Accident as a Result of Stupidity

[Fish Taco64]

So I am sitting at at a red light at a fairly busy intersection at about 8pm. I am in the left turn lane and I am the 3rd car in the line waiting to turn. The gentlemen in front of me in a large white van suddenly shifts to reverse...hmmm that's odd, but maybe he is just putting it in "park" for some reason. Nope, he's still in reverse. HOLY CRAP HE"S BACKING UP! I quickly blast my horn to stop him, but he apparently does not hear, and backs straight into me....at a red light.

I follow him into a nearby parking lot. He gets out.

"I'm sorry man, I didn't even see you there! I checked to my left and my right and I didn't see anything, you must have been right in the middle!"

Apparently this radical invention called a "rear-view mirror" is a foreign concept to him. His big excuse for backing down a busy road was that he had decided he wanted to cut across several lanes of traffic and turn right instead of left. The guy got a hefty ticket for "illegal backing", and his insurance has to pay $1,700 to fix my car AND provide me with a rental for 4-5 days. Enjoy your rate hike!

[dragon_wings]

Wha... *brain blue screens*

[Mytical]

Wha... *brain blue screens*

My thoughts exactly..that is ... wow.

[fma_fanatic]

I had something similar happen to me many years ago. I was waiting at a red light and a truck rolled back into me.

The idiot woman driver claimed I'd hit her, and when the police took the statement, he had a look of doubt. Then he asked me what happened. I told him she'd rolled back into me. She denied it up and down, but seeing as I had a passenger in my car (my dad, heh), she was quick to back down when he told her she was full of it and that she took her foot of the brake.

It didn't do a whole lot of damage, just scraped up the front bumper, but it was annoying because she wanted to try and lie her way out of it.

[Fish Taco64]

Hah, that sucks, I was lucky and the guy openly admitted that he did it. He may be an idiot, but at least he is an honest idiot.

[mikoyan29]

I was backed into like that by a guy in a van. He didn't realize there was someone behind him until he saw the Red Wings flag in his rear view mirror. Fortunately, he was honest enough to admit he screwed up. It was from this that I learned the joys of Mini-Torts. (Michigan is a no fault insurance state but I can still get my deductible from the other guy's insurance if he is at fault).

[LillFilly]

I'm glad it worked out for you; most of the times, they side with the person who was in front. Lucky you. I'm guessing they'd have to look at witnesses and skid marks if the guy hadn't confessed.

[Fish Taco64]

I think I would have been able to convince the cop if I had needed to, all of the damage was on the right side of the car, from where the guy had started the turn into the next lane. Hard to imagine how would have pulled off rear-ending him with only one side of my car!