Stop, help, and call 1669. Everything else follows from those three things. If you have hit a person — a pedestrian, a rider, a cyclist — the injury is the only thing that matters for the next few minutes, and the duty to stop and give assistance is a criminal one, not a courtesy. After that comes a fairly predictable sequence: the police, the insurers' surveyors, a conversation about compensation, and, where someone is badly hurt, a criminal file.
This page describes that sequence in order so that you know what is coming. It is not a substitute for a lawyer, and where the injury is serious you should have one.
- Ambulance1669
- Tourist Police, English-speaking1155
- Compulsory cover pays the victimUp to ฿30,000 medical, before fault is settled
What the law says
The Land Traffic Act B.E. 2522 (1979) requires a driver involved in a collision causing damage or injury to stop, render assistance and identify themselves (s.78). Failure to do so is punished under s.160 with up to three months' imprisonment and/or a fine of 2,000–10,000 baht, rising to up to six months and 5,000–20,000 baht where serious injury or death results. Section 140 excludes the offence from the fixed-penalty ticket system: it goes to an investigating officer and a court. Thai penalties are stated as maximums.
The first ten minutes
- Stop and switch off. Do not move the vehicle unless you are blocking a fast road or an officer directs you.
- Call 1669. Do it before you assess how bad it is. An ambulance that is not needed can be stood down; one that was not called cannot be un-delayed.
- Protect the casualty from further traffic — that means getting other vehicles to see and avoid them, not moving them. Do not move anyone who is unconscious or complaining of neck or back pain unless staying put is more dangerous. Leave a helmet on unless the person is not breathing.
- Apply firm direct pressure to heavy bleeding with whatever clean material you have.
- Call 1155 for the Tourist Police once the casualty is being looked after. You will need an English speaker for what follows.
- Photograph the scene once it is safe to: positions, damage, plates, road surface, signs.
- Call your rental company or insurer.
A crowd will gather, and it will have opinions. That is normal and not a threat. Do not get drawn into a discussion of blame with bystanders, do not hand money to anybody, and do not sign anything. Wait for the police and the surveyor. If you feel unsafe, say so on the 1155 call.
What the injured person is entitled to, straight away
Compulsory third-party insurance — por ror bor — attaches to the vehicle, and it exists precisely for this. It pays the victim's preliminary medical expenses up to ฿30,000 per person without waiting for fault to be established, and ฿35,000 where there is death or permanent disability. Once liability is settled it goes further: medical expenses up to ฿80,000 per person, ฿500,000 for death or total permanent disability, and a daily inpatient allowance of ฿200 for up to 20 days, to a combined maximum of ฿504,000 per person. Those figures are published by licensed Thai insurers.
Two things to take from that. First, the injured person is not left with nothing while everyone argues, which takes some of the heat out of the first hour. Second, ฿80,000 — roughly £1,840, US$2,320 or €2,000 — is a low ceiling for a serious injury at a private hospital, and anything above it comes from somewhere else. That "somewhere else" is voluntary insurance if it exists, and you if it does not. Por ror bor explained and Thai insurance classes explained set out the difference between the two layers.
Compensation, and how it is arrived at
Where the injury goes beyond what compulsory cover meets, a negotiated compensation payment to the victim or their family is a normal part of how these matters resolve in Thailand — commonly discussed alongside, and sometimes influencing, the handling of the criminal side. If you hold voluntary third-party liability cover, whether through your own policy or a hire company's, your insurer conducts that discussion. If you do not, you are conducting it yourself, in a language you do not speak, at the worst moment of your trip.
That is the strongest possible argument for two things: proper cover before you ride, and a Thai lawyer as soon as an injury is serious. Do not agree a compensation figure at a roadside or a police station without advice, and do not sign anything recording one.
Ring your travel insurer's 24-hour assistance line early. Not because they will pay the other party — travel policies generally do not — but because many include legal expenses or at least a referral, and because they need to know about an incident that may become a claim. The number is on the policy; put it in your phone before you travel.
The criminal side
Most collisions produce no criminal case at all. A few do, and the factors that push an incident across that line are predictable:
- Alcohol or drugs. Drink-driving that causes injury carries 1–5 years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000–100,000 baht; serious injury, 2–6 years and 40,000–120,000 baht; death, 3–10 years and 60,000–200,000 baht with mandatory licence revocation. See drink-driving penalties in Thailand.
- Leaving the scene. Covered above, and the worst thing you can do.
- Reckless driving — driving without regard for the safety of others carries up to a year and/or 5,000–20,000 baht.
- Death or serious injury, which brings an investigating officer into the matter regardless of anything else.
Where a case is opened, you may be asked to remain available, your passport may become part of the conversation, and bail may be required. That process is described in what happens if you are arrested after a crash, which also says the important part plainly: contact your embassy and instruct a lawyer.
If you hit a vehicle rather than a person
The same first steps apply minus the medical urgency: stop, photograph, call the police or 1155, call your insurer or rental company, wait for the surveyors. The difference is that compulsory insurance is irrelevant — it covers people, never property — so repairing the other vehicle is a matter for voluntary cover or for you personally. How fault is decided after a crash covers what the surveyors will be weighing, and settling a minor accident at the roadside deals with the cash-on-the-spot option and its risks.
If you hit a dog, a buffalo or a cow
Stop. Animals on Thai roads usually belong to somebody, and an owner appearing to discuss the value of a lost animal is a common scene. Photograph everything, including the road and the point of impact, and involve the police rather than settling on the spot with a figure you have no way of assessing. Dogs on the road and livestock and wildlife on Thai roads cover how to avoid the situation in the first place, which is by some distance the better plan.
Afterwards
Keep everything: photographs, the police report reference, the claim number, the surveyor's card, hospital paperwork, receipts. Do not post an account of the incident publicly. If you are in a hire vehicle, expect the deposit to be held while the claim resolves — accident in a rental car or scooter explains that side. And get yourself checked at a hospital even if the other person came off worse; adrenaline masks a great deal, and Thai hospitals after a crash explains how to go about it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to pay the victim's hospital bill on the spot?
Compulsory insurance on the vehicle pays preliminary medical expenses of up to ฿30,000 per person without waiting for fault to be settled, so the first tranche is not normally a roadside cash question. Beyond that, do not agree to pay anything without advice, and do not sign anything recording an agreement to pay.
Will I be arrested?
Not usually where the injuries are minor and you have stayed, helped and cooperated. Where someone is seriously hurt or killed, or where alcohol or drugs are involved, the position is very different — that is what the arrest page is for.
The family are asking for compensation. What do I do?
Take it seriously, be humane, and take advice before agreeing any figure. If you hold voluntary liability cover, that conversation belongs to your insurer. If you do not, instruct a Thai lawyer — your embassy holds a list.
It was clearly the other person's fault. Do I still have to stop?
Yes. The duty to stop, assist and identify yourself does not depend on who caused the collision. Establishing fault comes afterwards, and staying is what allows you to influence it.
What if the injured person waves me on and says they are fine?
Stay anyway, at least long enough to be sure. Head injuries and internal injuries present late, and someone who walks away and collapses an hour later leaves you as a driver who left the scene of a collision causing serious injury.
Does my travel insurance cover me for injuring someone else?
Generally not in the way people assume — travel policies cover you, not your liability to third parties in a vehicle, and many exclude motorbikes altogether or condition cover on the licence you hold. Read the motorcycle clause before you ride: what voids your motorbike cover in Thailand.