Such
accidents often occur in our daily life, but it was unfortunate that I had to
encounter a traffic accident on the 16th of January 2017. I witnessed
a road traffic accident and a conflict right before
me. It happened on a Monday night at approximately 2240
hours along Bukit Timah Road. While I was riding back home from Bugis, I
noticed a black Volkswagen sedan car horned furiously and hit another
car from the rear of the vehicle. The driver of the black car
got off from his car and started to hurl vulgarities and hammering the body of
the red Mercedes hatchback car. Furthermore, he demanded the driver of the red
car to get out of the vehicle. An athlete built, a male driver, got out from his
red car and confronted the aggressor, hence the conflict started. In
his sharp and harsh tone, he accused the driver of the black car for driving
too fast and for failing to stop the vehicle on time. In his retaliation, the
accused driver threw a tantrum and blamed the other driver for failing to
check his blind spot and poor judgment of the road.
Instead
of compromising and being apologetic, the blame-game further escalated the
tension between both of them which then turned out to be disastrous. Based on
my observation, I concluded that the black sedan car’s driver felt ballistic
and exasperated after constantly being accused by the other driver. A thoroughly
unlikeable scene from both drivers turned sour as the argument was starting to
turn physical. In the end, the argument was broken up by two traffic police
officers who arrived shortly on the scene. Both seems reluctant to end their
argument as one of them felt the competing for whoever had the right of way.
Furthermore, being in an accident sure costs money. Therefore, I believe that
the respective drivers would not like to be the one paying more than the other.
In your opinion, what could either of them have done for the situation to be
handled more positively?
Hi Khai,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know that you were not at all involved in the accident mentioned in your blog. Accidents, happen. It is really unfortunate if an accident, be it minor or major, were to happen to any one of us. However, when it happens, especially traffic accidents, it will cause damage to public and/or private property. What is worse is that it may cause serious injury or even death. After that is how the parties involved manage it.
In your blog, you have described a minor accident that has happened in front of you. A minor accident like that can be settled as quickly as it happened or it can be dragged on for longer than it should be, like for weeks and months or even years. The kind of people that were involved seem to be two very difficult people to want to work together to meet a consensus. They are very assertive and kept on insisting on blaming each other, this lacks co-operation, thus causing inconvenience. Because of this, they caused a jam to the traffic, inconveniently putting you there to have to witness the incident.
After considering the main problem, you posed a question in search of the solution. My answer to your question would be to intervene into the quarrel and suggest that they move their cars to the side so that they can have a more conducive spot to handle the situation. That way there will be lesser on lookers thus causing lesser stress into the situation. I will also try to help by giving them advices. Such advices would be for them to proceed for help from professional external parties therefore they do not have to handle the situation by themselves since there is a clear conflict in their personalities. By getting them to exchange particulars and let insurance companies from both side settle the matter, they get to stay assertive, and at the same time being collaborative by working towards their own goals with external help.
(Khairul Anwar Bin Sharifuddeen)
Hey Khaikhai,
ReplyDeleteThat was a pretty intense observation you witnessed. Based on the conflict you witnessed, the problem was both drivers that were involved in the accident were very impatient and expects the other party to give in. They should have instead apologized to one another before discussing on the accident regardless who was at fault. In the first place both parties must understand that accidents happen and must be professional and handle it calmly when it happens. Instead of competing with one another, they should have compromised with one another which allows both parties to be satisfied with a solution. Even though both parties might have to give something up, it will be a healthier approach. In terms of the cost required to pay, they do not have to settle immediately, they should snap photos of the affected parts of the vehicles and discuss at another location where tensions would have been lower.
Faris