The Accident

This morning while driving off a busy open air car park near my place, i came upon a car poised to reverse into a parking lot. i stopped a good distance from the car in front, with sufficient space for it to do the parking maneuvers. In my horror, it actually start reversing towards my car, and i immediately horned several times to alert the driver in-front of my presence. Yet it continued to reverse without stopping, out of desperation, i engaged reverse gear and started reversing... and BANG! the car in front still managed to reverse into my car!

i got out of my car to check the damage, a lady driver came out with her husband. They don't seem to know what just happened until i told them that they just reversed into my car, and pointed out the damage to them. The corner of my car plate was bent, and there were some scratches on my bumper. By now, there's a long queue of car behind me, waiting to leave the car park. The male passenger asked me how i want to "settle" this, and i suggested to talk after moving our vehicles to the side so as not to block the traffic.

The "discussion" did not start very well. i expected an apology, and did not get any. The male passenger started by blaming me for being too close to their vehicle, which really pissed me, and he started to talk louder as if i am the one at fault. He ignored the fact that i was stationary and i horned to alert while they reversed into my car! He went on to say that they will not admit its their fault, and say that his insurance will never handle the claim. Such childishness! There were many passerbys who witnessed the accident, there was a small group gathered around us by then. 2 witnesses commented to me that the car in front is in the wrong, and this guy still dare to claim innocence! Behind them were their 2 young daughters, watching their father throwing accusations and denying responsibilities. What a good way to "educate" your children by example.

By then i lost my patience with the guy, and told him off that originally i did not intend to pursue the matter since its just minor scratches. Especially since my front bumper already had many other scratches prior to this incident, so it doesn't really bother me. But because of his attitude, i am prepared to go all the way on the legal front, change the entire bumper and claim to his insurance. i told them that if they had admitted their mistakes and apologised, i would have let go the incident. i would not allow them to make it seem like i was at fault. My words stunned the guy and left him speechless, and his wife (the driver) stepped in to admit its her mistake, that she failed to check her rear, and failed to hear my horns. And she apologised for the way her husband handled the situation.

In the end, i let them off after signing a joint statement on the facts of the accident. The joint statement is to protect me in case they turnaround and lodge a report claiming that my car hit their car's rear bumper.

Lesson of the day: when you make a mistake in the open, admit it and ask for forgiveness instead of blame others! Maintain your integrity.