to be

This morning, I was in my car, sending my two younger girls to school. It was about 7.10am on PIE towards Changi, before BKE exit. The road was wet. I was in Lane 2. There was another light coloured car, bigger than mine, most cars are, 1-2 meters ahead of me in Lane 1. A big motorcycle, about 750cc maybe, was on my right. It overtook my car, and was just about to overtake the light coloured car, when he appeared to brake suddenly and drop on my side of the lane. It was too late to stop. In fact I didn't have time to think about stopping. I swerved a little to the left to avoid the motorbike. I felt the front wheel of my car went over something about the size of a man's clenched fist (about the SIZE OF, I'm quite sure it's not the man's clenched fist).

"Ya Allah! Ya Allah!" I drove on, in a daze, shocked. When I looked through my rear view mirror, I saw that the cars were almost coming to a stop and slowly avoiding the motorcyclist.

Nadhrah beside me was also in shock. She let out a few big sighs. All along the way, as I drove slowly, I was arguing with myself in my head that I should have stopped, but how could I have stopped further down on the expressway? And I couldn't just make a U-turn. And there was heavy traffic on the other side. I kept on driving.

By the time we reached school, I had calmed myself down and my girls too. I was quite sure the rider did not suffer any major injuries. He was not fast, he did not skid far, he was not hit. He just dropped.

I went back, hoping to see nothing on the road where it happened just now. Before I reached the spot that is on the other side of the road, I saw an ambulance passing. It didn't seem to be in a hurry. Then, at the spot, I saw a tow truck and 1 or 2 lanes closed. I got worried. I wasn't sure what I should do.

Be a civic minded person for heaven's sake! I SAW what happened, maybe the guy is unconscious and the family wants to know what happened. What if something worse happened after I left? Surely they want to know from a 1st witness. I was not at peace. But what if I have to go down to the station? I don't have that much leave to apply for. This is not right. I should listen to my heart and my conscience. I should just shut up and call.

I called Traffic Police Hotline and got the investigating officer's number. I called him to inform him that I was at the scene and to check on the motorcyclist condition.

"PIE got 3 accidents, which one?" he asked. The one with the motorcyclist. He said there were 2. I said the one that's about 7.10am before BKE. He said, "Oh, that one, motorcycle skidded and drop." Then how's the motorcyclist? The officer said that he was brought to hospital. For minor injuries? Yes, he said. The officer asked, 'you just want to check if he is in hospital is it? Yes he was brought to the hospital.' I said, "If there was an injury, I thought you would want to investigate further. Don't you have any questions to ask me?" He told me to leave my name, number and IC number. He would call me if he requires any more information.

Hopefully he doesn't, because the motorcyclist only had minor injuries and is now resting. Ameen.