litterally, i almost killed someone today. it was the end of the day and i was driving the beast into town for an end of the day delivery on my way to yoga class.
as i turned into the parking area a boda [motorcycle] driver passing me at high speed on the wrong side hit my truck veered across oncoming traffic, hit a curb and flipped head over handlebars onto the pavement hitting hard enough that his helmet popped off. i watched the whole thing in slow motion and sat horrified as the driver didn't move.
the next 30 minutes were just a nightmare as it was just chaos with people shouting at each other and me. eventually, the boda driver regains consciousness and has some people helping him. a police/traffic officer arrives and stops a passing car to take the boy to the hospital. [that's how it's done here since they don't have ambulance service] same officer starts drawing a sketch of the accident.
fortunately for me, the boda driver landed on the pavement in front of an ATM machine which all have armed guards here [with basically nothing to do but watch traffic] as well as the parking lady [whose job it is to watch traffic and charge for parking] and one of my staff members who happened to be walking down the street were all witnesses and blamed the boda driver.
so i never even spoke with the boda driver and the police don't even ask me for a statement. we did have to go to the police station where they asked if i wanted to request payment for damages to the beast. i said hell no, i took my staff girl for wine instead of going to yoga. i was really grateful for her help because when the 'mob' of locals started talking about how the white girl should pay regardless of whose fault it was she inserted herself into the conversation and broke up the group. it could have gotten very ugly and a lot of expats have horror stories of dealing with accidents here.
the beast is the company truck which because it is a manual transmission i'm one of the only people who can drive it. it's so dented and scratched I wouldn't be able to even tell if the boda driver had left a dent. also, it's really filthy because no one ever cleans it. not long ago, i wouldn't even date a guy who drove a truck like this. my life is so different here. that night i sent my boss a note about what happened he asked if the truck was okay - didn't even occur to him to ask if i was okay.
as i turned into the parking area a boda [motorcycle] driver passing me at high speed on the wrong side hit my truck veered across oncoming traffic, hit a curb and flipped head over handlebars onto the pavement hitting hard enough that his helmet popped off. i watched the whole thing in slow motion and sat horrified as the driver didn't move.
the next 30 minutes were just a nightmare as it was just chaos with people shouting at each other and me. eventually, the boda driver regains consciousness and has some people helping him. a police/traffic officer arrives and stops a passing car to take the boy to the hospital. [that's how it's done here since they don't have ambulance service] same officer starts drawing a sketch of the accident.
fortunately for me, the boda driver landed on the pavement in front of an ATM machine which all have armed guards here [with basically nothing to do but watch traffic] as well as the parking lady [whose job it is to watch traffic and charge for parking] and one of my staff members who happened to be walking down the street were all witnesses and blamed the boda driver.
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| the beast, with a flat tire |
the beast is the company truck which because it is a manual transmission i'm one of the only people who can drive it. it's so dented and scratched I wouldn't be able to even tell if the boda driver had left a dent. also, it's really filthy because no one ever cleans it. not long ago, i wouldn't even date a guy who drove a truck like this. my life is so different here. that night i sent my boss a note about what happened he asked if the truck was okay - didn't even occur to him to ask if i was okay.
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