The other day I had another ‘first in germany’ I could’ve done without. My first hit & run. Yep, a cab driving in front of me on the street decided for some unknown reason to back up and gave no thought to me being behind her and plowed right into me… despite the fact that I was honking & waving furiously. Anyway, after she hit me she pulled forward a few yards and parked in a parking spot so I followed and parked next to her thinking we were clearing the road and we’d exchange information… you know, the kind of stuff you’re supposed to do.
No sooner than I’d parked next to her, turned my car off and opened the door, she backed up and drove off leaving me standing there like an idiot thinking ‘what the fuck’. I managed to get her license plate number, but the damage wasn’t all that bad, so I called Jim at work and told him about it in a ‘can you believe what just happened’ kind of way. Then I tried to shake it off and chalk it up to one of those ’shit happens’ things and go on with my day.
Fast forward about 30 minutes when Jim calls back to tell me the police are on their way to talk to me. Instead of just letting it go like I thought he would (I’d specifically said ‘it’s not that bad, don’t bother calling the police’), he’d called our insurance company who in turn called the police. The police who spoke no english. The police who loaded us (Syd unfortunately had to go through all of this with me) into their squad car with automatic locking back doors & no handles, and drove us to a police station where you could walk in, but you couldn’t walk out because all the doors locked behind you. The police who were very nice, but still scary as hell, because I couldn’t understand them or what was going on or why I was being kept there. To add insult to injury my cell phone had zero reception so I couldn’t even call Jim and tell him in the sweetest voice possible that I was going to effing kill him if I ever made it out of the damn station alive.
And there we sat… waiting for a translator… for hours on end. By the time Jim finally figured out where we were and joined us, I was too grateful to see a friendly face to kill him.
So finally the interpreter arrives and I tell my story through him… the whole time saying “look, it’s no big deal, the damage is minimal, I wouldn’t have even called it in if it had been up to me” (glaring at Jim the entire time). To which he responded… ‘well it’s a very serious crime to leave the scene of an accident in Germany… the person who did this is in a lot of trouble and will likely face criminal charges’
As if I wasn’t feeling bad enough already. I just sat there, numb, thinking about how I’d potentially ruined someone’s life… likely caused them to lose their job, and definitely caused them to hire a lawyer and deal with the police… all for a 3 or 4 inch scratched & dented fender. To make matters worse everyone was being so nice and patient with me and telling me I was doing the right thing, and I just felt like a complete whistle-blowing snitch asshole.
That was days ago and I’m still feeling guilty. And how does that work anyway? Someone else hits my car and then drives away instead of doing the right thing and I’m left feeling like the bad guy?? Unfair. To make matters worse- everyone I’ve talked to since then swears up & down they’ve never heard of someone leaving the scene like that. Apparently it almost never happens here… lucky me.
On this day..
- B's Salzburg top 6. - 2007
Well, you have to admit…the Polizei are pretty intimidating…even if you are on the right side of the law. So sorry this happened to you. Frankly, no matter how bad you feel, I still think it’s right to report the other person…you gave her fair warning and she needs not do that to anyone again.
It’s happened to me three in my life, the first time it was a truck that backed up out of a parking space and hit me, the second time it was a cabbie. We were at a green light but the car ahead of him was turning left. The cab didn’t like waiting so he backed up so he could get around him, unfortunately he hit me. The third one, I was with my son during snowstorm and a car came out of nowhere and hit me. He took off but my son got out of the car and chased him on foot and got the plate number. I haven’t had any experience with German police but the ones here in Canada were most helpful. Even if your car has minimal damage a hit or jolt can cause some neck pain later, up to a week later actually and in two instances the drivers insurance had to pay for my physio for a little while. Glad your okay…ciao
Jim made the right decision and you shouldn’t feel guilty at all. Even thought it appeared to be a small accident, what if you were injured or not feeling well afterwards - she would have left you there alone. She’s not a responsible person or driver - she should get in trouble.
Uhm, B, you know that it’s also illegal for a person who witnessed an accident here in Germany to not report it?
Hope you get over your guilty feelings soon.
B-
That sucks…
No matter what, most important piece of this is that you and Syd are okay!
Period.
Poliezi are whoa YIKES scary to me even when they are helping-so I can only imagine how upsetting the entire ordeal must have been for the two of you…
If I could send you a smile, I would-I’m just glad you weren’t hurt…maybe this will do?
Essie
Don’t feel bad. The person who hit you and drove off is a total jerk and probably knew what they were doing was illegal. I wouldn’t have any sympathy for them. Who knows what else they would have driven away from? They could hurt somebody!
It sucks that you were stuck in the station so long without an interpreter, though
Question: What taxi was it, normal beige colored car or a black Audi? The difference here is that the guys in the black Audis are, let say a bit different. They are good at their job if you are a customer, but from anyone elses perspective they are just rude. You will have to be prepared in any case for the fact that the cabbie will try to fight the charges. Which does mean that you will have to appear in court. If you have insurance regarding legal matters call them up on which lawyer to use. Also your insurance premium will go up. This is a given fact (at least if its a german insurance).
Regards,
Mark
Thanks guys. I know she was in the wrong and I didn’t willfully try to get anyone in trouble… it’s just my overdeveloped sense of (ex)catholic guilt kicking in I guess.
And Mark… it was a normal yellow cab. I always thought the black Audis belonged to leftover secret gdr police or something. heh.
i certainly am not implying that you should feel guilty… but, i think it definitely isn’t a bad thing.
leaving the scene is most surely wrong… but, i don’t think this automatically means this makes this a horrible person… perhaps she just panicked and in the moment made a bad decision… (but hey, at least saw that you were ok first)
she is a person with a life that we know nothing about… i think the fact that your natural reaction is one of empathy and not retaliation says way more about you than it does her.
Yep, my first thought as everyone at the police station was reassuring me I was doing the right thing was… what if this lady just panicked because she really needs her job… has bills to pay, people to support… and figured she couldn’t have done much damage anyway… so she drove off because she knew if she reported another accident she’d lose her job and not be able to afford to buy her kids christmas presents this year?
All for maybe a couple hundred euro worth of damage…
It just felt… wrong. I still haven’t completely forgiven Jim for getting me into the situation in the first place.
The thing is, you can never tell how much it’s going to cost to repair damage until an estimate is done. Maybe the driver panicked, but the intention to avoid owning up to responsibility was clearly there. Her personal situation has nothing to do with it.
What a drag having to spend hours of your free time on such a thing, to boot!
You know the saying “misery loves company” well, living here alone in Norway I love to hear your bitchfest stories because it soothes my pain (temporarily) for the stuff that happens to me here. I’m so sorry for the crap that happened to you (and I will bet the police, doors locking behind you AND no cell reception would have been enough for a panic attack for me) but reading your blog does give me the “I’m not in this alone” feeling. So like I said, sorry that that happend to you but thanks for sharing.
Sorry. But IF a taxi driver panics … well …. tough Scheiße! Why feel sorry for the driver? I am not in tune with the reasoning.
Yeah, I’ve been in the police station a coupla times to report crimes. I know exactly what you mean. Like being locked up under video surveillance. Then like having your rights read to you, like anything you say can be used against you. Like I was the bad person. Then once when I told the officer about how I left my laptop in a restaurant booth and left without it, then came back in when I realized my mistake to find it gone, he told me that this was actually not a crime, the laptop was not stolen, but rather I “left” it and somebody else “found” it. Even though my passport was there with it. And hence he would not file it as a crime, but make a note in case any laptops were reported found. WTF?
I know what you mean about the whole reading of the rights thing. They got to the part about how I didn’t have to say anything if it would incriminate me and I was like… Uhhh, I’m the victim here.
I can’t believe they wouldn’t file a police report about your laptop. That blows.
Uh, I bet he took your laptop. Any German cop knows what you need for your insurance paperwork. What a jerk.