Thats right, I had my first ever bingle. I was navigating the M4, not paying a huge amount of attention, but keeping my eye on the road and (what I thought was) a respectful distance behind the vehicle in front, when the aforementioned vehicle stopped...dead. I slammed on the brakes but unfortunately my tyres and the wet road decided not to form a meaningful relationship and I slid about 12 metres into the girded rear bumper of a Nissan X-trail. I was shocked, not just because the airbag failed to inflate (stupid German engineering), but because I had no idea what the fuck to do next.
Fortunately the lady I hit was healthy and nice to boot. After forgetting my phone number briefly, I found a business card and we exchanged details. The damage to her rear bumper was minor compared to the front of my car, which showed all the structural integrity of warm butter.
I got halfway to calling the police when I remembered that there is an RTA number you are supposed to call but I had absolutely no idea what it was. Good Nick was able to find it for me, and you should all put it in your phones; 131700. The traffic emergency response vehicle people told me they would be there soon.
So there I was, sitting in my busted up car, in the fast-lane of a two lane motorway, no shoulder on either side to push it to, feeling the intense shame that accompanies holding up peak-hour traffic. Then the police rang. Apparently if you dial 000 ask for the police then hang-up, they call you back to make sure you are ok. Good on them. Anyway they said they were sending someone out and I should sit tight. The RTA turned up after about 30 mins and towed me down the road to an emergency stopping bay. A tow-truck magically turned up about 3 seconds later (I hope someone got their $50 spotters fee) and the tow-truck driver advised me to tell the police that I could drive the car so I wouldn't get a ticket. The cops arrived, the towie had a word to them and I told them I thought I could drive it. They said ok, that I should report it on 131444 when I got home, and drove away.
I got dropped at Flemington Station by the tow-truck driver, caught the train home, dry retched and had a beer (and in so doing fell off the wagon).
The Moral of the story? Please drive safely, especially in the wet. It could have been a lot worse than it was and I'm lucky that everyone involved escaped injury.
17 comments:
Mmmmm... butter...
Glad to hear you're not hurt! Wet weather and 110km/hr speed are a bad mix, someone was watching over you.
I'd like to offer some advice seeing as I am an experienced bingle-haver.
a)if you can drive your car from the scene, then do so...tow truck bills are large and who could be bothered to deal with the police?
b)only call the police if someone is hurt, the other driver is causing trouble or your car needs to be towed (see point a...its not worth the neg driving ticket and possible court appearance)
c)if you have a camera (or phone) take photos of the other car....there are dodgy buggers out there who try to palm off their other bingles on you! (well done on the photos Matt...I asume you also got her car)
3 points that I've had to learn from an irrate fleet manager after the fact...oopps!
Lucky you didn't fall off the wagon before the accident, could have been a lot worse...
Isn't a police report or something required for insurance purposes? Surely you are required to call the cops if you ding your work car margs?
No. You can file an insurance claim without a police report. I have done it many times. See my last comment for the only times the police must be contacted. If both parties are in agreement then insurance is easy to sort out.
Margie is correct, you don't need a police report to file an insurance claim. Unfortunately the lady i hit has now reported the incident to the police as her neck "might be a bit sore" so I will be fronting up to Glebe police station this evening, most likely to accept my Negligent driving Ticket. Hurrah.
Bugger
Good news! they decided not to give me a ticket. I am counting my blessings as we speak....4. 5 if you include my good looks.
lets stick with 4 and not push our luck on the looks one.
Make that 3, being surrounded by a cloud of flies doesn't really count as a blessing Matt...
I like to call them my black angels
while we're on it lets call it 2....that smell ain't no blessing either!
any advance on 2???
Do extra nipples really count as a blessing? I think not!
I get a bonus blessing for the Nipple, but lose it in the butt-cheek dept.
so does that mean you're down to one blessing? and she's moving back to brisvegas so I guess you got nothin'!
sorry matty
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