Fleeing the scene of an accident (personal injury)

Did you get the number? Did you get the owners address (ask the hospital)?

Drivers here are hired as substitute jail bait - means the owners stay free.

Do what I do, invest in a POV video camera. But avoid GoPro!

If there are injuries report to CGST - write up in English and VNese.

The owner stayed and paid. He could have took off and blamed it on the driver if caught.

Similar to an accident near where I'm staying. Freight truck runs over motorcyclist. Driver stays and pays $30 mil dong to the family. Police found no fault in truck driver since motorbiker didn't yield to truck.

Or recently my niece's school friends got their motorbike crushed underneath a truck. Luckily they bailed out in time. Driver pays for new bike. No charges.

Yes that is how it works in Vietnam without the cong an involved. You can get them involved though which will complicate matters and be a roll of dice or who bribes the most.

The camera is a good idea.
I use my gopro when I'm in the car or on the bike.

The last time I made a Police report for a lost wallet and passport, i need to visit the police station 3 times;

1st time - they said the report is required to be in Vietnamese. Not English.

2nd time - the amount of $$$ in the report is too huge for that precinct, so need to alter the amount to an acceptable level where they can handle.

3rd time -  I do not want a 4th, so the BLUE Ho Chi Minh solve it in 5 mins.

However, I will be curious to know, what will be your outcome reporting this incident to the Police. 

How lucky you are still here, alive and typing. 

If you want to driver to pay for what he did to you, you should ask for help from your Embassy since most of Vnese traffic police aren't good at English. They're afraid of solving problems related to foreigners. You can see they rarely catch foreigners for traffic faults.

You will need some evidence like : van's registration plate, owner's phone number, witnesses ...

If you report to Police, you will need to go to the Police Office where your accident was in. For eg : District 1 police office if your accident was on Pham Ngu Lao st. The report must be in Vietnamese. You should have a representative man (Maybe a lawyer ) who will answer all Vietnamese questions from the police.

WE do HATE careless taxi, van, truck, bus drivers.  "faster , more trips, more money". They don't drive with their heart , not all of them but lots of them. Sadness.

zanchun wrote:

If you want to driver to pay for what he did to you, you should ask for help from your Embassy since most of Vnese traffic police aren't good at English.

Embassies don't help intervene in minor matters like this.

District 1 police office if your accident was on Pham Ngu Lao st. The report must be in Vietnamese.

Officer Tran in the CGST Office at 393 Tran Hung Dao (Traffic Office for Quan1) speaks English.

The OP lives up near the Chinese border.

Jaitch wrote:

]. But avoid GoPro!

Why Jaitch? I am interested in GoPro since I just have known it for some days

hs0zfe wrote:

A speeding Ford Transit van with passengers hit me while overtaking on the wrong side of the road. Guess he was doing 70 km.

I blacked out. The driver took off, but the owner stayed to pay my hospital bill.

Is this how things are done over here?

No Police!

Pain is bad - and I wonder if I should report this incident? Or would it be a waste of time?

That's what I really admire citizens here.

I saw an accident. A car hit a motorbike and the driver jumped out like a movie. The car driver took off, helped the man stand up and gave him money. They said something. After 10 minutes, everyone left. Very "professional"!

Was too sore to take a shower until this morning. Found abrasions in places I couldn't begin to explain, like on my belly! Some wounds I hadn't noticed, on my feet. H2O2 is wonderful and I got some ointment from a Chinese doctor which works well.

The driver told the people that I kinda fell off all by myself. But folks heard a loud sound and the motorcycle was totalled. 

I swear I've seen such taxi vans doing nearly 100 km/h in inner cities. From the dents, one would probably establish how fast he was going. My guess is 70. But there won't be a trial - folks are too pragmatic for all that. Like at the hospital, they only do x-rays and rather have cleaners in the A&E unit than a nurse to clean the wounds?!? But then, there hadn't been any nurses in countries like Georgia. Wanna get washed? Let friends and relatives do it! 


Expect having to replace the darn ratty motorcycle. Honda Wave, some 20 years old.

Going to the cops would likely cost me in more ways than just money, I guess. My International DL won't be valid, for starters. Then I dunno about the employer carrying insurance for his motorcycles...

Last time I had a broken finger and had the chief of police's wife as boss. The driver had no insurance and was never in any trouble after paying the hospital bill. That was in Thailand...

Seems motorcycles are pretty low in the pecking order...

Chris

In the West we want the self satisfaction of the guilty suffering from a traffic accident.

I never understood this until an old lady turned right into me without looking. She was totally at fault but because she separated her shoulder my wife gave her money for medical.

Drivers paying is not an omission of guilt. There have been numerous stories of drivers accidently killing the mother and taking care of their kids financially until age of 18.

The Vietnamese realize an accident is what it is and no one intended to purposely hurt the other no matter how reckless the driving was. 

Witnesses in Vietnam?

Dejavu.dot wrote:

hs0zfe wrote:

A speeding Ford Transit van with passengers hit me while overtaking on the wrong side of the road. Guess he was doing 70 km.

I blacked out. The driver took off, but the owner stayed to pay my hospital bill.

Is this how things are done over here?

No Police!

Pain is bad - and I wonder if I should report this incident? Or would it be a waste of time?

That's what I really admire citizens here.

I saw an accident. A car hit a motorbike and the driver jumped out like a movie. The car driver took off, helped the man stand up and gave him money. They said something. After 10 minutes, everyone left. Very "professional"!

khanh44 wrote:

I never understood this until an old lady turned right into me without looking. She was totally at fault but because she separated her shoulder my wife gave her money for medical.

Drivers paying is not an omission of guilt. There have been numerous stories of drivers accidently killing the mother and taking care of their kids financially until age of 18.

The Vietnamese realize an accident is what it is and no one intended to purposely hurt the other no matter how reckless the driving was. 

Witnesses in Vietnam?

ANYONE who pays the other party in an accident MUST be expressing guilt UNLESS they normally go around dispensing cash to strangers.

I agree no one goes out to cause an accident but the 'driving skills' of the average VNese driver invites business for the hospital or morgue. Most every reader of this forum knows the difference between good driving and VNese driving - and the CGST know it too, which is why the ticket Foreigners for driving like VNese. Car drivers can hardly parallel park.

One feature of VNese driving is they depend on others to protect them. The jerk who, two days ago, used the sidewalk to beat the traffic jam and then tried to rejoin the traffic stream in front of me expecting to allow him to complete his illegal trick. Priority Right only applies to roads at proper intersections, not sidewalks not private driveways.

Or the driver who tried to squeeze in front of me - at an angle - between a car and myself and then started yelling at me, after he had hit the car. I drive properly, I used to instruct truck driving in the Army, and I carry a copy of the VNese 'Highway Code' on my vehicles as well as on my Samsung Note.

Why is it oncoming traffic, wanting to turn left across a traffic stream, think they have the right of way? I travel in straight lines and utilise my rights, and heaven help anyone who pulls that stunt when I am leading traffic. Many are the pillion passengers who have been gored by my front spike (recently upgraded).

The VNese road rules differ minimally from rules in other countries except VNese drivers ignore them. Where does it say that motorcyclists can drive along the wrong side of a divider railing, so they can 'beat' lights when they are turning?

As for 'witnesses', let a Foreigner get in an accident when , seemingly from nowhere, 'witnesses' appear. When I get hit by a VNese driver the first thing I do  is take a 360 degree panoramic view of the area so I can prove 'witnesses' weren't even there at the time of the incident.

The good thing is that the bad drivers often get killed so reducing the dangers on the road. Good riddance to them!

Jaitch wrote:

the CGST .

They are actually called CSGT (Cảnh Sát Giao Thông)

Well, I've been driving now for about 30 years. Big bikes, cars and trucks.

I had to cross the busy street between Halong and Cam Pha at an angle of maybe 70 degrees. There was an old bus parked some 70 meters behind me, with passengers being on the right lane, getting their luggage.

I checked the mirror, turned my head, then accellerated. The Ford taxi might have been doing 80 km/h. Maybe more. The driver was breaking - but too late.

My ankles are swollen and there are abrasions - on many parts of my body. Was lucky that I got thrown high, separating from the bike. ** At 40 km/h a car could stop in maybe 3 meters. ** I'd rather opted for the pavement than face a head on collision. Now, I didn't see him coming. He must have been going really fast to cover the distance from the bus (blocking part of my rear view) to hitting me. No more than 2 seconds, I swear!

Remember getting hit, then I blacked out and was in a peaceful place.

Just got rear ended by a car! Happened at 3 Thang 2 and Ky Truong Kiet intersection.

Funny as hell. The car smashed it's plastic bumper and a sensor (proximity) on my trailer hitch. Cop walks over, tells the man something, and the driver gives me VND1-million. I'm looking at it in my hand - then he lays another VND500,000 on me.

I shake the cops hand - palming VND500,000 off to him - and he writes the driver a ticket!

I then carry to my LED store to buy the 4W laser (a burner) I had ordered and it cost me less than VND1-million. Good place VN!

I do cross country riding back in Canada and close to 20 years professional driving experience. My first collision happened to be my first week in Vietnam by an elderly lady not looking where she wants to turn into.

My sister-in-law last week got mowed down by a drunk rider running a red light. Thankfully he helped her up despite bleeding from the chin. Than took off when the husband arrived.

There's just no way to avoid accidents in Vietnam. Best we can do is minimize our risk of fatality by driving slow and being aware of our surroundings. Whenever I see a bus or taxi bus I move over to right and slow down. Those drivers are insane as time is money to them.

Nothing you could have done in the situation you faced. Congested traffic and speed is an accident waiting to happen.

Curious why not 'Go Pro'?

You're lucky you're alive !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, try and get more $.

Dejavu.dot wrote:

Jaitch wrote:

]. But avoid GoPro!

Why Jaitch? I am interested in GoPro since I just have known it for some days

+1 to him. GoPro is an overpriced crap.
The only good place for a camera at the bike is you helmet. And if you gave G-Pro - you neck will be broken at 60+.
I don't mention about the quality and working time, but it's a part of the deal..... In short, there are better action cameras for lower price.