So - was this my fault, or his? (Car accident related).

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday I was driving to work at job #2. There was a traffic accident, and cars were being merged into one lane. This was right before a traffic light.

In Calgary (and perhaps elsewhere), in this situation the normal modus operendi is for a car in the open lane to go, and then car in the other lane to merge, open lane, merge lane, open lane, merge lane. Nice. Nice. Happy. Happy.

So every one was doing this, and I proceded to try to do this as well. I was in the merge lane. The trafic light was red, so we were all stopped. I had angled my car to move into the open lane (as about 274 cars had before me). At least 3 feet of my car was in front of the car in the open lane.

So, the light turned green, the first car in the open lane started to move, so I tried to finish edging my way into the open lane. The man in the car in the open lane behind me, ran into my car! Drove right along the side of it.

The light turned red, and we both got out of our cars. He started screaming at me, calling me a Forum appropriate swears coming here - IRL they were the real thing fudging assclown, rotten witch, etc. etc, at the top of his lungs, and also yelling “You cut me off, you cut me off - you fudging assclown, you cut me off.”

[Me thinking, on]*Well, no, I didn’t. We were going about 4 KM/H. Unless you had your head, firmly up your butt, there’s no way you couldn’t have seen me trying to merge, like the 274 cars had before me. You were just trying to be a jerk, I think, and not let me in, and it didn’t work, because I was already in the lane, and you hit me and left a big shmoo on my car. *[/Me thinking off]

So fine - guy screams at me a bit. I say “Fine, lets swap insurance info.” I got in my car and got the info out of my glove box, and he took off! He left the scene of the accident!

Gah!

So - what should I do? Nothing? Phone the police? My insurance company? My mom?

<Grumble, grumble. Stupid ass hat. Grumble, grumble>

2

Did you get his license plate? I’d say you have a case. Surely, the police will recogise the accident location (assuming someone reported it). Did you get a witness? Another driver that was there?

3

Of course phone the police. He left the scene of an accident! That’s illegal regardless of whose fault it is.
As for who is primarily at fault, I’d hesitate to speculate on that aspect right now.

4

Yep, time to call the cops. You need to get one of those damaged vehicle stickers in order to drive around with a schmoo on your car. You’ll have to fill out a statement of what happened of course and then you get to wait until/if the cops find the other person so they can get a statement from him. Your insurance company will get copies of the statements to determine fault. Be prepared to wait though. The last time someone put a schmoo on my car he left town and it took weeks for the cops to finally get a statemetent. In the meantime they won’t believe it wasn’t your fault until they get the statement from the other person.

5

Humm. Cops, you say.

Well, see here’s the thing.

I didn’t get his licence plate, or anything else. Not unlike many people I know, when confronted by a crazed lunatic scraming obscenitites at me, I retreated to my car ASAP, and started rummaging to get insurance info. When I looked up, he was gone.

Gut - you don’t need a police sticker to drive around with a shmooed car - you just need a police sticker to get the shmoo fixed, which I don’t plan on doing, one way or the other. This shmoo is actually on top of an older shmoo, so there’s no way they could fix it anyhow. (I mean without reparing the old shmoo.)

Bah! Stupid jerk! I can’t believe that he just took off. Oh well. His car is newer than mine - I spose he’s gonna be more upset.

6

Hmm, well I guess I always get my schmoos fixed. Hopefully this guy has a schmoo that he wants fixed and needs to get the schmoo sticker. Maybe that way it turns out to be his fault and your schmoo gets fixed on his dime.

7

Did you have your turn signal on, signaling that you wanted/were going to be moving into his lane?

If not, you, not he could be at fault. Not trying to be picky, but down in ME, that can be the case.

8

Oh yah - I was signalling. Tick-tic, Tick-tic, Tick-tic. You get the idea.

And, as I said - I was angled at 45 degrees, and half of my car was already in front of his. There’s no possible way he couldn’t have seen me, unless he was driving with his eyes closed.

As I said, I think he was just being a jerk, and decided he didn’t want to let me in, despite the fact that in that situation (a merge like that) both motorists have equal right of way.

BAH!

Gut - I believe you’ve seen my car. It’s 14 years old. It’s on it’s last legs. I’m hoping it will last me two years without major repairs before I’m buying my shiney new Jetta. I just am not much interested in forking out cash for costmetic stuff. I spose if the other fellas insurance company was going to pay for it, I would get it done, but I would more than likely just get the $$ and go for a facial instead. My car I think is beyond looking good, but my face still has a bit of mileage left. :smiley:

9

The car looked decent enough to me but I wasn’t looking that closely. I must have been distracted. Sounds like you’ve got a good plan just letting the vehicle get you through mechanically until you get a shiny new Jetta. Nice choice. I like the automatic window windy down thing by turning the key in the door anyway.

10

Personally, I’m looking forward to the built-in butt warmer in the driver’s seat. :smiley:

11

LOL !

12

Nothing like a nice, toasty buttox to make the commute that much more bearable…

13

I have to rely on my built in insulation. In fact winter is almost upon us and I had better start making sure I have sufficient R value back there. Where’s that bag of chips?

14

Hey, 'member me? Insurance chicky in YOUR jurisdiction. I’m gonna go with HIS fault on this one, plus the fact that he obviously feels he’s at fault for the accident, and proved so by leaving the scene of the crime. This is a criminal code conviction, baby, so call the police. Your insurance company will want a police report number, anyway.

IF you have collision coverage on your car, this will fall under that portion of the policy as it is technically a hit-and-run. In some instances the adjuster will allow the (usually) lower comprehensive deductible to apply. Who knows? Maybe the third party has got no insurance, and we know that you run the risk of a $2,500 to $10,000 fine in Alberta for such things. ALSO a major conviction, plus your insurance rates will skyrocket.

Guy sounds like a big poo head. Go to the police. Then call your insurance company on Tuesday.

15

This, at least, is one good thing. If your car was 6 months old you would be considerably more upset, I feel!

I find that one of the perks of driving around in a beaten up old thing is that generally people in nice shiny new cars will not mess with you too much!

I know I’m coming in a little late here, but regarding the OP: If the back of your car was ahead of the front of his then I’d say you definately have a case. If you were still parallel to him then I wouldn’t be too sure. Either way, he didn’t stop so you have every right to phone the cops on him. Just my opinion.

16

The back of my car was paralel to about halfway up his bonnet - our cars were overlaping by about 3 feet.

Gingy - I’m inclined to agree with you about the fault thing, and also the him leaving the scene of the crime (so to speak) thing.

However, going to the police seems like a lot of hassel, not to mention kind of vindictive for a scratch. (Even if it is a big one.)

Bah!

I hate crap like this.

17

I might have a different picture of what happened here, but in Texas law, I’m sorry to say you probably would’ve both been at fault for the accident. You would’ve been cited for failure to maintain a single lane of traffic (regardless of if you used your turn signal or not) and he would’ve been cited for failure to control speed. Double fault accidents are’nt too bad because no one really gets to sue the other. You only have to worry about paying for the accident ticket, and the subsequent insurance premiums.

The greater evil, of course, is him leaving the accident. You’ll probably need to make a police report anyways because most insurance companies won’t even talk to you unless you do. Actually, with him gone, it’s made your life alot easier, as you probably won’t get a ticket and it only makes him look guiltier if you ever catch him. That guy probably did’nt have insurance anyways, which is why I’m sure he left.

Anyways, that how it all works in Texas. I don’t know, could be the entire opposite where you live.

18

Ok, color me confused, but how can I be expected to maintain a single lane of traffic, (I assume you mean staying in my own lane), when the two lanes were merging together. You know - two lanes becoming one, that sort of thing?

Secondly, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t be cited for failing to control his speed, because when he hit me, he was probably doing about 15 KM/H at the most - he just slid right along my car.

There was no high speed. No cutting off. No distracted driver looking up at the last second and seeing a car in front of him.

There was just some asshole trying not to let me merge. Obviously, if I thought he was going to hit my car, I wouldn’t have tried to merge in front of him.

19

Here’s the way I see it… He left the scene of an accident. If you want insurance to cover it, I believe it falls under uninsured motorist coverage, if they have that sort of thing in Canada. And Remember… HE LEFT THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT. Think about what that means… Your story is the ONLY story the police and insurance will EVER hear. uh… there’s a lot of implications in that last sentence.

E3

20

I’m not a lawyer, & I don’t play on on T.V. :slight_smile: but IMO the cops could make a case for vehicular assault. Not sure what the laws are where you are, but IIRC the law here states you must try and avoid accidents. This means even if someone in front of you breaks the law or does something stupid, doesn’t give you the right to plow into them.

How could he not see you trying to merge when your car was 3/4 in front of his? IMO (again) he hit you on purpose.

BTW, what the heck is a Shmoo?