[Editor's note, Apr. 27 5.30pm: The owner of the dark blue Kia Cerato reached out to Mothership to provide his account of the incident. The article has been updated.]
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There are loads of instances where motorists almost collide with each other.
What might be less of an everyday experience, however, is receiving an apology from the motorist at fault.
Such was the case for a driver named Syirah, who shared her experience with Mothership.
The close call took place at a multi-storey carpark in Tampines at about 8am on Apr. 25, 2022.
Syirah told Mothership that she was driving at about 10 km/h while making her way out of the carpark, when a dark blue Kia Cerato sped down a ramp into her lane.
She managed to stop her vehicle right on time, preventing a collision. Syirah then let the Kia driver pass first. He gestured an apology to Syirah from his seat and she waved back at him in acknowledgement.
Jolted by the near miss, Syirah nonetheless went about her day and proceeded to send her daughter to school. She came back home afterwards and parked her car at the same carpark.
A pleasant surprise
An apology letter on the windscreen of Syirah's car from her instastory. Photo by Syirah
In the afternoon, she headed out again to run some errands and found a note left under her windscreen wiper.
The note read:
"Hi! I am the driver of the dark blue Kia Cerato (S******), I'd like to apologise for earlier this morning (25/04). I was rushing off to my destination and didn't check the carpark's mirror properly before going down the ramp and as a result I almost hit you. I'll be more careful the next time and hope you won't take this to heart. My deepest apologies once again."
The owner of the car, Robyn Fong, reached out to Mothership and provided his perspective of the incident. He mentioned that he was driving slowly but he failed to check the carpark's blindspot mirror properly. This almost caused the collision with Syirah's car. Fong was thankful that Syirah was kind and gave way for him.
Fong also stressed that while he was sharing his point of view, it did not take away the fact that it was his mistake.
Courtesy is still alive
Part of an Instagram story about the incident on Syirah's Instagram profile. Photo by Syirah
"I was quite surprised to see the note because firstly, we didn't hit each other — so he could've gone about his day normally. Secondly, he actually remembered my car and took the effort to write that note which kind of made my day," recalled Syirah.
The experience reaffirmed Syirah's belief that there are people out there who will go out of their way to make a fellow motorist feel assured.
"I've seen many drivers on the road and most of the time, whenever a mistake occurs, no one wants to admit their fault. A simple apology can just be made and everyone can carry on well with their day," added Fong.
He further strengthened Syirah's point and mentioned that the world will be a better place if everyone can be kind to each other.
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Top photo courtesy of Syirah.