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An awful reflection of police officers

Jan 29, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Once again the police traffic department has managed to strongly aggravate me. I will be honest and say that I was shocked, but not surprised.
In my last letter I stated that even though I have confidence in my cautious driving, I am still sceptical about our unpredictable traffic and the gruesome surprises it is capable of presenting. This is only the introduction to the point that I wish to demonstrate.
Recently, in the vicinity of Lamaha Street, I was involved in an accident at the last place I expected such a thing to occur – the traffic light. I was waiting on the traffic light to count down and it was approximately at 76 seconds, when a vehicle aggressively slammed in to the right rare side of my car.
It left me in a state of confusion because I wondered how one could even be moving at a 76 second counting down light when the whole purpose of the light was to remain stationary.
I still haven’t wrapped my mind around the other party’s explanation of the cause of the accident. However, he assured me that he was going to pay for all damages, but he did not want a “police story”. Filing a formal police report of the incident still seemed like the appropriate thing to do, so having no clue how to proceed, I contacted my father.
We soon found ourselves (including the other driver) at the police station. I must admit that this section of the station looked less busy than I imagined it to be as the police there seemed to have been engaged in nothing at the time (but I guess playing with one’s cell phone counts for something…).
However, I thought that since this was so, I was in luck because I would have their full attention and as a result, full assistance in the matter. Boy was I wrong on so many different levels.
So after one of the officers asked about my reason for being there, my father explained the situation and his response was the most shocking.
First he asked us whether we had resolved the matter and our answer was yes, because the truck driver did agree to pay for all damages but we made it clear that we still wanted to make a report.
He then said, “Well if you resolved it, then there is no reason to come here, to not report an incident is not an offence if you’ve resolved the matter.” I highly doubt that! Simply because it was the biggest bundle of nonsense I’ve ever heard and in fact that should be added to many definitions of “nonsense” in the English dictionary.
All the other driver did was give a mere oral statement agreeing to pay for damages. If for some reason he was to renege on this, there would be no proof of him ever initially agreeing.
Shouldn’t the officer write down the incident and the driver’s agreement to pay for the damages in the traffic accidents diary at least? What if I tried to contact the truck driver later on and failed on doing so?
Was the officer saying that if an accident occurs and I take matters into my own hands it would be the right thing to do? Then what is the purpose of the traffic police? This was when I interpreted his unbelievable response as: “You’re in tough luck today, kid. I’ve got better things to do.”
After a bit of protest from my father (who has a good knowledge of the law), the officer asked me to drive the car in so that he may take a look at it and after I did so, he reluctantly went for the traffic accidents diary and recorded the matter. I must say that I was dearly disappointed in his less than professional attitude, as I always had the perception of the police being disciplined and of good service to the people. I pray this is not a reflection of the majority of police officers.
Crystal Marcus

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