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Accident due to Human Error?
Part 4 of a series.
DAY 1.
After being stranded at the Sarangani Provincial Capitol for more than an hour, we were finally back on the road! Yee-haw! I really enjoyed the habal-habal ride, SO FAR. The wind was so cool and fresh! But then, a few minutes later, it started drizzling! Oh no! It was kinda “agonizing” as we were on a speeding motorcycle and we were going against the direction of the rain. That felt like thousands of needles pricking my skin! Ouch! Anyway, thankfully, the drizzle stopped a few kilometers after. Then, I asked Eric if we were near. He replied, we’re not halfway yet! What? The route from General Santos to the town proper Glan, Sarangani looked quite short on the map but it actually is 45 kilometers long! Yes, you read that right, FORTY-FIVE KILOMETERS on a MOTORCYCLE! So, from then on, I decided to just close my eyes and feel the cool breeze and forget about the number of kilometers. The highway was still mostly flat from Alabel to Malapatan, but from Malapatan to Glan, the road began to go uphill. It was a long and winding road! There were times that the road was on the cliffside and if you think about it, it’s hair-raising, but then, wonderful panoramic views of Sarangani Bay were the saving grace! Several kilometers later, we already found ourselves at the town center of Glan. I breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that the beach area was still ten kilometers away! Pfffft! From the town proper to Gumasa Beach, Eric and I started to notice that the motorcycle had difficulties going uphill. Manong Driver had to shift to the lowest gear and go very slow in order for us to climb the hills that were supposedly not that challenging. True enough, there was some BAD NEWS. It was only when we were experiencing difficulty that Manong Driver admitted his motorcycle brakes were not working properly but since we were already near, we had to go on! But despite that fact, Manong Driver still advanced his habal-habal to unimaginable speeds of more than 100kph! (That’s according to Eric’s GPS application). And here’s the unpleasant part…
Around three kilometers before we could finally reach Isla Jardin del Mar Resort in Gumasa Beach, there was this one tough and very steep downhill course we’d have to go through and Manong Driver was overspeeding! Manong Driver tried to hit the brakes and advised that we disembark the motorcycle (Manong Driver, are you crazy? You want us to jump?) but in no time, we found ourselves crawling on the ground. GAWSH, we slammed to the side of the road, which was thankfully just a soft hill of soil and dried mud or else, who knows how many broken bones we could be having now. I was shocked! I was in disbelief… I saw stars! Everything around me was all-white. Good thing, Eric rescued me right away but it took me quite a while to recover my presence of mind. The first thing I saw in addition to my exhaust pipe burns were additional wounds, bleeding wounds! Oh no, my ever-perfect legs (LOL!) are damaged! (MISFORTUNE #2) That was such a big thing for me as I’ve never sustained any injuries since birth. But looking at the bigger picture, the accident was minor and we are very thankful that we did not sustain any serious injuries and damages. Manong Driver was very apologetic but he also kept cursing his motorcycle, “P*tang ina, ‘di nag-brake! P*tang ina! P*tang ina!”
After that misfortune, we could have FIRED the driver but then we were in the middle of NOWHERE! No houses, no cellphone signal, no nothing! So we had no other option but to stick with our Manong Driver until we reach Isla Jardin del Mar..
A shot of the wounds I sustained a few hours after the accident. The wounds at the left side are the ones I got from the “downhill” accident, while those at the right side are the burns I got from the “tambutso” misfortune. Although the downhill accident was definitely more “traumatic”, the burns were more painful, LOL, how ironic!
(…to be continued)
Ron
August 5, 2010 at 1:19 am
grabeh experience mo sinjin… kasakit sa paso sa tambutso..
glad your ok now though…:)
Kristine
August 5, 2010 at 10:11 am
OMG SINJIN. Those burns are nastyyyy!! That driver was crazy to go overspeeding when he knew that the brakes were messed up. OH WELL. Oo nga, you dont have a choice.
I hope youre okay though and to think I just saw you earlier!