Car Scratch Fever

Things were starting to look up. After just one day of banishment to the "bad cat box" my cat started to behave himself. Before that, he was prancing around, meowing and waking up the entire household at 3:00 am. He'd jump up on any surface available and knock stuff on the floor. He seemed to react to the gentle chastisement. Ever since, he's been a perfect angel (perhaps not surprising since his name is Angel). And my impatiens finally seem to have spurts of life in them.

Elated, I drove to the local drug mart to take advantage of bargains in mundane household items like paper towels, toilet tissue and soap. It's a small parking lot and usually quite busy, but on this Friday afternoon I found a spot with empty places on both sides. Perfectly safe, or so I thought.




When I came back to the car a lady approached me and said that the driver on my left had scratched my car upon parking. Sure enough; not a huge mark but very visible and flecked with blue paint. The car beside me was a blue Toyota. I thanked the lady and she provided her name and number and offered to be a witness. She described the driver as an "old lady." I was half expecting the poor woman to be in her 80s with an accent like Mrs Doubtfire and I would be heartbroken to approach her about the incident.

I wrote down the licence number of the offending car and waited for the driver. When she appeared, she wasn't that old - around 60 - but she turned out to be most vile, rude and obnoxious person I've had the misfortune to deal with. She denied up and down that she ever hit may car. When I showed her the blue paint scuffs on my side panel and the scratch on her car, she shouted "I've had that mark for 5 years! You're scamming me! You weren't even here when I parked! There was nobody!"

There was yet more ranting when I mentioned my witness. "She didn't see anything! It's a frame up! She's a friend of yours!" Then the car to her right changed from being non-existent to a black sedan to a Jeep. " Some other blue car hit you! It wasn't me!"

I requested her information as required by the Highway Traffic Act. She repeatedly and obstinately refused. This is an infraction that calls for quite severe penalties:

The penalty for failing to report a collision and/or failing to provide the necessary information is a fine of $200 to $1,000, three demerit points, a possible jail term and driver's licence suspension.The penalty for leaving the scene of a collision includes seven demerit points.

Normally the police don't come to an accident scene but when I called and described the situation they did send an officer. He demanded that she give me her information, and when he viewed both cars, he told the woman that it didn't look good for her. He ordered her to report to a Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours. I needed to go as well, something I needed like a hole in the head.

Still, the damage was easily worth $1000 and I was determined that the guilty party pay. It's a pretty slick operation at the CRC. They take down the information, look at the vehicles and make a determination of fault.

This is how I expect it to play out: I will have my car fixed at the place of my choosing. I will be able to rent another car during the repair period. My insurance company will handle the claim and pay the whole shot under Direct Compensation with zero deductible. The other driver's insurance company will accept 100 per cent responsibility, and her rates will go up.

As well they should. The innocent motoring public needs to be protected from unconscionable drivers like this who think nothing of trying to pull off a hit-and-run.