Cedric Stephens, Contributor

Question: I was travelling from May Pen to Kingston on July 20, 2007. I decided to stop at Savannah Cross off the Bustamante Highway. As I approached the right turn, I looked into themirror and saw a white vehicle behind me.

I signalled, positioned my vehicle and started to turn. While turning and on what would have been the soft shoulder, a flash of yellow bolted towards me. I saw the underside of a yellow vehicle travelling on its two right wheels.

It hurtled into my car. It hit an area over the right front wheel, flew over the bonnet, continued on the same path then flipped on its two left wheels and somersaulted across the road, coming to rest on its top on the left side of the road.

The passenger in my car called the police. They were early on the scene. By that time onlookers had turned over the yellow car. Its driver appeared unhurt. Bystanders and the driver, who was travelling behind the yellow car, said that it was overtaking the white car behind me. The police took charge of the scene. They did not allow us to exchange words or documents.

I was taken to the May Pen Police Station. The other driver was told to go home and report the accident later. At the station I was handed a piece of paper with the particulars of the other driver. I believed that since the police had visited the scene they had collected information from the witnesses.

My insurers expressed surprise that the police took no statement from me. The police report was prepared without it. The other driver is now saying that I swerved into the road before him. His insurers say I am at fault. Can you please help me?

- IJ, May Pen PO, Clarendon.

Answer: Four weeks ago, I wrote in an article headlined "Why do men try to dominate women ..?" that female drivers are mistreated on our roads daily. I expected a flurry of responses - for and against. The lack of comments from readers left me quite puzzled. Perhaps the premise of the argument was wrong. Now, thanks to you, I have one more bit of evidence that supports my theory (and none against).

Protecting your rights

In your case, even the police, whose motto is to 'serve, protect and reassure' failed miserably to protect your rights.

The insurers' reps are incompetents. They should have known that the other driver was completely at fault. The physical evidence, that is, the damage to your car, plus the report you filed in graphic detail, should have been enough to indicate that you were not to blame.

They are ignorant of some of the basic things about driving and about the rules of overtaking. For example, that it is the duty of the driver of the overtaking vehicle to ensure that it is safe to pass other vehicles before trying to do so (see pages 11-12, of Cliff Hylton's The Jamaican Learner Driver's Guide and pages 13-15 and 41 of The Jamaican Road User's Guide).

Take steps to protect yourself. Pay a visit to the offices of your insurers. Tell them that the third party's insurers have said that you are at fault. Ask them to defend you under the terms of your policy.

Get written statements from the driver of the white car and your passenger and give them to your insurers. Take photos of the scene of the accident and to show the junction between the highway and Savannah Cross.

Your two goals will be to verify the accuracy of the statements you gave them and to show clearly that the driver of the yellow car broke the rules when he attempted to overtake your car. If you succeed, it should reduce the importance of the police report. Even though I have not seen it, I suspect that it was written to suit the interests of the other driver.

Not insured

Who provided the money to repair your car? If the driver of the yellow vehicle was insured, he and/or his insurers should have paid most of these costs. The information you supplied suggests a brazen attempt to mistreat you. The game plan was to stick you with those charges even though you were clearly not at fault.

In case you are involved in an accident in the future, please remember to obtain the name of the police officer and/or record the badge number that is worn over the right shirt pocket when you exchange details with the other driver.

Cedric E. Stephens provides free, independent information and advice about risk and insurance. Email: aegis@cwjamaica.com