Horrible horrible day today... Accident

It has been a horrible horrible day today. I had an accident which involved a motorcyclist.

*sigh*... I got my local driving licence last week, and as this week was Hari Raya, the driver is off and there are less cars on the road. So, I drove out of the house with both H and a friend. I was only about 100 metres from the house, and was turning right from a traffic junction, and some reckless motorcycle just zoomed right in front of me. He was so quick that I didn't even see him come at all. I kept on thinking whether there was any way I could have avoided, and the answer was No. There were two motorcycles waiting at the light with me, and H was telling me "Be careful of the guy in front. He might swerve in front of you" and so I was extra careful...waited for my light to turn green, let those two guys go forward, saw that the cars on the right stopped at the red light. And out of the blue, this guy just appeared right in front of my car. He was going against the red light on his side and was going rather fast. I slammed into him lah.

*sigh* Spent the whole day shuttling between the hospital and police station. We offered to pay the hospital bills but not the repair of his bike. The repair may not be much but it's a matter of principles. I don't want to pay for everything as it might be seen that I am in the wrong. I am very confident to say that I was not in the wrong at all. The long wait was because we had to wait for the surgeon to come to see if he needed any operation as they suspected trauma in the chest. Thankfully, it was not required. The guy is admitted for observation for three days. Hopefull there are no adverse changes in his conditions. Although not my fault, also don't want to have my conscience lingering over me about this.

You can be so careful and yet there would always be stupid people around who just doesn't care about their lives. Found out that the guy did not have driving licence and was also involved in an accident last June with his son whereby son broke his leg which took 8 months to recover. And as we were leaving the hospital, saw that the guy peeling off his own bandages, and the orderly had to stop him. These people so tidak apa. And the policeman also want to makan duit only.

*sigh* In the morning, they retained my driving licence and car registration card and a policeman told us that we have to talk to the family first etc etc, and if can settle amongst ourselves and not go through the whole legal process, then we should sign a "statement" to agree settlement, and then I could get back my documents. But when all these were done, the policeman who attended to us earlier was not there, and it was another guy and he was very "wishy washy" and did not want to return our documents (the guy's wife was also there with us, and his registration was also retained by the police) and he outright told H's colleague (a local whom we got to help with communication with the family and police) that he wanted ~ RM 200 (equivalent) and I told her that I've paid some bills and don't have that amount, only about ~ RM 120. I spoke in English, and i guessed he understood. But she told him Only ~ RM 40 and told me to give him ~ RM 40 and I did. And he said "No. ~ RM 120 (equiv)". So I took another ~ RM 40 and started counting my tens and twenties to make up another ~ RM 40 equiv, and that was when the lady (the wife of the guy) started to kick and pinch me to stop over-paying the policeman. And H's colleague was also shaking her head,....so I kept back my tens and twenties... The police then accepted the ~ RM 80 and then proceeded to give back all our documetns. *sigh*...

Anyway, H was supposed to be on a flight to Frankfurt tonight.. actually was taking him to the office, whereby he would take a cab from the office... but thankfully, he was thoughtful enough to cancel his trip to be with me. I was a little bit shaken this morning, but am feeling better now. I know that it couldn't be avoided. At least it was I who was driving and not H, as he didn't have any licence here (his Malaysian one expired yonks ago). So..don't think will ever drive in this country again...

So, as H's trip was cancelled, we went to his colleagues Hari Raya open house. We took a cab and right at the same spot, our light was green and another motorcycle just dashed through his red light and whizzed passed us. It's another accident waiting to happen! !

I was a little shaken this morning, and am better now. The scary thing was that I did have premonitions that I would slam into a motorcyclist one day...these thoughts were when I was still living in Malaysia... Scary scary.. Anyway, not gonna think about it. It's not my fault.