(no subject)
On 10 Sep 2007, I was driving near the Minerva traffic circle in Guadalajara, Mexico, en route to take my first partial Anatomy exam. Yikes! I was stopped on the way out the side lane, when at 1236 I heard a large bang behind me. Looking into the mirror, I saw that problems were going on and then I felt a hit on the rear of my car. Thankfully, I took lessons from my dad and immediately, reactively, I let go of the brake (though the force was so much that I think it gave way a bit too) and then immeidately slammed on the brakes again, absorbing the damage. I barely hit the car in front.
What had happened was a young guy had not payed attention and hit the car in front, totalling it (about 13k CAD worth of damage) and then that car hit me (rear totalled but front only fairly damaged) while I hit the one in front.
The best part was that I had clinic duty that evening so I was all in white and wearing my lab coat, so when I emerged to ask if everyone was okay, everyone figured it was a good sign to have a doctor-looking guy in the mixup. No one was hurt, thank heavens above.
The way the system works here too is that they assume there's gonna be an idiot, so as soon as the cops arrive it's a crime if you dissappear. I called my insurance company and they arrived in about 7 minutes (Take that, Canadian Insurance! I pay $600 a year here!), made sure I wasn't hurt and immediately started taking care of business, recreating the event. Since no one was hurt, and he was the first responder (on a pretty awesome speed bike) he handed me off to a secondary agent who then took video and pictures of the entire thing and prepared all the paper work for me.
Anyways, the kid didn't want to pay anything. His insurance guy showed up and then took off after a little while. Turns out his family hadn't payed insurance the last couple of months, so he was on his own. Eventually his dad arrived and said he would take care of everything; his brother (the driver's uncle) had money to pay. So off he went, and came back with the brother who basically exploded on everyone and went on to explain how the insurance system was destroying the world.
Six hours had passed after this point, mostly because since all the parties could not come to an agreement, they had to legally take the cars into custody, until the pre-trial.
That was this Wednesday morning, and after everyone explained their situation and their view of events, it was deemed that the rear car was at fault (it was very clear). As soon as that was said, our insurance representatives talked to the kid (who had a lawyer present) but all they said together was that they wanted to go to court, since they wanted a judge to decide instead of the insurance companies how much he should pay.
So they're keeping all of our cars until trial.
Thank goodness no one was hurt though. Not only that, but the guy that I hit is a violinist and violaist in the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. how crazy is that? Now it's just a big inconvenience since I drive 1/2 hr to school every day. Yuk!
But it could've been much worse. Photos when I can get them.
What had happened was a young guy had not payed attention and hit the car in front, totalling it (about 13k CAD worth of damage) and then that car hit me (rear totalled but front only fairly damaged) while I hit the one in front.
The best part was that I had clinic duty that evening so I was all in white and wearing my lab coat, so when I emerged to ask if everyone was okay, everyone figured it was a good sign to have a doctor-looking guy in the mixup. No one was hurt, thank heavens above.
The way the system works here too is that they assume there's gonna be an idiot, so as soon as the cops arrive it's a crime if you dissappear. I called my insurance company and they arrived in about 7 minutes (Take that, Canadian Insurance! I pay $600 a year here!), made sure I wasn't hurt and immediately started taking care of business, recreating the event. Since no one was hurt, and he was the first responder (on a pretty awesome speed bike) he handed me off to a secondary agent who then took video and pictures of the entire thing and prepared all the paper work for me.
Anyways, the kid didn't want to pay anything. His insurance guy showed up and then took off after a little while. Turns out his family hadn't payed insurance the last couple of months, so he was on his own. Eventually his dad arrived and said he would take care of everything; his brother (the driver's uncle) had money to pay. So off he went, and came back with the brother who basically exploded on everyone and went on to explain how the insurance system was destroying the world.
Six hours had passed after this point, mostly because since all the parties could not come to an agreement, they had to legally take the cars into custody, until the pre-trial.
That was this Wednesday morning, and after everyone explained their situation and their view of events, it was deemed that the rear car was at fault (it was very clear). As soon as that was said, our insurance representatives talked to the kid (who had a lawyer present) but all they said together was that they wanted to go to court, since they wanted a judge to decide instead of the insurance companies how much he should pay.
So they're keeping all of our cars until trial.
Thank goodness no one was hurt though. Not only that, but the guy that I hit is a violinist and violaist in the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. how crazy is that? Now it's just a big inconvenience since I drive 1/2 hr to school every day. Yuk!
But it could've been much worse. Photos when I can get them.