The Power of Protection 2 - Part 1 of 2

I had a car accident yesterday. It's quite lucky that there was no death. However, my car was injured. But the worst part was, the motorist that ramped into my car's rear wasn't so good. A few lessons to be learnt from my experience here.

The incident further reinforced my belief in the Power for Protection and the need for insurance coverage. Read on...

Background To The Incident

I was on my way to perform the routine servicing on my car @ Kranji Industrial Estate. Just before the turn into the estate, I slowed down my vehicle gradually and signalled for a impending right turn. As the turn had to cut through an on-coming lane, and there were vehicles driving from the opposite direction, i braked my car to a stop. That's when I heard a super loud thud from the rear of my vehicle. It's so loud that I know it's right behind me.

I put on the hazard lights and went down to take a look. A motorist, his pillon and their bike was down on the road. My first instinct was to ask the motorist, "Are you ok?!" He seemed flustered, in pain and lost. His pillon was in shock. The motorist attempted to pull his bike up but was not able to. Pretty soon, two more bikes parked nearby and join the site. They were four of their working colleagues.

I asked the motorist again, "Are you ok?". He didnt want to answer me and i can understand that. By now his colleagues had crowded around us. I advised them to help the motorist and his bike to the road shoulder by the side since the motorist is able to walk. I took the time to drive my car to one side to avoid jamming up the traffic.

After my car was parked by the side, i went to check on the motorist. By now, he is more composed, and was checking on his own injury. I am glad I see no blood on him, but a slight brushed skin on his left ankle area. I think he was hurt at his left leg.

Sigh of relief from me when i saw that the pillon was fine and the motorist suffered only slight injury. His bike seems pretty fine too, except for the left mirror. With much relief, i went to check my car.

"Wow!" I thought to myself. That's quite a dent there that they have did to the right rear of my car. I am glad that they are fine despite the crash onto my vehicle. But an economical sense knocked into my head suddenly, "This is going to cause me a few hundred dollars of repair..."

I walked over to the motorist and ask, "What happened back there? How did you crash into my rear?"

The motorist wasn't really ready to speak to me, and seems to be still in a slight mode of shock. The pillon replied on his behalf, "You signalled and turn right almost immediately. We had no chance to brake in time!"

One of their colleagues add on, "How can you signal and turn right immediately?"

A few more mouths added on with their own comments like, "How much are you going to compensate?!"

I was not sure how many of the motorist's colleagues actually SAW the incident with their own eyes. What i knew was, i was surrounded by 6 men from the same working place. Where does that place me to start the negiotiation with? Can there be a dialogue?

I am glad that my organisation trained me well. I listened to what they had to say to me. When it was my turn to say my piece, i asked them, in a well composed manner (but actually i was also in shock!! OH....), "Let's not debate the right and wrong here. I will give you my NRIC Card and you (the motorist) you give me yours. We will exchange our particulars and contact information. As for the rest, we shall leave it to our insurance companies to resolve."

Now, i began to see hesitation from their faces.

One of his colleagues asked, "Doesn't that mean that we have to make police report?"

I replied in a calm and affirmative tone, "Since there was no series injuries involved in the accident, there is no requirement to make a police report. But if you like, we can call the police to come on site and make that report. I can make that call if you want."

I saw more hesitation expressions from their faces now.

Another of the motorist colleague asked, "Since there is no need to make police report, why not we settle it privately? Between us and you. No need to involve police or the insurance. You pay us the repair of the bike and the medical fees and we call it quit here."

"Now we are talking", I thought to myself. :-P

I responded, "I see that you are not ready to admit at fault and neither do I. I only know the fact that you crashed into my rear despite my slowing down and signalling. So the best option is to leave the discussion to our insurance companies."

Then another of their colleague mentioned, "Our bikes are registered in Malaysia, and our insurance company is in Malaysia. Very difficult to do claim. Why not you just pay him (the motorist) the money and we call it quit right now?"

I responded firmly, "I don't see how I am at fault. So I am not ready to pay any form of compensation to him (the motorist). I am not even sure how much will the repair on my car be looking at that extend of the dent. My mechanic's workshop is just at the industrial estate, 150 metres from here. We can exchange particulars and contact number now. I will drive over to my mechanic and ask him to quote the repair cost and we can negiotiate from there."

Strangely, I sense that they themselves seems to be getting very unsure of what they want now. And this was confirmed by a request from one of the motorist's colleagues, "Insurance is very troublesome for us. Why not we share the repair cost. He (the motorist) has to repair his bike too."

The motorist begain to talk (finally!), "Ya, we share the cost. If not, what I earn this month all pay to you already."

Looking at the way the motorist demand, i feel further sigh of relief. He is fine already!!

"Since we all don't know how much is the repair, let me ask my mechanic for a quote and we can discuss further from there. But I am not prepared to pay a single cent on this incident. Any payment will come my insurance company." I replied even more firmly now.

The pillon added on,"So if we pay the full repair cost, no need to involve police, no insurance company?"

I replied him, "We can discuss further on that option."

The pillon suggested that they follow me to my workshop and we get the quotation for the repair. I agreed.

Before i turn around and walked to my car, I advised the motorist, "Are you fine to ride? If you cannot ride, just push your bike into the industrial estate. The workshop is very near."

When I drove off to the workshop, I saw three bikes following behind me. And the motorist was riding again...

[End of Part 1]

Lessons learnt by me coming up in Part 2 of this sharing. Stay tuned to this space....

Warmest regards,

Leroy Ang

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."