Recently in Cars Category

Worst one ever encountered.

I parked my car overnight at the open air carpark opposite Jessie's place and the amount of bird shit which rained down on my car was amazing. Judging by the uniform colour and highly-liquefied nature of the mess, there is no doubt that the birds have diarrhea.

I could not bring myself to take a close-up picture. Neither am I cleaning it up.

I believe there will be rain over the next few days.

Alvin, my ex-NS friend called today.

Alvin: Chris. My new car has a problem, where do I go to fix it?
Me: You tell me what car you bought.
Alvin: Integra Type-R. 5 years COE left.
Me: Wah 2-door sports car!
Alvin: You? Never change car?
Me: Haha, my car is a 3-door now. Previously I was driving a 4-door.
Alvin: Change to what car?
Me: Never change car at all.
Alvin: Then how it became a 3-door?
Me: Because my rear left door isn't working. Since like 2 years ago.
Alvin: Haha. Damage the other rear door also.
Me: Then it will become a 2-door like yours!

As drivers, we're used to seeing pedestrians jaywalk all the time. They cross half of the road, stand at the center divider waiting for the car to pass, before crossing the other half. We have no issue with that, just as long the pedestrian has common sense to cross the road quickly or wait for us to pass.

This evening, I was sending Jessie home. There was a slight drizzle a while ago, so the roads were pretty wet.

We were traveling along Tampines Street 11. An old man was standing at the center divider. He was looking in my direction and it was clear that he saw my car coming. No other non-suicidal pedestrian would cross the road at this point of time and I did not expect him to cross.

I was so wrong.

He had absolutely no sense of urgency and strolled (yes, strolled) across the road right in front of my car. I was only traveling at 30 km/h, so instead of swerving and avoiding him, I slammed on my brakes. And I forgot that I was driving an old car powered by ancient technology.

The steering wheel locked up and the car skidded along the wet road. I freaking froze! Jessie froze as well. The car stopped just short of the old man, inches away from hitting him.

He glared at us angrily. He had absolutely no idea that he was so close to seeing his parents today.

I wound down the window and yelled at him at the top of my voice.

He is the craziest pedestrian I have ever met and I have never come this close to hitting someone with my car. He may be able to pull this stunt off today, but I guarantee you that this idiot's luck will run out one day and he'll be dead in no time.

Thank you Wen Jie for the soft toy.

This is the spermobile!

I received a text message from Glenn, when I was having a project discussion in the reading room with Jessica, William and Wenjie.

Apparently, I had forgotten to switch off my headlights. I went back to the carpark. The headlights were pathetically dim by then and the headlights were left on only for 45 minutes.

I tried to start the car but there were only clicking noises. I knew I needed someone to help me push the car. So I called Wenjie for help. He came all the way down to the carpark with William and Jessica.

While I was sitting in the car trying to crank the engine, William and Wenjie were both pushing from behind. The car still failed to start (when it would normally have). I guess it's time to change my dying car battery.

Wenjie connecting the jump-start cables to William's car.

In the end we managed to jump-start the car with the help of William's car battery.

I'm extremely grateful they were there to help. Otherwise I would have to wait for my dad to come in the evening.

Parking Ticket 100809.

I assumed that parking was free at Bedok Food Centre on a public holiday.

Wen Jie gave me two tips to determine which kind of carpark requires parking coupons on public holidays :

1. The carpark is next to a popular dining spot.
2. Or if the parking signboard is lit up at night.

I was traveling along Alexandra road, very much cautious after the accident on Friday.

A lorry, just in front of me, swerved from the left to the right lane. Instinctively, I slowed down. From under the lorry's rear tires, the corpse of a very fat grey bird got thrown out towards my car. The size of the bird freaked me out so much, that I grabbed the steering wheel hard.

In less than a split-second, I ran over the bird. Two consecutive loud thuds coming from the left tires and the car shook (as if I just ran over a speed hump). It was the biggest bird I've ever ran over. Looking through the rear mirror, I could see feathers all over the road.

Something is really really wrong with my luck.

Involving a taxi.

Smashed signal light, dented bonnet and bumper.

Front left bumper.

My first accident in almost 5 years of driving. I was at Bukit Merah Central when I had a minor front-to-rear collision with taxi. The taxi in front of me at the junction braked very hard at the junction to avoid a speeding car. I was looking out for traffic coming from the right, didn't notice the stationary taxi and ended up accelerating into it.

I was furious (which was very unreasonable of me) when I got out of the car.

Me : Huh?! Why did you jam brake?!
Taxi driver : If I didn't brake, I would have hit the car already.

Then I realized that there was nothing much to discuss about. The fault was mine. I apologized and exchanged particulars with the driver. Apparently there were only minor scratches on his bumper, while the front left part of my car was in a mess. The taxi driver checked if his boot was working, then told me that he wasn't going to claim anything. Just to be safe, I filed a report the next morning.

[ Update : 291009 ]

Taxi's bumper.

I have made a report and submitted the photos of the taxi's bumper, of which only the bumper sensor was slightly cracked.

The taxi driver assured me that he would not file any claims since the damage was very minor. Guess what? I received a letter yesterday.

Claims Letter 291009.

I'm not paying $1,440 for a cracked bumper sensor and I'm contesting those claims. Luckily, Jessie's mum has tons of experience with car insurance companies and offered her help.

I made a very big mistake by taking his words for granted. I should have written it down (black and white) and got the both of us to sign.

I have heard a lot of stories about overinflated and double claims in accidents involving taxis, but have never expected something of this nature to occur to me.

[ Update : 110210 ]

The $1,440 claim for his taxi reverse sensors got through, together with other loss-of-use claims. One would expect the incident to end there.

No. The cunning taxi driver decided to push things further.

Almost 7 months after the accident, the taxi driver filed a bodily injury claim against me.

Bodily Injury Claim.

If you scroll up and look through the pictures, you too, would find it very suspicious that the taxi driver has suffered any form of bodily injury.

The man was dressed in white, standing behind the bus stop, looking at the video camera mounted on a tripod.

He even smiled at me as I drove past him.

I think the fine is a 3 digit figure.

[ Update : 090609 ]

Called LTA up this morning to check on the status of my appeal. The phone operator congratulated me on a successful appeal and advised me to wait for an official letter.

I had submitted the appeal two weeks ago via Contact Us @ One.Motoring.

The letter is as follows :

Appeal Against Notice Of Traffic Offence (Notice No: XXXXXXXXXXX)

Dear Sir / Madam,

I would like to appeal against my Notice Of Traffic Offence. I received the Notice Of Traffic Offence on XXXXXXX. The bus lane violation was recorded on XXXXXXX and the notice no is XXXXXXXX. The place and time of offence is : Sims Avenue Btw Kallang Rd & Sims Way at 0646PM.

I fully understand and have been complying to bus lane regulations until this unfortunate incident on 16 April 2009.

It was my first time traveling to Sims Avenue to meet an ex-colleague for dinner. As I was unfamiliar with the road, I had to seek directions from my friend prior to my trip. I was told to "filter left" one junction after passing Kallang MRT on my left. Upon crossing the junction, I noticed that there were dotted red and yellow lines on the floor, which indicated I could switch lanes. As I proceeded to switch lanes and prepare to filter left, I made sure that the road behind was clear of buses and clearly signaled my intention to turn left. It was only after I switched lanes that I realized I could not filter left until after the bus stop. The lines had begun to turn solid and I was not able to turn out in time due to the congested traffic on my right.

Attached is a picture taken of the spot where I was not able to switch lanes in time to avoid the bus lane.

It is not my intention to violate bus lane rules, but rather it was a genuine mistake on my part.

I would kindly request that you may consider a review on my case on the following basis :
1. It was my first time driving through Sims Avenue and I thought I could filter left just before the solid lines. The congestion made it impossible to see the road ahead on the left of my car.
2. I believe that throughout the entire footage captured, my left signal light was on. It indicates that I genuinely wanted only to filter left and not cause congestion to the buses behind.
3. It is my first offence and it would be my last.

Your understanding would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me at XXXXXXXX if you need further clarifications.

My details are as follows :

NRIC : XXXXXXXX
Car License Plate : XXXXXXX

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When I came down from Jessie's flat on a Sunday morning, I was surprised to find a parking ticket beneath the car wiper.

I had a valid night coupon placed on the dashboard of my car. Moreover, my car was parked in a white lot.

Still, I got a parking ticket for parking without a valid season ticket.

My car was parked in a white lot.

Parking ticket.

I have no idea why.

[ Update 160409 ]

The above notice was issued to vehicle SBT XXXX on 05.04.2009 at about 12:55am, when it was found parked at reserved lot no.267 in Car Park T3 at Blks 109 - 114 Tampines St 11 without displaying a valid season parking.

Due to the demand by residents for parking lots, we have reserved a number of parking lots for season parking only. These reserved lots are demarcated in red. However, to optimise the use of parking lots in the car park, we have retained some coupon parking lots for visitors. Visitors can park their vehicles in these lots, which are painted in white and display sufficient parking coupon(s).

We have looked into your appeal. In view of your explanation and the circumstances, we will exercise flexibility and waive the notice this time. Hence, we seek your co-operation to observe all the prevailing parking rules when using HDB car parks in future.

I hope this post will help those with old car stickers to remove.

I decided to remove the Honda Civic sticker on my boot.

See that sticker under the Honda logo?

I had already removed all the other stickers a year ago. Just one last sticker left!

This sticker is a pain in the ass :

1. It has been on the car for 18 years.
2. It tears off in small pieces.
3. The gum stains were extremely hard to remove. I tried scraping them off but they just wouldn't come off completely.

I read all sorts of articles advising on the use of hair dryers to heat up the stickers (risk damaging the car paint), WD40, nail polish remover, acetone and stuff like that. The hardware store was closed by the time I got home. I decided to use :

1. A plastic ruler.
2. A piece of foam eraser (the ones used to erase pencil markings).

Pilot eraser and plastic ruler.

Step 1 : Using the edge of the plastic ruler, scrape the edge of sticker lightly but rapidly. Try to get as much sticker build-up as possible.
Step 2 : Whenever you are able to get a grip on the edge of the sticker, pull it off gently. Try to get as much of the sticker off at one go.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all of the sticker is gone, leaving behind the gum stains. Forget about scraping the stickers off, it'll be much faster peeling them off.

Step 3 : Using the eraser, rub as hard as you can on the ugly gum stains. I was surprised at how easily they came off.

The Honda Civic sticker is gone. No more gum stains as well.

[ Update : 160209 ]

Keizo suggested using Zippo fluid, a method frequently used by photographers and design students.

Insurgent ants.

Early this morning, I saw what looked like dead ants all over the roof of my car.

I shoved one of them with the tip of my finger. It woke up, scampered around, and woke up the nearby ants, all which seemed dazed and confused. I didn't have time to spray water all over my car, so I drove off, hoping that the ants would be blown away by the wind.

Nothing happened. They remained on the surface of the car, crawling through the cracks of the window into the car, then into the air-con vent. FUCK! And were all gone after a while, probably hiding in the cracks.

Fogging.

When I reached home, there was routine fogging going on at the car park. I couldn't ask the guy to fog the inside of my car, but I figured out that the genocide would be brutal enough if I parked in the thick fog. With the skies dark and cloudy, I am expecting a glorious victory.

They can run, they can hide. They know that they're surrounded. The nerve gas and heavy rainfall will eventually drive these insurgents out of their caves.

[ Update - 11:27 PM ]

Fuck it. Nothing worked. The moment the air-con was switched on, the ants started pouring out of the vents and Jessie had a lot of smacking to do.

I'm considering borrowing an anteater from the zoo. Preferably a very hungry one.

Next time when you go to Serangoon Gardens to dine at Chomp Chomp, try not to park outside the terrace houses even though you're not obstructing their way.

I parked opposide Liquid Kitchen weeks back and I think somebody dialed hotline. The letter came yesterday, another $70 gone. Thats worth a lot of BBQ stingray!

Jessie added more stripes to my car...

My first car.

Thanks Dad!