THERE?s a screech of brakes, a squeal of tyres, a sickening thud, and the lady motorcycle rider is left lying on the road.

Cars swerve to avoid her as the driver of the pickup truck which hit her speeds off into the night, never to be seen again.

It?s another hit run accident, but no one, apart from the victim and her friends and family, will give it a second thought.

Hit run accidents occur all too often in Phuket, and nobody seems to care.

Senior Sergeant Major Somsak Kranoog-Foi, from Phuket Police traffic department, said there were at least two hit and run accidents every day on the island.

?Many drivers flee the scene to avoid paying damages to injured parties,? he said.

?But the Motor Vehicle Accident Victims Act 1992 requires everyone on the roads to have some insurance, so people should not drive off.

?If someone does drive off, and the injury is minor, then if we catch them, they will be charged and fined.

Sergeant Major Somsak said the fines could sometimes be as little as 500 or 1000 baht for hit run offenders.

The hit-run nightmare has become a reality for many tourists, as well as Phuket?s Thai and ex-pat residents.

In January this year, nine people died, another five were seriously injured and 318 people suffered minor injuries in accidents on Phuket?s roads, most of them involving motorbikes.

In February, the same roads claimed 16 lives, and in March, another 13 people were killed.

The latest statistics issued by Phuket?s provincial police office show that between April 10 and 16, there were 60 road traffic accidents, resulting in four deaths.

Sarah Foster Gross, 24, a charity worker from Chalong, was one of those injured this month.

She was on her way home from work, and as she approached Festival Central shopping plaza, she was run down by a speeding truck.

?I heard tyres screeching, and I remember being thrown forward,? she said.

?A Thai couple pulled me to the side of the road, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the emergency ward in the Phuket International Hospital.

Miss Foster Gross said the Thai couple who took her to hospital were ?real heroes?.

?Khun Sirisporn and her boyfriend risked their own lives when they stepped out into the oncoming traffic to help me,? she said.

?Their bravery is a huge contrast to the truck driver?s lack of respect for human life.

?He must have known he hit me, and he just drove away, leaving me lying unconscious in the middle of the road,? she said.

Witnesses said the truck which hit her was black Toyota Hilux, but no one wrote down the registration number, so there is little the police can do to catch him.

?The truck hit her, and then sped off,? said Khun Siriwan.

Khun Siriwan and her partner bundled the bloodied Miss Foster Gross into their car and took her to the nearby Phuket International Hospital?s accident and emergency unit.

Dr Somchai Thipyasoontranon, who operated on her severely lacerated right foot, said Miss Foster Gross? was lucky her leg didn?t need to be amputated.

?Sadly I see this all too often,? he said.

?Every day, I treat many people who have been injured in road accidents.

?The majority are motorcycle riders who enjoy the convenience and the low cost of riding a bike, but many of them weren?t wearing their helmets which could have saved them from some very serious injuries.?

Miss Foster Gross was lucky.

She was released from the hospital after only five days.

Others have not been so lucky.

The head nurse in ward D5 at the Phuket International Hospital, Nurse Jarehan Yaeew said there had been 40 traffic-related long stay patients in the 10-room ward since the end of January.

If you do ride a motorbike, arm yourself with a sound health insurance plan, and know the emergency contact phone numbers for Phuket hospitals.

If you are involved in accident, you should call the police on 191, or the tourist police on 1155 or 1699.

Memorise or make a note these numbers in case of an emergency on Phuket?s roads