My Lovely Japan Car Accident (Part 1: The Incident)

There's a fantastic scene in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in which a traffic accident is portrayed through the series of events and encounters that lead up to the climactic accident itself.  The idea being that had any one of those chance events occurred any differently, the woman involved in the accident would not have been crossing the road at the exact time same time that the taxi, its driver, and his passenger were driving through, and thus, no accident.

We had just watched this movie over the weekend, so naturally, a similar thought process went through my mind last Monday as I sat stunned stunned, staring at my sunglasses that were now resting on the floor mat.  A few seconds prior to this, they were blocking the sun from my eyes on a normal, sunny, morning commute.  Now that they sat on the floor of the car, I realized things were suddenly about to change.

I thought about how I decided to fore-go one more cup of coffee, and the opportunity to sit and chat with my wife before leaving for work.  I thought about the fact that I chose today to return my co-worker's golf clubs that I had borrowed for over a year and the extra time it took to pick up, carry, and load the clubs.  I thought about the time I spent laboriously unloading our recycling including half a dozen beer bottles  - not 3, not 8, only 6 - into the community bins before getting into my car.  I thought about how I drove a bit slower than usual on the highway because - at the time - I knew I would be early to work.  And then I thought, what if the girl who had crossed traffic on her bike had been any later or any earlier?

I remember these thoughts, I suppose, because had any one of these events been different or had not occurred, I wouldn't have been staring at my glasses on the floor mat.  And I wouldn't be looking up at the man getting out of his car in front of me rubbing his neck, taking in the damage.  And I wouldn't have been wondering how in the world I had just gotten into my first ever traffic accident.

The police and the insurance companies would later decide that it was a 100-0 incident, meaning I was 100% to blame.  And they were right, I looked down momentarily, looked up and traffic had stopped to allow the girl to cross the street on her bike.  I tried to stop and swerve, but it wasn't enough.  You're run-of-the-mill rear-ender.  I hit the car in front of me - an old 1980's Nissan station wagon built in the days before cars were engineered to absorb energy, when they were built like rocks.  Thus, the front of my 2009 Toyota Auris was bashed in pretty good, and the rear corner of the Nissan only had a slight dent.  The Auris absorbed much of the blow and I was unharmed.  Unfortunately, the Nissan did not do much absorbing, and the seat lacked any sort of whiplash-preventing head restraint.  Needless to say, the person I hit walked away with a bit of a sore neck, which makes matters worse, but I'll save that for the follow-up blog.

This all happened right in front of work, so a lot of my co-workers recognized me and stopped to help.  I was fortunate for their help in dealing with the police, the tow trucks, and insurance.  They helped sort out everything, and I tried to answer questions as best I could.  Everything took about 2 hours, and in the end, both cars were towed, the police said to wait a week for any report or fine, the person I hit was on his way for a routine examination to make sure there was no damage unseen, insurance was notified, and rental cars were in the works.  I wanted to feel some sort of relief, but I couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that I hadn't fully grasped the situation from not speaking the language well.  For the time being, I was worried about insurance, the person I hit, and what this might mean for my pocket-book.  Unfortunately, I had no idea what a nightmare this incident would soon become.

Living abroad, we are told to represent our country with class and dignity, and to abide by the host country's laws and culture.  This ambassador would certainly be tested over the next few days.