Lost respect for highway patrol today

[OS]

I had an accident about two weeks ago, where a big rig coming from the opposite direction on a two way street made a left turn in front of me, while I was going straight ahead. I didn't have enough time to stop so I ran into the big rig.


I got my collision report today and the CHP places the blame on me. They said I caused the accident by driving at "unsafe speeds." The report said I was going 45-50. The posted speed limit is 45. This is such bullsh*t. CA law clearly says that anyone making a left turn through incoming traffic must ensure that the turning vehicle must not endanger incoming cars at ANY TIME during the turn. But collision report never mentions this once.


There is a reason the officer did this to me. I was going to watch the street races. Yes, I probably shouldn't have. But me cruising around without actually racing anyone is not illegal. Even if cruising around were illegal, this is not how justice works.


I was not involved in any racing at the accident. Nor was the physical evidence consistent with excessive speed. The report says there were 43 feet of skid marks (my model car takes about 140 feet to stop from 60) and the collision did not cause my airbags to deploy, which basically says normal driving speeds.


All the physical evidence shows no wrong doing on my part and even the report itself says that I was going about the posted speed limit. But because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, the officer thought me to be a bastard and pointed the finger at me in this accident. This is so messed up.

 

[Francodman]

Get a lawyer

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Francodman
Get a lawyer

 

[Pilsnerpete]

This case is yours dude. You've obviously investigated some laws. You could do this without a lawyer. Either that or hire a lawyer and sue the CHiP's

 

[Mill]

If the law is how you say it is, then he was wrong to take into account where you were going in making his report. It had no bearing on the situation and to me is quite unethical. I would have no problem with him be pissed or even being an asshole(because you were going to the races) but he cannot an should not let personal feelings interfere with something like writing a report. That isn't a split second decision. He had to sit down and write that, so I don't think his irritation should be an excuse for not following the law. If I was the Cop I wouldn't have done that.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Francodman
Get a lawyer

 

[freebee]

Get a lawyer. You are AT fault...however depending on how liability is assigned, a lawyer may be able to argue for a lesser % negligance in your favor.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: freebee
Get a lawyer. You are AT fault...however depending on how liability is assigned, a lawyer may be able to argue for a lesser % negligance in your favor.

Why am I at fault?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: freebee
Get a lawyer. You are AT fault...however depending on how liability is assigned, a lawyer may be able to argue for a lesser % negligance in your favor.

Uh, I think your reading comprehension sucks.

 

[jpeyton]

Dumbass truck drivers always pull that sh1t because they think they're big enough that you'll HAVE to stop.

Definitely get a lawyer if you can afford one. Don't let the pigs get you down.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: freebee
Get a lawyer. You are AT fault...however depending on how liability is assigned, a lawyer may be able to argue for a lesser % negligance in your favor.

Why am I at fault?

I know people who have gotten into accidents by making a left and someone runs the red light... and the person making the left was still at fault. This isn't his fault.

 

[freebee]

Because your points of impact suggest excessive speed.

Though I am more familiar with NE law, from an insurance perspective depending on where you hit him, will vary your liability. I would have to examine Cal. law more carefully, but it should be fairly similar. Call your insurance company to verify the liability laws.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

Drop the "should or shouldn't have been going to the street races" from your defense.

How is the semi driver going to differentiate between a car goin 40mph or a car going 50mph. While sitting behind a wheel, trying to decide whether to go or not?

There's no way, if what you tell us is true, that this is your fault.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: freebee
Because your points of impact suggest excessive speed.

Though I am more familiar with NE law, from an insurance perspective depending on where you hit him, will vary your liability. I would have to examine Cal. law more carefully, but it should be fairly similar. Call your insurance company to verify the liability laws.

Let me remind you again that the collision report itself says I was going 45-50 and the posted speed limit was 45.

 

[her209]

You could argue that you didn't see the truck.

 

[RandomCoil]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Dumbass truck drivers always pull that sh1t because they think they're big enough that you'll HAVE to stop.

Yeah, they don't get away with that kind of stuff around me; I just ram them!

Have fun in court OS!

 

[Ness]

Wait wait... is it joint fault, or entirely you?

Secondly... the REPORT said you were going 45-50, the report on the collision says you were driving normal speeds, but YOU never said how fast you were going.
How fast were you going, and what reason do we have to believe that you weren't cooking along at 70-80 MPH?

I'm not saying the officer was right, but if you mistakingly left this out, tell us, and if you left it out on purpose, then I think you should come clean and give us the whole and true story.

I believe that no state grants immunity to those who are in a wreck that are driving wrecklessly.... again, I'm not accusing you of anything, but if you were speeding, then the most you could argue for is joint responsibility and try to have the truck driver cited for Unassured Cleared Distance.

In any case, if you have reason enough to believe that you were not at all liable, then you should get a lawyer.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Pilsnerpete
Drop the "should or shouldn't have been going to the street races" from your defense.

How is the semi driver going to differentiate between a car goin 40mph or a car going 50mph. While sitting behind a wheel, trying to decide whether to go or not?

There's no way, if what you tell us is true, that this is your fault.

The report itself makes no mention of racing. It's just at the time of the collision, the investigating officer was like, what the hell are you doing here, this is your fault for being here, etc.

I later showed the report to a different officer at the CHP office and he agreed that it was messed up. He gave me the law number regarding left turns and encouraged me to fill out a supplemental response.

I have since written a response, minus any mention of any nearby activities, and submitted it. The previously mentioned officer said that if the supplemental doesn't change anything, I can request a hearing with the investigating officer and his sargent. If it comes to that point I will get a lawyer. They typically charge 1K to pick up a case, so it'll be a last resort.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: ness1469
Wait wait... is it joint fault, or entirely you?

Secondly... the REPORT said you were going 45-50, the report on the collision says you were driving normal speeds, but YOU never said how fast you were going.
How fast were you going, and what reason do we have to believe that you weren't cooking along at 70-80 MPH?

I'm not saying the officer was right, but if you mistakingly left this out, tell us, and if you left it out on purpose, then I think you should come clean and give us the whole and true story.

I believe that no state grants immunity to those who are in a wreck that are driving wrecklessly.... again, I'm not accusing you of anything, but if you were speeding, then the most you could argue for is joint responsibility and try to have the truck driver cited for Unassured Cleared Distance.

In any case, if you have reason enough to believe that you were not at all liable, then you should get a lawyer.

It says I am at fault entirely. I was going about the speed the report says. I obviously didn't look at the speedo the moment I started braking. I left it out because the report was accurate in that respect.

 

[freebee]

Keep us updated. Insurance law is really a PITA sometimes. Lot of times it doesnt make logical sense or goes against stuff we do every day.

Working in the insurance industry has made me paranoid....there are so many laws and regulations and they differ among different states...and weird things like left turns, uncontrolled intersections, double left turns, four way stop signs, etc....all create liability problems for insurance examiners.

I don't think you were entirely at fault....but regardless of what the other driver is doing (wrong or not)...you should have left yourself enough room to stop. This is why sometimes you see drivers get issued "following too closely" citations for rear-endings, even though the driver in front of them stopped for no apparent reason (and therefore should share some % negligance.)

 

[UncleWai]

Originally posted by: ness1469
Wait wait... is it joint fault, or entirely you?

Secondly... the REPORT said you were going 45-50, the report on the collision says you were driving normal speeds, but YOU never said how fast you were going.
How fast were you going, and what reason do we have to believe that you weren't cooking along at 70-80 MPH?

I'm not saying the officer was right, but if you mistakingly left this out, tell us, and if you left it out on purpose, then I think you should come clean and give us the whole and true story.

I believe that no state grants immunity to those who are in a wreck that are driving wrecklessly.... again, I'm not accusing you of anything, but if you were speeding, then the most you could argue for is joint responsibility and try to have the truck driver cited for Unassured Cleared Distance.

In any case, if you have reason enough to believe that you were not at all liable, then you should get a lawyer.

His actual speed is irrelevant. I was in a similar accident except it was a woman driving a wagon. My friend was tuning the radio when he sideswiped her. There's no way OS is at fault especially the officer wrote he was going 45-50. Let's assume OS was driving at 50mph (highest on what the officer wrote), I doubt the extra 5 mph is the cause of the accident. If he was driving at 45mph, he would probably still hit the rig, may be at the end of the rig.

 

[wicktron]

SoCal cops suck. End of story.
Hope you win OS, CPP-- Beeyatch! :beer::beer:

 

[iwearnosox]

It sounds to me like you're possibly mis-interpreting the report. A failure to yield right of way ticket was probably issued to the trucker, and you're probably over-reacting to the summation of your driving. My bet is that it's still officially his fault, if he was in your lane.

Did your car stop in your lane? If so it's a simple failure to yield right of way, end of story. If the initial accident report shows his truck turning in your lane that's it, a done deal.

Millennium, if you were the cop you'd have a hard enough time handling all those flying monkeys to pay attention something like this...

 

[Hubris]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Pilsnerpete
Drop the "should or shouldn't have been going to the street races" from your defense.

How is the semi driver going to differentiate between a car goin 40mph or a car going 50mph. While sitting behind a wheel, trying to decide whether to go or not?

There's no way, if what you tell us is true, that this is your fault.

The report itself makes no mention of racing. It's just at the time of the collision, the investigating officer was like, what the hell are you doing here, this is your fault for being here, etc.

I later showed the report to a different officer at the CHP office and he agreed that it was messed up. He gave me the law number regarding left turns and encouraged me to fill out a supplemental response.

I have since written a response, minus any mention of any nearby activities, and submitted it. The previously mentioned officer said that if the supplemental doesn't change anything, I can request a hearing with the investigating officer and his sargent. If it comes to that point I will get a lawyer. They typically charge 1K to pick up a case, so it'll be a last resort.

If this other CHP was so helpful and on your side, maybe the title of the thread shouldn't be 'lost respect for highway patrol', yeah? It seems like just the one cop.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Francodman
Get a lawyer

Get a lawyer and ignore those here who have problems with reading comprehension.