A goodly few years ago, I was sitting outside the Bright Lotus Guesthouse enjoying their splendid pho when there was a coming together of moto and car at the intersection. No big deal but a nearby cop showed up pretty sharpish and started drawing chalk lines around the body (of the moto) and taking pictures of the lines with a camera.

I'd never seen chalk lines done outside of a noir-ish movie and thought it was pretty funny but continued on with my soup.


Saw it again over the years but less in recent times until the last 6 months or so. Here in SR, it's making a comeback! Painted white lines depicting an accident. A rough outline of where vehicle A hit vehicle B.


So my question is, why?

Is it to sort the immediate negotiations between accident parties? (I though that was done on the spot for minor issues, but it's my best guess.) Is it an insurance thing? (I didn't think insurance was common enough for it to be that.) Is it meant to serve as a warning? y'know, accident blackspot here! If so, that's actually not a bad idea....your thoughts? thank you kindly

When i first saw the headline of this post - i was thinking of the song " white lines" Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

done everyday in Thailand
I used to always wonder when i first moved here whey there were so many small shoes left on the road, once i realized why, made me sad

Freightdog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 12:53 am Option 1. Because the vehicles will have already been moved, recovered, dismantled, stolen, or lost before anyone has filled in, or found someone literate enough to fill the forms in as part of an actual report?

Option 2. To mark the scene and avoid the unpleasant issue of abandoned broken stuff getting in everyone else’s way. (This last thought comes with some imaginary tongue in cheek, as a I fondly recall the abandoned broken police vehicle that languished next to the shiny metal siding that replaced the nice gardens that once extended west of the night night market.)

Option 3. Some police 5star general saw an episode of CSI, once, and didn’t fully comprehend that dead people are more important than broken motos?

Option 3 is surely favourite!

Option 1. Are there forms to fill in? If everyone gets paid satisfactorily, don't they just carry on with the day?
Just to be clear, I'm not necessarily talking about a big smash where someone has been badly hurt or killed. Have seen it done for relatively minor bumps where everyone walks / drives away.

Maybe the cops justifying their fee?

Phuket ( dont know the rest of the country)
But whenever police are called, a form is filed out

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:01 am

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 7:30 am done everyday in Thailand
I used to always wonder when i first moved here whey there were so many small shoes left on the road, once i realized why, made me sad

Isn't that just because small kids are constantly losing their shoes?

true but they were always around lines drawn on the road