[Tuesday - 4.30pm - Aththidiya.] The car in front applied brakes, and so did I. We gently came to a halt but a weird intangible feeling passed through me that something dreadfully wrong would happen; a good 3-4 seconds later a screeching noise was heard from the back and a van hit the car from behind. My head hit the windscreen and the glass was fractured. Luckily I wasn’t badly injured, but the same cannot be said for the car.
Only have third party insurance, so had to go to Police. One of the places that I dread the most. Maybe even more so than going to the temple. The van was fully insured and apparently to claim Insurance I have to again file a case in the Civil Court after the police make a case in the Magistrate court. Fuck the Insurance scheme. (Where are the regulators when you need them?) So I decided it would be productive to use the time I’d have to spend in court to search for unobtanium in Sri Lanka’s mineral abundant crust.
The driver (who was not the owner) was partially drunk, was broke, and had no sense of guilt what-so-ever. Looking at the van it was easy to deduce that he was a competent and skilled veteran who’s had countless experiences of these sorts before.
Thanks to the very quick and efficient police service that was rendered, I had ample time to think over WTF was wrong with this guy. Was he really drunk? Was he not concentrating on the road? Was he depressed? Had the inflation rate got to him? Or was he just plain retarded? If it’s the latter, I’m definitely in favour of genetic engineering and avoiding harmful genes. Even if it poses a threat to natural selection and even if it’s not dumb enough to meet “moral and ethical standards”. Anyway, I digress…..
The thing that bugs me the most is that this is not an isolated incident. My dad faced a similar (but less severe) accident when a trishaw hit his car from behind. And that was about two weeks ago.
The roads in Sri Lanka are definitely getting dangerous by the minute. And I advice anyone who reads this to be extra careful while you drive, cos it certainly can turn out to be a matter of life and death.
11 comments:
Glad you are in one piece.
Glad ur ok
Man these roads are full of nutsos...
hey, it's good to know that you're in one safe and not totally injured
so lets be happy about that...
as for the number of accidents, yes it's on the rise and it's getting pretty dangerous to drive around too...
Cerno, Azrael,
Thanks for the concern guys. Nutsos is a bit of an understatement though. :-)
LD,
Fate tells me to live so that I can die another day. I don't know whether that's something to be happy about...:-)
wow thats some goodness!hope u are not still in shock! where was this anyways? i know the kandy road is famous for such things...
in light of ur head smacking the windscreen, i would recommend u wear ur seatbelt.
it is a bad sri lankan habit to not wear it.
Aththidiya is near Mt. Lavinia. Not in the galle road, but an easier way to get to Nugegoda. The road is pretty good actually, on Sri Lankan standards.
Confab,
I've taken an oath that I won't get into a car without a seatbelt. :-)
you're still lucky to write the blog :-)
Hardest part is getting things done after the event. I have ample experience in SL roads with few non fatal accidents but I think I should be more prepared when I come down to SL in Dec.
Take care of urself mate.
i wrote a long comment but the internet et it:( so i'll just say, glad you lived to tell the tale. seat belts and lots of causion.
Dear R,
Glad that you are safe man.your net balance was in the good karma side.
But i do feel sorry for your car.
As an early starter of driving and someone who had a mixed bag of bad and worse experiences, let me give you some tips.
Always wear your seatbelt.you may want to lean over and kiss your girlfrind every time you stop at an intersection or your mates might say youre being a smartarse.yes you are being smart to save your arse from other assholes like the one you had already met.
Get a comprehensive insurance to your car,it may not be a farrari or a porsche but still it's your mate which takes you to uni everyday.So treat it well.Remember you may be a safe driver but youre driving on sri lankan roads with well diciplined and selfless drivers.
Happy driving.....
Kissing my girlfriend (???) is the last thing on my mind. :-)
But about the insurance, yeah I should get one asap. And I do where seatbelts now.:-)
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