Regarding car accidents

[samjc3]

If you where out driving, and someone crashed into you, not due to drunkeness or intoxication, just an earnest mistake or brain fart or something like that, and someone riding with you dies, wether they be loved or friend or otherwise, would you blame the person who ran into you? (And by blame i mean like you want them dead or in jail)

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

Horrible timing on this thread.

And it definitely depends. Every situation is unique.

[Kurt_]

Actually, I believe the timing was on purpose.

It's not what we would decide, it's what the jury or the judge decides, and what the law dictates the minimum penalty is.

[Skyone]

I got into a pretty bad accident just over a month ago. I was making a [legal] left turn on a green arrow (which means opposing traffic had a red light), and I got plowed into by some soccer mom in her Jeep. I was naturally very caring and sincere, even though she was at fault. I greeted her, made sure she was alright (physically), and proceeded to make calls to my dad, girlfriend, etc.

Highway patrol showed up (I guess he was just driving by) and got the police, who took both of our statements. My story was short: "I was making a left turn on a green arrow after waiting at the red, and she hit me." Her story, however, was long-winded and slanderous. "Uhh...I was driving towards the sun...couldn't see anything...fiddled with my sun visor, and all of the sudden we collided. But I saw it was green before I entered the intersection!"

However, I didn't read her report until a week after the accident, and after a week of assuming the best of her. Because she lied, and because my dad was cheap enough to not get full coverage, my family was out a $4500 investment in the form of a car. In addition, we would have to pay a towing company for holding the totaled car, etc.

So, we set out to find solid evidence (witnesses, camera footage, traffic light transcripts, anything) but were empty-handed after a few weeks of searching.

It was at 7:49 AM, so I doubt she was intoxicated or otherwise under the influence. She was either tired, blinded, or distracted. Yes, I would blame her. Now, if she had taken the responsibility that a middle-aged woman of her status should have, I would have no qualms.

However, I digress.


Old car


New car



As far as I see the incident, it's just another good reason for me to have no hope in humanity. Disgusting...

[samjc3]

on the legal side, i think if the person decides not to press charges, the court cant push the case.

But the point of the thread was more how you would feel, not what the law says.

Personally, i wouldnt blame the person. We have all done sh*t we arent proud of. We all make mistakes, and forgiving people is way better than hating them.

Im not trying to hurt sponge with this thread, it just got me thinking, and i wondered what people thought.

[Skyone]

We all make mistakes, and forgiving people is way better than hating them.

Sure, I just wanted the money to go towards college, though.

[samjc3]

We all make mistakes, and forgiving people is way better than hating them.

Sure, I just wanted the money to go towards college, though.

In your situation, i would blame them. Hmm. The more serious what they did is, the less likely i am to blame them.

[bicostp]

Did you know it's possible for someone to front-end you?

I was following someone at a reasonable speed and distance on a back road (30 or so MPH) for a job open house. Well, they slow down and nearly stop like they're going to go in a driveway. But then they start backing up in the middle of the road. So I slammed the car in neutral and hit the brakes, came to a stop, and not a half-second later she backs into me and I roll back a few feet. (There was maybe 5 MPH relative speed between us.) No damage to my car (Saturns are made of plastic ), but her car had some scratches from my front license plate. We called the police but there wasn't any damage so they didn't file a report. (Of course the cop got my story first and didn't believe me, but the other driver and a witness had the same story. ) Her excuse was "she didn't see me", but really she wasn't paying attention.

Turns out she was going to the same place as I was, and it was literally the third driveway up the road from where we were. All I could say was "see, I told you we weren't too far!".

All I had to do was pound the front plate back into shape in the garage and get a new bracket.

If anything good came out of it, the impact shifted the poorly-installed stereo around enough that I couldn't stand it anymore and finally took the dash apart and fixed it right. (It was a cheap DIY install kit that used bent metal tabs to hold everything together.) Now the dashboard doesn't rattle anymore.

No destruction here, but it was a random act of human stupidity.

[Tibia]

I was never able to find the guy who ran me off the road a few years back, but aside from that, I haven't personally been in an accident that had any real damage. Genuine accidents do happen, though. My aunt was rear-ended a few years ago, and my cousin ended up in a coma for three months. My aunt looked into all the legal options, but even had my cousin died, she still couldn't have filed for homicide/manslaughter charges. That may just be in MI, though. As it happened, my cousin came out of it, and aside from some mild learning disabilities, had no lasting effects. That was a huge relief.

My personal feeling, though, is prosecuting someone and sending them to jail isn't a good solution. It's not like the situation with Amy, where the creep followed her home and killed her, it's an accident. I could understand suing an uninsured driver for damages, but jail seems awfully excessive to me. But this is just my personal feelings.

[vskid]

Personally, i wouldnt blame the person. We have all done sh*t we arent proud of. We all make mistakes, and forgiving people is way better than hating them.

Blaming doesn't mean you don't forgive them. Ya, you can have no hard feelings, but it'll still be their fault (or yours). Saying "I forgive you" doesn't mean they shouldn't suffer the consequences.

I've only been in one accident, and it was mostly my fault. I rear-ended someone in my school parking lot. It was snowing, the parking lot was pretty icy, but didn't seem too bad. I pulled up behind the next car to wait to turn, but I must've hit the slickest part of the whole parking lot, so I slid into the back of him at about 3mph. Wasn't really my fault, I had plenty of room in front of me, I could have stopped, gotten up to the same speed, and stopped again in the same distance in almost any other conditions. There was no damage to my car, his had some paint transfer and one of my license plate's screws punched a little hole in his bumper. I knew the guy that I hit, he said it was no problem.

[Triton]

ive only ever been in single vehicle accidents and hope to keep it that way, i am hard on the cars i own! i totaled a 96 GMC jimmy and did over 500$ in damage to my 1990 volvo. i can post pics on request

[samjc3]

i can post pics on request

consider this a request!

[Triton]

volvo!

volvo after i fixed it and cleaned it up and stuff


Jimmy!



The scar i got from rolling the jimmy! had a type IV AC seperation, required 16 staples and one ~4" stainless steel pin to fix!

The post operation pic, not for the squeamish

[samjc3]

kinda reminds my of the james blunt song "so long jimmy"

how the heck did you do that? trying to impress some girls or something?

[Triton]

nope! was coming home from school on a gravel road, got into loose gravel, spun out and caught the drivers front wheel on the berm of gravel on the edge of the road and flipped it at around 45MPH, did about one and a quarter revolutions, drivers side hit first flipped completly over and came to rest in the ditch on the drivers side