Today I have been yet again totally stumped by local logic. I have a motor scooter with a sidecar attached to it which has been designed and built to allow me to gain access to the sidecar from my wheelchair. The unit has also been designed to be able to carry my folded wheelchair.
Usually the sidecar unit is driven by my wife or my mate. I could drive it but don't have a motorcycle license (this will be subject to a latter blog).
Up until very recently it was not possible to get any insurance except the very basic third party coverage for a sidecar outfit in Thailand. However recently a large company has started selling what are locally known as salings and because it appears on the registration book as a "motorbike and sidecar" you are able to obtain full insurance.
Armed with knowledge of the above we then contacted a local insurance company to try and get some additional insurance cover for our sidecar outfit. We were requested to e-mail pictures of the sidecar outfit and copies of the registration book. A few hours later we had a reply declining to cover. I then asked why cover was declined and was told the bike was fully legal but the papers didn't state it was attached to a sidecar and therefore they could not offer any additional insurance. I asked if it they knew if it was possible to have the registration book changed to show that it was attached to a sidecar and I was told no.
There are in Thailand quite a few disabled riding around on trikes (converted small motorbikes) and salings (sidecars attached to small bike) all must be running around with only basic insurance cover as they will not have registration papers to enable them to get anything except the most basic of cover. This is very sad as they get little government help as it is compared to the type of assistance disable people receive in western countries.
If you have money and are disable it is less of a problem to get mobile in Thailand. You can go and buy an automatic car and have it converted to hand controls. You then have to do a driving test to show you can control your car using hand controls and you get a license to drive a car (with hand controls). Cars both new and old are expensive in Thailand and are therefore out of reach of most disabled (wheelchair users). What a great pity it is that in a modern emerging industrial nation like Thailand there isn't a little bit more flexibility concerning the use and registration of three wheel motorbike/sidecars. The roads in Thailand are dangerous places and any extra insurance is very useful even more so if you are not a Thai national and therefore have no recourse to Thai public funds.
I think what is needed is something like the single vehicle approval scheme used in the UK. This would be of benefit to all in Thailand. The concerned Thai government department could insure the vehicle was built to the correct safety standards and collect duty on the new vehicle. The vast majority of sidecar outfits on the roads in Thailand do not have any lights on the sidecar and do not have any brake on the sidecar either of which missing can lead to a serious accident. With Single Vehicle approval the end user would have a safer vehicle which had been government approved. The end user would then be able to obtain more useful insurance cover, which in turn would also benefit the government as the insurance companies would covering more of the costs involved in motor accidents. Every body wins!!
Below is a photo of my sidecar outfit which does have lights everywhere and a disk brake on the sidecar which is operated in conjunction with the motorbikes rear brake.
Signing out
Ruddick
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