Car accident. (re-ending)

[Mjd]

Always have a lawyer anytime someone complains about injury. People are shady.

Everybody lies




Sorry I just started to watch House

[Rhinox]

cell phone thing is relevant if New Jersey is like Chicago and has a ban on talking on the phone while driving without an earpiece.

It doesn't change the fact that he rear-ended her. It doesn't matter if she was on the cell phone or not. she might get ticketed if he can prove she was.

[Arrmani]

I know rear ending is always considered the second person's fault, but if he can prove she was on the phone, might that be considered reckless driving on her part? I get pissed when people tailgate when there's no reason to, but not paying attention 'cause you're on the phone is worse imo.

[Corrderio]

Odd, why do you have to go to court if you payed the ticket? When I caused an accident I just had to pay my ticket and problem solved.

[Rhinox]

he hasn't. The ticket was a court date unless he wanted to plead guilty and pay the fine.

[Brill Weave]

Contact your insurance company. They will most likely advise you to contact a lawyer if they feel this chick is going to attempt to fleece them/you. Don't let the big talk scare you. The township is not going to waste an attorney on something so mundane as a random traffic accident. I was in the EXACT situation a few years ago and I got a careless driving citation with injury(ended up being about 400 total) and a few points on my license. The old lady in the car I hit complained about neck pain that caused her to miss a flight to visit her daughter which she then missed her daughter giving birth to her grand daughter. The judge said if she wanted to pursue damages from that to go through my insurance company because he was there for the citation only. I can't say that's going to be the exact way it plays out, but I'm sure it will be pretty close.

[Skidz]

From the damage you've described, seems like you were going at quite a decent speed. Work with your insurance company to get in touch with a lawyer (they will be named in the lawsuit, as well as you), and buckle down for a rough ride. Seems clear you're at fault, and like I said, from the damage you described, the victim might not even be faking the injury.

[Ace-o-fire]

From the damage you've described, seems like you were going at quite a decent speed. Work with your insurance company to get in touch with a lawyer (they will be named in the lawsuit, as well as you), and buckle down for a rough ride. Seems clear you're at fault, and like I said, from the damage you described, the victim might not even be faking the injury.

id also like to state that i drive a 98 civic while she drove a ford explore so the damages where going to be on my side regardless.

but it was from a stop and go traffic light. to at most 10 miles an hour before i hit her.

[Skidz]

id also like to state that i drive a 98 civic while she drove a ford explore so the damages where going to be on my side regardless.

but it was from a stop and go traffic light. to at most 10 miles an hour before i hit her.

I understand you might've thought you were going slow, heck you probably were slow relative to the traffic around you, but for airbag deployment and windshield damage, you were probably closer to 25 mph. Not trying to put the blame on you or anything, just looking at it from the same prespective a cop or a judge might look at it from. I wish you the best in this matter, and like someone else said, the chances of you serving time for this are slim to none so don't sweat it too much.

[Silviya]

When I entered this thread I was anticipating this story to have a conclusion and then an updated conclusion.

[Therin]

There is absolutely no reason for you to be issued a reckless driving citation based on the information you've given us. If you're not holding out information, then I'd think that any decent lawyer would be able to get that thrown out or reduced.

I don't know about that. He said both of his airbags deployed which means he hit her at at least 15 MPH. I rear-ended someone at about 3-5 MPH and the cop didn't even write me a ticket, but if you hit someone at 15 MPH IN TRAFFIC you clearly accelerated heavily and were either A) Riding her ass hardcore or B) Didn't even touch the brake (too busy looking at your iPod or something perhaps?).

I'd say the reckless driving citation was a good call on their part.

[Tyche]

I understand you might've thought you were going slow, heck you probably were slow relative to the traffic around you, but for airbag deployment and windshield damage, you were probably closer to 25 mph. Not trying to put the blame on you or anything, just looking at it from the same prespective a cop or a judge might look at it from. I wish you the best in this matter, and like someone else said, the chances of you serving time for this are slim to none so don't sweat it too much.

this post is just simply incorrect.

[Tyche]

Since it was posted again, airbag deployment is a measure of force, not speed.

[jmc]

Since it was posted again, airbag deployment is a measure of force, not speed.

Yes you are right, but so are others who posted there is no way a airbag deployed hitting a car at 5mph. Absolutely no way....... you also have to figure in deceleration of the car the deployed airbags. Force, Speed, Impact, Deceleration are all things that can deploy a airbag.

Airbags are designed to deploy with a force equivalent of hitting a brick wall at 8-16 mph. Which is around hitting a parked car at 25-30mph due to the other vehicle absorbing some of the force behind the hit.

Even a civic vs explorer, and the explorer holding down the brakes... there was no way the car accident was under 15 mph.

and going from a stopped position, to a going position (Red to green light) there was too much acceleration like others have said.

*edit* That's all off memory from job related experiences, looking up actual sources now.

[Skidz]

Yes you are right, but so are others who posted there is no way a airbag deployed hitting a car at 5mph. Absolutely no way....... you also have to figure in deceleration of the car the deployed airbags. Force, Speed, Impact, Deceleration are all things that can deploy a airbag.

Airbags are designed to deploy with a force equivalent of hitting a brick wall at 8-16 mph. Which is around hitting a parked car at 25-30mph due to the other vehicle absorbing some of the force behind the hit.

Even a civic vs explorer, and the explorer holding down the brakes... there was no way the car accident was under 15 mph.

and going from a stopped position, to a going position (Red to green light) there was too much acceleration like others have said.

*edit* That's all off memory from job related experiences, looking up actual sources now.

Your numbers are pretty much spot on; only off by 1 or 2 mph. But this is just for airbag deoployment. To have windshield and radiator damage, the car was going a bit faster than 14/15 mph.

[Ace-o-fire]

Your numbers are pretty much spot on; only off by 1 or 2 mph. But this is just for airbag deoployment. To have windshield and radiator damage, the car was going a bit faster than 14/15 mph.

well the windshield damage was from the passenger side airbag shooting up instead out out.

but the radiator damage was some of the fins where cracked, that was from the bumpers rebar being pushed in to the condenser and then that being pushed in to the radiator.

[Tyche]

well the windshield damage was from the passenger side airbag shooting up instead out out.

but the radiator damage was some of the fins where cracked, that was from the bumpers rebar being pushed in to the condenser and then that being pushed in to the radiator.

Honda's have a 2-step airbag process. They'll deploy differently depending on where the impact occurs and the force. That's probably why the passenger side went up instead of out. Also, if the explorer had a trailer hitch, it could have took out the radiator with significantly less force than 20+mph.

[Ace-o-fire]

Just want to update everyone since my court date was held today.

The judge gave me what is called an unsafe driving ticket. it involved no points but the total cost was 500 dollars instead of 250. (my lawyer said it pays off in the long run so you don't have to pay more insurance wise)

I also was able to get a civil reservation order which closes the case so they cant re-open it if this lady goes in a week, or ten years from now and tries to sue me.

[MaachaQ]

I also was able to get a civil reservation order which closes the case so they cant re-open it if this lady goes in a week, or ten years from now and tries to sue me.

Pretty much the best outcome you could hope for. $500, no insurance bump, and no made-up lawsuit later seems like a good deal to me.

[LiquidFriend]

Pretty much the best outcome you could hope for. $500, no insurance bump, and no made-up lawsuit later seems like a good deal to me.

Yep, consider yourself incredibly fucking lucky OP.