Me and car are fine so that’s about it. What happened is I decided at the last minute not to run the yellow (because Mayor Daley sees everything and last time it cost me $100). Whoever was behind me thought I was going to run it and was planning to run it do. I braked, they hit me from behind, I got out my cell phone and got out of my car, they drove off.
Two different cars stopped and told me that I should drive off after them. I didn’t, I’m not that good a driver, it was raining, I have insurance and decided I had nothing to gain. I am kicking myself that I didn’t memorize the plates, they were sitting behind me for about 30 seconds before I got out of my car and they split.
So I guess this is a WWYD thread? This one was a no biggie but it has me thinking about next time. If you are in an accident do you assume that the other driver is going to split at the first possible moment and act accordingly. Do you instinctively start to memorize plates? Is there some rule, like if it’s better to be sure about the first few digits than not sure about any of it? Thoughts welcome (including comments on my driving).
I was almost hit this afternoon. I’m driving a truck in the left lane and an old guy with a black truck is in the right lane beside me. He just starts coming into my lane and I start braking and honking the horn in bursts. He kind of jumps and it’s clear he sees me. At this point he continues to come farther into my lane, at which point I have to brake harder. to fall all the way behind his truck before he takes out the whole front half of the truck. I continued to blast the horn after the hard braking. The guy is so damn old he can’t process what the hell he doing wrong in real time. He then does a two finger solute to his head like he’s in the military, to acknowledge we didn’t have an accident. At that point I want to report him and guess what. His license plate looks like it was chopped up with a maul or went through a wood chipper and I can’t read any of it. Had I found the truck in the parking lot of the places I stopped, I’d have called the cops to at least give him a ticket for an unreadable license, and check him out for being to messed up to drive. I wanted to bitch about this ass, but didn’t want to start a thread.
The first thing I do when an accident occurs is memorize the license, and write it down. I’d write on cement with a stone or in the dirt if I needed to and then copy it to paper. It’s way harder to catch someone without it. If you have a camera take a photo immediately of the license and then the accident before they can move their vehicle. Look police here’s who was driving before they took off.
Call the cops, tell 'em every thing you can remember. If the cops find the driver, he or she can be cited for hit and run. This will come in handy if your insurance company asks for a police report.
My insurance company (State Farm) claims they always prefer you call the cops, but you are not required to unless there are injuries.
heh, that actually did occur to me but i thought ‘not needed, just check on the cars and go talk to the guy’. I can’t imagine snapping photos before you even go ask if everyone’s okay … 'course i can’t imagine driving off either. :mad:
It’s happened to me 4 times here in Tucson. They say about half of drivers here (illegally) don’t have insurance, and there’s tons of illegal immigrants driving around, so the drive-off rate is quite high. One time I chased one but I just ended up all wound up and crying, so it’s not worth it. And even though it’s a crime here, even if someone’s caught it’s usually not even prosecuted. Life sucks sometimes.
Happened to me to…I caught enough of the plate and details of the car and driver to report it. The policeman personally went to the guy’s house. After denying it at first, the driver told him, “I didn’t even hit her that hard!”
He got cited.
Happened to me a couple of years ago. It happens so fast, before you can ask if everyone is ok, the bastard is gone. It so happened that there was a crew of firemen finishing up with an earlier accident. They saw the car hit us from behind and take off. They came over to ask if we were alright and if we saw the guy (No. We didn’t even see his car). They sent a police car over, who IIRC too a report but did not try to pursue. We were all ok, but I think we had about $500 damage. Nothing at all you can do about it.
I witnessed a hit-n-run in a parking lot during my lunch break once. A guy comes whipping out of his parking space and backs right into a lady and her car. She steps out of her car, he rolls down his window, and then he peels off.
I started to pursue the guy but another man in a van noticed it too and was following him. We got to a stoplight and the guy in the van was on his cell phone. He waved to me and said “I got him! Cops are on their way.”
I went back and told the lady to stay there since they were still chasing the guy.
Absolutely always call the police if that ever happens. If nothing else, you’ll want to have the police report when dealing with your insurance.
This has happened twice to me, and I vowed it won’t happen again. The first thing I do now before I even get out of my car, (or immediately after I do if I don’t have a clear line of sight) is to memorize the plates.
The last time this happened, the (obviously intoxicated) asshole who rear ended me (I was already stopped at a light for a good 30 seconds) also had an unbuckled BABY in the front passenger’s side seat! Could have killed the poor kid.
Edit: Now that I think about it, it’s not like you could buckle up a baby anyway, it really should have been in a baby seat in the back. More importantly, it should not have been in the car while you are driving under the influence! Bastard.
Back in '95, I rear-ended a guy on the freeway. He whipped out from the middle lane, which was at a dead stop; into the right lane, which was moving at 50 MPH. It was wet, and slippery, and I couldn’t stop.
We pulled to the side of the freeway, and I got out to check on him. The guy rolled down the window, berated me profusely about my incompetence (he pulled into my lane when I was doing 50, remember), and demanded to see my driver’s license. I pulled it out, handed it to him, and asked to see his.
The jerk rolled up his window, and drove off. With my license.
Dumbfounded, I stared at him. Ran back to my car, jumped in and followed him. Got his plate number, and called the cops.
Turns out that in MN, if you leave the scene of the accident, the accident becomes your fault! So, this gent was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and theft; AND the accident went on his insurance!
Since you stopped for a yellow (soon to be red), did the other guy run the red? Maybe Daley’s super-spy-ticket-cameras caught him and his license plate. The cops might be able to look into it (I’ve never dealt with City of Chicago police).