My First Crash. Car Crash.

Squeaky tires, monkey circus, artisan policemen, smiles and more

Tyres squeak as I push breaks full force. While my car stops one meter away from the other one, I got a millisecond to tell “good job” to myself.

BOOOOM!

I knew it was coming. We were driving as usually on Bosnian roads. 60-70km/h is not even that quick. But we were way too close to each other. Which is normal when are trying to pass these crowded congested two-lane streets between villages that officially are called “highways”.

So, on this tiny “highway” which passes through the front yards of village houses, one guy decided to turn suddenly left. I don’t know if he gave any signs or tried to slow down before the turn. Haven’t seen. The fact is: he suddenly turned left. Car behind him went full stop. I went full breaks on and managed to stop. Car behind me just couldn’t.

I felt hit to the back, and my car jumped forward, effectively hitting hook of the car in front of me. Seatbelt ploughed into my body. Emergency lights went off automatically. And everything stopped.

The brief moment of silence was interrupted by woman’s wail. Started to hear the steam from an engine behind. Smell of something burnt was floating in the air.

I tried to get up. Gosh, that seatbelt made me feel like trapped. It was so tight that I could barely breath. Puzzled, I tried to pull on it. Nothing happened. Then slowly second thought crept in that I could release it by simply pushing to lock mechanism. As I reached out there, my nail bend over to the wrong side.

“Hilarious”, I thought to myself — “this will be the only physical injury you are taking from this crash”.

By the moment I got out of the car, people were already helping the woman from the car behind. She looked weak and dizzy. The fear, shock and hit from the airbag probably was too much. She didn’t seem to be injured. However, person that suddenly turned left, got back and took her to the hospital nearby.

I looked to two other drivers. “Did anyone called police?” I asked. One answered “I don’t know the number.” He was so calm that the simple statement “I don’t know how to call police” implied: not a serious matter, and nothing I have to deal with on daily basis.

I looked with disbelief. 112 or 122 would suffice. One of these guys should call them. After all, they should know better where we are. My first priority was to call rent-a-car.

“No problem”, was the first thing I heard from my rent-a-car. “Will immediately send a towing car with replacement car for you with new papers.”

Wait… Is there nobody going to ask if it was my fault, or how it happened? Anything of that matters? Apparently not. “Just pick a statement from the police, they should do the paper work. We need it for the insurance.”

Hmz. I’m looking at two other drivers. They are both so calm. They even don’t swear, which is unbelievable for Balkans. No swearing, no complaining, no pushing fault onto another. Really pleasant.

It probably didn’t take more than 10 minutes for police to arrive. And surprise: two policemen get out of the car and greet us with smiles! Just another day at work, it seems.

The older one takes a notebook and starts to draw the crash scene. It’s ridiculously funny, as he is incredibly bad at drawing but acts like an artist. One stroke to indicate the “highway”, another to draw the crossing, third one…

After he finished the drawing, policeman asks to move cars away from the “highway” to not block the traffic anymore. As I turn the engine and try to drive away, I feel something weird. Creak, squeak, break! What the?…

Apparently, my car and another car interlocked with each other. Ugh. Shall I still drive? “Yes, yes” I see policeman showing me to continue. OK…

I start driving slowly. Crunching and squeaking continues. I look at the mirrors to see if everything is ok, and barely can hold a giggle. Imagine this: two cars interlocked, one being badly smashed, three grown up guys jumping on the smashed car and girl driving the caravan. Monkey circus!

As I get out of the car after moving away from the street, younger policeman asks: “Why are you in such good mood?”

Khe, what shall I tell? Nobody bitching, nobody screaming and pushing fault on each other, damage only on the cars, extremely good service from my rent-a-czar, polite policemen and monkey circus, — isn’t it enough to be happy?

I was able to continue my trip after 2–3 hours. Policemen took statements, I took the guy that hit my car for a coffee, towing car arrived soon after, and I was able to get to Sarajevo just on time for SuperFounders meetup. This day was rich in experiences, mostly of which were positive.