The purpose of today’s blog post is to highlight something that happened to me recently. I was parked up in my car, minding my own business and then BOOM… someone reversed straight into me.
Shit happens and I get that people have little accidents all the time, but it was what happened next that really bugged me.
My car is my pride and joy. I’ve been driving this beast for over 6 years now and *touch wood* there are very little/no marks on it at all.
(Old photo: Border Terrier leaning out of car window)
At first I was in shock, the impact felt hard and I couldn’t believe what had happened. To my surprise, the driver then pulled forward at speed, as if he was going to drive off. I quickly took a photo of the car’s number plate and beeped my horn.
He then stopped in the middle of the road, pulled back in and proceeded to get out of the car. To be honest, I don’t think he would have stopped at all unless I had beeped. I genuinely believe he was shocked to see me sat there – he clearly didn’t realise someone was in the car, and thought he could of got away with it.
By the time I took my seatbelt off, he was already stood at my window. Body language is key, and his stance already felt aggressive. The first thing I said was: “I hope you weren’t going to just drive off then!”
He replied: “Oh… did I bump you?!”
REALLY MATE, REALLY?
(Photo Meme: Bad drivers everywhere)
Using my electric key fob for rear boot access, I then got out of my car to see what damage had been done. The second he saw I was a wheelchair user, I felt his whole attitude change. The way he spoke to me felt very patronizing.
I am not one for confrontation, but at this point I was pissed. Luckily the damage wasn’t half as bad as I had thought. It was a relief to see that his bumper had taken the brunt of it… so ya know, every cloud ‘n’ all that.
Maybe he was just trying to be “overly friendly” but I found it very condescending when he insisted on helping me back into my car. I repeatedly said NO on a number of occasions, until he finally left me alone.
The frustrating thing was, I don’t even remember him apologising. I am proud of the way I handled myself, and for questioning him and his crap driving!
(Photo: My car – VW Caravelle Nevada)
I’m not an “in your face” kinda guy, but I will stick up for myself when needed.
A few years ago I probably would have just sat there, taken the bump and not said a word. It may sound silly, but I felt a sense of personal achievement for standing up for myself… no pun intended!
Sometimes it takes little moments like this for me to sit back and actually realise how far I’ve come, in terms of confidence and character building.
So there we have it, that’s my storytime over and done with! Luckily nobody was hurt and the car is still well and truly in one piece haha.
Stay safe guys… and when reversing, remember to check your mirrors!