It’s been far too long since my last Blog update and I apologize…..but last night I got into my first “real” accident here in the Philippines and I thought I would share my experience for my friends in the States, as the entire process was much different than what I am used to in America.
On my way to Jiu Jitsu class, I was driving along on a 3 Lane road, with myself being in the middle (center) lane. A Taxi pulled up alongside my right side and got extremely close. I beeped the horn a few times to let him know I was there. He didn’t seem to care and I think he got angry that I did not let him over into my lane. So, he quickly accelerated and then proceeded to cut me off and sharply merge into my lane, clipping the rear left corner of his car on the right front corner of mine. I tried moving over to my left to give him some more space to prove how awesome he was, but there were other vehicles in the lane beside me, so I had nowhere to go.
He stopped his vehicle and allowed his passenger to get out. I got out of my vehicle and walked up to him and told him that he was an idiot and how much of a stupid decision it was on his part to cut me off. Within a few minutes, a couple local Traffic Cops walked over to the scene. These guys usually stand around at busy intersections and direct traffic…..apparently manpower is cheaper than installing a traffic light…….or the traffic light that is there is not working.
The two guys asked both of us for our story about what happened and I explained how there was no way that the damage on his vehicle could have been caused unless he side-swiped me while cutting me off. The officers didn’t seem to think the Taxi driver was wrong, which was making me worried. Stories I had previously heard of Foreigners having to shell out hefty sums of cash to make problems with the law disappear were quickly re-surfacing in my mind……lol The situation got worse when they started asking me if I was willing to “settle” with the Taxi driver now, so that we could avoid involving the local CITOM office. (CITOM is the City Traffic Operations Managment, kind of like a cross between the CHP and Cal-Trans in California.) I said, “Sure, I am willing to settle here, as the damage to my car was very minimal, but he had significant body damage to his panel.” Then they asked me how much I will give the Taxi driver to settle now. I quickly replied that I would not be paying him anything as the entire accident was not my fault. The officers told me that if I don’t settle now, then we would have to go to the CITOM office. I said, “Well then, let’s go.” A bunch of conversation then occured between the driver and the officers.
One of the officers then asked me if I had a piece of paper. I thought he wanted my Registration & Insurance, but after clarifying again with him what he was asking, I realized he really did just want a piece of paper. I asked him what he needed it for and he said; “To draw a sketch”. It’s interesting to me that the local Traffic Officers are not provided with a cheap, disposable camera to use for taking pictures of accidents. Or even better, would be a cell phone with a decent camera to take pics and then upload them to the computer at their office later, at the end of each shift. Nowadays, a cell phone with a camera is a dime a dozen…….or so I thought.
But here I was with two officers whose job it is to document details from the scene of an accident and between the two of them, they had no piece of paper. I would think they would be supplied with at least a notebook of sorts. Anyways, once he had his paper, he proceeded to draw a sketch of the accident with all the pertinent information. Meanwhile, I started taking pictures from every possible angle with my trusty new iPhone, as I knew I needed all the proof I could get. After about 45 minutes, the Officer told me to review the sketch and sign it with the driver, so I did as there was nothing there admitting fault, etc. The Officer collected my Drivers License and the License of the Taxi driver as well and said that the sketch, our Licenses and other paperwork would all be delivered to the CITOM office. I was expecting them to tell me that I need to go there in two weeks, on the 15th at 2:00PM like in America. However, to my surprise, I was told to drive directly to the office right then & there!
I followed the Taxi driver to the CITOM office and waited in the lobby for about 30 minutes. After my name was called, I went into the office area with the Taxi driver and sat down at the desk of an older gentleman, who was introduced as the “Inspector”. He reviewed the sketch from the other officers and also looked over the Insurance & Registration documents then asked each of us for our version of the story. After explaining it to him and then showing him all the pictures taken on my iPhone, the Inspector pulled out two little Matchbox style toy cars. Both cars had seen significant use, as the paint was almost gone and one of them only had 3 wheels…..lol
The Inspector did a little demonstration with the cars, basically an exact reenactment of the same scenario that had taken place earlier that evening in real life. He spoke directly to the Taxi driver in Cebuano, and even though I could not understand most of it, it was clear it was in a “What the hell were you thinking?” kind of tone. He repeated the same toy car demonstration a couple more times, explaining to the Taxi driver where he went wrong. The Inspector then gave me back my License & Registration documents, while putting the other drivers License in a file at his desk. The Inspector told me to call the owner of the Taxi company so that I could talk to them about what I wanted in regards to compensation. I told the Inspector that was not necessary, as the damage to my vehicle was very minor and the Taxi driver would already have enough problems to deal with. I didn’t want to make things worse…….for him, or for me…….and was happy to just leave and go on my way.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the outcome and really thought it was going to go in a completely different direction once I got to the CITOM office. However, I was treated very fairly and with respect which is quite different than the stories I have heard from other friends. I was thankful that nobody got hurt, there was no serious damage to my car, and I didn’t have to take a single Peso out of my wallet to make things go my way.
Happy Holidays,
JOHN