What to do in an accident ??

Good reply Selva . It is actually these tempo , bus , taxi drivers who cause the most nuisance as they are not driving their own cars so don't care for it and nor do they care for yours . After my recent accident with DTC bus (govt owned), i always try to avoid driving parallelly (in the adjacent lane) to these things . No matter how much the car behind me may honk ,i let them pass by first and then drive

@ rishita ,  completely agree with you that it is not easy taking out money from these people . The thing is that unless you know some one pretty well in the police dept , no one files a complaint for small scratches and dents and these guys know that they can get away without paying up . 

And i feel that in the bumper to bumper traffics that we have now a days small bruises are inevitable and sometimes you don't know if you should fight in case of such bruises or just let it be .

Ex . when i had just started driving after finishing my driving classes , on an inclined road while starting the car after signal had turned green , my car rolled back and hit the car behind me . The guy driving that car was nice enough not to come out and start demanding money . Infact he never even honked . I looked at him from the side view mirror , he was looking back . I just gave him a hand gesture to say sorry and drove on. 

Although it was a soft collision , which didn't leave any mark on my car and his was afterall an old maruti 800 , i feel that there are times when you have to consider if the other guy is really feeling guilty or not  and let him away if he does apologize .

As they say Road pe raahi , bhai bhai .

But this doesn't mean that one has to be soft to these bus,taxi drivers .More often than not they drive rash and if it leads to an accident , they would be the last people to own up . So they should me made to pay for it .

Exactly my thoughts at that time, Selva…but I just couldn’t bring myself to do so as I was so distressed because of the thought that my car got the scratches…I was feeling so guilty about the fact that I was unable to take care of my beloved. At the same time, when I was scolding that idiot, I found that I had lost my voice temporarily…..and when I found it, I just croaked.

Maybe I am too sensitive and too over-protective towards my car, because, when I narrated the incident to my daughter at home later in the evening, she just said matter-of-factly, “It’s ok, yeh to hota hi rehta hai, but you can’t keep cribbing for that”. (Maybe she was a little jealous that her mom is taking care of the car like a living thing???)

Thanx for the kind words..

"KINDNESS IS THE LANGUAGE, WHICH DEAF CAN HEAR AND BLIND CAN READ"

For insurance purpose, it doesn't matter whether, or not, the other vehicle is government owned.

Rishita, I didn't know you could shout & get angry also.  I thought you would have narrated some joke to the tempo-driver & traffic police

Jokes apart, sorry to hear about the incident.  Being a woman does matter in some situations - to your advantage as well as disadvantage.  In any case (man or woman), we need to be a little practical too, as such things sometimes happen genuinely on account of heavy traffic etc. (some day we may be at fault).  However, we should NOT tolerate nonsense or bullying attitude of anyone.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

Sorry to hear the incident Rishita. The society (including non driving women) presumes that women are bad drivers. So in cases of accidents involving women drivers public will put the blame on her. Let us hope that the situation will change with more women coming forward to sit behind the wheels.

Eventhough drivers of Govt. vehicles(esp. public transport) are mostly experienced hands, some of them are rash drivers. That is why they are prone to accidents. In my experience, what the govt. drivers fear most is case against them. A case will lead to departmental disciplinary action and if convicted by court, severe punishment awaits them. In all other cases even those resulting in death in accidents, the accused will plead guilty and will get free after paying a nominal fine. But it is not the case with govt. drivers, they will have to fight the case engaging lawyers personally.

So if your vehicle met an accident with govt. vehicle, which is completely due to fault of govt. driver, inform him that you are going to file an FIR. I have seen that in most cases you will get some compensation there itself from the driver. Getting atleast NCB loss will be fair.

You can live in your car, but you can't drive your house.

To add... in such situations, the govt. drivers also plead & TRY to take in writing that the accident took place on account of no fault (either party), and that, the matter has been resolved amicably.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.