y.e.c.r.

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys I'd really appreciate it if you could give me your opinion on this. I was on my way to work today, and I was driving local. I was approaching a traffic light, and there was a car in front of me. The light was green, and we were both going 40-45 mph. I switched lanes into the lane marked freeway only. The car that was in front of me then came into my lane, and I had to slow down a little bit because she was borderline cutting me off. Anyway, we were approaching the intersection, and the light was still green. About 10 feet before she reached the first line, the light turned yellow. She didn't show any signs of slowing down so I moved a little closer. A few feet before she reached the first line, she slammed on her brakes. Her tires screeched and everything. I also slammed on my brakes, but I ended up still hitting her. Right before I hit her, I saw that the front of her car was a little bit past the second line. So we went into a parking lot, and there was a police officer who didn't see the accident but probably guessed what had happened and came into the parking lot with us. He told us that the police dont take reports for non-injury accidents, so he just had us exchange our information. He did tell her however, that California law says that if there is sufficient time to make it through, you should go through, and that she should not have stopped at that time. She has insurance, but she told me that she does't want to do it through insurance, but she also said that it's not her fault. So I'm planning to report it to insurance. Is there any chance that I would be able to win? Sorry it's so long.

short version: approaching intersection... car cuts me off, light turns yellow when the car in front reaches line... car suddenly slams on brakes, i slam on brakes, hit car anyway. car was partly in the intersection when i hit.

Thanks for any input guys.

jttegx

iTrader: (3)

that police officer is wrong, they HAVE to take a report if you or the other party was involved into a accident (which happened here) and requested to. i know this because someone clipped me and the officer asked if i wanted to file a police report. i simply didnt want to.


the way i see it is this:

lady's point: i immediately stopped when the light was lit yellow so i dont run a red light.

your point: the lady ahead immediately slammed her brakes leaving her vehicle in the intersection and me rear ending her.


in CA, the person who hits the other from behind is at fault in most cases. sounds like to me the woman wasnt paying attention to the road and decided to slam her brakes at the very last moment. otherwise, you shouldn't have been tailgating if you were (which is illegal in CA as well).

if she doesnt want to take it thru insurance and doesnt admit fault, defintely file a claim with your insurance and settle it thru their. no way you can have her admit guilt and not pay for the damages if shes gonna be shady. tomorrow morning, call your insurance company and let them know what happened and do not admit guilt. tell them every detail and even take a photo of the intersection tomorrow if you can and draw a diagram on it on how it started and ended.

remember to state the facts, not conclusions. stating conclusions loses creditbility

seattlex19

BEFORE you tell your insurance company, the VERY FIRST THING you should do, like immediately ( ! ) is to go to your nearest police department and ask for an ACCIDENT REPORT FORM! Fill it out as completely as possible with as much of the information you have available, then write your version of what happened.

DON'T bother including the whole changing lanes business though, it overcomplicates, simply say that you were both going through a green light legally and at legal speed and it turned yellow RIGHT AS she was entering the intersection, so she locked up her brakes trying to stop and caused you to hit her. If you can, track down the name of the officer who responded to cite what he said. If you can't get his name, just indicate that "an officer from (whatever) department responded and said" - that it was her fault.

submit it RIGHT AWAY to the "mail to" address on the report, and save your copy.

That's the first thing to do, because, no matter what she tells you, she could just as easily turn around and file a report herself, blaming you for rear-ending her (which is usually believable due to the law's general way of assuming people follow too closely) and then tell her insurance company the accident was your fault too, and next thing you know, they would be coming after YOU!

SO, step number one is cover your own ***! Get that accident report submitted on your own. I don't know about Cali but in Washington it goes to the State Patrol. YOU WANT YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY DOCUMENTED ASAP.

Then, after you have that done, then you can decide what to do about whether she wants to settle it without reporting it to insurance companies. How bad is the damage to your car? Is she offering to pay you off to fix it? Or?

seattlex19

Jttegx I believe sometimes police do not have to file an accident report. They still usually have to write an internal police report on the callout and response for department records of what they did, but they don't always have to file an ACCIDENT report unless there is physical injury OR the amount of property damage is estimated to be over a certain dollar amount. If you ask them to, and it's a situation where these qualifications are not met, they will usually just give you a blank form and tell you to do it yourself. At least that is how it is where I am...

By the way, the reason I suggest not to tell your own insurance company (YET) is because regardless of whose fault it is they may raise your rates anyhow just for being involved in one.

IF she is sincerely willing to pay him off for the damage, then it might be to both of their mutual advantage to not report it to insurance. It is if she is going to turn around and try to screw him that is when he needs to let them know.

All of that can and should be figured out as quickly as possible. Get the accident report mailed in right away to the State Patrol (or wherever it goes where you live) then find out immediately how she intends to deal with it. You don't have to tell her you sent in an accident report. Most insurance companies don't go looking for them, especially the minor ones, it is just there to cover your behind in case one of you does bring the incident to their attention

If you are going to take any money from her, GET HER TO SIGN A DOCUMENT STATING THE ACCIDENT WAS "NO FAULT" (OR NOT YOUR FAULT) before you walk away!

If she is not willing to sign, DO NOT TAKE A PENNY FROM HER, AND THEN immediately report it to your insurance company and send them a copy of the accident report you submitted to the police.

seattlex19

AND if she agrees to sign a "no fault" statement, bring a witness to sign it with you!

Or better yet, if you REALLY want it airtight, take her down to a Notary Public and have her pay the $20 or whatever to have it NOTARIZED!

AGAIN, ALL OF THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, so that if she does try and screw you, you will still have time to then report to your insurance within a reasonable timeframe

Let us know what happens!
.

jackburton

iTrader: (1)

I am pretty sure cops can take accident reports, even if nobody was injured. I would call the police station and ask WTF? Also some insurance companies require police reports, I know mine does if you hit a deer, and even if yours does not it will cover yourself. So fill out that form as seatte said, he knows his sh#t.

I think the accident is your fault. You situation is pretty complicated but because you had time to slow down and give yourself time to stop but did not leaves you liable IMO. The only time that you are not at fault if you hit someone in front of you is if a mac truck hits you from behind and sends you flying, or maybe if you are stopped at a light, and someone comes speeding into you, sending you into a car. Also if someone speeds past you and then cuts you off and imediately slams on the brakes, but this is really hard to prove. Basically you would have to prove that no reasonable person could have had control of his/her car in that situation, or you were in fact acting in a reasonable manner with no way of avoding the accident. Sometimes this does not even matter, someplaces are very strict about if you hit somebody in front of you it is your fault no matter what.

In your situation you should have been far away enough where you have room to stop. It is a basic rule of driving always give yourself enough room to stop because you never know when some crazy b#tch is going to slam her brakes on. It also allows people to worry only about stopping if something is in the road, not having to worry about poeple behind them, even though it is a good idea.

This is only my understanding, I would make some phone calls if I was in your position. Local and state police. Do you have any lawyer friends or do you have a lawyer that might not charge you if you only wanted to ask a few questions?

If I were you I would not go through any insurance because your rates will go up, and just pay for your damage. If you get away with that you are lucky because you should be paying for her damage as well.

seattlex19

Regardless of whose fault it REALLY is, hers or YECR's, the bottom line is that it's one's word against the other. Having an officer state it was her fault does help, but cops are not really judges either. This is why I think it really might be best to settle out of court without involving insurance. Matter of fact, depending on the severity of the damage to the vehicles, it might be worth just forgetting about her paying (especially if you each suffered a similar amount of damage) and just go straight for getting her to sign a no fault statement. If it were to go to an insurance company battle or to court as a result of that it could go either way no matter who's really at fault. Thanks for the complement JackB, I don't know everything, but I've been thru a lot

jackburton

iTrader: (1)

The evidence points to him being at fault. But depending on insurance companies I could see where it could go either way.

I agree with you that they should just pay their own damages. The lady seems like she would be fine with that if she did not want to get insurance involved. I also think that they should both learn from this and take it easy.

I still can't believe that cops in CA would not be able to write up a report unless somebody was injured. That sounds crazy.

Did the cop actually say it was her fault or just say she broke the law, cause there is a difference? But he did not see anything so it does not matter cause like you said his word against hers. That is part of the reason a police report would be nice because it would state both sides of the story taken close to the time of the accident, among other things. WTF?

This just reminded me of this time I got rear ended by a huge semi in a road work area. This worker was pointing for me to go right, so I went to turn but he was actually giving directions to a bobcat and when I started to turn he put his hands up to stop, which I did suddenly. I was confused as hell cause a lot was going on. The guy in the truck tried to get the worker in trouble and wanted to know if he was certified and all this other BS. It was my airhead mistake, my buddy who was in the car with me said that the guy was clearly not directioning me, but the truck should have given himself room to stop.

y.e.c.r.

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the help and info guys. Unfortunately, she called back later that night saying that she now wanted me to pay for everything, so I just called up my insurance company and filed it. I wasn't able to get to a computer so I couldn't read all of this sooner. Insurance called me back the next day, explained that ANY time you hit someone from behind, it's going to be your fault, and that was pretty much it. Doesn't matter if your car is someplace that it shouldn't be, whatever. Sucks for me, but I've learned my lesson. Just made me realize how freaking easy it is to screw someone over that way though. You can cut someone off and slam on the brakes and downshift all the way, and if they hit you the accident is all their fault. Anyway, thanks for everything. Next time, I'll remember to ask the officer to file a report and to fill out an accident report form. Now I'm just waiting to get my car back. Bummer.

seattlex19

Sorry to hear that outcome, but not too surprising, unfortunately.