Monthly Musings: March 2016

An overview of opinions and observations for the month.

Crash Claims Checklist

Crashes; they're like breakdowns - they happen when you least expect, when you're at your worst, and at the most inconvenient moment. Then again, when is a convenient moment to be involved in an accident?

Being involved in an RTA (Road Traffic Accident) can be a very traumatic and distressing situation, even more so once you become entangled in a complex and lengthy claims process afterwards. The claims industry is a minefield, with insurance companies being hyper vigilant to ensure they are not being exploited by fraudsters, or unnecessarily covering costs that should be handled by the third party. This can be frustrating for an innocent driver who is already inconvenienced and disadvantaged by the situation, perhaps even injured, and feels they are being forced to jump through hoops for the compensation they are entitled too.

The UK is the third largest insurance industry in the world, and the largest in the EU, and yet insurance companies are not as flush as the general population think, especially when you consider the following statistics:

• In 2014 the UK motor insurance market made a £31,000,000 underwriting loss.
• The UK motor insurance market hasn't made an underwriting profit since 1994.
• In 2015 £1,300,000,000 was detected in fraudulent claims.
• In 2015 £14,560,000,000 was paid out for motor and property claims.
• In 2015 £370,000,000 was paid out for travel insurance claims.
• In 2014 £12,000,000,000 was paid to the UK Government in taxes.
• The average bodily injury claim is over £10,000.

These tips should help to minimise the confusion and speed up the time of settling a claim:

1. Collect the other drivers details including their full name, address, telephone number, vehicle details such as registration, make and model, and also their insurance details such as company and policy number.


2. Take photographic evidence to assist the insurance company with proving who was at fault. Ensure the photos display vehicle positioning (over white lines, in the wrong lane, mounted kerbs); the damage to the vehicles (bumpers, lights, windows, body panels); any property damage in the area (walls, fences, bollards); the area of the collision (hills, blind corners, roundabouts); the weather (fog/glare/flooding).


3. Record witness details where possible of anybody present who can validate your side of the story. Ensure you record the total number of passengers in both vehicles (to prevent exaggerated personal injury claims), and ask if anybody is injured. If any passenger claims to be injured, call the police to attend the scene. Collect names, addresses and telephone numbers of passengers, and record the details of any emergency services who attend the scene of the incident.


4. Offer the other driver your insurance details. If you have an accident card supplied from your insurer the provide this for their reference, otherwise advise the third party of your insurer name, policy number and contact number.


5. Report the claim yourself. Always ensure you report the claim in a timely manner, as some insurers may demand an increased excess if the claim is not reported within a short window (often 24hrs). Provide the insurance claims company with the vehicle details, registration and your policy number.

Apologies, a CIS.

I am a CIS white male, which instantly makes me feel like the enemy in uncharted waters. I am pro LGBT. My mother is a lesbian and I was raised by both her and her fiancee. I attend Pride annually. I have LGBT friends. My first ever long term girlfriend is now lesbian. I am not speaking on this subject from a completely ignorant point of perspective.

I appreciate that people who identify as transgender are often socially ostracised or harassed with invasive and overly personal questions when it comes to their choices, preferences and physical attributes. I wish to extend a branch, and apologise for every time the naive ignorance of a CIS has offended. I find CIS are always at a disadvantage now where these types of dialogue are concerned, similarly to discussions on feminism; the whole: if you aren't "one of us" then you're "one of them" philosophy and mentality.

Speaking personally, I find trans a very intriguing demographic; primarily since it's still largely in it's infancy in terms of social acceptance and awareness. CIS do not intend to overreach with their questions or their seemingly invasive "prying"; they are just bewildered by a concept that is alien to them. It's never the intention to make trans uncomfortable, or to invade their personal space. It's simply because the whole notion of transness seems so unrelatable. CIS seek a point of reference, a definitive common element of what motivates transition. And this is usually the part where CIS overstep and offend.

I see similarities in how religions are questioned, and how race and culture are challenged, how back when it was still deemed "taboo", homosexuality was dissected by the masses. It's not a wish to humiliate, belittle or offend anybody. It really is just people digging beneath the surface in a bid to better understand something that is new to them. Something that defies the social norms and convention they've been spoonfed their entire life.

CIS do not want to be the enemy; the connotations of being "CIS" already carry an ugly association with ignorance. CIS and the LGBT community need to stop differentiating and begin to transition into identifying as one and the same. As long as there are explicit divisions in terminology and demographics, with invisible lines drawn between us, then we will never be able to coexist in harmony and happiness.

I Am Me

I am a little bit of emptiness, a fragment of incompleteness.

A patchwork life of experiences, of memories and regrets.

I am the one who has created magic, and also orchestrated tragedy.

I am the shadows, the darkness that smothers and consumes everything it touches, tainting it and leaving it broken and hollow.

I am also the cleansing fire that ignites like gunpowder, inspiring and enchanting, teasing out the deepest beauty in those around me.

I am equilibrium, balance, harmony; the chaos and the order.

The perfect imperfection.

I am the one that has hated my reflection to the extent that I've held a razor blade against the delicate fragile skin of my wrist, and pushed it down just enough to feel the adrenaline flood my system and know how simply it could be over.

How easily I could escape.

But I am also the very same one who set that razor down, who looked at that hateful face staring back, the one with the burning look of disgust, and vowed to be better.

To overcome it.

To not give up on me.

I am the Rubik's cube; the 6 conflicting sides, colours blurred together in a rainbow of confusion.

Hate and love, elation and sorrow, pride and regret.

I am the ideal recipe for self destruction and resurrection.

The phoenix that rises from the ashes of it's own demise.

I am the sunshine that illuminates the shade, yet the rain that drowns the happiness.

I'm the high achieving academic success.

The one with the determination and perseverance.

I am the survivor; the one who refuses to concede defeat.

I am the one who got his degree, who finished University; the one who secured a stable job he enjoys.

I am the high functioning addict that let cocaine financially ruin him through ignorance and arrogance.

I am also the guy that battled through recovery and abstinence, and sacrificed his social circle to not relapse.

I am the one who repeatedly has his heart broken, and yet still yearns deep down for love, who won't turn his back on the potential for a taste of honest romance.

I am the emotionally fractured one that takes risks for those moments of connection and contentedness, however fleeting.

I am the one who yearns solitude, then detests being alone.

I am the father who fought for his child, who was willing to move mountains to be reunited with her, refusing to allow any obstacle to restrain him.

I am control.

I am the constant.

I am the one who shapes the world around me.

I am the virus and also the vaccine.

The problem and the solution.

I am the one holding the pen that defines the chapters of my biography; the storyteller, the destiny deciding, omnipotent presence.

I am the artist, drawing those playful strokes across the canvas of my life, creating a masterpiece of magnificent insignificance.

I am the haunting soliloquy that you hate to relate too.

I am evolution.

I am whole.

I am who I am meant to be at this very moment in time.

I am me, and I am okay with that.