In which we are hit by a truck with the name “God’s Way” emblazoned across the windshield and spend the next four hours waiting for the wheels of justice to turn our way – November 7, 2012
SMASHING
One minute Eric is driving us around Kumasi on our weekly shopping trip to fetch drinking water and food for the house. The next we are thrown forward by an impact from behind. Bob was in the passenger seat and Camille was sitting in the back behind Eric. We later heard that the truck did not have functioning brakes and that the driver had been advised by the owner of the truck not to drive it.
GETTING OUR BEARINGS
Eric immediately set off to find a police officer while Bob and I sorted ourselves out. A crowd of concerned bystanders came to see if we were alright. The driver of the big orange truck which slammed into us stayed inside his cab. At the time we wondered why he didn’t have the courtesy to ask if we were okay. We later heard of similar incidents in which the crowd took it upon themselves to punish the driver who was at fault. Our necks were stiff and we were woozy. Eric’s jaw was out of whack, the muscles on Bob’s entire left side were sore and Camille’s knee was skinned where it hit the back of Eric’s seat. Other than that we were fine and very thankful to be in one piece.
BUMPER BUMMER
The no nonsense truck bumper did a number on Eric’s cab. The funny thing was that the we had just come from shopping at Ababio and there were four full 5-gallon bottles of drinking water in the trunk. The first thing that crossed Camille’s mind was an image of the bottles behind her being crushed and spilling out onto the street. Bob’s first thought was for Camille, sitting behind him and his second thought was also of the water bottles.
THREE CAR PILE UP
A third car was involved. We were stopped in traffic when the truck hit us and so likewise, we rear ended the taxi in front of us.
CLASH OF THE NISSANS
Eric’s Nissan Twister collided with the other driver’s Nissan Almera.
But as you can see the damage was minimal.
IN GOD’S WAY
As we waited for the police to arrive and later for the tow truck we had plenty of time to ponder the significance of a truck named God’s Way hitting us in front of the Trinity House.
POOR LITTLE TWISTER
Eric’s Twister did not fare so well against the Orange Mercedes delivery van.
A YAM COLORED TRUCK
We were asked to wait until the tow truck arrived to haul Eric’s car and the Mercedes van to the Police Station. Eric got tired of waiting and drove his car to the station while we sat in another taxi. The tow truck arrived two and a half hours after impact. Eric secured transport for us and so we sat with plenty of time to look into each other’s eyes for signs of concussion and also to realize that the word ‘way’ looks like ‘yam’ when viewed from the driver’s side of the windshield which seemed appropriate for a yam colored truck. The police officer over saw the operation in his in his white cap, newspaper in hand. He was on the scene for nearly two hours and never came close enough to greet us or see if we were bleeding. Which we weren’t, but still we thought it oddly unprofessional.
CHECK UP
Finally we were free to go to the police station where we sat across the desk of the same police officer and received medical forms. We then took the forms to the hospital where Eric’s wife, Linda works. Linda fixed us up with a doctor who filled out our forms for the accident report. Camille posted the whole story, In God’s Way to our blog at Plastic Farm Animals.
CLOSURE
A week later Eric’s Twister was back on the road, the police officer had returned his driver’s license, the truck driver had paid for damages and we were all feeling fine. All that remained was to close the case with an official letter. Eric picked us up and drove us to the police station where we were asked to go get a letter typed by a Commissioner of Oath in another part of town. Resistance was futile. We complied and the result was some poorly written letters which did not follow the statement the Commissioner asked us to write. This deserved another post to our blog, Adding Insult to Injury.
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