road dangers

some young punks tailgated me and scraped my bumper on my way home tonight. nothing untoward happened, but all the possibilities i could think of kind of left me a bit shaken.

it was after a mamak supper session, and i had arrived at the traffic lights outside the Damansara Jaya school from the direction of the Damansara Jaya shops. a noisy white Nissan Sunny screeched to a halt on the lane next to me and i thought i saw the two guys inside glancing and gesturing towards my car. i ignored them, of course.

so the lights finally turn green and i go, heading for the junction that turns onto the part of Jalan Damansara leading to the NKVE Damansara tollgate. the guys tailgated so close i could see, from the rear view mirror, the zits on their faces and all the colours of their hair. i had encountered tailgaters before.. but this was at night on an empty road.... i sped up a little. at the slip road which joined Jalan Damansara, i kept to one side to let them overtake me, hoping that they would do what most tailgaters do - overtake and get on with tailgating whoever else came up next in front of them. i could hear them revving away behind me and sensed they weren't quite intending to overtake.

that was when i heard the crunch on my bumper.

oh man, they just hit my car. ON PURPOSE.

a dozen what-if's started swirling in my mind.

right. this was not my lucky day.. i just wanted to get home. i finally got onto the main road. i started reaching for my phone to call my dad, but the Nissan was following so close behind i couldn't let my eyes off the road safely enough to press the keys on my phone.

i started to doubt whether heading straight home was a good idea - they could follow me all the way home. i was changing lanes on the 4-lane road and the Nissan was breathing down my neck within inches behind, the entire time. what was wrong with these people?!

not good.

the tollgate would be coming up, and since i had no intention on getting onto the highway (and end up in a high-speed chase), i got off the main road onto the side ramp that went up to the 'bridge' to Bandar Utama. the traffic light junction was coming up. instead of turning onto the slip road at the traffic lights that would take me onto the road home, i stopped at the traffic light junction, where it was brightly lit and I was in the presence of other stopped cars. at worst, the nearest police station was at Damansara Utama, which was a U-turn and a straight road away. that decision to stop at the lights could well have saved me from anything untoward happening.

there were two or three cars in front of me at the junction. the lane next to me was empty, but the confounded Nissan stopped directly next to me (rather than going up all the way to the top of the junction itself and stopping there).

ok. i get it. trying to intimidate me. now please, just don't get out of that car.

then the guy in the front passenger seat got out.

the first thought that came to mind was, oh gosh, that's it, i'm dead.

i started telling myself, the pepper spray is in the pocket on the right, and there's a baton within reach on the door compartment.. and i took some comfort in the fact that the junction was well-lit and relatively busy and there were cars stopped behind and in front of me.. i hoped these punks wouldn't do anything stupid. i had better make the phone call now in case things start going bad. my house was not far away, and my dad could get into his car now, maybe call a neighbour or some guards, and drive out to the traffic light junction within half a minute. i picked up my phone and started calling my home number.

the guy who had got down from the car knocked on my front passenger window.

i hoped to god that he wasn't holding a steering lock or any other potential weapon, and started to think of every prayer i'd ever been taught.

he pointed towards my bumper and said in cantonese, "hey, we just hit you", as if to entice me to get out of the car to inspect the damage or negotiate. i motioned "never mind" and continued pressing the numbers on my phone. he persisted, saying "but we just hit you wor.."

now, the guy would surely realise that there have been enough reports in the newspapers for anyone to know better than to get out of the car. sheesh.. what would he do next?! his demeanour had been all too obvious - in a genuine accident, you'd expect the person who caused the accident to be somewhat more apologetic and hoping to end the matter with minimum fuss. this guy had been tailgating me for the last kilometre or so and was now practically making an offer to negotiate a compensation for the 'accident'!

dodgy, to say the least.

i also had a new worry - would he panic seeing me make a phone call? if he was panicking, would he just get back into the car and drive off, or would he smash my window to stop me? i must have motioned "never mind" about four times. at some point of time i thought also of snapping a photo of the fellow at my window using the camera on my phone, but i was afraid that i might anger him and worsen the situation.

finally, to my relief, the fellow decided to get back into the car. the lights turned green, and, to more relief, they drove off.

were they just pranksters who thought it funny to intimidate a lady driver, but in the process, miscalculated a tailgating manoeuvre? or did they intend to get me out of the car and reduce me to a statistic in the next day's newspaper? was i saved by having stopped at a busy traffic light junction? by having been seen to be making a phone call? i wouldn't know. recalling the entire ordeal sends shivers down my spine. i don't think i'll be out late for a while unless it's absolutely necessary. and all you tailgaters and road bullies - the road is a facility for you to get from point A to point B. leave your egoes, fits of insanity and immature acts at home!

and ladies.. i guess the message here is to be alert at all times and have your wits around you if you do encounter suspicious characters. don't travel alone at night if it's possible.. don't drive late if you can (though this wasn't exactly the wee hours of the morning - it happened between 10pm-11pm, at the usual time one would be driving home from supper, or back from a movie or office for some people!) also, don't think an old rickety Nissan won't be brave enough to take on an MPV!