事故に巻き込まれちゃった。夕方、YMCAに行った息子を迎えに行く途中。4台の玉突き事故（写真は後ろの3台。青いのが私で2台目。1台目め写っておらず）。けが人はなし。私のすぐ前の車（１台目）が、特に渋滞しているわけでもないし、信号があるわけでもないし、とにかく何の理由もなく急に止まったので、あわててブレーキを踏んで、なんとか間に合った！と思った瞬間、ドンと後ろから追突され、その弾みで前にドン。前の車の女のひとがすぐに降りてきて、運転免許を出せというので、そっちのも見せてよといったら、不服そうにしている。追突するほうがいつも悪いとはいうものの、この人が何の理由もなく、忙しい大通りで急に停止するのが一番の元凶と思うけど、彼女はまったく反省する向きナシ。その態度に頭にきたけど、とりあえず後ろの人が一番悪いだろうから、そっちを退治しようと戦う気マンマン（？）で向かっていったら、4台目（一番後ろ）の車から降りてきた女の人が降りるなり、「すいません。全部私が悪いのです。」ときた。アメリカでこの一言はまったくの想定外だったので、びっくり。でも、彼女曰く、自分（4台目）が前の車（3台目）にぶつかり、それが私の車(2台目）にぶつかり、私が一番前の車にぶつかったというわけ。I was involved in a car accident. In the evening, on the way to YMCA to pick up my son. 4 cars involved. The picture shows the last three(#2, #3, #4). The blue one is mine (#2). NO INJURIES. The one ahead of me (#1) simply stopped without any conceivable reason (no congestion, no traffic lights, no nothing) right in the middle of the busy road. I stepped on my brake and stopped just in time. Then I felt this shock from behind which pushed me forward to hit #1. A lady came out of the car #1 and asked me for a driver's license. I asked her for one too, which she was not too happy about. In her head, always the one behind is at fault. I would agree, but still what she did was completely out of common sense. Anyway after I noted her driver's license and insurance company, I decided to work on the driver of the last car (#4), since that was where this accident started. As soon as I approached her, she said, "I am so sorry, it's ALL my fault." I was not expecting these words at all in the middle of litigious Los Angeles county, so I was in a (nice) shock. She admitted that she (#4) hit #3,that made #3 hit me (#2) and that made me hit #1.
これは3台目で、2台のSUVに前と後ろからつぶされて、ボンネットも後部トランクもぐっちゃり。ところでいつも運転しているとき、「事故にあったとき携帯を携帯していなかったりすると面倒だろうなあ。」とよく思うのだけれど、今日はまさにソレ。しかも私はYMCAに息子を迎えにいく途中。息子はYMCAで待っているし、娘は家でひとり留守番させたまま。人に電話を借りて息子の携帯に電話するも、応答なし。現場検証は少しかかりそうで、にっちもさっちもいかない。おまわりさんに頼んで、車で乗っけていってもらって子どもを連れてこようかと思ったけど、カリフォルニアでは12歳以下の子どもをひとりで留守番させるのは違法なので、これは面倒なことになると思い断念。結局、おまわりさんの承諾を得て、徒歩でYMCAまで行って息子を事故現場まで連れ帰り、息子の携帯でお友達に電話して娘を確保してもらうことにした。
4代目の女性がすんなり非を認めたので、調書は30分足らずで完成。最初は当事者同士英語で話していたけれど、そのうち私が息子に日本語で話しているのを聞いた3代目の高校生らしいあんちゃん（きれいな英語を話していた）が、完璧な敬語で、「日本人でいらっしゃいますか？」 彼は日本人でした。4代目の女性も日系アメリカ人であることが判明。忙しい中こんな事故に巻き込まれてみんないやな思いをしたろうに、口論もそしりあいもまったくなく、スムーズに調書作成に至ったこと、とくに4代目の女性が降りるなり謝ったことが、とても新鮮でうれしかった。しいていうなら、1台目の女性（ヒスパニック系）が、「自分はまるで悪くない」路線だったのでむかついたけれど。ちょっと国粋主義的に聞こえるかもしれないけれど、日本の「わが身を省みる心」、「素直に非を認める心」が、きっとアメリカ生まれであろうあの日本の苗字を持つ女性の中に生きていたことが、これから日系アメリカ人となっていくわが子たちの将来を思うとき、光を注いでくれた気がする。わたしの車はバンパーの破損だけで済んだのでそのまま帰宅できました。
Shown in the above picture is the car #3. It was sandwiched between two SUV's and crushed on both front end and rear end. You know, when I drive, I always think about how inconvenient it would be if you happen to forget to carry a cell phone on that particular day. That exactly happened today. Furthermore, I was on the way to YMCA to pick up my boy. I had my boy waiting for me to come at YMCA. I had my daughter at home waiting, who believed I would be back in less than 10 minutes. I called my boy's cell, using somebody's cell. No answer. It looked it was going to take some time before the police was done with making a report. My car was stuck on the spot. What do I do? I though of telling the officer about those two kids, and asking him to drive to YMCA and home to fetch them. But I remembered that it is illegal to leave a child below 13 alone at home in California, so I decided not to go with the option. After all I got a permission to leave the spot for 10 minutes, walk to YMCA and come back with my boy to the spot. Using his cell, I called a friend to see my daughter at home.
Since the lady in car #4 admitted her fault right away, the report was done smoothly in 30 minutes. At first, those involved were all speaking in English to each other, but when the young man in car #3 heard me talking to my boy in Japanese, he, who was completely fluent in English, asked me whether I was Japanese in a perfect polite form of Japanese. He was Japanese, and it turned out the lady in the car #4 was Japanese American. Even though everybody had right to be a little irritated or frustrated with this kind of accident during busy hours, everybody waited patiently without any argument or finger-pointing for the finish of police report. Especially the fact that the lady in the car #4 admitted her fault (and even apologized!) right away was refreshing after 14 years in this country. Witnessing that principles of self-reflecting and fault-admitting in good old Japan are living in this lady who has a Japanese last name but was probably born in this country, brought me hope when I think of the path ahead of our two young kids who are also growing to be Japanese American. After the report was done, I was able to drive my car home, since the damages were only on bumpers.
