It was the fourth day of our Balkans trip. Unfortunately it isn't always lovely things and great times. With mishaps one after another and beyond-terrible roads, and on top of it all having our first accident, we had a really hard time. We decided to write this post about a car accident abroad, so that what we went through both before and after the accident can serve as a guide for those going from now on. We'll try to tell you, including the details as far as we remember them.
Skopje
On our Balkans route we'd explored Skopje and turned our route towards Durmitor National Park, a nature park in the north of Montenegro. Both when planning the route and on the road, the navigation I'd set was taking us to Montenegro via Serbia. Naturally, when I looked, since this was the shortest way, we thought let's go this way. Of course, before that we'd arrived in Pristina from Skopje after a 95-kilometre journey. Since it was evening, we decided to set off towards Montenegro after eating. By the way, Kosovo is incredibly cheap for food and drink. Anyone going can go without hesitation. We don't want to put ourselves off food by saying look where our love of food took us, but the story began like this :)
Kosovo
The navigation we set from Pristina was taking us through Mitrovica, across the Brnjak border into Serbia, and then into Montenegro. Of course we set the route to this border crossing ahead of us and carried on. At the Brnjak border we passed the first check, but at the second check, just as we thought we'd carry on, they told us to pull the car over. Because our passports had a Kosovo stamp, we weren't allowed through this border crossing. Shock, shock! Naturally, in the shock of the moment we didn't know what to do.
We'd booked a hotel to stay in Montenegro that night. After we explained our problem, they gave us a printed map and said we could get where we wanted through the Rožaje border crossing, going via Mitrovica, Istog and Peja. By the way, the Serbian police didn't let us through the border, but they tried really hard to help; let's give them their due on that.
Kosovo - Mitrovica
We first set our route by typing Istog into the navigation. We'd reach Istog after 56 kilometres, but getting there took almost 2 hours. The reason? A dangerous mountain road full of holes, stones and rocks! It was an incredibly hard road. Even though it took us 1 hour to get through the 25-kilometre part of the road in particular, we felt lucky to have got off it safe and sound. We were literally on a mountain road in a landslide zone, without lights or villages. We couldn't believe how the road had suddenly turned like this. If we'd had a car accident abroad in a place like this, if something had happened to the car, nobody would have found us!
Kosovo - Istog
Ditches in the road aside, lots of rocks had also fallen onto the road. A real landslide zone. And it was so dark that all sorts of things went through our minds! There was neither a sign at the entrance to this mountain road nor any warning.
Just as we were happily carrying on, saying we'd got through this part and didn't have much road left, on the Mitrovica - Peja M9 road the car in front of me signalled right and slowed right down. To avoid getting any closer, I slowed down and moved into the left lane. By the way, the roads are single-lane (1 each way). When I was just 50 metres from passing the car, it suddenly signalled left and turned left at the same moment. Since I had nowhere to escape to, even though I braked we couldn't avoid colliding with the car. The car dragged us along!
We went into the yard of a house by the road and only stopped 2 metres from the house. With an accident added to everything piling up, believe me, I lived through one of the hardest moments of my life. That it happened abroad made me feel helplessness to the bone. That's briefly how our car accident happened. We were both fine, and the people in the other car had no problems either. Now for what came next..
The people in the house where we crashed and in the nearby houses woke up and came down. We found 1-2 people we could speak English with. They called the police straight away, and we started waiting for the police. Berna was very scared, and I'll admit I was very scared too. I know I wasn't at fault, but you're in a different country, and explaining yourself is even harder. We were very anxious about what the police would do! The hardest part of having an accident abroad, the procedures, was starting. And we weren't even halfway through the holiday we'd planned.
The police came and took the necessary measurements with the instruments they'd brought for measuring braking distance, sketched the scene and added it to the report, and of course took photos. Meanwhile one of the officers came over to us and said, "We're going to the police station; there's no need to be afraid, we can see you're the victims. But for things to be resolved and the documents to be approved, you need to stay in Peja, also called İpek, until tomorrow."
Kosovo - Peja
At the police station they welcomed us very warmly. They said the other side was at fault and that there was nothing we could have done. The police report was ready within half an hour. The police officer, Efraim abi, was very helpful to us. Efraim abi said the report could only be approved the next day. Bless him, he was a great help to us that night.
In Peja he took us to a hotel and did all he could so we could rest. He said he'd pick us up the next morning and we'd sort out the remaining procedures. He helped us pull ourselves together, advising us that this wasn't an accident that would end our holiday and that we should gather ourselves and rest. I was truly grateful we'd come out safe and sound. We weren't in a state to get down or dwell on it.
And here was someone who, though he was on the night shift and should have gone home the next morning to rest, came to us first to help and took us to the other side's insurance agency :) Meanwhile, in case there was a problem with translation, he brought an imam he knew in town who could speak Turkish to help us. You're great, Efraim abi! :)
Such a bad event abroad could only be got through this well thanks to these lovely people. These lovely people did all they could to make us forget the accident. To finish the repairs before we set off, he took us to his friend, the mechanic Cafer Usta, too.
We were ready to hit the road! With many thanks and greetings to them..
Finally, in case you have an accident abroad, let's list the documents you need to declare to the insurance company:
- Insurance: green card insurance, or short-term traffic insurance you can get at the country's customs gate
- Comprehensive insurance (not compulsory, but in your favour if you have it)
- Photos of the scene and the car
- Police report
- Vehicle registration and driving licence
- Accident statement
After about 3 months of emailing with the Siguria company, based on the invoice for the repair I had done in Turkey, they paid the amount into my account in euros. On this, the contribution of Kosovo, especially the Peja police, was huge. We thank them endlessly once again!
75 km
76 km
174 km