I take motos everyday. I'm out on the streets of Phnom Penh everyday. I've seen a lot of accidents. People with banged up motos yelling at each other....slightly injured people standing at the side of the road. There are four FATALITIES a day in the city from motor vehicle accidents. It seems unbelievable till you've driven here. Then you understand. And you pray to God for safety everytime you go anywhere.
I usually wear a helmet. It wrecks my hair and is hot and sweaty but I usually wear it. Not on Tuesday. I was distracted when I walked out the door and too lazy to go back up the 500 stairs to get it once I was at the gate and realized I'd forgotten it. Oh well. No big deal right?
Intersection of Mae Tse Tung Blvd and Monivong Blvd. Traffic is slow going through the intersection.....I'm annoyed until I see why. A girl...probably only 14 or 15 had been hit by a big Lexus. She had no helmet on. She was just lying there in the middle of the street. Lifeless. Eyes rolled back in her head. Blood coming from her head. You'd think that seeing a possibly dead body would be tramatizing enough. But it wasn't the lifeless girl's body that was the most disturbing....it was the fact that no one was stopping or doing anything to help. No one was seeing if she had a pulse. No one giving CPR. I saw one guy with a phone. That was it. The driver of the Lexus drove away. Tears running down my face as my moto driver whizzed on by...NOT even a second glance from him. All I could do was pray and ask God to spare her life. To work a miracle. To get her to a decent hospital. Oh Jesus.
That is the reality of life here. Life is not valued. It's harsh. Tragic. Sickening. I've lived in Cambodia for almost two years now but this is something I will never get used to.
I just keep wondering where that girl is. Did she die? Who is her family? Who was she? Just a girl on her way to school most likely.
I didn't wear my helmet on Tuesday.
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