So today a lady slammed on her brakes in a ridiculous effort of ~kindness~ to let somebody make a left hand turn in front of her. Insane, as this is on the busiest North/South street in my city, and had she not stopped to let this guy turn... he would have had a gap in a matter of a minute or so anyhow.

I saw her slowing, so I was off the gas... then I looked ahead of her to see what was up, saw the van inching into his left turn, and was thinking that he was going to go AFTER we had gone by. Nope! BY then crazy-lady had slammed on the binders, and waved him through. I hit her from behind, and have been charged with careless driving.

Cops were on my side, and have advised me to fight it in court... and their accident report will be to my benefit, supposedly.

Damage looks minor, but the rad is toast, and I figure the bumper is toast too. Who knows what else... I don't want to get into it, so I figure I'll eat the 1k deductible and have it fixed at the dealer. I leave for Cuba on Tuesday, so this is a major PITA. Hopefully it's perfect again once I'm home.

Insult to injury: I just washed it yesterday. :P

Pics: Note the coolant dribbling down my driveway.

 

^ that really suscks......did she admit to slamming on the brakes ???

 

Yeah, that was my saving grace... she was like "I saw him trying to turn out, so I stopped -- I was taught to be a defensive driver!"

So, apparently she thought that was being "defensive" ... Opposed to, oh... I dunno... insane?


She repeated this garbage to the cops... which is why the cops were so good to me. I knew I had to get charged, since the cops didn't witness the accident... whoever does the rear-ending gets charged. The rest is figured in court.

 

as long as you were following at a safe distance "whatever it is in you state" you should be ok. In cali its suposed to be 1 second per 10 mph. then you take into affect reaction time and.....exactly what happened to you.

 

Damn that **** sucks old people shouldnt be driving

 

Yeah, the charge will probably get dropped to following too closely, or thrown out entirely (which is what the cop said he'd hope for).

Following too closely would **** me off... as I was already slowing down, but was glancing ahead (and distracted by) the turning van, and had no reason to think the woman in front of me on this busy street would STOP to let this van go. It was an insane move on her part... and unfortunately I wasn't razor sharp this morning, it seems. I've avoided hundreds of other idiots doing insane things, but this one slipped by. Boourns.

 

You were definitely following too close and/or not paying attention, or it obviously wouldn't have happened. You're lucky. It looks like you only really need a new headlight, which will probably cost less than your insurance deductable. I wouldn't worry much about the light scratches if I were you. If the coolant leak is coming from the radiator, you're looking at an extra couple hundred dollars. Anything else broken inside there?

If you plan to continue driving that close without paying careful attention, it might be wise to invest in the big brake rotor upgrade for the front.

 

Its not like the lady was stopping for stopped traffic or a traffic light. The lady had the right of way, and she slammed on the brakes to let someone turn left. Even if he hit her, I would say she is a fault.

 

Yeah I know that it sucks and her driving was obviously sub par but it is still legally your fault because she came to a natural stop (meaning that she didn't hit something to slow her momentum faster than an average car can stop) and you hit her. BTW a safe following distance that accounts for the any speed is 2 seconds. This is because as the speed increases a 2 second gap will also increase your following distance. Stuff happens you will get over it, how badly damaged was her car and what kind of car was it?

 

She was driving like a 99 Ford minivan, and this happened about 75m from a traffic light, so everybody was still accelerating, and yes, if I ever am "too close" behind somebody, its in the moments after leaving a red light.

I actually don't need either headlights, I took them out to get a better look underneath. Good thing they're safe, as they are Euro S4 Bi-Xenons.

But yeah, I am a -very- cautious driver. Considering I've had typical teenager "fast" cars all my life (well, for the 7 years I've been driving), and my record is squeaky clean... that can attest to that.

This was compounding of 2 idiot drivers, and me being distracted by the second driver, spontaneously turning left. I had watched him, to see what he was thinking of doing, which took my attention momentarily off the lady in front.

EDIT: And this will not be a cheap fix... headlights are fine, but as mentioned, the rad is toast... and clearly the bumper is gone, too. All the seams are split, and the bumper shocks were pushed in about 1/2" and expanded again. Those would/should be replaced after any accident that they are used.

And you can argue that I was following too closely, but seriously, if you were following somebody and suddenly for no reason at all were to lock up the binders, you'd have a good chance of hitting them, too. I had already reacted to her brake lights by letting off the gas and covering the brake, but she had -zero- reason to stop. I was watching off to the side to keep an eye on that van, who was a potential threat if he turned out (I own a motorcycle, I'm used to this crap), but the lady in that moment had locked them up. I've no idea how long she's been driving in this country, but she had an assload of kids in her van, and I have no clue how she thought she was being "defensive". She kept saying "it's a 4 way so I stop! 4 way! I am defensive!"

Thing is, it's NOT a 4 way there. It's a through street for north-south, and the east-west guy (the van who turned) had a stop sign.