We came into Bali on the 6th ... beautiful day, got thru customs with so many gifts for the street kids of Bali as well as the very less fortunate of Bali. Family did a couple rounds of shopping at Discovery, Tanah Lot, Sukawati, Tagalang ... ect. Even got a chance to do some Paragliding with the family (if anyone needs contact,let me know).. it was undescribable the view was fantastic!
13th June, we were in our Kiljang, just back from Sukawati, we were against going to Tagalang cause it was already past 5pm and they usually close around that time. Kids in the back were laughing & joking and all of a sudden a Honda Accord driven by an ass@#%$ ploughed head on into us from the opposite direction. It was a straight road, I was travelling at about 70kmh, and he was DEFINITELY NOT making a U-turn as he claimed, because the point of impact was no where near where he would have to make a U-turn.
My 9 year old, 15 year old, a family friend and I were all injured, though thankfully not seriously, the wife and son, was unscathed. It was a very traumatic experience for all of us, especially my 9 year old who couldnt stop crying.
The thing that pissed me off, was that the accident happened not more then 10 meters away from a police station (KA CHING $$$) we all know what that means!!! It took them less then 5 minutes to clear the accident vehicles from the road to the shoulder. Another Swiss national was also quite badly injured. (he later had to have stitches at SOS an had a broken nose as well)
As it turned out the driver 'disappeared' ... while the police took our driving license. They claimed that it was alright as they had his particulars (yeah right!!) While waiting for the other police who handle traffic matters to come, the driver appeared with his friends, he was high as hell, probably did some weed or something but his eyes said it all. They tried to flee the scene with the car which was a total wreck! (shows u the mentality of these ass%^@*$ !!
In the end the guy whom I rent the vehicle (a good friend) came, and to our surprise ..... the F%&*ing Ass&^%$ asks us for compensation .. would you believe that!! Only in Indonesia, the bloody idiot could have killed us (seriously) and here he wants $$$$. The 'Traffic Policeman' says that it is procedure to tow the vehicle I was in to the station. I was told by my good friend that the police would usually keep the vehicle for a few weeks to months, I mean, this was his livelihood, I did not want him to loose his income. So after all that 'haggling' The police man still wanted to take away the vehicle.
We went to SOS clinic and got X rays done. Dr says that we don't have anything serious (bruised ribs for me though). At night I got a call from the car rental guy who said the police called they wanted him to go down to the station. He could settle the issue on my behalf. Much later I got a call from my friend at the station, he was there with the Ass^%$# driver, as it turend out, the dumbass could speak some English, he wanted to clarify that I was not going to claim anything from him and he would not claim anything from me.
The moral of this story; even if you have a valid driving license, vehicle insurance, rent from a reputable rental company, all this doesn't matter .... when you are in BALI !