I’m a foreigner on holiday in Taiwan leaving next week.
TLDR:
I got hit by a young female driver last week as a pedestrian. We will sit down and negotiate soon. Besides medical fees, what is a reasonable amount of compensation? I got minor back injuries and bruises that required painkillers, icepacks and few days at home.
Basically it was mid-day, it was a green-man for pedestrians and I was walking on the zebra crossing of a big road. A car comes from the smaller road behind me that has a green light and turns left and hits me. Totally their fault, I was sent flying and landed on my lower back/arse.
I tell them to call for an ambulance, I stayed on the floor until the ambulance and police arrive. All I could do is take a picture of their registration before I went to the hospital.
At the hospital while I was getting checked up, my mother-in-law arrived and speaks to the policeman and the driver. The driver comes up with some bullshit story like something was blocking her view and didn’t see me but there was no obstacle. They were meant to approach slowly and turn left when the crossing is clear. They were reckless and driving too fast which led me to being hit.
Apparently CCTV from the police shows me being hit and it’s clearly their fault. I got the accident report form that just had our names and her license plate.
So my injury is minor, nothing is broken after x-rays. For the past few days, I’ve been in pain, bruises all over, huge pain in my lower back/tail-bone area where I landed and muscles were overly stressed out. So it’s been painkillers and icepacks and being confined to staying at home for a few days.
Doctors and fees comes to around 2500-4000. But my father and mother in law are not having it. She could of easily killed someone for not seeing a person crossing the zebra crossing in broad daylight. I agree they should not get away so lightly without learning a lesson. I hear Taiwan traffic accidents are the worst. We are set to sit down and talk in a few days time and I don’t know what kind of compensation should we consider.
Random numbers are thrown from 50,000-500,000. Seems a bit over the top since I don’t have any broken bones. But my father in law in insisting that they can’t be let off that easily. My injury could have unknown long term effects when I return home, like my wife who got hit by a car when she was 10 and still have headaches to this day. I’m also a foreigner (if that means anything). If we go to court clearly I would win, it would be very costly for them but would I get anything from the judge worth my time if we end up that route? (I have to fly back to Taiwan? Could take months to settle? Do they have to pay all my legal fees, flights, hotel fees if I win?) Etc
Is it best to seek a lawyer for advice? Honestly, I want a quick settlement. A contract. A sum to protect us both. Compensation for the mental harm and any future medical fees that could occur. I don’t care too much about the money but listening to my father-in-law, it’s part justice and some insurance for me future health. Anyone had experience with this and got a reasonable compensation amount for us to negotiate with the driver?
