June 18th, 2008

Yesterday a coworker came to my workstation as I wrestled with The Antichrist's Forms Toolkit (aka: XFT) and told me that there was a group of people out on the street taking pictures of my motorcycle.

Surprised, and ready for lunch anyhow, I went out to see what they were doing. Well, they were gone, but the reason was apparent: The truck parked in front of it had obviously backed over my bike. Farings cracked and/or crushed, both foot pegs broken off, one mirror damaged (including mirror stalk and mirror extender), clutch lever bent, kickstand bent, scratches on the bar end and moulding under the seat, and that was just what I could see. It was not a happy sight.

But at least the truck driver was honest and left a note identifying herself and her phone number. But I didn't phone her, there seemed very little point. I just phoned ICBC and let them take charge of it. They prefer we do that anyway. They are probably right.

One thing that was a little bit strange though: In her note to me, the driver wrote that my motorcycle was parked "past the no stopping sign" and that was why she didn't see me. A thin excuse, even if it were true ... but it wasn't true anyhow. I had parked just inside the "good" side of the no stopping sign. And there was plenty of room for her to get out of her space.

When she and her friends put my bike back up onto its wheels (there were witnesses), they moved it to the bad side of the sign, then she backed her truck up to take up all the available legal parking space. Basically, she (or the people she was with) staged the scene to support her erroneous claim that I was illegally parked. Then they took pictures of the staged scene.

Well, I started to explain this over the phone to an ICBC representative, but she cut me off pretty quickly, telling me that it didn't matter at all; if the truck hit my bike, then it's the truck's insurance that pays for it. Whether or not my bike was ten centimetres inside or outside the legal parking zone (it was legally parked—I am always wary of tickets) was moot: Truck busted up my bike, truck pays.

I am glad of that, and though I feel a little badly for the woman with the truck (it was damaged, too), I must say this was her fault, and she should really just cowboy up and take her lashings. Trying to stage an accident scene to muddy the waters and maybe reduce or remove her culpability is not exactly a Move of Integrity.

But at least she left that note, and even had the decency to add "very sorry" to it. So she still gets a passing grade. :-) I forgive her ... I hope my bike lives long enough to do that too.

Read more rants - Top Blogs - Comment on this rant - Email me