Witness to an Accident...
As I mentioned on someone else's blog (nativeminnow) I witnessed an accident last Saturday. It happened right in front of me, and then the light turned red so I had to sit there in the far left lane. I wasn't able to get over to the right when the light turned green, so I drove about a block, got over, and drove around the block to pull in behind the people who wrecked. The man and woman were exchanging insurance information. I said to the man, "Are you just going to let the insurance companies handle it?" because I wanted to know if I should stay around to make a statement to the police. He nodded yes, so I went and sat in my car. Because the man was the one who caused the accident, I waited until he left and the woman came up to me and I gave her my information so the insurance companies could call me. I talked to her insurance company and gave a statement. I had another message on my home phone, which I thought was her insurance company too, so I deleted it. Apparently, one party has State Farm, and the other has Farmer's Insurance. Now the woman called and said that they are trying to say that she was equally at fault for the accident and that she has to pay $1600 to repair her car. This is unfair because all she was doing was driving and this man turned his vehicle right into her. She asked me to write down the details of the accident in case she needs to go to court. I thought I would write them here.
I was driving to my office on Mount Vernon Avenue and was heading East on Highway 178. I was in the far left lane and about 200 yards behind an SUV. Two vehicles were in the left turn lane, turning into a dead-end road (Oak Street). The first vehicle had apparently realized it was a dead-end street and had his blinker on to merge back into the far left lane of 178 at the intersection of 178 and Oak. This woman was driving in the far left lane, and he started to merge over. I immediately slowed down because I knew he was going to hit her. He hit the back driver's side of her car behind the back wheel well with the front right corner of his SUV. Right after he hit her, the light turned yellow and I was unable to go through the light. When the light turned green, I had to drive about a block to merge to the right and go around the block to the scene of the accident. I figured I would fill out a police report on what I had seen and who was at fault for the accident. I got there, and the man and woman were sharing insurance information, and I had the aforementioned conversation with the man. There was also a woman sitting in his SUV on the passenger side with dark hair.
I guess the man is saying that the woman driver was changing lanes at the same time he was, and that she was going through a yellow light, and that there were no witnesses. None of these statements are true. Too bad more witnesses didn't pull over. I think whenever you witness an accident, you should pull over, give your information, and help sort out the blame so innocent victims don't have to pay extra on their deductible and insurance premiums. I know I would appreciate that gesture if I was in an accident. To the man's credit, he may have perceived she was switching lanes because he obviously didn't see her in his blind spot, he may have thought the light was yellow because it turned yellow right after the accident, and he may have thought there were no witnesses because it took me about 3-4 minutes to merge right, drive around the block, and get back to the scene of the accident. Still, I think he is being dishonest in trying to share the blame with this poor woman who was driving and doing nothing wrong.
I was driving to my office on Mount Vernon Avenue and was heading East on Highway 178. I was in the far left lane and about 200 yards behind an SUV. Two vehicles were in the left turn lane, turning into a dead-end road (Oak Street). The first vehicle had apparently realized it was a dead-end street and had his blinker on to merge back into the far left lane of 178 at the intersection of 178 and Oak. This woman was driving in the far left lane, and he started to merge over. I immediately slowed down because I knew he was going to hit her. He hit the back driver's side of her car behind the back wheel well with the front right corner of his SUV. Right after he hit her, the light turned yellow and I was unable to go through the light. When the light turned green, I had to drive about a block to merge to the right and go around the block to the scene of the accident. I figured I would fill out a police report on what I had seen and who was at fault for the accident. I got there, and the man and woman were sharing insurance information, and I had the aforementioned conversation with the man. There was also a woman sitting in his SUV on the passenger side with dark hair.
I guess the man is saying that the woman driver was changing lanes at the same time he was, and that she was going through a yellow light, and that there were no witnesses. None of these statements are true. Too bad more witnesses didn't pull over. I think whenever you witness an accident, you should pull over, give your information, and help sort out the blame so innocent victims don't have to pay extra on their deductible and insurance premiums. I know I would appreciate that gesture if I was in an accident. To the man's credit, he may have perceived she was switching lanes because he obviously didn't see her in his blind spot, he may have thought the light was yellow because it turned yellow right after the accident, and he may have thought there were no witnesses because it took me about 3-4 minutes to merge right, drive around the block, and get back to the scene of the accident. Still, I think he is being dishonest in trying to share the blame with this poor woman who was driving and doing nothing wrong.
posted by PsychDoctor at
1:45 PM
4 Comments:
I agree. You're a good guy for doing that. I rarely stop for accidents (but would if I saw it happen).
One exception: I was driving through a forest fire in Idaho a few summers ago. Traffic had been backed up because a burning tree had fallen across the road. When we finally got through we were driving and burning embers were rolling down the hill and onto the highway. The car in front of us ran over some and popped two of their tires. I kept driving. I figured the firefighters would help them, and that it would do more harm to have a whole line of cars stuck behind us in the middle of a fire. I still don't know if I did the right thing.
Oh my gosh!!!! I saw a documentary on that the other day on Frontline...It showed what actually happened to the car. It couldn't drive anywhere because the two tires were flat. Embers continued to roll down the mountain and ignited the gas tank...the entire family, including two 4-month-old twin babies died in a fiery inferno.
:( I really wish you had stopped...maybe you could have saved them...
I witnessed an accident once--just kind of a dramatic fender bender, but truthfully, I didn't even think about sticking around. I pulled over to make sure no one was hurt. But the guy who got hit totally started yelling at the guy who hit him, so I got in my car and drove away. I was about 20 miles down the road before I thought "hmmm I think I am supposed to give a report or something when that happens." Yes lame I know. You did the right thing P.I.
I usually respond to accidents, but I actually saw a guy hit a motorcycle at a stoplight. He was fine, but the new motorcycle had just over 100 miles on it and he was mad. They were getting ready to start punching each other by the time I cleared the intersection. I kept trying to tell him that the motorcycle can be fixed, but broken bodies are harder to fix. He didn't care, he was mad. He calmed down, but people can be quite possessive of their cars.
I would be mad if someone hit me while my kids were in the car. We just had a bullet bike hit a Suburban at over 100 MPH. He died instantly, as did the three year old in the back passenger seat that was sitting next to the door he crashed into. That stuff breaks my heart......
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