At approximately noon today, whilst
driving in our car to our home, in fact we were less than 200 metres
away, we were hit amidships by a careless, and one can assume either
blind or had his eyes shut, driver.
We were only travelling in the region
of 30 kph as the road is made narrow by the many parked cars along
the roadside, as it is a residential area, and one often has to give
way to oncoming traffic.
The offending driver was pulling out of
a side road to the left of us, from his residential community,
something which he obviously does many times, and didn't bother to
look both ways. He admitted he had only looked to his left for
oncoming traffic his side of the road (Spain: driving on the right)
before starting to pull out and hitting us.
He seemed rather anxious to get on his
way, initially only giving his name and telephone number, and saying
that there was no need for me to call the police after I told him I
was calling them and did so. He said he would pay for any repairs and
that he had to get somewhere without delay so wasn't going to wait
for the police. I said that was his choice but I intended waiting for
the 'Policia Local'. He decided that it would be better to stay and
wait.
After a reasonable short period of time
the police arrived. The other driver confirmed to them that he
accepted the blame for the accident. They advised that as there were
no personal injuries that it was only necessary to complete a
'Declaracion Amistosa de Accidente' for the insurance companies and
this would be the quickest and easiest way to finalise the matter of
the repairs to our car. Although they didn't have to they assisted in
the completion of the form, including checking of the validity of the
driving licence and insurance of the other driver, ensuring that all
the relevant details were included. I thanked them for their
assistance to me.
Luckily, apart from the fact that were
hit by this careless driver, the damage to the vehicle is not so
severe as to make our vehicle unusable especially as we are due to
make a long journey in it next week. The driver's door panel has been
pushed in slightly and the side trim damaged. Having said this is it
is something not of our responsibility that we could have done
without, even more, especially at this time. I suppose this means a visit to our
insurance agent on Monday!