i was in a nifty car accident tonight. van full of teenage kids decdies it wants to make a left turn, from the middle lane. they hit the brakes and come across in front of me, in the left lane. (we're both going the same direction)....i slammed on the brakes, but still plowed into the back of them. caravan rear hatches are quite soft, apparently, as it crumpled and blew the back window of the van all over the hood of my truck. i began to skid sideways after the impact, and i thought i was gonna roll(coilovers=lotsa body roll)...i cranked the wheel into the skid, unlocked the brakes, and saved it...not patting myself on the back there, just impressed that i did it as well and as quickly as i did. cops arrived, and took the report. get this, it's gonna be my fault since i did the hitting, whether they made an unsafe/illegal lane change or not...no witnesses, of course.
no injuries to me or the occupants in the van, luckily....here's the redeeming part of this... at least it is to me, we'll see what the insurance says...other than some paint loss, not a bit of damage on the front of my truck...my bumper, which is connected to my engine cage, which is connected to the rest of the truck's cage, DID NOT BUDGE!!!! no repairs necessary to my truck....other than a little touch up spray paint...ya gotta like that.
moral of the story, you ask??...be careful, cuz there are idiot drivers out there, and even though they [I have been warned] up, it may end up as your fault in the eyes of the law....
p.s. here's a pic of the bumper (battering ram? ), before it was painted
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that sucks gary!! did you try and find any skid marks that would prove those A$$holes swerved into your lane, then where/when you locked your brakes up? i really hate bad drivers with a pation, they piss me off, slow drivers also get me going too...
Hey gary I was there I saw the whole thing, what do you mean no witnesses??
J/K sorry bro that really sucks, hope the insurance people see it differently. Just out of curiosity, what did the other driver say? Sorry? omit guilt? anything?
Don't give up. If it goes as your fault, your rates will go up for years to come. There should be no question that when someone comes into your lane it is there fault unless it can be PROVED that you could have avoided it and willfully did not.
Shhhh&#%&*T!!! - I hear you on the bad driver/not your fault thing. A couple years ago I was going straight through an intersection on a green light. A car coming from the oposite direction tried to make a quick left hand turn in front of me while they were waiting in the interection. Needless to say they were not quick enough.
My front bumper took its toll on the left rear portion of their vehicle while there were no damages to my truck/bumper, but get this... they ended up SUEING me!!! Those SONS OF B%$&#^S!!! Whoever heard of "left turn yields etc..." anyways the case ended up going to a moderator who found it 50/50 each our faults which still went on my record as an accident which = higher insurace rates for 2 years... sometimes you just cant win.
the other driver was a young hispanic gangster lookin' kid, and he didn't say anything to me. his gangster girlfriend got out of the car, and started cussing me out and yelling and screaming, and the other passengers got out and were just staring at me...
i had an A++ rating on my insurance before this, no tickets or accidents for 6-7 years...i guess we'll see what happens now.
Im with u guys on the bad driver deal. I was in an accident because and old guy couldnt decided where he was going, i finally got tired of waiting and since it was a street wide enough to be 2 lanes, i decided to pass him on the right since he was hugging the left side of the road, as i went to pass he decided to turn right, no blinker or anything, but since i am a teenage driver with white fenders everything is automatically my fault, also since i did the hitting as in gary's case. So now i am sitting around with a restricted license unable to drive. My insurance company was at least cool about it and understood how much of a pain the the a$$ old people drivers are.
Had a guy swerve around traffic to try and beat the left turn arrow. I was already pulling into the left turn lane when he swerved around cars (at least 5 or 6 back) and clipped my front end. He spun out and hit the car directly in front of me in the lane I was just in. Guess what, it was deemed my fault even though he was the one attempting to run the red light. Sucky part is, everyone left the scene of the accident (middle of rush hour) and the lady the a@@hole hit never saw it coming. Bumped my premiums up big time. There should be some sort of law or revision of the law for thses kind of accidents.
unfortunately if you hit the back of someone's car, the police will write it up as your fault...under just about any circumstance. Sucks, but true. I hit the back of a Regal one time cuz it was dusk and the guy didn't have any brake lights. The guy locked 'em up right in front of me for no reason....pow. He had no insurance and no drivers license. Still would have been my fault.
How about this, I was driving in the far right lane when a car in the middle lane made a right turn in front of me and I hit her in the right side. The police report sighted her for an unsafe lane change and left fault on her side. So what does the insurance company do... 51% my fault! I HATE insurance companies!
), before it was painted
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