golfmade
16th March 2010, 02:12
Fuckin' fumin' lately and need to vent and as this occurred in Taiwan and as I also currently ride a scooter (booooo hiissss I hear you all say...) decided to post this in rant/rave. It's quite long I realize but just have to fucking vent.
January had a minor traffic accident. I approached a four way residential intersection, no traffic lights and no stop signs (stop signs don't exist in this country...). I was going to turn left, so did the normal routine of turning on my left turn blinker, hugging the middle yellow line as close as possible and slowed as I approached the intersection.
There were several scooters oncoming, one was close and I started to go as he passed me. I recognized that there were several other scooters coming but they were not close to the intersection and I judged that I would have enough time to turn and clear safely.
That said, when I committed to my turn and was already in the middle of the intersection a very young scooter driver came flying into the intersection, proceeded to jam on his brakes, which caused his scooter to dip down and fling him from it as his scooter slid into the right side of mine.
I ask if he's alright, if he needs an ambulance or anything and the first (and not last) thing he states (translated into English) are "You will give me money to fix my scooter." We both call the police who show up, take measurements, pictures of damage done to both scooters and also give us both BAC tests.
His father calls my wife a few times after the accident, every single time she tells him not to contact her but to contact me.
I never was contacted. 2 months pass and now he contacts me, saying he wants to meet to discuss the accident.
The initial police report came out and it never explicitly stated who was at fault. I was cited for failing to yield to oncoming traffic and his son was cited for something as well. However one important thing is that the very thing I was cited for also has a clause stating (again a translation from Chinese into English) that a left turning vehicle does have right of way if it's already committed to the turn and in the intersection while the oncoming traffic has not reached the intersection yet.
So I agree to meet him last Thursday morning and he waddles in 20 minutes late and proceeds to tell me that the accident is 70% my fault, not only that but the damage to his son's bike and other things (ie helmet) are over 1,300 NZ$.
I ask him how he arrives at this conclusion and he tells me his insurance agent and a 'lawyer friend' looked at the police report and told him this.
Now, this is odd for a few reasons.
I had my helmet camera on when the accident occurred. As soon as I was done talking to the police I went to my wife's office and checked what the camera got, and bingo it got everything from start to finish quite clearly. I immediately made a copy and that very night gave it to the police officer who was handling the accident.
2 months ago my wife told the father (hence forth known as a fucking tosser) that if he wanted a copy of the video we'd give it to him. He stated he didn't need it.
Thursday I again ask him if he wants a copy, and he says no, that he has his own video. I ponder this and perhaps that is true, as there are lots of government owned CCTV cameras around, but later realize this is lie number one. This is a lie because at that intersection there is only one CCTV camera, and it's facing completely the wrong way to have viewed the accident.
One of the many things he told me that needed to be fixed was his son's helmet, not only that but it was so damaged that he needed to buy a brand new one. This is lie number two as in the video that I have it is clear that his helmet never impacts the ground.
Thursday I had brought my wife's laptop and showed him my video, he was pretty much dead silent for a few minutes after that and then started to tell me that my video has nothing to do with the accident we are talking about and furthermore that he is trying to do me a favor, that if I understood Chinese better I would see the light of day and realize I'm wrong and he is right. I don't take being patronized to very well let alone to me this is reeking of extortion.
Right, so I told him I'll get back to him about arbitration. In Taiwan in a non-criminal accident such as this first we can talk to each other to get it sorted out. If that doesn't work we go to arbitration to have a third person mediate. If that doesn't work we go to court.
Now, thing is I know this fucking tosser is fucking with me, most likely because I'm a foreigner and while yes my Chinese isn't fluent, that has no bearing on this accident.
My next steps are the following:
1) I'm already in the process of getting a more detailed scene investigation done by the police themselves.
2) Once I get that detailed scene investigation I will proceed.
3) As I don't have any documented evidence of his lies I will plan to set up another meeting with him and either by video or audio document his lies as further evidence.
4) At the end of the day IF the police do actually say yes, it's 70% my fault well then I'm not really out anything. That said, I do believe that even if I'm at fault it's no where near 70%.
I won't be fucked with in this manner and in fact it's given me a fire under my ass to, if nothing else, teach this fucking tosser and his son not to fuck with others in such a way.
Karma speaking, that very Thursday night my scooter started making a really weird noise (not related to the accident) and I had to park it, most likely the transmission I think. That said, a close friend is selling his 150cc motorcycle and will give me a good price on it, so hopefully actually within a week or so I'll be properly on a motorcycle and scooter-less for good.
Thanks if you actually read through the entire rant, at least at the end of the day I'm still healthy and can still :scooter: .
Cheers.
January had a minor traffic accident. I approached a four way residential intersection, no traffic lights and no stop signs (stop signs don't exist in this country...). I was going to turn left, so did the normal routine of turning on my left turn blinker, hugging the middle yellow line as close as possible and slowed as I approached the intersection.
There were several scooters oncoming, one was close and I started to go as he passed me. I recognized that there were several other scooters coming but they were not close to the intersection and I judged that I would have enough time to turn and clear safely.
That said, when I committed to my turn and was already in the middle of the intersection a very young scooter driver came flying into the intersection, proceeded to jam on his brakes, which caused his scooter to dip down and fling him from it as his scooter slid into the right side of mine.
I ask if he's alright, if he needs an ambulance or anything and the first (and not last) thing he states (translated into English) are "You will give me money to fix my scooter." We both call the police who show up, take measurements, pictures of damage done to both scooters and also give us both BAC tests.
His father calls my wife a few times after the accident, every single time she tells him not to contact her but to contact me.
I never was contacted. 2 months pass and now he contacts me, saying he wants to meet to discuss the accident.
The initial police report came out and it never explicitly stated who was at fault. I was cited for failing to yield to oncoming traffic and his son was cited for something as well. However one important thing is that the very thing I was cited for also has a clause stating (again a translation from Chinese into English) that a left turning vehicle does have right of way if it's already committed to the turn and in the intersection while the oncoming traffic has not reached the intersection yet.
So I agree to meet him last Thursday morning and he waddles in 20 minutes late and proceeds to tell me that the accident is 70% my fault, not only that but the damage to his son's bike and other things (ie helmet) are over 1,300 NZ$.
I ask him how he arrives at this conclusion and he tells me his insurance agent and a 'lawyer friend' looked at the police report and told him this.
Now, this is odd for a few reasons.
I had my helmet camera on when the accident occurred. As soon as I was done talking to the police I went to my wife's office and checked what the camera got, and bingo it got everything from start to finish quite clearly. I immediately made a copy and that very night gave it to the police officer who was handling the accident.
2 months ago my wife told the father (hence forth known as a fucking tosser) that if he wanted a copy of the video we'd give it to him. He stated he didn't need it.
Thursday I again ask him if he wants a copy, and he says no, that he has his own video. I ponder this and perhaps that is true, as there are lots of government owned CCTV cameras around, but later realize this is lie number one. This is a lie because at that intersection there is only one CCTV camera, and it's facing completely the wrong way to have viewed the accident.
One of the many things he told me that needed to be fixed was his son's helmet, not only that but it was so damaged that he needed to buy a brand new one. This is lie number two as in the video that I have it is clear that his helmet never impacts the ground.
Thursday I had brought my wife's laptop and showed him my video, he was pretty much dead silent for a few minutes after that and then started to tell me that my video has nothing to do with the accident we are talking about and furthermore that he is trying to do me a favor, that if I understood Chinese better I would see the light of day and realize I'm wrong and he is right. I don't take being patronized to very well let alone to me this is reeking of extortion.
Right, so I told him I'll get back to him about arbitration. In Taiwan in a non-criminal accident such as this first we can talk to each other to get it sorted out. If that doesn't work we go to arbitration to have a third person mediate. If that doesn't work we go to court.
Now, thing is I know this fucking tosser is fucking with me, most likely because I'm a foreigner and while yes my Chinese isn't fluent, that has no bearing on this accident.
My next steps are the following:
1) I'm already in the process of getting a more detailed scene investigation done by the police themselves.
2) Once I get that detailed scene investigation I will proceed.
3) As I don't have any documented evidence of his lies I will plan to set up another meeting with him and either by video or audio document his lies as further evidence.
4) At the end of the day IF the police do actually say yes, it's 70% my fault well then I'm not really out anything. That said, I do believe that even if I'm at fault it's no where near 70%.
I won't be fucked with in this manner and in fact it's given me a fire under my ass to, if nothing else, teach this fucking tosser and his son not to fuck with others in such a way.
Karma speaking, that very Thursday night my scooter started making a really weird noise (not related to the accident) and I had to park it, most likely the transmission I think. That said, a close friend is selling his 150cc motorcycle and will give me a good price on it, so hopefully actually within a week or so I'll be properly on a motorcycle and scooter-less for good.
Thanks if you actually read through the entire rant, at least at the end of the day I'm still healthy and can still :scooter: .
Cheers.