Would like some advice - girlfriend got in a car accident yesterday

[purbeast0]

Yesterday my girlfriend was waiting at a light, first in line, for her green arrow to turn green. Keep in mind, at this intersection, the traffic perpindicular to where she was waiting is green and when it turns red, her turn signal (as well as the green arrow on the opposite side of her) turns green.

So when her light turns green, she proceeds to make her left turn. As she's turning, someone from straight accross from her side goes straight through the itnersection and plows into her car. Her car is pretty much totaled, but thankfully she's fine.

She was kind of dazed and said as people from behind her drove around her, they were yelling to the man that hit her "you fvcking idiot, didn't you see the red light? you are a damn moron" and stuff of the likes.

We know the traffic pattern and it's SSOO impossible that her light was green AND the other guys light was green. Like I said, when her arrow turns green, so does the other side. There is no way her light was green AND the light to go STRAIGHT from the other side was green - just not possible. With everyone driving around her it's obvious she had a green light since the traffic behind her continued to flow.

So the cops come and stuff and the other guy now claims that his light was green. When the cop told my girlfriend the other guy said that, she said to him "how can you lie, you know it was red and I had a green light, traffic kept going around me and you had no cars behind you." the cop said they could argue all day but it wont do any good, so now they go to court. she also told me that the cop basically sided with her but since he wasnt a witness he couldnt do much.

so now my girl has to go through her insurance and to court, when it should be from this guy's insurance 100%. not to mention, her car may not even be worth what she still owes on the loan.

so now i basically want to know what the best steps to go about this in court are. it is so obviously not her fault, but it seems it must be proven it was the other guys fault so he will have to pay for all the damages. also, i'm 90% sure there is a camera at this intersection. i'm not sure if its a red light camera or just a traffic camera, but if we could get our hands on the footage that would be gold.

also, if it was a red light camera, then this guy would have a ticket mailed to him in a few days. is there anywhere online we could search to see if this guy got a ticket from the automated system? that would too be proof right there.

any help is appreciated.

EDIT: both my GF and the other man received a ticket that says they must show up in court. this ticket going to my GF is also going to make it harder for her insurance company as well from what it seems like.

 

[Jeeebus]

is this a no-fault insurance state?

And why does anyone HAVE to go to court?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Contact the Department of Public Utilities regarding the camera to find out what was recorded.

It is a shame that none of the witnesses to what happned stayed around to give a statement.

Unless there is other evidence; it comes down to a he said/she said scenario with respect to who was in the intersection at the wrong time.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
is this a no-fault insurance state?

And why does anyone HAVE to go to court?

No fault insurance dosen't mean theres nobody at fault, a police report or a judge can still say whose at fault. No fault insurance means there dosen't have to be a determination of fault for the insurer to begin paying benefits.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
is this a no-fault insurance state?

And why does anyone HAVE to go to court?

it's in virginia where it happened. and i think the reason for court is basically because my girlfriend is saying he ran the red l ight and it's his fault 100% and he's saying he had a green light so it was a malfunction on the lights or something.

basically it's to prove it's the other guys fault or it's split between the 2 parties as far as the fault goes.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Contact the Department of Public Utilities regarding the camera to find out what was recorded.

It is a shame that none of the witnesses to what happned stayed around to give a statement.

Unless there is other evidence; it comes down to a he said/she said scenario with respect to who was in the intersection at the wrong time.

Yah I was pretty disappointed that no one stayed and they just drove around her, especially seeing that the airbags came out and the front of her car was so damaged. it looked bad.

now there was a few witnesses around, but they were illegals who hang out at the 7-11 looking for the jobs from people. they said they would be a witness if my GF gave them $200. now if my GF had no witnesses at the scene when the cop was there, and the cop saw there was no witness, would it look bad if she did in fact get one of these guys to come to court at this time now?

 

[Turin39789]

What about putting an ad in the paper asking for any witnesses to the accident at such and such time at such and such location?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
is this a no-fault insurance state?

And why does anyone HAVE to go to court?

The "no fault" part of no fault insurance usually only applies to personal injuries. Its purpose is to ensure that you can get treatment for your injuries immediately without having to deal with someone else's insurance company.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Get a lawyer.

 

[Kelvrick]

Yea, nobody offered to be a witness?

If she has full coverage, just pay the deductable and have your insurance's collision coverage pay for the car. Sucks if you owe more hten the car is worth though, but then thats why some people get GAP insurance.

Without witnesses, its up to whatever lawyers your insurance companies decide to use.

 

[mugs]

I hate it when people lie when they're clearly at fault in an accident. :| OP, you could post signs at the intersection asking anyone who was a witness to the accident at the date and time of your girlfriend's accident to call you (or the police - but ask the police before you do that)

 

[interchange]

Get a lawyer.

Originally posted by: purbeast0
not to mention, her car may not even be worth what she still owes on the loan.

Should have bought gap insurance. Now you know.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Only get a lawyer if the douche bag tries to sue you. It will be a waste of money in it's current state of he said/she said. If there was a traffic camera there or perhaps a gas station or something that had a camera you might have a chance, otherwise, guess what 50/50.

Same thing happened to me years ago. I was making a left on a protected green arrow and some chick blew through the light the other way and hit me. Not one person stopped to see if we were ok or to offer as a witness, this was in rush hour traffic, there had to be a hundred cars there. I got screwed by insurance then since the police put the blame 51% on me since I was a teenager( I was obviously a bad driver :disgust: ) That had actually just completed a safty course that my insurance company offered to help lower rates.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Only get a lawyer if the douche bag tries to sue you. It will be a waste of money in it's current state of he said/she said. If there was a traffic camera there or perhaps a gas station or something that had a camera you might have a chance, otherwise, guess what 50/50.

Same thing happened to me years ago. I was making a left on a protected green arrow and some chick blew through the light the other way and hit me. Not one person stopped to see if we were ok or to offer as a witness, this was in rush hour traffic, there had to be a hundred cars there. I got screwed by insurance then since the police put the blame 51% on me since I was a teenager( I was obviously a bad driver :disgust: ) That had actually just completed a safty course that my insurance company offered to help lower rates.

Contributary Negligence state?

 

[KeithP]

What about putting an ad in the paper asking for any witnesses to the accident at such and such time at such and such location?

Not only that, make some signs to ask for witnesses and put them up at the actual intersection.

-Keith

 

[AdamK47]

Without any witnesses the ruling could go either way. The man could say that it was green on his side and that the green turn arrow wouldn't have been light on her side. The opposite could be said for your girlfriend. It'll be interesting to hear how this one ends.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: AdamK47 3DS
Without any witnesses the ruling could go either way. The man could say that it was green on his side and that the green turn arrow wouldn't have been light on her side. The opposite could be said for your girlfriend. It'll be interesting to hear how this one ends.

could the way that the cop saw everything play out (like the tone of the guy and my girlfriend talking) or what the cop believes actually have any say on the judges final decision? because my gf said that the cop definitely knew who was really at fault, but since there was no witness there he just could not do anything about it.

 

[Czar]

he says that his green light was broken, then it should be very simple just to test the lights, see if they do both go green

if they cant recreate the problem he specifies as his explination then he will loose

 

[KarenMarie]

Did she get any phone numbers of the witnesses? A signed/notorized statement from a witness carries a lot of weight in court.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Czar
he says that his green light was broken, then it should be very simple just to test the lights, see if they do both go green

if they cant recreate the problem he specifies as his explination then he will loose

Do you know if they can literally check the times of the lights, like somewhere where the computers are actually changing the lights?

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
Did she get any phone numbers of the witnesses? A signed/notorized statement from a witness carries a lot of weight in court.

No she didnt. however some of the witnesses (the illegals that hang around the 7-11) are always hanging around there. they were scared to do anything though because they are illegals and dont have papers. they were just waiting around for some work. they said for $200 they would be a witness.

if she goes and gets a written account from some of these people, that could carry a lot of weight?

 

[jdini76]

I didn't read the other replies, but it depends on what state she was in when the accident happened. In Jersey and other states, the person who hit the other is "at fault" no matter what. also I don't know why you have to go to court, unless a ticket was issued to your GF from the cop otherwise you would normaly hand it over to the insurance company to fight.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: jdini76
I didn't read the other replies, but it depends on what state she was in when the accident happened. In Jersey and other states, the person who hit the other is "at fault" no matter what. also I don't know why you have to go to court, unless a ticket was issued to your GF from the cop otherwise you would normaly hand it over to the insurance company to fight.

both my girlfriend received a ticket and the other guy received a ticket. however there is no fine to pay, it says on the ticket that they both must be present in court. the was given the ticket for failed to yeild on left turn or something of that nature, even though she had a green light, and the guy ran a red light and smashed into her. it's in Virginia btw.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jdini76
I didn't read the other replies, but it depends on what state she was in when the accident happened. In Jersey and other states, the person who hit the other is "at fault" no matter what. also I don't know why you have to go to court, unless a ticket was issued to your GF from the cop otherwise you would normaly hand it over to the insurance company to fight.

Wait, what? Are you saying that the person who has the damage on the front of the car is at fault? Or what? If you fail to yield the right of way when required to do so and get in an accident, you're generally at fault no matter who "hit" whom. From what the OP's girlfriend says the other guy failed to yield the right of way.

OP, you better hope the other guy doesn't pay those Mexicans $200 to testify for him.

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: jdini76
I didn't read the other replies, but it depends on what state she was in when the accident happened. In Jersey and other states, the person who hit the other is "at fault" no matter what. also I don't know why you have to go to court, unless a ticket was issued to your GF from the cop otherwise you would normaly hand it over to the insurance company to fight.

both my girlfriend received a ticket and the other guy received a ticket. however there is no fine to pay, it says on the ticket that they both must be present in court. the was given the ticket for failed to yeild on left turn or something of that nature, even though she had a green light, and the guy ran a red light and smashed into her. it's in Virginia btw.

Ok i see. this is beyond my expertise.