Not bad for a 1st...

...time in getting an accident.

Yeah, I hit a motorist from the back on Monday morning.

The lowdown / questions / assessment of the situation from my point-of-view:

- Light was green, so I accelerated to somewhere between 60-80km/h on the junction/highway. Question 1#: Should I have accelerated or not?

- Passed the traffic lights while it was still green. So I'm perfectly in the legal zone unless the answer the 1st question as no.

- Motorcyclist comes from my right-hand-side and comes into my lane without looking (he came from a legal U-turn).
Question #2: Should he have looked first before coming to my lane? My answer is yes but...

- I jam the brakes, skidded some and knocked his motorcycle from the back. Wasn't a hard bang but definitely harder than using force while in a bumper car...

- He loses his balance and falls. I see pieces of the motorcycle broken / flying everywhere on the road. Much later on, I found out that his bike alignment is out, one rear view mirror is no longer in existence, his number plate is in pieces, I saw his dashboard broken...

- He manages to get up but limps a bit.
His first reaction was, "You didn't stop at red light?"
I replied, "No! It was still green!"
"Then you should see me..."
Question #3: Should we be able to see motorcyclists all the time?
The realistic answer is no. We cannot see all the motorcyclists who come from the left and right side of our cars. Any driver who drives know that we just can't tell where they ride all the time.

- I help him gather his stuff which is all over the road to the side.

- He limps a bit, his pants are slightly torn and his knee has a small bruise.

- He moves his motorcycle to a repair shop nearby. I take him to office and pay for his fix fees.
Question #4: If he's in the wrong, why am I paying for his bike? Shouldn't he pay for my car damages instead?

Here's what I learned before and after the accident.

If you don't realize it, Malaysian traffic doesn't always follow the rules. Instead, we follow a type of culture that's dependent on where you're at which may have some principles which not necessarily follows the law of traffic.

Here's some examples whether you agree or not:

• Vehicles have the right of way, pedestrians do not. Don't think just because there's a zebra-crossing means you humans can walk across and the cars have to stop. You can get honked for just walking across the road. Pedestrians may have traffic law rights but reality they are not treated that way.
  

• The catch about pedestrians is if you ever ever ever knock / hit a pedestrian with any sort of vehicle, the driver is in so so so so so so much big trouble. Even if the pedestrian jumped out on the road on purpose, the driver is at fault.

• The bigger your vehicle, the more right of the way you have. Kancil drivers can attest to this culture/principle very well. See how much way you can get when a BMW comes into your path. Or better yet, try getting in the way of a bus and see what happens to you...
  I've seen some bus drivers, when overtaking another vehicle on the oncoming traffic lane, the incoming car is forced to slow down and stay left on the emergency lane because of the size of the bus. Wanna play chicken? Guess what? You already lost before you tried....

• A different location and culture example would be in kampungs (or even in the main city of Malacca), it is alright for a motorcyclist to drive in the middle of the road with/without their helmet on...

So in my accident case, the following rule/culture/principle applies:
If the event where two vehicles collide, the back vehicle who collided the front vehicle is automatically by default in the wrong.

Which makes questions #3 and #4 against me whenever I get into any car, start it, and drive.

Anyway, I wasn't that concerned about the cultures and principles. I more concerned about the guy who fell off his bike.

Thank You Lord that he's still alright though limping a bit.

However, there goes my zero accident-free / perfect road record that I always prayed for. This definitely disappointed me the most. I found it encouraging to tell others that the Lord is taking care of me on the roads and keeping me free accident free.
Now that's not going to be possible anymore...

In a habit that I always do, whenever I park my car, I pray for its safety/protection (against theft, vandalism) and when I reach back to the car, I thank the Him for keeping it safe.

The one thing I realize is that because I do this all the time, it keeps me from letting my emotions or reactions blast out of the person who did intentional harm/inconveniences.

I could have argued / shouted / lambasted with the motorcyclist about he should have saw me instead and maybe bring out my steering lock weapon and threaten him and force him to pay every single sen for my car damage.

Thank You Lord for bringing me up where I keep my cool rather then exploding onto others.

Amen.