How My Brand New Car is Rammed by a Revo

I am not a brusque driver, and in my almost ten years of driving, I have never been involved in any road mishaps or accidents. Even when late for work, I would leisurely drive at 40-50 kilometer per hour speed, sometimes only achieving 70km/hour when badly in a hurry. This way, I don't feel tired driving, and I get to save gas.

This morning, however, I was involved in a road mishap. I was driving along Maria Clara street in Quezon City with a speed of 20km. I was crossing an intersection, and as my habit, slowed down to 10km and looked sideways to look for crossing vehicles. There was no car on my left, but on my right was a Toyota Revo. The Revo was still some 15 meters away, however, and so I felt there is no danger of collision. I was already in the middle of the intersection, and I assumed that the Revo would stop. Unless he is stupid, the Revo driver would step on the break, and not ram his car into mine.

But I was mistaken. Because the Revo driver was stupid, (or was he blind) and he did not stop, and he rammed his bullbar into my door. I immediately knew this was trouble. My car, which is barely only a year old, was destroyed on the right side. I stayed calm, however, which is essentially the thing to do in this situation. I was not hurt and that's the most important thing. I couldn't see the Revo driver's face because of his tinted windshield. I stopped my car and went outside to investigate. Meantime, all the vehicles in the area started blowing their horns, not realizing that two cars were already in a mishap in the middle of an interesection.

The driver, it turned out, was neither stupid nor blind. He was actually a senior citizen in his early 60s. His poor vision and reflexes may have prevented him from calculating correctly the distance between his car and mine. He apologized for his fault. But I couldn't get angry to an aged man. I accepted his apology but told him he must pay for the damages. As it happened, all the damages were in my car. The Revo, protected with bulky bullbars, did not even have a dent!


My brand new car, rammed by a Revo with a strong bullbar.

In a short while, the traffic investigator appeared on the scene to arrange the traffic situation, and investigate the accident. After taking some sketches and photographing the scene of accident, the investigator told us that we should now remove our cars from the road so as not to disturb the traffic situation. I thought that this investigator was very kind, until he went to charge us 500 pesos for the three photographs he took of the scene. I was also a photographer, and I don't charge that much. It's unbelievable how some people would take advantage of some people's misfortunes to earn some money. Nevertheless, to make the story short, the old man paid him the 500, as I will not pay for anything in this accident which is not of my doing.

The clever investigator told us to go to the Traffic Bureau in Balintawak to file a formal deposition. Thus, the accident put into disarray all my plans for the day, as I could no longer use the car. The investigator concluded that the accident was indeed the fault of the Revo, and the old man did not raise protest. He knew it was his fault. It was agreed that the old man's insurance will shoulder all the necessary cost and replacements. Technically, I could still claim for some more damages but I felt pity for the old man. I am younger, so I gave him my understanding. I know that ranting was already pointless since he already accepted his fault. Still, the thought of not having the convenience of a car depressed me. At the most, my car will be in the Toyota service station for two weeks., and I will have a hard time doing my business without it. Yet, accidents happen, and the only thoughts comforting me was that nobody was hurt in this accident.

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After delivering my car in Toyota Service Center for replacements of the door and fender, I rode a jeepney to Quiapo to attend the Friday Mass, which was my custom every friday. Afterwards, I went to the FX terminal to head back to Cubao. The line of waiting passengers was very long. I had a bag of groceries in my hands, and it was raining. What was worse, I forgot my umbrella in the church. I shielded my bare head with a piece of paper. It was soaked in a few minutes. Finally, after almost half an hour waiting, the FX taxi arrived. After one and a half hour of traffic, I was back in Cubao.

Tomorrow and the next few weeks, I will be lining for hours in these FX terminals. I really don't mind riding in FX taxis. But in my kind of buy and sell business, a car is very necessary. Well, sometimes people have to suffer even when its not their fault. It happens. It really does.