2000AcuraEL1.6

Now I don’t really have to worry about upgrades on my car for a lil while at least. Basically some idiot caused a lot of damage to my car the other night…

At 3:00am Sat night I was heading down this hill just outside my house to go meet some girls and there was a guy in front of me driving a dodge spirit. As we go down the hill we’re both going the same speed, like 50 or maybe 60, as we get to the bottom of the hill I notice he’s got one hand on the wheel and the other hand holding his cell phone. Out of nowhere he slams on his brakes and since I was only like a car or two lengths away from him I knew there was no way my car would stop before hitting him from behind. So I decided to go into the other lane considering there wasn’t any one in it… so I’m in the other lane now and he still doesn’t even look around, turns his car right into mine and his front bumper ends up tearing apart the passenger side of my car. Once we stop and get out of our vehicles, his exact words were “Oh man, I was on my cell phone and wasn’t paying any attention, sorry.” We end up calling the cops etc, etc…

Now the worst part about this story isn’t my baby getting torn apart… but the fact that after like an hour of waiting for the pigs, I mean cops to write up a accident report, he gives me a freakin’ ticket and tells me that the accident was my fault because I was “following too closely.” He thinks that if I wasn’t following too closely that I would have been able to stop in time. So I’m literally yelling at the cop in the middle of the street at 4 in the morning because of this outrageous ticket…and trying to figure out why doing a U-Turn in the middle of a road isn’t illegal… the “cop” tells me that the guy said he was going to pull into a driveway but when I said that the guy didn’t even use his signal light the cop told me that I guess that’s something I’m going to have to tell the judge if I'm going to be pleading not guilty… But in the meantime the accident report says that it was my fault!?

So, what should I do from here? Anyone have a personal experience or some advice on any steps I should take?

More Info. And Pictures Of My Car Now @ forums.clubel.ca/showthread.php?t=16149&page=1&pp=10

Zeppelin8778

iTrader: (1)

oh, my, god, i would be so ridiculously pissed, im so sorry dude, i dunno if i can help, but def go to court on that. that shouldnt be your fault. thats aweful. "im so sorry i was on my cell phone and wasnt paying attention" JESUS CHRIST SON

rEkKaShInObI

take their asses down in the courtroom.

mugenman

iTrader: (12)

damn man that sucks hope everything working out 4 u

TemjinX2

iTrader: (11)

Talk to your insurance. It seems more like 50 50 fault thing. Your at fault for being in the wrong lane if its only one lane going each way and its the guys fault for hitting you. If its two lanes in each direction and he hit you then its all his fault. I'm sure your insurance company will help fight it in court, no way would they want to pay 100% of the damages to both cars if there's a chance they can reduce it to 50% or 0% of damages.


www.ticketassassin.com

check out this site, might help. Lots of good info on how to beat tickets.

Al Gore FTW

iTrader: (19)

ouch, thats bullshit. dominate in the courtroom.

soonercivic

It will cost more for insurance to go to court and fight it than it will for them to pay. They will just settle the claim and cut their losses. If you want to fight it, it will probably be on your own. In this particular situation your company will find you at fault as well. I know that it sucks, but the fact is you did more wrong than he did. Believe me, im on your side, but you were in the wrong lane after not being able to control your vehicle. Even though he may have made an illegal turn without signaling, im guessing you didnt signal to pass him illegaly either (which is an argument they could easily make). If you dont have any witnesses, then there isnt any point in going to court anyway. Unfortunatly your just gonna have to eat this one.

NicoSP

Man that sucks.. hope everything works out.

aznrocka

Different places have different laws and stuff...but what I would do is go to court and fight the ticket. The cop can't testify since he didn't see the accident happen...just saw the aftermath. It would be the other guy who testifies against your ticket since he was the one involved in the accident. I don't know how they do it in Ontario but in Maryland the guy would have to show up in court if you wanted to fight it in court and not pay it. If he didn't show up, it would be dropped. And technically, according to what you said, you were following too closely..."...I was only like a car or two lengths away from him..."..."going the same speed, like 50 or maybe 60..." Following too closely is one of those laws that aren't very defined. It's kinda broad.

CuRiOuSfIsH

iTrader: (13)

I also agree it's 50/50. Both you and the driver were doing illegal things..... but why were you following so close going down a hill going 50-60MPH knowing that the person was on the phone?
But, glad youre alright.... my car was totalled 2 weeks ago.......

Mike04Civic

iTrader: (1)

if you want to "screw" him over and get a lil revenge (kinda) call his insurance company about his claim, and tell them that he was on his cellphone at the time of the accident.

They can lookup his cell-phone records and see that he was. Most insurance companys will not cover a car accident claim if the driver was on the cell phone within a certain amount of time before the accident. (in texas at least,....as far as i know)

diskreet

iTrader: (1)

You want political pressure to make the cops change their mind?
File a law suit, or whatever you do, against the police station for whatever you can try to get away with. 1 media stunt later you may just get what you want.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

it was all his fault. you were in the other lane trying to avoid an accident, he was on his phone. If that were me i would've grabbed the phone and threw it on the ground.

2000AcuraEL1.6

I just want to thank everyone for their advice and support; this accident has been one of the worst events in my life and its nice to know that there are people out there who care so much. Its safe to say that after work at 7am Monday morning there was no way I could sleep, so I wanted to try and take care of things and see how everything was going to work out. I followed everyone’s advice:

”Third of all, go file a claim on that officer and tell them your story. You probably will end up fighting that ticket in the court, cuz majority of cops are @$$holes. And you should call your insurance company and see whats up”- Ricochet

Following what Ricochet said, I called my insurance company first thing 9am and talked to them about the accident. Turns out that I don’t have collision on my insurance, I’m 19 my insurance is high enough without that on it, and since the accident is deemed “my fault” my insurance aint gonna cover jack ****. On top of that I have to pay for the damage to that piece of **** dodge spirit if he files a claim with his insurance company.

“Fight that **** man, you have it in the bag. That guy admitted he was on his phone and not paying attention.” - Therin-B18C1

“I agree with the rest, fight it. Good luck and sorry about the damage.” - 98EL_in_TX

After I went down to our provincial offence building and signed option 3 (not guilty and I’ll see you in court) I was told that they are booked for court dates all the way till February!? So I’m definitely not about to wait that freaking long to have my car paid for and now the only thing that could change my situation is to get the “cop” who gave me the ticket to drop the charge. But since I was on a mission to get this issue resolved that day I went down to the police building and asked to speak to the “cops” supervisor, but he wasn’t on duty either, so I spoke to the supervisor on duty and told him the story. Basically all that did was waste an hour of my time (20 minutes waiting for him to finish his donut and 40 minutes of him “listening to me”) he told me that he “can’t” overturn the decision of the officer and the only one that could do that would be the officer who gave the ticket apparently…

“If I was in the same situation now I would prolly have kicked the **** out of the guy at the scene and then said someone hit my car when it was parked” - bryden

Bryden definitely had a lot of good things to say and made some really good points. Especially when it came to the driver in front of you having the “right of way.” Pretty freaking stupid though if you ask me, because my insurance company told me the exact same thing this morning. Therefore a car in front of you can slam on his brakes anytime he wants and if you hit him… its your fault! But I definitely agree with Bryden and now that I look back on it, would love to rip the passenger door off my car (which wouldn’t take much right now) and beat the idiot over the head with it, park my car and call my insurance company in the morning telling them my car was hit in a parking lot…

“IMO, I think it is the trucks fault because he could be considered as doing a lane-change into your lane (that you were in first)” - Azntrance

I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF IT LIKE THAT!? That makes complete sense, I sure did write that down in case I forget but really that should work perfectly in front of the “cop” or eventual judge. Because I can just say that he stopped in the lane, veering off to the right and no signal light. Therefore I proceeded to pass him and crossed into the other lane when out of nowhere his car slams into the side of me. Him not paying attention to my car right beside him has to count for something…

So at this point in time, all I can do now is talk to the “cop” and really kiss his *** and hope the ticket gets dropped and worse comes to worse the insurance company will say 50/50, which to me is better than nothing… or put my car up for the winter and wait until February for anything to happen with the ticket.

2000AcuraEL1.6

Well, here are some better pics of the passenger side. The repairs on the car look pretty minor to tell the truth even though I haven’t taken it to a body shop just yet, haven’t had the time really, in my opinion it seems as if all I need to get replaced would be the passenger side door “skin” because the door still locks, rolls down, opens and everything… Also, I have to have the fender pushed back to normal, and the back door looks fine, minus the ugly scratch. I was going to be getting a black metal fleck paint job in the springtime neway so really the cosmetic damage isn’t too much of an inconvience. With that said, the new “skin” from the Acura dealer in Barrie, ON (I don’t have an Acura dealer where I live) is going to cost $365. In regards to the bogus ticket, I haven’t gotten a hold of the “cop” but I was told that he would be on duty tomorrow, so wish me luck guys and lets hope he’s has his donut & coffee before I talk to him.

So all I want to know now, is whether or not I can get a civic passenger door, or “skin” that will fit my EL… I already talked to the Acura/Honda Dealer in Barrie, and they told me “the part numbers don’t match.” Therefore it wont fit… I’m just hoping that he’s wrong because I can easily find civic parts, compared to EL parts and also civic parts are cheaper...
Updated Info And Pics @ forums.clubel.ca/showthread.php?p=148823#post148823

dp_yz713

iTrader: (12)

damn bro sorry to see this happen. it almost happen to me the other day, i guess some people are just crazy and dont pay attention!

zachgeyer

iTrader: (3)

ouch hope they get theres

orion_squall

Hi,

If the story is as what you described here, then it would be hard to convince the police.

You should never ever in any cases say you were behind the car and you have no time to stop etc. This is an advice for everybody.

In your case where all the damage are on the side, you should never mention you were behind him. After an accident, check the damage first and think about a more advantage way to describe the story to the police. In your case, you should simply say that you were driving, and the guy beside you hit you; quote that the guy told you he was on the phone. Be calm, be simple.

Never, ever tell long story. Check the damage first and think, unless you hit directly some car in the back, there is always a room to win. This is my advise to everybody.

I had an experience where I am hit in the back and becase my story is too complicated the police simply concluded that it was no fault. I only got 50% compensation instead of 100%.

Hope my advice would help in the future.