator.  I asked who was in charge of the boy at the time and where was that person at the time?

The mother said that she had left the boy in the charge of others while she went shopping at the store.

I told that that I would be happy to accept 50% of the responsibility for the accident and the boy's injuries.  I told them that I believed if the mother had been there, the boy wouldn't have been allowed to fully wonder into the street and be potentially involved in an accident.   So I agree to paying 50% of the money or 5,000 baht.

Suddenly the negotiation took a little bit of a sour turn.  They clearly were not prepared to accept less.  I did not know exactly what they were saying but I had the answer for them.  I told my employee to say that I was interesting in resolving this but that I would walk away from the discussion if they were going to be impolite.

After a few minutes they settled down and accepted the offer, and they wanted to do the deal right then and there.  And I said, wait a minute, we can't settle this here, this has to be done in front of the police, they again bulked and hem and hawed at the idea that they would have to travel a few kilometers down the the station.

But they agreed and we went down to the station and met with the original officer #3.  I was there with my employee and the mother with there with her male family member.

For some reason, they were again a bit disruptive about the settlement again and claimed that they wanted a full 10k baht.  Through  the translator I again calmly stated my acceptance of 50% of the blame and was willing to pay 5,000 baht on the spot.  I also said that if we could not come to an agreement that I would be happy to allow them to pursue a follow up action through the courts.   At that point my employee and I sat quietly and calmly.  We had set the stage for a deal.  The officer was calm and waiting on the mother for a decision and after a minute or two she finally settled in to the deal as previously agreed.  The officer wrote it up as stated with my acceptance of 50% of the fault and the payment sum of 5,000.  My employee read the document to me.   I signed it, and placed 5,000 on the table.   The officer handed over the cash to the mother and signed off as a witness and the mother signed it.  We had two copies and each party received a signed copy.   Additionally, the officer hands back to me the copies of my license, registration, and insurance papers.  At this point, a record of the incident had never officially created and I walk away as having taken care of my obligations.

The end was kind of strange.  The mother and her male friend again become very friendly, and respectful.  They spoke to me and my employee as if the incident was completely behind them and they seemed very friendly.    They thanked me, we wai-ed each other as in normal Thai custom, and the meeting at the police station was over. 

I blew through this article fairly quickly and now I want to point out a few really important points:

Point One:

If a Thai in negotiation with you is not complaining about your offer, you haven't asked enough for your side of the deal.  In my negotiation you'll notice that I lead them to state their intentions early.  That gave me an advantage.   I didn't pose my argument of holding the mother partially responsible until I heard what they wanted.  They balked at my cross offer.   That was a sign that I pushed them to what they felt was their lower acceptable limit.

Point Two:

Be legal.  I had all my paperwork in order and my insurance was paid, etc.  If you are outside the law, the other party will lean on your hard.   You will be weaker position.  Being legal here is not expensive.  Do it.

Point Three:

Everything must be finished in front of the police.  Failure to do this can give the other party room to continue to pursue you for money.   When the police write up the final agreement, the matter is settled.   If you have not been in front of them for the settlement, the matter is not settled.

These two probably through they were going to pull a fast one on me and make be pay at their house and then pay again when they complained to the police or took me through a court action.  Any normal person knows that signing off an incident requires a trip to the police station.

Point Four:

Be firm but don't loose your cool.   The first person to loose control looses ground.  Also, there are times when silence is your ally.   Notice that at the police station, when the other parties complained about the 5000 baht  in front of the police officer, we made this our final offer and then we stayed silent.   We had nothing more to say.  Silence can be a powerful position so don't always feel that you have to be talking.  Let's silence work for you.

Point Five:

This is just my personal choice, but I think everyone should own up to their guilt and make efforts to compensate people fairly.

I could have been unfair about this incident and refused all moneys and just threatened to let them take me to court and claim there where no adult witnesses to the whole incident.  I probably could have beat them out of money, but obviously I had some involvement in the incident and news of unscrupulous actions like this travels around town and that would poison my position here on the community.

Conversely, I was ready to own up to my mistake in driving too fast for conditions, so if anything, the police now believe in my word, rather than question it.

If another incident should occur in the future (and I hope it does not), then I have already shown myself to be a good citizen and the chances of handling any future disagreements should go forward equally well.

Point Six:

Money is the medicine to heal all wounds.  Don't be stingy with it.  If you have it, let some of it go.  Look at the broader perspective.

In this case, I didn't have to pay for his hospital care, the governmental program covered it.  That alone would would have been expensive in the west.

5,000 baht is about $138 dollars.  If nothing else, I consider it a reasonable donation to a family that probably needed it.

Point Seven:

Make friends with the good people in town.  Stay away from the local loan sharks and gambling bookies. 

My employee has been here his whole life of 55 years.  He is a pillar in the community and he would not be with me if he didn't agree with my position of doing the right things by others.  I'm lucky to have him for support with problems like these.  His position, gentle as it may seem, is one of power.  And I would stand by him in the same way if he asked it of me.

Numbers for the Week

The numbers are lower again this week.  I am not surprised, sometimes I can not even get into my own site with the Internet being so effected as it is by the cable break off the coast of Vietnam.  

But, hey, I'm not complaining because I lost no money this week.   I gained no money and I lost no money so, hey, I'm no skin off my back.

The Wrap Up

As you are beginning to see in my articles, living in Thailand is not impersonal based on only law.  Living in Thailand in many ways functions around your character and willingness to get along with others.   You have freedoms here.  You can do the right things or you can do the wrong things.

You can do the wrong things and get away with them for a while.  Or you can do the right things and perhaps find a place in people's hearts.

In the west, where is the good feeling in doing only what you are required to do?  In the US, they have legislated laws that state if you see someone in need on the side of the road and you don't help, you may be sued for failing to be a good Samaritan.  Personally, I don't like laws like that being pushed down my throat saying I must be nice to people.  It completely takes the choice out of it.  How does anyone really know who they are inside if they are not faced with an open choice?   Where is the personal growth out of overcoming your fear or sticking to your principles?

Here, if you choose to help someone in need, you receive your own blessing for doing something because it is the right thing to do according to your own values.  I think that is the way to live.

Of course, not all laws are bad.  Overall, the west had been successful and I think that in large part is due to laws that protect people and business.

Sorry, no T&A discussion in this article, perhaps next week.

John Galt