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

[isekii]

Originally posted by: 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.

doesn't something like that kill the credibility tho ?
basically whoever pays first gets the mexicans bs truth

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: 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.

doesn't something like that kill the credibility tho ?
basically whoever pays first gets the mexicans bs truth

which would also seem shady if my girlfriend went back and told them that. however I really think that an illegal would be hesitant to lie under oath in a court room. my gf is nicaraguan as well and can speak to them in their native tounge, where the other guy was a white male. i think they would feel more comfortable with my girlfriend.


so does anyone know anything more about getting a written statement from them and having it notorized as osmeone mentioned above?

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: 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.

Well when it comes down to where the damage is, it really doesn't matter.

Lets say two cars are following one another. and the first car stops at a green light and the second car hits the first car. The second car is at fault.

But you may be right in a situation like this it may be harder to determine who hit who.

If the OP's GF was not moving, and the guy hit her, then he would be at fault regardless to what the lights were. It can be argued she was in the intersection before the light was red ( i know you say it was green but this helps your defense) and it can be argued that the guy wasn't paying attention when he entered the intersection, becasue he hit her.

I hope this clears it up.

Edit:

Just read the OP again and he said that his GF's car was turning. That would lead me to believe that her front end was facing left. and she got hit on the front passenger side fender by the guys front end. A cop should easily be able to determine who hit who based on the postions of damage.

Therfore I would say it is defeinatly his fault regardless of what the lights were at the time. she was clearly in the inersection before he was. When you enter an intersection, you should making sure there is no traffic present. you can't assume.

 

[jtvang125]

Probably end up with your gf's insurance dealing with her car and the other party's insurance dealing with his.

 

[sao123]

remember, going to court is all about facts... not a he said, she said.
For evidence, consider a Diagram of the intersection and redlight cycles that might help your case. Also it might be good to take pictures and possibly a home video of a few cycles of the red lights at the intersection to help in proving the traffic pattern at the light.

if the light is a fixed cycle light then it will be easy to prove your case. If the light is the variable cycle light, then it will be more difficult, but still possible.

Either way, this can only help your case.

(I only diagrammed 2 basic intersections patterns, there are several more, and you will have to diagram the specific intersection where the accident occured)

 

[jammur21]

Don't hire the illegals for $200. If the judge finds out you hired a witness, she is going to be royally screwed.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: sao123
remember, going to court is all about facts... not a he said, she said.
For evidence, consider a Diagram of the intersection and redlight cycles that might help your case. Also it might be good to take pictures and possibly a home video of a few cycles of the red lights at the intersection to help in proving the traffic pattern at the light.

if the light is a fixed cycle light then it will be easy to prove your case. If the light is the variable cycle light, then it will be more difficult, but still possible.

Either way, this can only help your case.

(I only diagrammed 2 basic intersections patterns, there are several more, and you will have to diagram the specific intersection where the accident occured)

Also, the diagram should feature vehicles from GTA 1 or 2.

Awesome diagram, by the way. If I were the judge, I'd be impressed.

 

[origami]

Just state out the facts. Don't blame anything on the other person because it is not the evidence. Just write out everything that happened on her side and don't write anything such as "I think, I assume, It might have been, etc." Write as many details as you can, with descriptive words.
As long as your girlfriend can convince the judge that she is not over 50% at fault she will be fine. Plus, if so many people stopped and yelled at the guy, the camera would probably show that he had a green light and she had a red light.
Good luck!

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jdini76

Originally posted by: 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.

Well when it comes down to where the damage is, it really doesn't matter.

Lets say two cars are following one another. and the first car stops at a green light and the second car hits the first car. The second car is at fault.

But you may be right in a situation like this it may be harder to determine who hit who.

If the OP's GF was not moving, and the guy hit her, then he would be at fault regardless to what the lights were. It can be argued she was in the intersection before the light was red ( i know you say it was green but this helps your defense) and it can be argued that the guy wasn't paying attention when he entered the intersection, becasue he hit her.

I hope this clears it up.

Edit:

Just read the OP again and he said that his GF's car was turning. That would lead me to believe that her front end was facing left. and she got hit on the front passenger side fender by the guys front end. A cop should easily be able to determine who hit who based on the postions of damage.

Therfore I would say it is defeinatly his fault regardless of what the lights were at the time. she was clearly in the inersection before he was. When you enter an intersection, you should making sure there is no traffic present. you can't assume.

The lights would still matter in that case. There are two rules that are nearly always true in determining fault:

1. A person who rear-ends another car is almost always at fault
2. A person making an unprotected left turn is almost always at fault

If the other guy had the right of way, the blame doesn't shift to him because theoretically he may have had time to stop. If the guy started from a stop at the intersection and hit a car that was in the middle of a turn, that could be a different story. But if the guy was at speed and a car turned left as he was entering the intersection, you can't blame him just because he has damage on the front and the other has damage on the fender.

But that's neither here nor there, because it doesn't sound like the guy had the right of way at all.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: 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?

dont know, but you can get the judge to just come to the intersection and have a look for himself

or you could try the police, they would know, or the city council

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jdini76

Originally posted by: 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.

Well when it comes down to where the damage is, it really doesn't matter.

Lets say two cars are following one another. and the first car stops at a green light and the second car hits the first car. The second car is at fault.

But you may be right in a situation like this it may be harder to determine who hit who.

If the OP's GF was not moving, and the guy hit her, then he would be at fault regardless to what the lights were. It can be argued she was in the intersection before the light was red ( i know you say it was green but this helps your defense) and it can be argued that the guy wasn't paying attention when he entered the intersection, becasue he hit her.

I hope this clears it up.

Edit:

Just read the OP again and he said that his GF's car was turning. That would lead me to believe that her front end was facing left. and she got hit on the front passenger side fender by the guys front end. A cop should easily be able to determine who hit who based on the postions of damage.

Therfore I would say it is defeinatly his fault regardless of what the lights were at the time. she was clearly in the inersection before he was. When you enter an intersection, you should making sure there is no traffic present. you can't assume.

The lights would still matter in that case. There are two rules that are nearly always true in determining fault:

1. A person who rear-ends another car is almost always at fault
2. A person making an unprotected left turn is almost always at fault

If the other guy had the right of way, the blame doesn't shift to him because theoretically he may have had time to stop. If the guy started from a stop at the intersection and hit a car that was in the middle of a turn, that could be a different story. But if the guy was at speed and a car turned left as he was entering the intersection, you can't blame him just because he has damage on the front and the other has damage on the fender.

But that's neither here nor there, because it doesn't sound like the guy had the right of way at all.

Using my diagram... it would sound as if the GF was sitting at location B turning left.
The other guy was moving straight from A'.
Theoretically there should never be a case where the left turn and the on coming striaght would both have a green. The light would dictate who is at fault in this case, becasue the primary violation would be failure to yield to a traffic control device.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: sao123

Using my diagram... it would sound as if the GF was sitting at location B turning left.
The other guy was moving straight from A'.
Theoretically there should never be a case where the left turn and the on coming striaght would both have a green. The light would dictate who is at fault in this case, becasue the primary violation would be failure to yield to a traffic control device.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

 

[thomsbrain]

the insurance company should be going to bat for her. i've never had to do ANYTHING after an accident other than notify my insurance company, even when the other party incorrectly claimed it was my fault. State Farm took a statement from me over the phone, and that was it. you let them sort it out.

 

[chambersc]

may have been answered:

did she ask a witness to record their information? if not.....i don't predict a successful victory for her.