Drive Cautiously
>> Friday, October 7, 2011
Recently, I had a couple of friends involved in chain collison on the expressway on separate occasions. Within minutes, tow trucks from repair workshops who "happen to be in the neighborhood" appeared to offer their services, assisted to collect driver details and assured all claims will be processed according with eye witnesses.
This is not the first time hearing of such things happening and I believe there are some sharings of similar incidents online. These all seem very suspicious to me. How did these kind souls appear so instanteously to such a random event (random location and time) without any notification necessary.
It is a scary thought that unscruplous workshops suffering from a lack of business are so free that they start driving around to cause accidents to drum up business. After all, the payment (and hence profits) is done by inflating the claim through insurance.
What is extremely terrible, is that there is no way to prevent it from happening. One can be an extra cautious driver by keeping a safe following distance but we cannot control others actions from kissing our cars or jamming brake for no apparant reason, resulting in others knocking into us, especially on expressways.
What are authorities doing to help stop the rise of such practise? Or are they more focus on giving summons to minor traffic offences and harmless illegal parkings in the middle of nowhere. Or debating where best to maximize revenue for the next ERP gantry, start evening/Sunday/all day ERP operations and the ideal justification for its price. Or how to raise more revenue through higher price COEs and perhaps overhaul the whole system to one that generates even more income. Or how much profit is sufficient for SBS Transit & SMRT when increasing public transport fares by 1% instead of the allowable 2.8%.
In the meantime, stay alert and drive safe.
2 comments:
I think first and foremost, as a driver, the onus is on yourself to keep a safe distance so that you don't knock into the car in front, even when you have to do an emergency braking/hard braking.
2nd, all drivers should have their own contact for their workshop or tow truck contact. If the accident happens at the expressway, you can wait for EMAS tow truck to move your car to designated car parks.
3rd, know the insurance claim procedure.
4th, if you are hit from behind, chances are you won't need a tow truck.
The problem is that most people are in a state of shock following an accident (no matter how minor). So they cannot think properly and its possibly that they may 'fall prey' to these tactics.
The only way to combat this to make sure you know the procedures and have your own contact. If you dun use their services, what can they do?
Well said Paul. Made a valid point.
Thanks for the advice.
I suppose most of us are not familiar with the procedure and will fall prey easily to such tactics. Especially when in a state of shock and having a sense of lost and desperation.
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