Unblemished Record..

My 4 year unblemished driving record came to an end yesterday when I was involved in an accident. I was totally shell-shocked when this stupid van came speeding down onto my left and scratched the part of my car above my left front wheel. It happened at the merging lane. I'm not 100% fault free as I didn't signal. But that doesn't mean the van driver is not responsible as he was definitely above the speed limit. I didn't get to see the extent of the damage till I reached my destination as Mr Lim was the one who got out of the car to settle matters with the van driver. The damage wasn't as bad as I thought. It was slightly dented but there were quite a bit of scratches. I was relieved upon seeing it. But after getting back on to the car, my heart ached and my eyes got watery. I felt so guilty for damaging my car. I've always treated my car as a human being and I was terribly upset upon seeing it get hurt. I felt so sorry for my car. For the rest of the day, I behaved like a zombie.

What I found amusing was the different kind of reactions I got from my parents and brother. Mr Lim told me that accidents happened all the time and told me to stop brooding over it. My dad was like, "Aiyah, small matter, no scratches on the door right? Then never mind." My mum said that too initially, but after a while, she couldn't resist asking what actually happened and whose fault was it. "See! Never signal lah, always laugh at me when I signal. Make sure you learn your lesson. Must signal at least 30 seconds to give people ample notice. Those kind of vans, you think they care even if they had seen you? They will juz squeeze their way through."

Whatever it is, I am going to fork out for the repair damages the moment my first pay cheque comes in. By the way, the van driver actually demanded $200 from Mr Lim upon getting down his van. Of course Mr Lim wasn't going to let him get a single cent. His van was barely damaged as his back bumper scratched against my car. Anyway even if it was, I'm quite certain it doesn't need $200 for repairs. My repairs would cough out to be less than $200, so his is defintely nowhere near mine.

My only consolation is that I took close to 4 years to get my car damaged while Mr Lim took 4 days. But still, the fact is that I single-handedly damaged my beloved car. There's no way I can get rid of this guilt even after paying for the damages. And I would be constantly reminded of it the next few days as I'm only going to get it repaired this Friday. I can't afford to have my car lying in the mechanic for a day because I would need it to get to my workplace.

Oh, forgot to mention an uncanny coincidence. The car plate number of the van coincides the first 4 digits of my IC number. Perhaps I should go buy 4D after all it's my first major car accident. Hopefully the win would help liften up my spirits.