Thread: Car accident

1. Find a lawyer's number. You may not have to call it yet, but keep it handy. Many lawyers will offer free advice as well, so it couldn't hurt to give someone a call.
2. Wait for that updated police report and send it to your and his insurance.
3. Take pictures of your car. Catch every angle, to show that there's no damage to the front of your car, but there is damage to a rear panel.
4. If it helps, take pictures of the intersection. By "if it helps," I mean, "Look for skid marks or debris."
5. Also send said pictures to his and your insurance agents and possibly that lawyer.
6. Go to a body shop or something like that and get an estimate as to how much it'll take to fix your car. Also, while you're there, talk to the people working and ask what they think happened. If it's how you describe, a hit to the rear quarter panel would be pretty flippin' tough to dent with you being at fault.* If it does go to court, it'd help to have statements from the body shop person.
7. If you feel like it, check with your state's DMV and get a copy of your driving record (if it's squeaky clean). You won't be able to get a copy of the other dude's record without his permission, but at least you'll be able to show people that you're a safe driver.
8. If he comes after you personally, talk to a judge immediately and get an order of protection against him. Talk about your case as well; if you do land in said judge's court, it'll look quite favorable to you if you've already been the "victim" of this other dude's rage.

Aside from that, I would say wait it out. I'm not sure what else to tell you other than to take all necessary precautions if this dude goes crazy and decides to sue. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post. I'm serious about the pictures, though; they're your best bet at the moment of proving just who hit whom.

*Now, I want to say you weren't at fault, but I'm still rather unclear as to what actually happened. You were on a two-lane road and wanted to make a right-hand turn, but this dude stopped in front of the turn, right? Was there a green light (or a light at all)? How fast did this all happen? Did you try to turn right from the left-hand lane, crossing in front of him? I'm unsure how this "disregarding the traffic signal" comes into play.

Originally Posted by cerel

He's also the one who called the cops, maybe that's why they believed him. Though that really shouldn't be any basis for credibility. 'Yea, some guy was shot, I saw it and called the cops, I couldn't possibly be the killer' The more I think about this, the more I want revenge more than money, I want to press charges, I want the fucker in jail for assault.

Lawyer up and good luck, dude.

heeh.. your suppost to get a copy of the police report right after they write it down and if its not right your suppost to go to the police station or call the supervisor... tell them you want a accident invesigation right now before they move the cars etc have pictures taken all that stuff. good luck with your case.

Originally Posted by cerel

And what do I do if they don't want to?

I think maybe I should just let this go. I'll be fucked if I try to press this issue. No one is on my side and I cant afford to fight it. I'll just steal his car in a few months when he's not expecting it and roll it off a cliff.

*High fives*

Maybe I'm just assuming things but I thought from the very beginning that you must have been tailgating this guy to set him off. And people get REALLY pissed when you ride their ass.

I do it in the mornings sometimes on accident because I'm in such a zombie state I don't really realize it, I could drive to school in my sleep. And I've had a few people get angry and pull over....hehe oops. I'm trying to be more aware of that, but it's never intentional.

Anyway- either way what he did was wrong but I've spent a lot of time on the roads with crazy drivers (my mother) and if someone tailgates them and then passes them, they get super pissed and will purposely get in front of the other car and slam on their brakes....

Just sayinnnnnn, and it kind of seems like something someone would just conveniently forget to leave out of a story. Like "Man I don't know this guy just went crazy, I don't know what his deal was"

Well, what's not shown in the diagram, because it would just be too much and would make it too complicated. This part I'm writing out in the letter, that is, that 4 lane road starts as 2 lanes, I got on to it in the right lane off a parkway, he was going slow in front so I passed him on the left and kept going, we stop together at lights, him on the right me on the left and that's when we enter the scene the diagram shows where i get into the right lane.

Now I am an aggressive driver, but I was just concerned with going home, not beating him or anything. So I was taking off fast, but there was no one in front or behind, we were both going at our own pace, but we kept stopping at lights together. I wasn't even paying attention to him.

I don't know what was up his ass, I wasn't harassing him, I was minding my business. It's like he took offense to me passing him before, so he didn't want it to happen again. But I passed him, I didn't get in front of him.