I am not the driver you are looking for.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Some years ago I was driving in the winter and it was snowing. I approached a red light and stopped behind a nice, new luxury sedan. A few moments later a young girl rear ends me hard enough to push my car into the sedan.

I get out to asses the damage and this well dressed middle aged woman gets out of the sedan and immediately starts laying into me. She was using language that would make a salty sailor proud. For about five minutes she's going at top volume. I catch bits and pieces like, "DO YOU FUCKING KNOW WHO I AM?" and "YOUR COCKSUCKING ASS WON'T HAVE A LICENSE WHEN I GET THROUGH WITH YOU!" etc. The whole time this poor young girl is quite literally cowering behind me.

The thing is I have always found stupid people amusing. The stupider they act the funnier it is to me. I think I did a heroic job not doubling over laughing at her but I'm only human, I couldn't help the shit eating grin that was getting bigger by the minute.

Lady (?): BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH AND WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GRINNING ABOUT?
Me: (hey, she finally stopped for breath! I step aside and point at the young girl behind me) I think you want to talk to the young lady who rear ended me and pushed my car into yours?
Lady: (turns three shades of red, finally looks at her car) Well...uhm...there's no damage.

With that the lady gets in her car and drives away (without any apology about acting like a complete ass - what a shocker). My car is a tank with more dents than I can count so I tell the young girl it's her lucky day as I have no intention of filing paperwork and I drive off still very amused at the situation.

[Pedersen]

Sad thing is that, in at least some states (including NJ if what I'm told is true), you'd still be liable. After all, you didn't stop far enough away to account for that possibility, and that resulted in your vehicle (the one you are supposed to always have total control over) running into hers.

Had to worry about that some years back, actually. Wife was on Rt46, and the person in front of her was making a left, and blocking the lane Wife was in from going around. Wife was stopped behind this person completely. A Jeep of some sort rammed Wife's vehicle at about 40MPH, pushing her hard enough that that the front of her vehicle went under the vehicle in front of her.

Not fun.

[PepperElf]

After all, you didn't stop far enough away to account for that possibility

That's hard to determine just from reading this though.

Cos even in the case with your wife... if someone's ramming you without stopping, the only way you could stop far enough to account for that would be to have at least 2 car-lengths (if not three) between you and the car ahead of you... which is a bit nutty at that point.

I hope your wife came through OK tho. That does sound very un-fun. Not to mention potentially deadly.

[Pedersen]

Ah, I screwed up in how I phrased that.

It should be more like this: "After all, so the thinking goes, you didn't stop far enough away".

Now, whether or not it's a stupid thought belongs to the realm of "should", so I'm going to ask that we not go there.

Yes, though, Wife was fine. She could see it about to happen, and tensed up a lot, so her muscles were tight and sore for a few days. And where the seatbelt made contact with her body was quite tender. Fortunately, that was all of the damage she took. The car, on the other hand, took about $5K in damages. The only reason it wasn't totaled out, I think, was because it was a leased vehicle, and the insurance company didn't want to pay out even more unless it absolutely had to.

And yes, it was returned at the end of the lease. Wife said it never felt the same afterwards.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Wife was on Rt46, and the person in front of her was making a left, and blocking the lane Wife was in from going around.

Glad to hear your wife is OK. My wife and I were in a train crash two years ago in Boston. I only got a bit of whiplash that went away in a few days but my wife hit her chin on the seat in front of her and needed 7 or 8 stitches on the inside and outside of her mouth to close the hole through her lip. It's always scary when someone you love gets hurt.

Last summer on a beautiful sunny Saturday I put my left turn signal on and started to slow down to turn into a gas station. It was a two lane road and there was oncoming traffic so I had to stop. I think I left enough room for people to go around me but there was a giant SUV behind me and he chose to stop (there was definitely no room for anyone to pass him).

As the last oncoming cars are approaching I hear the metal/glass smash of cars hitting cars and I look up just in time to see the SUV behind me hit hard enough to rock on its springs but luckily for me it didn't move so I wasn't hit.

As I'm pumping gas I see five cars pulled over across the street on cell phones and exchanging paperwork. The last car in the line, I assume the people that caused the accident as they only have massive front end damage, was driven by two 20 something girls. They started yelling at me, "YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE!" and "YOU CAUSED THIS ACCIDENT!".

Since I had not been involved in the accident and since the SUV blocked me from even witnessing it (all I did was hear it) I drove away after I got my gas.

My wife thinks I should have stayed anyway. My dad, a retired lawyer, thinks leaving was the better part of valor.

[PepperElf]

Indeed some of those accidents can be worse than people realize.

One of my shipmates on my first ship got into one of those "sandwich" fender benders where he got pushed into the next car. Airbag went off and took his eye.

He won the lawsuit - against the car that hit him & the airbag manufacturer. People on the ship would go "ooo" when they heard how much money he got in the settlement. Rumor mill took it to 2 million & more I think, but I remember him saying it was about 1.5 mil or so... and that he'd rather have his eyeball back.

[Jay 2K Winger]

This kind of thing happened to my sister once. She was still in high school (senior year, IIRC) and after school, she was driving with friends somewhere. They stopped behind another car at a stop sign and then got rear-ended by someone else, making them rear-end car #1.

The cop who responded to the accident tried to pin the blame on my sister (the other drivers, again, IIRC, were adults and not teenagers). My parents decided to contest the charge at court, and the judge threw the case out because the cop had not witnessed the accident, so his charging my sister had no basis.

[Ellain]

*hangs head*

I caused one of these once. It was less than a year after I got my license, and a few months after I got my first cell phone. The phone rang while I was following a friend, and as it was my mom, I thought I had to answer... Bad idea. Very bad idea. I totaled her car, and pushed her into the back of a lawyer's Jaguar.

Luckily, no one had anything worse than a few scrapes and a touch of whiplash. The kicker was, the lawyer's drivers license was 4 YEARS out of date. He actually got in more trouble than I did!
And I haven't been in an accident since.

[Caractacus_Potts]

The kicker was, the lawyer's drivers license was 4 YEARS out of date. He actually got in more trouble than I did!

Got to love that. A friend of mine was coming out of NY on the highway doing almost 100 MPH when a cruiser pulled him over. He was caught dead to rights not just speeding but SPEEDING! Before the officer could even ask for his license someone on a motorcycle blew by them doing well over a hundred. The officer yelled, "Consider this a warning!" as he was running back to his cruiser to chase the motorcycle.

[PepperElf]

*hangs head*

I caused one of these once. It was less than a year after I got my license, and a few months after I got my first cell phone. The phone rang while I was following a friend, and as it was my mom, I thought I had to answer... Bad idea. Very bad idea. I totaled her car, and pushed her into the back of a lawyer's Jaguar.

Luckily, no one had anything worse than a few scrapes and a touch of whiplash. The kicker was, the lawyer's drivers license was 4 YEARS out of date. He actually got in more trouble than I did!
And I haven't been in an accident since.

This reminds me of what one man posted at another message board I go to.

He was following a deputy when the deputy changed lanes and slowed down to tag him for speeding. He asked her how fast he was going because he "wasn't paying attention and was just following her".

Oddly enough... no ticket.

[Shalom]

She could see it about to happen, and tensed up a lot, so her muscles were tight and sore for a few days. And where the seatbelt made contact with her body was quite tender. Fortunately, that was all of the damage she took. The car, on the other hand, took about $5K in damages.

My father had this once. He's waiting to get on the eastbound Belt at Knapp Street onramp one morning on his way to work out on the Island. Now the onramps on the Belt at this time didn't have any acceleration lanes; you got to the end of the ramp and boom, you're on the highway. He was waiting for a break in traffic with another car behind, and he sees in his mirror that the next guy coming up the ramp isn't even slowing down; had the sun in his eyes or something, but he didn't see the two stationary cars at the end of the ramp. He knew he was gonna get clobbered, but he didn't want to get rammed out into traffic either, so he slid down, braced his head against the headrest and shoved the brake pedal to the floor.

The guy plowed into the car behind him at highway speed, and my father's car went nowhere. (1976 Chevy Impala hardtop, huge steel bumpers, weighed 4200 pounds empty.) The car in the middle resembled an accordion, and the Impala had a little crease in the trunk lid. Trunk even still opened and shut after that.

(I do have to wonder, though, if my dad's chronic back and neck issues maybe didn't start from there, although it wasn't the first time he was rear-ended.)

Got to love that. A friend of mine was coming out of NY on the highway doing almost 100 MPH when a cruiser pulled him over. He was caught dead to rights not just speeding but SPEEDING! Before the officer could even ask for his license someone on a motorcycle blew by them doing well over a hundred. The officer yelled, "Consider this a warning!" as he was running back to his cruiser to chase the motorcycle.

From qdb.us:

< Alkivar> we're on our way back from partying in NYC over the weekend ... it was like sunday afternoon we're headed back west
< Alkivar> we're cruisin... maybe 130-140mph
< Alkivar> flew past a trooper on the side of the road
< Alkivar> trooper lights up ... siren blasting ... chasing us down the highway
< Alkivar> we're both like should we stop ... there's no way he can catch up to us
< Alkivar> we decided to be good and stop
< Alkivar> cop catches up to us ... comes out gun drawn ... pissed as hell
< Alkivar> walks up to the side of the car and goes
< Alkivar> "SON CAN I SEE YOUR PILOT'S LICENSE"
< Alkivar> Jason pulls out his fing pilot's license
< Alkivar> cop's jaw hits the fing ground
< Alkivar> most stunned face I've ever fing seen
< Alkivar> in this practically a whimper goes "get the out of here"
< Alkivar> no ticket... too embarassed apparently
< Alkivar> I'll never forget that day long as I live
< Alkivar> I was sure we were goin to jail

[Web_Pict]

Last summer on a beautiful sunny Saturday I put my left turn signal on and started to slow down to turn into a gas station. It was a two lane road and there was oncoming traffic so I had to stop. I think I left enough room for people to go around me but there was a giant SUV behind me and he chose to stop (there was definitely no room for anyone to pass him).

I had something similar happen few years ago.

I was about to turn left (signal on!) and waiting for oncoming car. And I had left space well enough on my right for others.
But someone came in situation defenately too fast, and could not wheel his car pass me at right. He tried to pass left, passed me but hit oncoming car, fortunately only broke his right mirror, and then crashed to roadsign.

No damages on driver but car was a wreck. Police was called, I stopped to wait, shop cigarettes whilst waiting and then tried to ask officer, if they needed my statement or something, but they weren't interested about little me.