Sad to hear that, dude. I had a similar experience this month a day after I landed in India:
Landed in Cochin, picked up my car and headed for Trivandrum to pick up the family - the drive was excellent despite the fact that I had started from Dubai early that morning (4 am), stopped over at Mumbai for some work and then flew down to Cochin late in the evening. It was raining, yet the drive to TVM took just 3 hours since traffic was lean towards the middle of the night.
Started from TVM next noon and was driving rather leisurely since my son was in a playful mood in the backseat and I normally dont speed if he isnt belted up. Barely got out of Trivandrum (a few kms from Technopark) when there was a police check going on that led to a small queue on the other side of the highway. A Daewoo Matiz suddenly breaks the queue and jumps out almost under my bonnet, crossing a DOUBLE YELLOW LINE in the middle of the highway. I had to swerve hard to avoid a collision but the bugger hit my RHS mirror.
Now this happened right under the cops nose, but by the time I had pulled over on the roadside to inspect the damage the Matiz had passed the cops who didnt even try to stop him. They were busy flagging down an LCV that would give them their hafta...
I turned my car around and stopped by the side of the police jeep. Asked them if they saw what happened and they said "yeah we saw it but he didnt stop when we asked him to pull over". I asked them why they didnt follow him since he had made a flagrant violation in front of their own eyes. "Sir we are not traffic police, so if you want you can call up the traffic police or the highway patrol and complain"
I was livid by then and so got into the car, put on my headlights and started back towards Trivandrum, determined to get the Matiz. After about 5 kms I found him trying to overtake other vehicles recklessly. Nevertheless, I forced myself in front and flagged him down. When he refused to slow down I braked in front of him and blocked his path.
The chap initially started denying the whole incident, saying 'what mirror?'. WHen I pointed out his mirror, he actually said "oh so YOU are the one who broke MY mirror"! I got my phone out to call the cops, and was speaking with the highway patrol when the chap got into his car and tried to drive away again. I tried blocking his path and he wouldnt stop - he actually hit me, though he wasnt doing any great speed. Clung on to his bonnet till he stopped, and by then the locals had gathered and pulled the chap out of his car. He got roughed up a bit but I intervened and said that I want him handed over to the cops, because he had refused to pay for the damage caused to my car. The locals said that he had also tried to kill me so he should be put in the cooler.
No response from the cops. They kept telling me that "somebody is being despatched" everytime I called them. On my 4th try, the chap at the other end actually said "Sir I dont know whether we will be able to help you. This is the number of the nearest police station - why dont you call them". There was a minor traffic jam on the highway because of all this nonsense and I told them that there is a traffic issue as well. I finally figured out that the cops from the nearest police station were the ones under whose nose the whole incident happened in the first place, so I lost my cool and decided to take matters into my own hands. Went across to the bugger who then turned abusive. Couldnt take that kind of **** from a blown ******* so I landed a punch on his jaw, at which he fell back onto the bonnet of his Matiz which was already damaged when he tried to hit me - now it was pretty much bent all the way in.
That kind of shook him up, plus the fact that the local population was baying for his blood. Told me he would pay pay the damages (Rs.1,500 for the mirror assembly), but I said money wasnt all that was involved and asked him to apologise in public. He did so and apologised publicly for both hitting my car and then for hitting me. Got a written statement from him saying that he has caused the damage to both my car and his and that he has paid me Rs.1,500 for it.
Took the car to Hyundai next day and they put the assembly back together, charging me only Rs.300 for a mirror.
My thanks to the local RSS shaka as they were the first on the scene and were responsible for holding the chap down. He was blown and his car smelt of reed. |