My First Car Accident

My car is 11 years old and I honestly thought I would be able to get away with a clean record.

But the accident last Saturday made away with my clean record as I knocked into the MyVi in front of me. The idiot was going to turn left as the light just turned amber from green, but I think he spotted a policeman at the corner, so he hit the brakes.

I must have been following him too close as I honestly did think he was going to go but instead I knocked him hard. The bumper fell off and well, it was quite bad.

But then again, my damage was equally disastrous!

I thought I would settle his car repairs (charge it to the credit card) as we went to his workshop but when his mechanic estimated that my damage would cost a bomb too, I hesitantly changed my mind and said that I'll make an insurance claim instead.

*sigh*

So off we went to the traffic police station in town near Petaling Street. I was really tired but thank goodness my sister's boyfriend was there to accompany me. He had to drive the Korean guy to and fro, so my gratitude to him.

I had to return to the police station on Monday to collect a copy of the police report, and found out on Friday that I needed a copy of the police's photograph as well. Dammit!

My insurance agent is quite hopeless in assisting me. I had to ask friends for advice and help. Eventually I called up MSIG's helpline to attend to my queries.

Thank goodness they were pretty helpful. 

It was locating a panel workshop which was a real headache. I wanted to find one near my home and so I chose one along Jalan Ipoh. But little did I know that the area is a freaking maze!

I couldn't find the one I wanted but came across another panel workshop and so I went there instead.

I was honestly relieved to have one of the officers sort out everything for me, and have a young boy mechanic take my car off my hands. :D

 

Check out their toilet! It's like a hotel room's!

She explained to me the betterment clause and I was informed that I had to pay 40% of the cost of repairs, which I hope my portion will not exceed RM200.

I hope it will all be sorted out by the time I'm back from my holidays!

I think she could tell that it was my first experience with an accident, seeing how blur and clueless I was.

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Most of people know of my car-jacking incident 11 years ago, and that's how I obtained this car. I'm reposting the story which I had written earlier in my other blog.

It happened in April 2001.

Chapter I

about 5 years ago in april, i was carjacked.

yup yup. i was driving a maroon proton wira sedan (auto) back then, and it was only 5 months old.

our CLP class was having its UM CLP Nite 2001 at Hotel Istana, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur that night. i was busy rushing like mad, being a member of the organising committee as well as the emcee. rushed through rehearsals and had to sort things out - when i'm flustered and nervous, i'm definitely tensed as hell. running around here and there, on the verge of a nervous breakdown because everyone was just not ready/organised!

we started late because the VIP guests arrived late. our lecturers were present, most of our classmates were there and even some people from the NST paper. gee. why? i don't know.

food was alright, i couldn't eat much. entertainment was ok - we could have done better, but argh, not all organising committees work well as a team - blame it on our poor organisational skills!

you know how some functions end with dancing and drinking? yup, we did that too - to wrap up the night, and later on several people decided to venture off to Spiral Club for more dancing and drinking.

i didn't join them, and decided to head home, because i had to wake up early and catch the bus down to Singapore to attend my cousin's wedding. so i left. it was about 115am or so.

i ended up getting lost, and almost on the way to sungai besi. well, i remember jalan sungai besi and seeing wentworth hotel on my right or left, i can't recall. i was lost for about 30 minutes, and i was on the phone with my friends, having them direct me while they were looking at the map.

eventually i got back on the federal highway, and i was relieved. and then i turned into the area where i was staying at. before i could turn into my road, i felt a slight nudge. a white honda civic had knocked me from behind.

Chapter II

i've never been in an accident before *touch wood*. the only thing i knew from watching my friends or people in general do, is to claim damages.

as i stopped my car, i whipped out my phone to call up my friend(s) to inform them what had happened. but what i failed to realise was that i had unconsciously unlocked the door. before i could call my friend(s), a malay man came out from the backseat of the honda and opened my door.

i struggled to grab the keys out of the ignition so that he wouldn't drive off with me in the car. but he was trying to pull me out of the car and grab my phone at the same time. it was a quiet struggle, he never said a word. the only thing i could think of was to glue my bum to my seat, not let go of my phone, stuck my head out of the car and screamed my lungs out.

i clawed his face and flabby chest, but i guess i was quite weak as there was no reaction from him. after 10 to 15 minutes, we were still struggling and getting nowhere. i think i peed my skirt. yuck. anyway, his accomplice came out from the backseat to help him and immediately i was thrown out of the car.

as i stood and watched him drive away my car, the driver in the honda deliberately made a u-turn in front of me, obviously allowing me to remember the licence plate - which would not be genuine?

i eventually got through to my friend(s), just before they had gone to sleep. i waited by the roadside for them to come from uptown.

a group of boys came from a house nearby and approached me. and they asked if i was ok. i told them i was, except that i'd just been car-jacked. one of them said yeah, they saw what happened.

"wah, you can scream damn loud ah..." one of them remarked.

they asked if i needed a lift to the police station to make a report, but i told them my friends were already on the way. so they told me that the area has some patrollers (either volunteers or part of the police force, am not very sure) and we walked towards the petrol station where they patrollers were standing around.

they did the talking for me, explaining i had just been car-jacked and we asked if they could do anything for us.

i felt angry at that time. RELA volunteers or something? and they didn't come to my aid? i lashed out at them, asking how come they didn't come to my rescue.

but the boys calmed me down and said that it was still a bit of a distance from where it happened. the RELA volunteers said they didn't hear anything.

but i thought sound carried well in the middle of the night in the quietness.........

the RELA volunteers  said that i had to report to the HQ in PJ but they weren't sure whether the inspector in charge would still be in the office. the boys told them to try checking.

and you know what? one of the RELA volunteers asked to borrow my phone to make the call.

go ahead. be puzzled. i just got car-jacked and some policeman wannabe borrows my phone to make a call. hilarious.

anyway, my friends came. in 3 cars. the boys told them what happened and the RELA volunteers said the inspector wasn't in, but to wait until morning to see him. oh yay, hurray to the malaysian system. only HQ process crimes like these?

Chapter III

my friends (all 3 cars) took me to the ss2 police station to make my report. it was a struggle. i had to recall what i had in my car and in my wallet.

when the police on duty were told the car description and licence plate, the policemen in the station perked up. white honda? familiar. 3 malay men? familiar. licence plate? not the same.

apparently not long before i was car-jacked, the same 3 malay men (we're assuming all were malay) in a white honda had car-jacked a guy in a kancil. but they had parangs instead.

i was told that i was lucky nothing happened to me. in everyone's mind, i was lucky i was not taken and raped.

what ran through my mind while i was waiting for my friends to arrive was not for my safety, but for my car. i felt guilty. money gone, just like that. (yeah, insurance, i forget.)

i stayed over at my friends' place but i refused to sleep. i waited until it was a decent hour to call and inform my aunt that i would not be going with her. i called my parents to inform them what happened, to have my mum screaming down the phone at me. i couldn't understand why she was shouting at me. (perhaps out of fear) anyway, i told her i didn't want to go down to Singapore anymore. But my parents thought it would've been better for my shock. But i had planned on wearing the same clothes for my cousin's wedding, and after the incident (pee!), nothing else to wear.

i also called up my landlady & landlord to inform them of the incident. the darlings thanked God for my safety and then proceeded to worry about their home security. in the car, i had the remote control to the gate, and not forgetting my housekeys. sigh. i caused a lot of problems for so many people.

Chapter IV

on that saturday afternoon (the next day), a friend took me to the HQ at PJ State to meet with the Inspector at the CID. He was a chinese man, extremely busy, there were a whole load of people waiting to see him. When it was finally my turn, I was invited to sit down. He was a chimney, puffing and puffing away. He offered me nangka - he had some on his table. I was caught unawares by that invitation.

i explained why i was there. he told me to tell him what happened as he clicked the keys on his laptop. he was taking my statement. i sat there repeating my story and panicking, wondering if whatever i was saying complied with the criminal procedure code (whether my statement was complete). studying law puts pressure on you, you know, you keep trying to remember the things you have learned and put them into use.

he then proceeded to ask me questions. one stood out. he asked if i'd be able to identify the suspects in the event they were caught. i was ashamed to say no, i didn't think so, as during the struggle my right contact lens fell out.

do you know that if someone says that, the statement is deemed pretty useless? what is the point for the police to catch the suspects if the victims can't identify them? they're free to go! (hence, my shame.)

Chapter V

life went on. it was back to public transport for me. extra early to catch the feeder bus to the LRT station. that was what i'd been taking before i had my car, anyway. and who do i bump into on the 1st day of taking the LRT again? my classmate Z. we used to travel together for a while until i got my car.

she asked me why i was taking the LRT again. i told her it was stolen. her eyes opened wide and she asked me for the whole story.

stupidly, i told her everything that happened. she kept going "oh my goodness..." most of the time.

i believe i was probably still in shock, or denial. because i'm a crybaby, emotional as hell. but i never did cry about the incident, you know.

as we arrived at the university, i met up with jo and another friend, both had been informed about what happened. so they were pretty protective over me that day. =P

moments later, classmate after classmate kept coming up to me, asking me if i was ok. they had heard what had happened. the attention was just ..... scary. (ok, secretly i felt like a star. no, just kidding.) i wanted to know who the hell told the whole entire class. why not make it a public announcement instead, stand in front of the class and announce, instead of whispering into every classmates' ears?

jo and my friend said it wasn't them.

you can guess who. my 'best' friend in the whole wide world then, Z. she told anyone who she came across before class started.

i can't remember what happened next, either i confronted her or my friend did, but she came over to apologise to me, for being CNN of the year.

Chapter VI

my car was never found. friends would read the newspaper and sms or email me, asking me if perhaps my car was part of the reported scandal, where car parts from stolen cars are sold across the Thai border or something.

insurance took ages. about 6 months.

by then, my current car had already been bought, a month after the incident. not having a car in klang valley is not easy. but i guess that's being pampered - must have convenience.

one of the reasons why i'm writing this is because of people and their judgments and smirk opinions. my aunt the other day brought this up again, scolded and said, "i don't understand why you got out of your car. you should have just driven off."

what could i say? i kept quiet.

because it had already happened. what am i supposed to do? admit i was stupid?

don't forget, a stupid automatic car (proton) has horrible pick up and even if i had started the car to drive off, i'm sure they would have been tailing me from behind. and if things get worse - if i was caught that 2nd time, do you think i'd have survived? the nearest police station was still too far.

like Ven's long opinion about life blah blah blah ....

yes, everyone says that the safest thing to do is to drive off to the nearest police station. BUT IT HAPPENED ALREADY.

i could have honked the horn and wake up the whole neighbourhood, but we know how malaysians are? just minding their own business and worry about their own safety. if i had to die *touch wood* they'd let it be. they're not going to run to my rescue and risk their lives!

my uncle says just park your car in the middle of the road and cause a traffic jam if someone hits you from behind. you never know if it's a genuine accident or a fake one, with accomplices coming over later to rob you. if it's fake, the jokers will just leave you and run. =P

what if i told you that cliche phrase, that "something happens for a reason"? what if i said that God was watching over me and said that He had to let it happen because if it didn't, they would have come back for me until they found me? What if by then, if it happened at a later time, i would not have survived it? *touch wood*

why do you think my parents and uncles and aunties now prefer me to be home before 11pm every night? they don't like me going out at night unless i'm with a group of friends. but i have friends who don't want to drive me or accompany me that everything i do most of the time are on my own. everyone stays too far away.

why do you think i don't go clubbing in the city when i don't have someone to go with me? so i'm accused of being a boring bitch with no life, so not happening at all, but say all they want, i do not drive to the city alone in the middle of the night.

whatever it is, anything can happen nowadays, be it during the night or day. so yeah, don't stop and drive towards the nearest police station, remember the licence plate number. nowadays everyone has a camera phone or digicam with them, just take pictures of everything important for proof later.

and even worse, nowadays we can't even tell the bogus policemen from the real ones.

sorry. my point is, i was stupid but not really stupid like 'i never use my brains' stupid. thank God, of course, for my safety. and i hope the jokers have already died by being run down.

i'm very hard on myself. my guilt conscience is probably a million times higher than anyone else's. even losing my favourite pen/pencil, or a RM50 note, bookmark (present from anyone) makes me very angry. (*sobs* i can't believe my japanese eeyore can go missing....) i even wish i was more careful with my toys when i was a child. really. no chopping off barbie's hair and giving my toys for free to the neighbours. sigh.

p.s. a friend's cousin became blind from a carjacking struggle. these ruthless people should really be skinned alive and castrated and rubbed salt all over and then left to the rats.