Car Accident

Something I have feared since moving overseas has finally come to pass…I was in a car accident with a motorcycle.  More specifically, a motorcycle ran into me.

 

Last Saturday night, I was coming home after having dinner with a friend.  As I approached my house, I signaled my left turn and began slowing down.  My front tires had already reached my driveway when I was shocked by an impact, followed by the burst of the driver’s side airbags.  My shock turned to horror as I saw a figure fly through the air outside the driver’s side window.

 

I turned off the engine, and slowly climbed out the passenger door, wondering what awaited me on the driver’s side, which had been obscured by the airbag.  I found the motorcycle driver lying on the ground, awake, but not moving much, surrounded by a group of guys.  Of course, he was not wearing a helmet.  I didn’t see any blood, but a goose egg was already forming on his forehead.

 

I signaled to my guard that I was ok, while he got on his phone to notify authorities.  Then we waited what felt like forever, but was really only 25 minutes, for the ambulance.  The EMTs walked/carried the driver to the ambulance and drove away.  As soon as that happened, the remaining guys grabbed their motorcycles, including the one that hit me, and left.  My guard explained to me that the motorcycle had no license plate, the driver had no ID, and the guys wanted nothing to do with the police who were on their way to us.

 

The police arrived another 20 minutes later.  They looked at all my documents while I painstakingly spelled out my name, my mother’s name, and my father’s name for them.  They also scolded me for being out late because it wasn’t safe, a comment which had everything to do with sexism and nothing to do with public safety.  Without the other party there, they didn’t have a lot to investigate and soon left.

 

I suppose in some way, I was the victim of a hit and run, which seems weird to say.  I am physically unharmed, but my car is not and I will have to sink significant time and money into repairing the damage.  On the other hand, in a place where guilt is not always justly assigned, the silence of the motorcycle driver spares me any possibility of misplaced blame.  It is unsettling not to know his condition and I certainly don’t wish him further harm, but it’s better than being pulled into an unjust scenario of having to pay his medical expenses for an accident he recklessly caused.

Can't open the door, but hoping it can be fixed