Carla Bruin from Klipkop writes:
Happily driving along Lynnwood
Road on a Saturday afternoon, one
never suspects something like this.
A concrete truck was coming from
the opposite direction heading towards Pretoria. When it sped past
me at 100 km per hour, it showered
a spray of small rocks onto the road,
which caused my windscreen to
receive five stars. Now if I were in
the hotel business that would be
great news.
I looked back, and saw the name of
the company on the truck.
Unfortunately what I didn?t see was
the truck number. Now, for all you
who haven?t had an encounter with
a concrete truck, I just want to
stress the vital importance of this
truck number. Without it you will
have to claim the damage from your
insurance company, and ruin your
safe driving record. Without it you
can forget the bonus that you will
receive from your insurance company,
which is due to you within the
next six months.
Just to stress the importance, let
me give you the scenario that you
should follow: regardless of the two
cars behind you and the oncoming
traffic behind the truck, once your
windscreen has been hit by stones,
make an immediate U-turn.
Do not stop for any traffic. Then
race after the truck, revving your
engine until it sounds as if it wants
to jump out of your bonnet, because
how else would it be possible
to catch up to the speeding bullet
flying down the road? Incur numerous
more stars in your windscreen
while trailing the truck. Overtake
the truck, do a movie stunt to stop
the truck. Locate the truck number
and proceed to write this down.
Because once you phone the company
to which you believe that the
truck belongs, they are so prepared
for your call. I was asked to write a
fax explaining what had happened
and to attach a quotation for a new
windscreen. Two days later I am
phoned by the manager, who starts
off the conversation by explaining
that the trucks are on sub-contract,
so the company does not take
responsibility for damage.
If I do not have the truck number,
as the sub-contractor would be
responsible for the damages, then I
cannot be helped. The truck number
will indicate who the sub-contractor
is. Irrelevant is that the name of the
company is on the truck. Irrelevant
that I do not want to involve my
own insurance company, because
why should I suffer those consequences
for negligent concrete
truck drivers?
How can it be that a company, who
should be familiar with phone calls
like this, does not have liability insurance
for just such situations? But
then again, I suppose it is easier to
just shift the blame to the sub-contractor
because that is the easy way
out.
As I had not noted the truck number
(which to me seems a near impossible
task), the manager thought
it best that I involve my own insurance
company and let his company
take care of the excess. I suppose I
have to be grateful for that, but this
implies that my bonus from the
insurance company is gone. It also
implies that my insurance premium
will be higher after this incident. So,
thanks a lot!
Moral of this story is the following:
when you see a concrete truck approach
you from the opposite direction;
before you get too close, just
make a note of that vital truck number,
you never know . . . |