Miss Ioannidou, who had only been in the country two days after arriving from Germany, was at Chalong Circle on her motorbike waiting to drive north up Chao Fa West Rd around 5.30pm on Sunday (January 19), when a car came around the circle and lost control.
It crashed into her motorbike, as well as into one being ridden by a European man, plus another with a Thai family on board. All were waiting outside the circle for the traffic to clear.
Miss Ioannidou was hit on her right side and fell onto the bonnet of the car. The car driver then reversed instantly and drove off, causing Miss Ioannidou to fall down onto the road.
She says she was fortunate the car was only going around 20kmh when it hit her bike. When she fell she grazed her leg and foot, as well as bruising her hip, ribs and shoulder when the car hit her body. Thankfully, the jacket she was wearing stopped her losing skin on her upper body.
“I fell on the [foreign] guy and the Thai family fell too. It was quite a big impact. Then the driver reversed and left the circle, and drove toward Kata.
“I picked up my scooter, and checked if the family were okay, and they were.”
Getting back on the bike, she stopped at Villa Market to have a break, and said by the time she reached her home in Chalong the adrenaline had worn off and she was feeling “burning pain” from her grazes.
Miss Ioannidou is a third year medical student in Germany, so was able to look after her grazes herself. However, if her ribs haven’t improved by tomorrow she plans on visiting the hospital.
She said she could not remember the licence plate because it was in Thai characters, and the car fled so quickly there was no time to get her cellphone out to take a photo.
She didn’t call the police because she had no other details other than the car was a white Toyota – the car windows were tinted so she couldn’t see the driver inside.
She said she was shocked the driver left the scene straight away, because that would never happen in Germany, where you can spend time in prison for fleeing a crash scene or not helping with first aid.
She was also surprised no one else who saw the crash offered to help her.
“People here see so many accidents and I guess they get used to them. I was shocked, everyone came out to look and just stared. no one helped or reacted.
“The driver had just driven into three scooters, and no one’s reacting – that’s not a normal situation.”
Miss Ioannidou, a Greek national, arrived on Sunday night to Phuket to stay for around six months to study Muay Thai and attend Thai language classes. It’s her fourth trip to the island, but this is her first accident. She was wearing a helmet at the time, and she has a German motorbike licence.
She said she doesn’t “drive like a kamikaze driver”.
Miss Ioannidou is trying to keep a positive attitude and says her injuries are more annoying than anything because she won’t be able to do any Muay Thai for another couple of weeks.
She recommended other motorbike riders always wear a helmet, which she was, as well as long sleeve clothing – her jacket protected her arms during the fall.
“I’m still angry at the driver, but I can’t change the situation.”