No matter how long I have done this job, I am still amazed at how many people can't take responsibility for their actions. How many people just can't step up and say, "Yep, I did it, I made a mistake."
I could go on at great length giving example after example, but a recent event is what made me decide to talk about this.
Last night I was leaving a local mall with my children after some shopping. We were walking along the sidewalk towards our car when I saw two ladies walking across the road and get into a van.
The driver reversed out of her parking space and hit a car that was parked on the opposite side of the isle.
This lady then put her van in drive and left. She didn't stop to look at the damage, didn't leave her name, didn't bat an eye at her total incompetence to reverse a vehicle. Bang...
"Well that's far enough, drive by feel, that's my motto!"
Without even getting into the legal issue here, which is obvious, what about the moral responsibility or the ethical issue? It wasn't a tap and go; she hit the other car hard. Hard enough to do damage. There is no doubt in my mind, nor her passengers mind, that she hit the car and decided her next action should be just to drive away.
I hope that is not what you are teaching your children to do. I trust that isn't what your mother taught you to do...unless that was her that was with you.
According to the picture, this driver went right to denial by her actions.
I left my information for the person, who no doubt came out to see a very nice car with a remodelled front end and took some notes in case they are needed down the road.
This lady could be your neighbour, co-worker, friend. Isn't it comforting to know that she is willing to damage your property and have no shame? Just move on with her life like nothing ever happened. What if there had been a child walking between those cars when she was reversing. I wonder if she would have just driven away in the same brazen manner?
Road safety is everyone's responsibility, do your part. The golden rule is also very applicable here...do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Unfortunately you will see more and more of this based on high insurance rates. It's almost impossible to pay for insurance even after one incident... and I know this is not right but you will definately see more and more of this! Sad but true
ReplyDeleteI really hope that you are wrong about that. A big part of the reason that insurance rates increase is the number of claims that are made. That is because of the number collisions that occur. If we could all buy into what all the experts tell us about driving safety and being alert, driving without distractions, slowing down, etc; I believe there would be fewer collisions, therefore less claims resulting in lower insurance rates for everyone.
ReplyDeleteSimplistic, I know, but it makes sense.
I hope you also wrote down the license number and description of the driver who committed the crime. That information could save the victim a lot of trouble and money, and help to bring punishment to the criminal.
ReplyDeleteSure did. Licence plate #, make, model and colour of the van, description of the two ladies and a short story with diagram. Took me about 2-3 minutes to do that.
ReplyDeleteIt goes to show you how little time it takes. 2-3 minutes of my time might be extremely valuable for the victim...something everyone could easily do to make a big difference for someone else.
This type of behaviour is all too common and shameful – although obviously not shameful for everyone. As I walked into a local coffee shop, I witnessed a similar parking lot collision when someone who was attempting to park, scraped along the side of the car parked in the next spot. The driver realized what they had done and when they had finished parking, took a moment to look at the damage…and walked away!
ReplyDeleteObviously the hundreds of dollars of damaged they had just cause to someone’s car was less important than getting their morning coffee. No effort was made to leave a note.
Having witnessed the whole event, I took close-up pictures of the damage on both cars and their plates and left a note on the victim’s car to contact me.
Although things like this aren’t what really drives up our overall insurance rates, it would of certainly effected this person. Without a witness, incidents like this would be rated as an “at fault” against the poor sod who was hit. A witness statement and proof that another car was involved would allow for 50/50 fault. How is this fair?
However, the real reason our insurance rates climb so much is due to the number of “accident benefits” claims (accident isn’t the right term though – collision is) that are filed each year and many of which are fraudulent. Yes we pay into insurance to take care of us when things go wrong but claiming that you can’t work again for the rest of your life due to a minor collision is simply fraud. This is very much like pouring vinegar on an open wound.
The injuries aren’t ALWAYS as bad as they are made out to be and as such, covering the costs of false medical claims have done a real number on everyone else…who are honest!
It’s also important to note that our government must improve rate increases. So between insurance companies looking to minimize their losses on claims, individuals trying to maximize their gains by over-embellishing their injuries and the government caught somewhere in the middle, it’s no wonder the “system” has flaws.
Perhaps this is best suited for a full topic of discussion though.