Tuesday, June 16, 2009

An accident

My fat Myvi's back bumper was banged yesterday morning.

It was nearly 8am, the road was still packed jam, and the traffic was bumper to bumper. However, that is very much my daily routine and frankly speaking, patience can be nurtured. So i wasnt particularly in bad mood or anything. Driving at the turtle speed, i'm half distracted by John Mayer's deep voice interweaved with rhythm of his bluesy guitar, playing softly from the radio.

And suddenly this car came and bang me from behind. I only managed to hear a loud bang and the next thing i know was my body flung towards the steering by the momentum. My instant reflex was "Not again!" (This is not the first time my car was banged by someone). The fact is everyone was driving slow, like 10km/hr maybe, so how can she speed from behind and banged into my car when there is not even a meter of space between our cars. Unless, she press on the accelerator accidentally and thought it was the break. No joking, i did that quite a few times my self.

Anyway, i'm thankful that no one was injured apart from my car.



I parked my car at the side of the road and the young office lady (early 20s maybe) came down from her car as well. When she looked at my car, she didnt even apologized but said this instead "oh, the bumper detached at one side only, you can re attached it back one." I am totally speechless, at her naiveness. I cant even find the right word to curse and if you allow me to describe this poetically, the words have left me, totally.

I told her to look at the side of my back tyer, of which the liner (the rubber piece between the tyre and the car body) was broken, and the seriously dented bumper, which is impossible to re attach back unless you detach the whole bumper and reattach by 'knocking and heat re-shaping' (dont asked me why i know this, like i said, its not my first time). Without obstructing the traffic further more than it was, i took her details down and tell her i will send the car to the workshop to see the damage and quote her accordingly.

When i reached the office, i quickly settled all the urgent works and took a half day leave. I sent my car to Perodua Service Centre to access the damage, of which the outcome was my bumper need to be knocked and some pins were broken, the reverse sensors had gone and the liner needs to be replaced. The total damage was around RM180.00. This is excluding the re-spray of the scratched part cuz i still can tolerate with the minor aesthetic flaw.

Thats when i call the lady's number to inform her that i will go ahead to pay it first and get it fix. The line went to the voice mail after ringing for ages. I call back, and this time the phone was shut down. Again, for the second time of the day, I'm speechless. Am not sure she is purposely avoiding my call or not but i'm getting really upset over the whole thing now.

Whether she is paying or not i need to get the car fixed so i went ahead. I sms her asking her to call back if she received my sms. still no calls returned.

It was not until nearly 3pm an unknown number called, i picked up the phone and there is this guy asking me am i the person whose car was knocked this morning. I said yes and went ahead to explain to him the damages. I didnt vent the frustration onto him and he sincerely apologizesd to me as well. So thats the whole story, am still waiting for him to wire the money to me, and until now, the lady never call me, not even once.

Just want to give my two cents here.

Why do we need another person (bf or brother or friend) to apologise for what we've done wrong? Regardless of how minor the lady may think the whole incident was, Its not that hard to just say a sincere sorry for causing so much of trouble to the other person isnt it? Throughout the entire interaction, i was never rude or anything, so its impossible that i scared her off.

Yes, of course bf can stood up for their girlfriend, there is nothing wrong about it. Carrying an XX chromosomes myself, i will be touched if my bf say sorry on behalf for me for thing which i've done wrong to others. However, take away the i'm-so-touched part, ladies, arent we are big enough to admit our own mistake? are we taking our love ones for granted as its simply convenient to let the man stood up for us everytime?

Just think about it.

12 comments:

Mat`amiT said...

sorry to hear about the accident, at least ur ok & damage was minimal

iriene said...

You r such a nice person. It is God's grace that she met you not other who is "road bully" or fierce lady who demanded identity card etc.
I hope everything will be settled soon. Tks and take care! Do drop by my blog for some funny video - not sure whether u hv seen it of not, but just relax & enjoy. All the best!

Jemsen said...

So sorry to hear that. Life is like that, we don't want to knock other but sometimes knocked by others. Unavoidable when driving in the city...Safety First, most important nobody is hurt. Take care. Do visit my blog when u r online , Tks!

JAMES said...

Sorry to hear about it! I just want to relate to u some incidents, worse if knocked by motorbike. Chances r the rider got hurt, some more no money to pay...

Dorcas said...

hahah! Love this post!!
Point to consider:
1. May be she have post traumatic depression or something after the accident, it could happen that she can't speak, too in shock, etc etc. It's not impossible!! hahaha!
2. At least she give you the correct number!! ( next time copy down the number plate and ask for licence number! )
3. at least you've got an apology!! Remember my most recent accident?? We still do not consider that was our fault and make no apology to the other party even though the insurans company decided that we're the wrong one!! Sometime it's hard to draw the black and white when you're in the grey!!
So all in all, you're very lucky, I still do not have the courage to drive in KL!! ( my mother will say, thank god for that!! haha! )

JeSS said...

sorry to hear that.

but i absolutely agree with you. ain't ladies big enough to admit our wronged part?!it's a yes for some hard ladies. i have the same experience at my work place last year where the lady did wrong and being very irreasonable while the admin manager(who is the man also) is apologizing on behalf of her wronged. what's the logic?

and remember to get her plate number, ic number and driving license number, office phone number rather than only taking down her hp number. i knocked someone's car last few years and i still think it's not my fault until now cuz he came out from other direction suddenly and it's just too late for my to stop my car when i see him. but he still blame that's my fault as i am driving alone with P sticker so he is taking me for granted and copied down all my personal details and even called to my office to confirm whether i gave the correct contact number.please do the same too when u meet an accident next time to gurantee the wronged person to pay the bill for you.

Xav_Kim said...

oh not again,
Tht lady very irresponsible... Gals is like tht one, can talk fluently in routine life, but keep silent n scare when something big big happen, push father, brother, male frens @ boyfrens as a shield lol,
Above comment from AH Beng aka AH Seng...

As you mentioned this is not your 1st Myvi accident, the cost of repair is low and nobody get injure, hence do not let this minor accident affect your life.

Atlantisian said...

Matamit,iriene,jemsen, James Thanks for all the concerns! will definitely drop by your blogs!

Dorcas,yeah agreed,if you can drive in KL, you can drive anywhere! except bangalore and Vietnam though...

Atlantisian said...

Dear Chel, yeah i think you've learn the lesson very well, will definitely remember the tips. but touch wood, hope that i will never get involved in any car accident again! the fella still havent responded as yet although i have both send him the invoice and sms him yesterday. patient susan, patient...

Kim, agreed, will try not to let this issue bother me too much, since i'm getting my car last year, it gave me so much of headache since then. sigh...

oh, hi to Ah Beng or Ah Seng too!

donsam said...

Poor susan...glad you are fine. Thank you for sharing with us the incident.
There are values we can learn from it. And i am truly proud of you! How you have handled the whole situation has reflected the complete opposite of the other girl. That's the different when God presence is in you.
Kim, not all girl are dependent to male at their hardest peak... not when they are dependent to God. :o)

Horlic said...

bang here and there.. my driving skills are accumulated from many small bangs.. Hey Susan, thanks god for the small small bangs given.. all the best!

David said...

Susan,

An unfortunate accident. Most important is that no one was injured.

It is sad that young women who hit your car does not have the honesty to deal with something that is clearly her fault.

I trust that all will turn out well for you!

David

U.S.A.