Monday minor mishap

It was a cold Monday morning when I got up with a void feeling as I had sleepless night due to my flu infection. A heavy heart and cold feeling made me feel that I got up on the wrong side of the bed. Yet I made my way to work with a strong determination to fight off the odds of Monday, ONLY to be trampled down before I could reach out the battle ground.

As I sashay slowly through the morning traffic brawl, I could still feel my senses were weighed down in forty winks, I guess. Yet, I was vigilant of the cars ahead of me since it was a wet day. Out of the blue, I was jolted with a loud thump at the rear of my car. I was bewildered for a moment wondering where in the hell did the loud bang came from. It took me awhile to convalesce myself out of shock. Before I knew what was happening, I was quick to lift up the handbrake and get out of the car only to give an intense stare to the abysmal driver with a hand gesture indicating my exasperation. How else do you expect me to treat the guy who actually gave me a rude awakening on an already gloomy Monday? Oh gosh! What do I do now?

I could sense vaguely from his face expression that he was feeling guilty as he made the turn into my lane absurdly and rammed into the rear of my car out of control. I was calmed down when his apologetic looks convince me to move out of the busy road to give way for others and settle the issue. However, I am not so naïve to trust any stranger especially when they see a woman behind the wheels; they will try to take us for a ride. Hell no! I am no such women to give in easily and raise a white flag. Yet, this is my first accident on road without my dad being with me (Technically it was my second accident but first time in the sense I was left all alone to fend myself here. The first one, dad was sitting right beside me and yet I could ram into car! Ha-ha).

The first thing I did when I moved to the side of the road, I jumped out of the car to see the intensity of damage incurred. My heart sunk when I saw the bump and scratches my car had. The bumper needs a makeover including the reverse sensor. However, I saw a good thing in the obscurity. My headlamps had a close shave but survived the aftermath. Thank god. When I turn around to see the guy’s car, Myvi, I should consider myself lucky since his damage was beyond my expectation. His left-side front bonnet was badly dented and the damage goes beyond superficial level. That’s pretty bad but it was his blunder and his mad-rush to work cost him a big hole in his pocket. I felt bad for him though. Then we both exchanged our contacts and details only to know his wife is working in Sime Darby HQ. What a coincident?

We both are first timers on having to deal with road accident and were totally unsure to go ahead make a report and claim from his insurance or we settle out of law. My damage would cost about MYR 1k++ but his could easily cost him more than MYR 2k. Since we both were bamboozled as to what we should do, I made a call to my dad to get his opinion and as always dad will be a savior for his daughter’s predicament, he made a dash to the site of accident in less than 30 minutes. Finally we agreed to lodge a police report and claim from the guy’s insurance since he was on the wrong. There you go a day of hassle with the redundant procedures and the lackadaisical of the enforcement officers. Phew by the time it was all settled, I was totally jaded.

The good thing about me is I never panicked in such circumstances and remain my poise at all time. I must say the guy whom hit my car was a nice chap and I was lucky enough to get correct contact information. However this will not be the scenario most of the time. Most of the time, the contact details furnished by other drivers can be false and alas we end up paying for the damage from our very own pockets. So we should stop being nice, trusting person when we are shoved into such a situation.

At least, now I know what I should do if I’m unintentionally pushed into such mishap in future. First of all, move our vehicles to the side of the road to alleviate roadway congestion. Don’t panic but remain poise and try to secure as much information about the vehicle and the driver involved in the accident –license plate number, vehicle description (make-model-color), driver’s & vehicle owner’s name, address, phone number, identification card number and if possible the insurance information. Do not forget to lodge police report and take a snapshot of the damage of vehicle. A lesson learnt the hard way but a good experience for me.