Remarkably wrong, cold but correct, doddering old fool? This is your pit rant? Politeness and the Queen’s English? Time to turn in your bloody green card!
I can just imagine her thought process… *what can I say to get out of this? hmmm… he stopped too suddenly… nah, i’m still supposed to be able to stop without hitting him… he backed up into me? that might work in a parking lot, but they’ll never believe it on the road… think, think… wait, is that an ACCENT i hear? … score!!! *
You know it’s actually generally incorrect to exchange insurance information. You’re supposed to call the police so they can file an accident report, you should never personally exchange or agree to take insurance information from the other party.
I’ve not been in many car accidents but every time I’ve let the police handle it. You can actually end up getting screwed over big time if you just write down someone’s insurance info and drive off hoping to resolve it with a few phone calls.
Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t, I found nothing in the OP that would make me presume that. But that’s irrelevant, you don’t really need to talk to or exchange information with the other driver. When the police arrive everything will be handled. The problem with exchanging information and having an extensive dialogue with the other driver is that you may accept blame for an accident improperly. Maybe you’re slightly in shock and think the accident is your fault, but the police report would have found different. There are other good reasons not to talk to the other driver, of course, but that’s the one that is most apparent to me.
Oh God I hate this. I think the tendency to do it one way or another is a local thing. In PA you would generally handle it without the police unless one vehicle couldn’t drive away or someone was hurt. Here in Virginia you call the police if your car is so much as scratched. The slows traffic down every day on my commute. If I am very luck it is from rubber neckers, but far more often it is because they decide to just park in the middle of the road to wait for the police. They don’t even pull off to the side. Drives me nuts.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t say a word to the other driver. You should check to see if there are any injuries and et cetera, but you need to immediately call the authorities and mostly limit your communication with the other driver.
Most of the time you need to get off the roadway if you can (i.e., cars are not disabled/are not unsafe to move / there are no injuries.) It’s actually dangerous to stay on the roadway as it can lead to other cars hitting your car which can lead to injuries and etc.
Wow, everyone is so quick to judge. Maybe she was just, you know, curious, as in “Not an American? Wow, that’s so cool! Which country are you from? Really? I always wanted to go there? So what are you doing in our fine country? Do you have a green card? Can I see it? I’ve never seen one before? Did you come here on one of those aeroplanes I was reading about in the Post?”
Clearly shhe was just a bit flustered from the accident.
“I’d like to see a notarized copy of your birth certificate, otherwise I’m calling La Migra on your ass, puta.”
I wouldn’t have strangled her, but I probably would have just started hysterically laughing in her face. You know that laugh- the “Jesus Christ, are you that dumb? I can’t believe you’re that dumb. . . no no, omg, you are!” laugh.