• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Just got into a crash

S

Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
I can't believe it. I dropped the F-bomb louder than ever.

Traffic slowed. I don't think I was tailgating. Definitely not. I wasn't tailgating to begin with and when it slowed I slowed. I was defintely going slower than the car in front of me. Next thing I know I'm closing in insanely fast so I slam the brakes. Too late. Pow.

I'd say the impact was 15mph or under. I thought it was bad but the people in my car kept telling me that I braked pretty hard so it wasn't a huge hit. My left blinker popped out. I popped it back in.

I got out and talked to the person. She was reasonable. A little older than my mom, but she told me about how the cars in front of her braked and she had to brake pretty hard too. Damnit, but I had to hit =(. I think if I reacted quickly enough I could've made it to the shoulder which was very wide.

Gah. So I spoke with my mom the first thing I got home and she wanted to speak with the lady I hit. Well that happened and it seems we're going around insurance. Of course, I'm skeptical. People can screw you over like that, but the lady seemed reasonable right? Hmm. Dunno.

Bottom line is I'm pissed at myself. I'm a cautious driver for the most part. I'm not always defensive, but I know not to tailgate, I attempt to signal for almost every turn/merge. I check all my blind spots.. blah blah. Yes I'm young and it's unfortunate I get to go into the 18-25 stat that jacks insurance rates up. Never even got a speeding ticket yet.

So anyways, how should I proceed now? I guess I'll just wait until the lady calls back because she said she's going to check out a few mechanics and get an estimate and then get back to me.

Pics:
1
2
3

 
Just remember that deductibles only apply to your own vehicle not the other person's. Many get that mixed up. Depending on your age & history, might be better going through the insurance company. Maybe not, though. But talking body work and *especially* a paint job, easily over $1,000.
 
Dont worry about it man, as long as you didn't injure anyone !
But you will be in the stats tho ! lol
 
If its your first accident then check to see if your company has first accident forgiveness. basically, they will do everythign as usual, but they will not putthe accident on your record.
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

Yeah, like NJ. You're 100% at fault if you hit their rear. No exceptions. And tailgating is usually the ticket issued or careless driving (the lesser of the two evils). Tailgating is a 4 point ticket while careless is usually just 2 points.

 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

What if the car cut in front of you and slammed on their brakes soon after?
 
Still tailgating. The idea behind the tailgating is that you have enough room to stop entirely if a brick wall appeared in front of you. So it shouldn't matter if they slammed on their breaks or not. Most people don't realize exactly how far back a safe driving distance is and why.
 
Originally posted by: her209
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

What if the car cut in front of you and slammed on their brakes soon after?
Click to expand...

I would imagine it's still your fault, unless you can prove they were trying to cause an accident or driving dangerously....
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

That's harsh. If you want to leave enough room to stop in case the person in front of you completely hits the hooks, you will get eaten alive by traffic. Anything more than a car length practically guarantees you will be constantly cut off by weavers. I know what the law says in this case, but IMO the law is not appropriate for the reality of dense high speed traffic that you see now.


To me it's the lady's fault (or maybe a car or two in front of her) point is, someone wasn't paying attention and ended up compensating by performing an abrupt maneuver in a dense group of cars. My only advice to the OP for next time is to try to watch 2 or 3 cars ahead; sometimes that can save you, another trick is to make sure the lane next to you is clear, if someone insists on driving next to you, cut them off because they deserve it. Just my opinion, but you really did nothing wrong. GL with the bill.

One time I was driving down the highway pretty quick (70-80 mph) and suddenly the car ahead of me swerved out of our lane; in front of him there was a car standing still. I knew that the lane next to me was not clear and for the first and only time in my life, I pushed the break as hard as I could. I don't know why the wheels didn't lock, (no ABS) and I don't know how the car stopped in time, but it did.
 
Originally posted by: Blackjack200
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

That's harsh. If you want to leave enough room to stop in case the person in front of you completely hits the hooks, you will get eaten alive by traffic. Anything more than a car length practically guarantees you will be constantly cut off by weavers. I know what the law says in this case, but IMO the law is not appropriate for the reality of dense high speed traffic that you see now.


To me it's the lady's fault (or maybe a car or two in front of her) point is, someone wasn't paying attention and ended up compensating by performing an abrupt maneuver in a dense group of cars. My only advice to the OP for next time is to try to watch 2 or 3 cars ahead; sometimes that can save you, another trick is to make sure the lane next to you is clear, if someone insists on driving next to you, cut them off because they deserve it. Just my opinion, but you really did nothing wrong. GL with the bill.

One time I was driving down the highway pretty quick (70-80 mph) and suddenly the car ahead of me swerved out of our lane; in front of him there was a car standing still. I knew that the lane next to me was not clear and for the first and only time in my life, I pushed the break as hard as I could. I don't know why the wheels didn't lock, (no ABS) and I don't know how the car stopped in time, but it did.
Click to expand...

Holy shitballs you're stupid.
 
That's harsh. If you want to leave enough room to stop in case the person in front of you completely hits the hooks, you will get eaten alive by traffic. Anything more than a car length practically guarantees you will be constantly cut off by weavers. I know what the law says in this case, but IMO the law is not appropriate for the reality of dense high speed traffic that you see now.
Click to expand...

Not unless you drive the way we all agreed to according to the law. Trust me, it's better this way.
 
Originally posted by: Cuda1447
Still tailgating. The idea behind the tailgating is that you have enough room to stop entirely if a brick wall appeared in front of you. So it shouldn't matter if they slammed on their breaks or not. Most people don't realize exactly how far back a safe driving distance is and why.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm not banned 😱

*looks around nervously*
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: Blackjack200
Originally posted by: FoBoT
by definition, you were tailgating, if you weren't you could not have hit the car in front of you
Click to expand...

That's harsh. If you want to leave enough room to stop in case the person in front of you completely hits the hooks, you will get eaten alive by traffic. Anything more than a car length practically guarantees you will be constantly cut off by weavers. I know what the law says in this case, but IMO the law is not appropriate for the reality of dense high speed traffic that you see now.


To me it's the lady's fault (or maybe a car or two in front of her) point is, someone wasn't paying attention and ended up compensating by performing an abrupt maneuver in a dense group of cars. My only advice to the OP for next time is to try to watch 2 or 3 cars ahead; sometimes that can save you, another trick is to make sure the lane next to you is clear, if someone insists on driving next to you, cut them off because they deserve it. Just my opinion, but you really did nothing wrong. GL with the bill.

One time I was driving down the highway pretty quick (70-80 mph) and suddenly the car ahead of me swerved out of our lane; in front of him there was a car standing still. I knew that the lane next to me was not clear and for the first and only time in my life, I pushed the break as hard as I could. I don't know why the wheels didn't lock, (no ABS) and I don't know how the car stopped in time, but it did.
Click to expand...

Holy shitballs you're stupid.
Click to expand...

I know. But I get to work in under 3 hours and am actually a courteous driver. Thanks to everyone here that drives 55 on all the interstates :roll:
 
If Wile E. Coyote's steel wall springs up 3 seconds in front of you, you should not hit it.

It's pretty easy. Stay 3 seconds back.

The only time you can get a break when you hit someone in the rear is if they already hit someone else in the rear, imo.
 
I think even then it's considered your fault (never happened to me so someone correct me if I'm wrong.) I think in a pileup, everyone pays for the damage done to the car in front of them (or their insurance does) and is compensated for damages by the car that hit them in the back.

I would think that if the car hit you in the back, and actually pushed you into the car in front of you, and you could somehow prove it, you might not be liable.
 
Originally posted by: DLeRium
I can't believe it. I dropped the F-bomb louder than ever.

Traffic slowed. I don't think I was tailgating. Definitely not. I wasn't tailgating to begin with and when it slowed I slowed. I was defintely going slower than the car in front of me. Next thing I know I'm closing in insanely fast so I slam the brakes. Too late. Pow.

I'd say the impact was 15mph or under. I thought it was bad but the people in my car kept telling me that I braked pretty hard so it wasn't a huge hit. My left blinker popped out. I popped it back in.

I got out and talked to the person. She was reasonable. A little older than my mom, but she told me about how the cars in front of her braked and she had to brake pretty hard too. Damnit, but I had to hit =(. I think if I reacted quickly enough I could've made it to the shoulder which was very wide.

Gah. So I spoke with my mom the first thing I got home and she wanted to speak with the lady I hit. Well that happened and it seems we're going around insurance. Of course, I'm skeptical. People can screw you over like that, but the lady seemed reasonable right? Hmm. Dunno.

Bottom line is I'm pissed at myself. I'm a cautious driver for the most part. I'm not always defensive, but I know not to tailgate, I attempt to signal for almost every turn/merge. I check all my blind spots.. blah blah. Yes I'm young and it's unfortunate I get to go into the 18-25 stat that jacks insurance rates up. Never even got a speeding ticket yet.

So anyways, how should I proceed now? I guess I'll just wait until the lady calls back because she said she's going to check out a few mechanics and get an estimate and then get back to me.
Click to expand...


1. Go to her house and cause more damage to the damaged area of her car. Then if it goes to court, you can show the pictures from the actual accident and claim she augmented and exaggerated the damage in order to collect a claim. You might be able to get her to drop the charges.

2. Change your license plates and have your car painted. It's suspicious as hell but you can never be too cautious.

3. Stop sending text messages while driving.

4. Peace fam.
 
3 seconds rule. I follow that when traffic is sparse. I live in the East Bay. I got off the Bay Bridge onto 80 East. Do you know how many cars get off at Ashyby and University exits? Do you know how immensely packed I-80 is? Those 7-8 lanes that start after the MacArthur maze merges down to 5 by University Ave. You have to expect slowdowns and a bottleneck. You follow the 3 second rule all the time and you'd be getting into more trouble. I can almost assure you I was about 3 seconds away from the car when I saw the slowdown. I slowed down accordingly. I saw the slowdown occur in the next lane at first and I braked in precaution. My guess was correct as the car in front of me did slow down right after. I was probably down to around 2 seconds or so by then in distance. By the time I realized and reacted to the sudden braking she did, nothing can save you at that point.

You're right, if I slammed my brakes with 3 seconds to spare I would've made it out of there, however it's the initial slowdown in traffic that got me to close the gap. Otherwise I wouldn't have been tailgating. So what am I supposed to do? Treat the 3 second rule like a concrete wall? The instant I get to 2 seconds in distance I slam the brakes so I get back to 3 second distance? No. You and I both know that it's not realistic. If there's a slowdown in traffic, and a bottleneck, you get closer without a doubt, but once you adjust to that speed and distance, you further your distance back up again as traffic eases so you can maintain a safe distance again. That was exactly what I was doing. I just saw and reacted to the sudden braking too late.

Anyways, this teaches me to be a lot more cautious. I will watch my distance from now on. Part of me wonders if I had an empty car instead of a 5 occupants, if I could've stopped in a shorter distance. Part of me felt that the stopping distance was weak tonight.

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
Still tailgating. The idea behind the tailgating is that you have enough room to stop entirely if a brick wall appeared in front of you. So it shouldn't matter if they slammed on their breaks or not. Most people don't realize exactly how far back a safe driving distance is and why.
Click to expand...

If I was tailgating like most people define tailgating, the impact would've been a lot larger. It would've been something like a 30-40mph crash where the airbags woudl deploy and my car woudl be seriously fvcked up. If you look at that pic it's like a 10mph crash or so. If you account for reaction time and braking it's quite evident that I was a decent distance away. That's also why I was pissed that I didn't swerve into the shoulder.
 
And I thought I was bashed on this forum telling you guys to SLOW THE FUCK down in a past thread! Having to do with fighting a Speeding ticket!

Overall......... Slow the fuck down, pay attention and NEVER speed= No worries and no tickets!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top