Tag Archives: cars

I had a car accident :(

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 32 comments

First of all sorry if this post sounds a bit down but I am not in a very good mood right now. This morning, coming to work, my car was hit by another car from behind just 5 minutes away from home. I am thinking that writing about it will make me feel better so hence the post.

I was travelling on the left most lanes on a three lane road heading to work. The car before me slowed down to turn left so I slowed down too. But the car behind me didn’t slow down but instead decided to change lanes. Everything was good but he misjudged his timing and he hit my car on the right side of the boot with his front left of the car. All I heard was a loud bang and didn’t know what happened for a while.  You know the first few seconds where you are shaken up and you don’t know what happened.

After that initial shock, I gained my composure quickly and got out of the car to check what happened. As I have written a post before here “Incident, not ACCIDENT, Thank God!”, I thought it might be just a small incident like before. But to my dismay, my car was badly damage and not drivable. The first thing the guy from the other car said to me after he came out of the car was ,” You braked.”.

I hadn’t and we both know that but I was not in a situation to argue with him. We moved the car to a side street so we wouldn’t block the road. After I parked the car the first thing I did was call AS as he was nearby and I didn’t know what else to do. I was still shaken up for a while but the other driver seemed aright.

He said he would call the tow truck and we can call the insurance company. I also called one of my friends just to check what to do as I have never been in this situation before. He advised me to call the police so I did. I reported what happened and they said they will be there in a while.

In the meantime a tow truck company came and gave both of us, the drivers, to fill information about each other’s licence and car. I took photos of the damage of my car and his car and took photo of his car rego and licence. The tow truck driver dialled our insurance company and I talked to them. I had to explain to them what happened exactly and the guy on the line told me, it seemed like it was not my fault so I didn’t have to worry. The other driver had the same insurance company so the guy wanted to talk to the company as well. So I passed the phone to him.

In the meantime, AS was there and I was much relived. I really didn’t know what to do and I was still shaken. I was just glad he was there.

After we finished with the insurance company, the police were still not there so the other driver suggested we should go as he already agreed to what happened. I thought that is a good thing at least I am not at fault. The tow truck driver told me the same thing. If there is no dispute then it should not be a problem and we don’t need the police.

I told them I had already called the police and I need to call them again to let them know that they need not come. So I rang the police again and told the operator what happened. The women on the phone told me we had to wait for the police as it is an accident. I told all of them that and we waited.

After a while the cops came. There were two of them so they each took statements from us separately. When I was done with my statement, he said, “Looks like it is not your fault so we will send him the ticket and send you the incident number for your insurance.” I was happy that it will be solved easily but then in a minute he came back and told me I have to ask you a few more questions. He said the other driver told them that he was travelling in the middle lane and when I changed lanes, he hit me from behind so it is my fault. What and A**hole. Seriously I couldn’t believe he said that to the cops after all what he told me.

I didn’t know what to say but told the cops that he even asked me not to call the cops as he said he admitted that it was his fault and his insurance will fix my car.

Anyway the cops left and they told me they will contact me with the details on what will happen next.

I am really annoyed that I had an accident and it was not my fault. I am annoyed that the driver didn’t own up to his fault which means it might take it longer to get this resolved.

I am just glad that I waited for the cops to come. I least I have everything recorded now so even if things go wrong in future, the cops have the photos.

Lesson learned from this accident, never trust anyone. Call the cops no matter what the other person does and always be aware that they can change their story. It is best to take photos or video of the damage and position of the cars before moving them.

I had to call a friend from work to pick me up and I am not going to have a car for another 2 weeks. It will be really annoying and it will restrict our plans on the weekends. I am just not very happy and not in a good mood today.

I was reading yesterday in the news that Michael Douglas was telling in an interview that he got the cancer because he had all the good things in life and something bad was meant to happen. While reading that yesterday, I was thinking why can’t we have good times only and why bad things need to happen so often.

Now I understand his logic as well. I have to admit everything around me was going very well so something bad was bound to happen and it happened as a car accident. The best thing is that I am OK and not injured so I am pushing myself to think positive. I know that I am annoyed and irritated right now with the whole situation but doing my best to look at the glass as half full.

I am not even sure if this post has a proper flow but I had to write it and here it is.

Take care everyone.

M from nepaliaustralia

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*Incident, not ACCIDENT, Thank God! *Accident prone ME *Dilemma

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Posted in General, Personal

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New rules for use of mobile phones while driving on Sydney roads

Posted on November 8, 2012 | 9 comments

As I mentioned in my previous post here, I get really annoyed with drivers who are so careless on the road that they are putting themselves and others in danger. It is not fair that someone is careless and they take the life of some innocent road user or make them injured.

It is a common scene on the road to see a driver holding a mobile while driving. If I could issue fines to these people, I could have made lots of money for the government. Even though talking on a mobile phone while driving is not illegal in Australia, holding it is; but drivers hardly care about these rules until they see a cop car.

But things are changing now. They are making these rules very serious. From 1 November 2012, changes to NSW Road Rules have come into effect. These law changes primarily consist of minor amendments, clarifications and tightening of existing road rules.

Motorists will only be allowed to use a mobile phone while driving if the phone is fixed to a secure mounting or can be used without the driver having to touch any part of the phone. Here are the new rules that were effective from last week. Drivers cannot hold a phone in their hand, other than to pass it to a passenger, and can’t rest it on their legs or hold it between their shoulder and ear.

Provided the phone is mounted in a commercially designed and manufactured cradle, fully-licensed drivers can press buttons on the phone for the purpose to make a call, use GPS systems or listen to music.

Texting and emailing while driving, whether the phone is mounted or not, remains illegal.

I am so glad they are taking things seriously and hope this will help save lots of innocent lives on the road.

Rule states from Roads and Maritime Services’s Centre as below

Use of mobile phones

While a vehicle is moving or stationary (but not parked), a driver may only use a mobile phone to make or receive a call or use the audio playing function:

1.         If the mobile phone is secured in a fixed mounting; or

2.         If not in a mounting, use of the mobile phone must not require a driver to touch or manipulate the phone in any way.

All other functions including texting, video messaging, online chatting, reading preview messages and emailing are prohibited.

The new laws make it clear that a driver in a moving or stationary vehicle (unless parked) MUST NOT HOLD a phone in his or her hand other than to pass the phone to a passenger.

Penalty: 3 demerit points (4 in a school zone) and $298 ($397 in a school zone)

NOTE: Learner and Provisional P1 drivers are not allowed to use ANY function of a phone (including hands-free) while driving.

Police and emergency services vehicles

Police and emergency service drivers may continue to use mobile data terminals in the course of their work to receive job allocations, licensing, registration and other important information.

Visual display units in motor vehicles

A visual display unit (including a mobile phone), which is being used as a driver’s aid function, such as a GPS, may only be used in a motor vehicle if it is secured in a fixed mounting. This mounting must be commercially designed and manufactured for this purpose. It must be positioned in the vehicle to not distract or obscure the driver’s view.

Penalty: 3 demerit points (4 in a school zone) and $298 ($397 in a school zone)

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Posted in Australia, Social Issue

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Nawami: Dashain

Posted on October 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today is Nawami (Ninth) day, a day before the Vijaya Dashami. Sacrifices continue throughout Nawami in Nepal. Today god Vishwas Karma, the God of creativity is worshiped. All artisans, craftsmen, tradesmen worship their tools, equipment and vehicles like cars, bikes, trucks etc. for protection against accidents during the year. Animals are also sacrificed to cars, trucks etc. to get the blessing from goddess Durga for protection for vehicles and their occupants against accidents during the year.

The Taleju temple at Hanuman Dhoka is opened for the public only once a year on this day. Thousands of people go and pay their respect to the goddess. Temples of the goddess are filled with people from dawn till dusk. There are local processions – local bands play music and a feast is organized – in the Taleju Bhawani Temple in Hanuman Dhoka Palace premises.

Today also the official military sacrifices are held in the ‘Kot’ courtyard at Hanuman Dhoka. The government allows foreigners to witness this function so hundreds of tourists and diplomats eagerly gather here.

Animals, mostly buffaloes are slaughtered by the hundreds to honour Durga the goddess of victory to seek her blessing. Military bands play war tunes, guns boom and officers with beautifully decorated medals in full uniform are present there. When the function ends the courtyard is filled ankle deep with blood from the sacrifices.

Kumari, the living goddess, also blesses the public on this day from her residence at Kumari Bahal.

This morning we performed car puja as well. I am sure in Nepal, it is performed in a bigger scale but if you are not in Nepal and want to perform the puja, I am sharing how I did it here.

How to perform car puja:

  • Make sure the vehicle is clean.

  • Take your shoe off before puja.
  • Prepare puja thali with sindoor, rice, flower, dhuup, batti, fruits and any other puja saman you have.

  • Also prepare an ankura (vessel) with water. If you don’t have a ankura then use a glass/tumbler.
  • Start the puja by sprinkling water in front of the car and its four wheels.

  • If you have any idol of a god inside the car, perform the puja inside first by putting sindoor, tika and flower on the idol.

  • I have an idol of Lord Ganesh inside our car.

  • In front of the car use sindoor to make a half moon by using the third finger of right hand and put tika and flower. Also do the same on all four wheels of the car.

  • Now light the batti (I used tea light candle) and dhuup and show it to the God inside the car, the front of the car and move to all the wheels by circling  them around three times in a clockwise direction.

  • Normally animals are sacrificed during the Puja and the vehicles are given their fill of blood but we used a hard shelled coconut instead.
  • Crack the coconut in front of the car on the floor

  • Sprinkle the coconut water in front of the car as well as all wheels.

  • The coconut is kept as prasad (holy food offering given to God during pujas) and eaten later.

  • In Nepal they also put mala (flower garland) in front of the car.
  • The puja is finished.

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Posted in Nepal, Nepali Festivals

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Traffic chaos around the world

Posted on September 7, 2012 | 16 comments

When I think about traffic, I think there is no way the traffic can be as bad anywhere else as in Asia like in Kathmandu, Bangkok, India, Vietnam , Hong Kong, etc. but in the past few months I have been surprised that in Europe, the traffic is worse than in Nepal.

I know Kathmandu has more cars on the road than the road can handle. To cross the bridge from Kupondole to Thapathali, it can take you an hour but believe me that is not as bad as what I saw while touring around the world.

While I was in India, I asked the driver why his car’s side mirrors were closed. He said, it will get scratched (by other cars) if it is opened so he left it closed. Imagine my horror to be in that car for weeks knowing he doesn’t even have side mirrors in use. I was definitely scared about my and my parents’ safety. But after a few hours on the road, I realised that not only the car we were on that had its side mirror closed but every vehicle on the road was using the same trick.

Then I got to experience tuk tuk in Bangkok and I will tell you it is not a great experience that I will cherish. There are so many cars and tuk tuks in Bangkok along with motor cycles and bicycles that you wish you were not sitting in an open vehicle in the summer heat stuck in traffic.

It was the same story in Vietnam with the traffic but in Vietnam we had booked air conditioned car which made our journey bearable. I couldn’t imagine being on a non AC car for 4-5 hours in the summer heat.

But there is one thing common in all these places I have mentioned above. They all have narrow roads with too many vehicles on the road and traffic chaos along with very slow traffic like 40km/hr.

In US, the traffic seems to fine expect in New York. In New York, cars were not even stopping for pedestrians on the pedestrian crossing even when the crossings are so big that you could see it easily from 100 meters away. In other parts of US, they have very wide roads and I really loved their freeway with their exit numbers. Even in peak hours most of the roads seem to cope a lot better than in Asian countries.

My perspective of traffics changed when I landed in Europe for my last holiday. I took a bus tour around Europe but in England we did our own driving.  I drove a very small car for a couple of days and was shocked to see narrow roads everywhere. The good thing was that at least everyone was following the traffic rules so things were under control. While in Germany, we were on a no limit highway where there is no speed limit for cars and we could see that cars were zooming away in front of us. Funnily enough these types of highways are the one that have the least accidents.

Anyway travelling around Europe, everyone told us that wait till you get to Italy and you will realise what crazy traffic is. In my mind I was thinking, I am sure I have seen crazier traffic in Asia.

But the day we reached Italy, Italian drivers proved me wrong. OMG Italian traffic is a real example of chaos. Especially in Rome, there is no room for error. People were driver cars as if they were walking so there were no signals and they were driving the car wherever they can fit it into. And the worst thing is the roads are very small. On top of it, vehicles are parked on both sides of the road. In one occasion, our tourist bus had to reverse almost 500 meters in a tiny road because the place we were supposed to turn right at had a car parked on the corner making it impossible for bus to turn into the road. There was no other option but to return in reverse. I really believe that Italians are really good drivers after driving on those roads for years.

When we left Italy, I thought I had seen the worst traffic in my life but oho boy, how wrong was I. As soon as we entered Paris, I saw more extreme traffic chaos. The freeway we entered in Paris was so busy that we were crawling. The guide was telling us that our hotel was only 15 minutes away but it took us almost an hour to get there. I saw a bike colliding with a car just in front of us as well. Also one of the days we were there, I noticed the main city roads had no white marking so we didn’t know how many lanes it had. To top all this, motor bikes and scooters were everywhere squeezing in wherever they can.

I am sure I still haven’t been to any places like China and Mexico to see more chaos that traffic causes but I am glad I went around at least to these places because it made me realise that we definitely are in a better place in Australia. Next time when I am stuck in traffic, I won’t get frustrated as I have seen worse. I really appreciate the roads and rules we follow in Sydney. I guess all the people who whinge about Sydney’s roads and traffic need to have a round trip to Asia as well as Europe to appreciate how good we are compared to there. I know there are better roads in the world but definitely we don’t have one of the worst ones.

Safe driving everyone!!! Remember no life is worth reaching 5 minutes quicker to any places.

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Posted in Australia

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Learn Nepal Bhasa / Newari – Chapter 13

Posted on September 5, 2012 | 4 comments

 

English Nepal Basa
Is this Durbar Square? Laay-kuu tha-na khak laa?
What is the name of this place? Thwa thaay-yaa naa chhu khak?
How do I get to ____________? _______gu-khee wa-ne-gu?
Go down this way Thu-khee jhaa-saa
Is it that way? U-khee khak laa?
Is it far? Taa-paah la?
We went to go by taxi Ji-pin taxii wa-ne-gu.
Is there a bus to Kathmandu? Yee wa-ne-gu bas du laa?
When does it arrive? Ga-ba-le-wa-i?
Where does it stop? Ga-na di-ki-i?
Please take me there. Ji-tah a-na-ta-ka-yaa-bi-yaa di-saa

Please click here for previous chapters.

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Posted in Learn Nepal Bhasa / Newari

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