I was involved in an accident

It was a wet Thursday, just like any other day since this past month plus. I was driving with my mom as company on our way back from Cyberjaya to Kajang. Out from Cyberjaya, I stopped at a Shell station because it was so cold that I needed to use the ladies and mom bought some drinks and snacks. After that, we hopped back on to our car and I drove at only 70 – 80 km/h because whenever my mom is in the car with me, she just can’t stop nagging about driving “safely” and “slowing down”. I wouldn’t dream to drive at my usual 130 km/h on the highway whenever she’s around. I’d be lucky if I can push to 90km/h without her noticing.

Then, at 3.15pm on KM 27.6 of the SKVE, somewhere opposite Uniten area, a white BMW from Kampung Dato’ Abu Bakar Baginda took the bend off Jalan Ayer Hitam to join the SKVE (the road I was on) and lost control of his car. His BMW swerved out of his lane, spinned twice and came left-side first towards me who was driving on the 2nd lane of the SKVE.

What went through my mind five seconds before the accident?

When I saw the BMW careening at a weird angle out of the bend, the first thing I did was call out for my mom to make her alert of the situation. I braked once, looked to my right and saw the driver behind me (whom also saw the BMW) had shifted to the right lane and trying to speed up right next to me which disabled me to shift to the right lane to save myself. On my left, next to my rear door was a motorbike (2 person) and there’s another motorbike behind my car. Technically, I was sandwiched. I couldn’t change to the left lane and end up killing those 2 people on the motorbike. So I just pressed the brake fully and didn’t lift my leg off. I held the steering fast and said God’s name.

BAM!

Two things contributed to the accident :

1. If the road wasn’t so slippery, my car might have stopped quicker than it did.
2. If the wife of the BMW driver did not pull their car’s handbrake, the car’s ABS might allow the tyres of their car to roll a little (after the husband hit his brakes hard) instead of locking their car’s tyres and moving the car fast (like in a drift race) towards me.

The airbags burst in our faces and hit our chest pretty hard. My car was suddenly filled with smoke. I looked at the rear-view mirror to check if there are any incoming cars from behind but since my mom was already screaming and jumping out of the car, I quickly took off my seat belt, opened the locked door and got out. I fear my mom would blindly jump out to the road and kill herself or something. Other fast driven cars nearly hit us too but luckily the smoke coming out of my car made them brake in time. The BMW was situated horizontally on both the right and 2nd lane.

I quickly leaned on the divider and tried to breathe. My face and my arms felt like it was on fire. It was hard to breathe, either because my chest hurts from the impact or because of the smoke I inhaled in the car. Both my knees pulsated hard.

Azri, the driver who overtook me at the last second came straight to me to apologize. He said he saw the BMW coming and because he wanted to avoid hitting me, he had to speed up at the right lane. I told him I saw he changed lanes and because of that I couldn’t go to the right lane or I might hit him. He apologized so many times, it’s as if he was the one who hit me instead. The 2 motorbikers fell from their motorbikes and skinned their elbows and legs when they tried to avoid my car. They too thanked me for not going to the left lane because they know they’d be flying and probably be dead if I had.

The BMW driver did not apologize. His wife did. He didn’t.

When we were at the Kampung Dato’ Abu Bakar Baginda police station, the BMW driver said in his report that I hit his car. As if! Who told him to pull some drift racing trick on his car on a wet road anyway? His car was the one that drifted from the most-left lane (joining road next to the 4th lane) towards me, who was on the 2nd lane.

To the bloody “Lans Koperal” woman who took his report, if you don’t understand English, please don’t interrupt other people’s conversation. I’ll write about this in another post.

I was glad the Sergeant did not waste my time. He said from our reports, it is obvious that the BMW driver was in the wrong. The BMW came from another road, took the bend to join a different road and then stopped in the middle of that road in an awkward angle. Because of the obstruction, he had caused the accident. So the BMW driver was fined. Hah! Served him right for not apologizing.

The fixing of my car will be claimed through his insurance company. And since my car is less than 5-years old, everything will be replaced with brand new parts. We took the third-party insurance claim. I need my car ASAP so we settled for this option.

After that my mom and I went to the hospital for X-rays and mom did CT Scan too coz she had whiplash. Luckily the results were fine. We had painkillers jabbed in our butts because if not, the pain will be doubled in few hours time. Right now, I am still feeling pretty awful. My chest still hurts, my knees are bruised and my trapezius muscle (near shoulder) is hard like stone. This is not an ideal way to end the year.

My slightly "burnt" left arm because of the airbag

However, I am quite surprised at how calm I handled the situation. I was steady on the wheels, I was able to think of options to avoid the accident, I also managed to collect myself quickly enough and took pictures of everything. I never imagined I would be in this type of situation but I also never imagined being that brave.

So guys, if you drive, please be smart and alert at all times.

1. Just because you drive a big car (i.e. BMW, Mercedes, etc) does not mean the car is skid-proof. Do not drive fast on wet roads. Do not endanger other drivers who are driving under the speed limit.
2. Make sure you educate your wives/husbands/co-pilots to NOT pull the handbrakes when your car skid on wet road. If your car have ABS, it’ll do the work for you. If you car don’t have ABS, let your brake go for a second when you skid (because the tyres are locked) so that the tyres can roll and you can control your steering wheel before you brake again.
3. Don’t panic. If you lose control of your car, don’t panic. Do as I said in #2. If you see a car coming towards you, don’t panic. Quickly check your right and left side mirror and choose which side to go to avoid the incoming car. Think fast and react. Don’t freeze.

On this festive (and rainy) season, be safe. We want to share the season with laughter, not tears. Take care everyone.