A couple months ago or so I wrote an entry about how the
breaks on my vespa decided to stop working while I was using them. In the
interest of not causing unnecessary worry to my family I chose to quietly file
it away until a later day when we could have a good laugh about it. All in all it ended up as a really solid
experience, in fact I’m glad it happened. Today, despite better judgment and almost
certain worry of my mother, although I’m still not sure she knows how to use
the internet (sorry mum! I still love you) I will now share the bold tale
of a different motorcycle mishap.
By the grace of God I managed to walk away with little more
than a scratch on my hand and a bumped knee. It is really quite awesome that
was it, although the scratch on my hand now makes a hot shower most
unpleasant. The other guy in the
accident appeared fine before he fled the scene.
Merrily bounding down the tree lined Jalan Panjang humming
along to a dispatch tune in my head I was relishing my time on my Kura-Kura ijo
(green turtle, as I call my vespa. It also goes by the name of teal steel, but that’s for another day).
I would have fit in quite nicely in any European scene, motoring along in
collard shirt and cardigan, messenger bag slung casually over my shoulder, just
cruising on my 76’ vespa.
They have traffic
signals in Indonesia, I’ve seen them. Now if anyone else has seen one is a
completely different story and perhaps that’s
where things really start to get interesting. I had the green light, even had
15 seconds left on the green light, as the flashing green number below the
green light indicated in all its ignored green glory. As a line stopped cars
turning right in that intersection began to grow I approached the crossroads.
Just as I get to the chorus of ‘Bats in the Belfry’ I see
it. It is happening, I’m keeping up with the flow of traffic, which is fast but
not reckless. He’s hidden behind the cars turning right crossing the wrong way through
the intersection . Im no more than 20 feet away when I first notice he’s driven
out from behind the car and right into the way of me and my charging
turtle. I slam on the nearly forty year old brakes (thankfully now working-ish) which
seemed to have done a better job of heightening the experience with noise than
stopping me.
Crash...
I weigh 210 pounds, the vespa is an easy 300 pounds, the two
of us together are carrying a lot of mass and moving fast. He is a little
Indonesian guy on a Yamaha scooter that is mostly plastic, with very little
brain mass given he is blindly crossing an intersection with fast moving
traffic. I T-bone him, thankfully he tried to stop and I made contact just
behind the front wheel under the handlebars. We get knocked to the ground, and
the front of his bike was pretty decently wrecked. The Kura-Kura with mighty
shell is dented and chipped. Completely surprised, and now full of adrenaline
shaking, we stand in the intersection and look at each other. There is a swarm
of motorcycles waiting at the crossroad staring. Not sure what happens next, all
I could think to do was shake his hand.
Perhaps it was a measure indicating ‘I’m alright’ he looks
me in the eyes and appears ok. I turn to the crowd as if they would tell me
what to do next when they start shouting. The guy has jumped on his motorcycle
and is quickly driving away. I’m not sure what they are saying, but some motion
for me to follow him. Bewildered and
unsure, I pick up Kura-Kura and walk it through the intersection to take a seat
outside a makeshift convenient store.
It was definitely a scary experience. I was pretty jumpy for
the remainder of my drive and approached intersections with excessive caution.
The best part was getting caught in a tropical downpour when I was driving home
a couple hours later. This was then followed by me blowing out my flip-flop on
the way to dinner. I was a little frustrated yesterday.
I’m alright and I’ve adjusted my perception to 'the rule of
self preservation' as the sole guide to the functioning chaos of Indonesian
traffic to leave room for those who go rogue. There will surely be more
close calls and accidents, hopefully none major. All you can do is learn from
the experience, thank God, and get back on your horse, or in this case… turtle.
