At 3am in the wee hours of 4 September, 2003, our car crashed into a right turning silver vehicle which failed to stop for us at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Central Expressway. The almost head-on collision left me with a back lash, serious bruises on the chest, a dentine fracture, and two chipped teeth. The next three day found me lying in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which issued a month of medical leave for me to recover at home. My two-year old daughter whom we were then rushing to the Kandang Kerbau Hospital because of a persistent high fever in the middle of the night ironically recovered instantly after the accident. She was yanked like a puppet to the front seat from the back seat where I was sponging her after I lost grip of her and just before I smashed unto the seat in front of me. For reasons known only to God, she miraculously survived the crash without even the slightest scratch on her body. The Chinese proverb, “Not even strand of hair on the body was disturbed” best described her escape. Much to my relief, my husband, the driver, sustained only cuts and bruises on the body with the protection of the activated airbag. And thankfully, despite the hard slam, none of my bones was ruptured. To this day, recounting how car was wrecked beyond recognition in the crash still sends cold quivers down my spine.
The silver car driver’s very first statement to the police was that he failed to stop for us, however, a few days later he amended his statement and claimed that the traffic was green in his favor. My husband set out on a furious search for witnesses, and traffic cameras, checked with the relevant authorities, but all was in vain. In the meanwhile, I was struggling to recover from the excruciating pain on the lower back which the doctor informed that I probably had to live with it for the rest of my life.
Months later, in 2004, the police wrapped up the case by announcing it as “Inconclusive” due to the contradictory statements from both parties and the lack of evidence on what had actually happened in the accident. Hence, both parties had to bear equal responsibility for the damages. As we were not ready to incur any lawyer fees and continue with the energy-draining ordeal, we committed the situation to God, gave thanks for the closure and were determined to forgive that man and move on.
A year later, the unthinkable happened. We received a letter from our car insurance lawyer, informing that the silver car driver had implicated us as a co-defendant for the suit he was involved in. His passenger had sued him for her injury and he wanted us to bear part of the responsibility. There’s nothing more fitting than the Chinese proverb “thunder strikes in bright sunny sky” to describe this jarring, freakish news. So many questions flooded our minds as we tried to figure the situation, “What could be more outrageous than for this man to sue us for something he did wrong!” “What does he have up in his sleeves?” “Isn’t he going too far to push his luck!”
Flabbergasted and vexed, we had no choice but to pursue the matter. Our car insurance lawyer could not take up private cases, so he referred us to another lawyer who so coincidentally happened to know our case inside out. You wouldn’t believe this; it’s so surreal -- this lawyer turned out to be the lawyer representing the silver car’s passenger who was suing her own driver!
We engaged the lawyer and before long the whole investigation started all over again. Immediately, I was sent for a series of detailed scans and examination of my back condition by different doctors. Everything was so dreadful and wearisome. I resented the process, wishing that the car accident had never happened at all.
Ultimately, six years later, just after the lawyer had finished preparing me for the Assessment Hearing in Court, the matter took a drastic turn out of the blue. A letter dated 1 September 2009, merely three days away from the very same day the accident happened in 2003, made its way from the lawyer’s office to our mailbox, offering a compensation to settle the case out of the court amicably.
Monetary wise, the payoff was small, but the finish of the episode was good enough to shake off any sense of injustice that had smitten us for those years.
I thank you, God, with all my heart.
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