Tuesday morning, I went with one of my colleagues to the police station. Good thing he knew which building to go to in the police compound as I never would have found it easily. It was a good sized piece of land with various sized buildings scattered around. There was even a man cutting hair behind one of the buildings. The building we went to was pretty small. It was crammed with 3 desks and a small bench - and several people. I waited outside as my colleague went it. They have a large ledger book with all of the reported accidents in it. At first, they couldn't find our record. Then we went in another room, then we went back to the first room, then we returned to the 2nd room. They finally found the record and I sat down on some old bus seats to give my statement of what happened. The first thing the police officer asked me was whose fault was it. I stated that the bicyclist ran into me. The bicyclist happened to be there and I think he was asked the same thing. He spoke in Kiswahili so I couldn't understand a thing. He did say 'indicator' a couple of times - I had not used my indicator as I wasn't turning!
Anyway, the police officer wrote down my statement in long hand on lined paper. Then he had me read it. I made him change probably 4 things that he had gotten wrong. Finally, I agreed that it was acceptable and signed it. (The other party in the accident didn't have to write down or sign any statement.) Then there was a bit of putzing around as they tried to find a police officer to accompany my car to the inspection yard. Since it was a car-pedestrian situation, this was a requirement. Finally, they just gave my colleague a signed bit of paper and he took it to the inspection yard.
So hopefully, this will be the end of it and no one will decide to sue us. We will ask the insurance company to reimburse us for the costs paid for the bicyclists hospital bills (about USD 50) and the money we gave him and his friend for bus fare.
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2 comments:
So much of life is a learning experience!
Hi - Just a piece of unsolicited advice. In Kenya, the exception is people who DON'T hit bicyclists so don't feel too bad. Speaking from experience, if you haven't admitted guilt, don't. My wife and I have been in 1 car accident each and numerous bike incidents. My wife was charged with Reckless Driving (or whatever they call it here) in 2006. Pleaded guilty because...well she was guilty. 2 years later we were slapped with a lawsuit. Hoe this doesn't happen to you but be forewarned that a guilty plea may get you into trouble down the road. Hope you are not charged and hope all remains well. - Denny
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