Yesterday I was involved in a motorbike accident in Kupang, West Timor. Basically, a twelve year old kid drove straight into me, while I was indicating to go right. He was way too fast and he didn’t have a drivers license. Both of us had friends on the back, but luckily nobody got hurt apart from a few bruises and scratches. But this post isn’t actually about the accident. There was never any doubt in anybodys mind, that I was to blame whatsoever. Shit happens…
All of us went back to my guest house, where the owner of my bike tried to sort out the whole mess. He thought the damage to his bike will cost about 350.000 Rp (about 30 EUR or 35 USD) to repair. There was another foreigner present, who suggested that I pay for the damage, since I can afford it, whereas the parents of the kid will most likely have a hard time coming up with that kind of cash, it being almost a month’s salary. Now, I know that’s a lot of money for an indonesian family, but I think if I would have paid it would give everybody a totally wrong picture. He’s a tourist with lot’s of money, so never mind my own responsibility.
I didn’t like the way this guy was talking to me and personally, I think he’s a wanker, to put it bluntly. He got me thinking though, and I was wondering what other travelers out there think. Is it alright as a traveler to pay for damage you did not cause, but were involved in, so that a local family in a third world country does not have an additional burden on their wallet?
Tags: Accident, Indonesia, Kupang
Stacy - 12 September 2007 @ 7:28 PM
Go with your gut feel on this one, but I always look for compromises. Even though you weren’t at fault, you could offer to pay half and consider it a random act of kindness. For me, it would depend on how the 12 year old and his family acted about the whole thing.
traveljunkie - 13 September 2007 @ 1:39 PM
Everything with my accident is sorted already actually. The father of the kid is paying for the damage and seemed to be alright with it.
I don’t want people in a 3rd world country getting the image that no matter who’s fault the accident is, the tourist will pay because he has the money. I’ve witnessed that in Indonesia and Thailand before and I think that is just wrong.
Thanks for your comment, Stacy!
Crambox - 13 September 2007 @ 5:45 PM
I don’t think you should have to pay all unless you were at fault, but if both of you were at fault then how about split the cost then all parties feel better about the situation… my 2 cents
Timen - 14 September 2007 @ 10:41 AM
I agree with you: don’t pay them. I made mistakes as a child and I learned from them. This kid still has a lot to learn, obviously. Money has nothing to do with it in my opinion. It’s his fault and the family (legal guardians) should deal with the situation like any other would.