The Construct

On-road collisions and moral dilemmas

Alex @ August 19, 2008 | | Photos, Politics and Society |

Now this gives me something to write about. It has been six years since I was involved in an on-road collision. And I’ve never been involved in anything more than bended fenders and crack headlamps. Being the defensive driver, I’m confident in saying that I might just even be partially responsible for one (out of the three). Being through the experience means that I’ve been through the hassles of trading words with the other party, filing statements and police reports, appearing in preliminary judicial investigations (where you just affirm that you’ll settle outside court), then mooching the insurance company to shell out money.

But yesterday was different. My sis and I were heading to Gateway via P. Tuazon idling in front of that Daily Supermarket waiting for the traffic light to turn green when this tricycle pulled up beside the car’s driver side (which meant it was right in the middle of the two-way traffic, cutting through the solid white line). A bit annoyed with such driving manners common of many trike drivers, I scooched the car over a bit to the right to place a bit of distance between the trike’s sidecar and the car, which was already about a palm’s length by my estimate looking at the sideview mirror.

After the lights then turned green, I eased the car forward hoping to get away from the damn trike when I saw the trike cutting into my lane to turn left to Daily in my side view mirror. I tried to get away as fast as I can when I heard an ugly thud then a scraping sound.

There are just a few realities that you have to swallow with a collision with a public transport vehicle, especially trikes. 1) They often just cause enough damage to make your car look f*ck ugly but repairs will be within your insurance’s participation fee. 2) Driver/operator usually don’t have money to pay you out to settle. 3) When you’re in their area, you’re likely to be swarmed (kuyog) by fellow trike drivers placing the blame on you (never mind that them being on a national road is a traffic violation by itself and you are in the right of way).

Well, I have been in a depressed mood lately and getting my car (right after having the mechanical and suspensions fixed) whanged by a guy who obviously can’t pay for the damages pushed me to a new low. I was even irritated when the guy kept on moving (that meant a photo evidence was impossible to get). If I wasn’t just quick getting out of the car and hollering, he might even have scuttled off.

So we pulled over into the Daily Supermarket parking lot. Getting out of my car, I surveyed the damage. The lower part of my rear driver-side passenger door was dented and had nasty gashes from the trike sideacar’s wheel hub. Well, I was pretty furious but I knew better to keep a cool head and an even well-tempered tongue in such a situation. The trike driver did have what could’ve been gang/jailhouse tats on him and getting out of my vehicle was probably a bad idea.

The trike driver was even defensive and trying to place the blame on me. The fucker. I explained to him that the facts were simple. He was cutting the white line and he was the one who made contact. By that time, a friend of his came to his side to join the discussion. I have to admit that I was pretty alert that time. It’s quite easy to get shivved for no reason, and the situation just offered just more reason.

The thing was, the moment I knew that it was a trike that hit my car, I needed to face the reality that I wouldn’t be compensated for the damages and repairing the car would be left to me. Well, I could have pressed the other party to pay up but I felt that I wasn’t ruthless enough to deny the other person perhaps half-a-month’s earnings to get my car door fixed. Heck, it was even possible that the guy would commit a crime to pay up. If I had been really ruthless, I could’ve called the cops, pressed for full compensation, and have the guy locked up if he didn’t pay. But I wasn’t like that.

So I politely asked the driver for his driver’s license to exchange information. When he was uncooperative, I popped out my cell phone and calmly said that I’ll be calling the police instead to file a police report. He eased off a bit and admitted that he did not have his license with him. Bam. Another violation on his part. His friend who was there offered that I get his details (who happened to be the driver’s neighbor, so they say) instead and I did. I took a couple of snaps of the trike and the trike’s plate. Call me manipulative but I also didn’t give out any of my information. I pressed on until he finally admitted that it was his fault and offered to have my car fixed by one of their other friends. After giving me all of their details, they gave me a phone number that I could contact so that we could make arrangements to have my car fixed.

I didn’t text or call. And I wouldn’t.

I do wonder if that is and will be the right decision. Did I even teach the other guy a lesson with that? Will the driver even change his driving habits? From micro to macro, key problems remain. Many licensed drivers don’t even know the rules of the road and they’re allowed to transport lives. But denying them the opportunity takes another choice among the ways for them to make a living. Damn the conundrum. As of now, I don’t believe in fascist approaches to solving problems (unlike Bayani Fernando).

Well, I just have to live with a car with a f*ck ugly dent until I get the money to have it fixed.

Postscript. If it had been a luxury badge or a riced-out car that bumped into my old Sentra, I would have just laughed it off since that would contribute to my hypothesis that most people who drive good/good looking cars don’t know how to drive at all). Fiddled around with the car this morning and I was able to sort out some of the dent using the good old combination of blast of cold compressed air and heat and a few taps of a hammer. I’ll just have to wait until I get the whole car repainted for the chipped off paint.

Tags: driving, Morality, Tricycles