Car Accident

A friend just came back from the city with a dented car. Obviously he is very upset and a little shaken. The story was he traveled to the city with another labmate. For some reason, they went in separate cars and different route coz he claimed he worked out a “short-cut”. Twenty minutes passed since the labmate came back and there was still no sign of him. We were even joking – so much for a “short-cut”. Anyway, he came back eventually looking very upset. He described the whole accident to us – he ran a yellow light in a busy intersection and the car waiting for a hook-turn drove straight into his passenger side. Luckily, the other labmate was not in his car! He said that the other car actually saw him coming but he kept going hoping my friend would stop. Anyway, so they crashed and my friend described that he didn’t even know how to react. He was too shaken. The car driving behind him stopped in front of them and the driver nicely volunteered to be his witness. Although the whole situation wasn’t my friend’s fault (the other guy should have waited for the red to accelerate – sorry guys, I can’t really explain the hook-turn any better), he was still pretty traumatized at this stage after the accident. However, I was pretty impressed that he actually took out a piece of paper and drew out the situation and asked the guy who crashed into him to sign a statement saying it was the other guy’s fault! Nice one! So, it was kinda routine to ask for each party's ID, insurance info, etc. He later found out the driver at fault doesn’t have car insurance, he doesn’t even have an Australian driver’s license either AND he’s flying overseas in two days! No wonder my friend’s face had a hint of worry when I saw him. But he was smart enough to get any photo ID he could of the guy and wrote everything down. One of the interesting things was when my friend came back to the lab, the guy at fault kept calling him saying he wants to pay for the damage now, since he’s leaving in a couple of days, yet he also claims that he will be coming back. Maybe he is worried that he won’t get pass custom when he comes back? I have no clue. I suggested to my friend to leave everything for the insurance company to handle and try not to worry so much. After a few moments of calming down and getting his head around the whole situation, he questioned a lot of things. Honestly, I could only laugh at them… What if that was a fake ID? What if he doesn’t come back to Aus? What if he denies it was his fault? What if the light wasn't yellow anymore and instead turned red? What if the witness is going to side with the other guy? Sigh... I could only reason with him and answer all those questions as logically as I could – people don’t bring a fake ID around just for a car accident, it is the insurance company’s problem if the guy doesn’t come back, there is already a statement with his signature agreeing it was his fault so then no need to worry about the colour of the light and why the hell would the witness side with the other guy???

My friend is still very upset about the car accident after a few hours. I could only comfort him by saying the main thing is that he is not injured. Yes, it was bad luck but accidents happen and it was fortunate that it wasn't anything more serious. Anyway, I just find the whole situation a little “funny” – it is quite amusing how my friend reacts to a traumatic experience. But guys, PLEASE drive safely!!