Just got home from a car accident.

[The Writing Writer]

Goin down 34th headed to Hollywood video with my girlfriend. Sun in my eyes, pull down the visor, " HOLY CRAP!! " *slams on brakes........SMASH!



I hit the woman in front of me, putting a massive dent in both of our cars, bending my hood to where it wont close now, and she hit the guy in front of her, bending his bumper nearly off.


I get a ticket, my dad's insurance skyrockets. How'm i gonna get to school? *shrugs* Good day gone very bad. Everyone was okay though, which I was thankful for. I still feel bad for my girlfriend. We didn't get to hang out very long =[

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

o.O

Now that blows, man.

But, everyone is all right, which is what really matters.

[Melancor]

Holy crap.

I am taking a driving lesson in 30 minutes... This is.... very inspiring....

That sounds like it could've turned out worse though.

[Max Dirks]

Your insurance won't skyrocket if you don't admit fault.

Glad everyone is o.k., though.

[Serilliant]

You're always at fault if you rear end someone unless there are provable factors that the lady in front of him intentionally caused him to rear end her. The sun is never a valid excuse.

What are they teaching you in torts there, man?

[Max Dirks]

Contributory negligence, actually. The woman did not have to do anything intentional at all to be negligent. Slamming on the breaks to avoid the car in front of her would suffice. If she is more than 50% responsible, he has nothing to worry about. That's why you shouldn't ever admit fault at an accident and let your insurance companies duke it out.

What on earth are they teaching you in torts, bud?

[Serilliant]

Right stuff.

Have you even looked at state statute here? Florida is pretty specific in explaining that common law analysis does not apply to rear ending vehicles.

What are they teaching you about statutory analysis there, chief?

[Max Dirks]

In civil court, violation of statute can only be used to establish negligence per say, which is attached only to the breach element of negligence. Contributory negligence is an affirmative defense anyway, so if he uses it, he's already admitted his own liability. The question of who is more responsible can be duked out by the insurance companies. Never admit fault on an Internet website!

Again, I'm glad everyone is o.k.!

[AdventWings]

Whatever happened to being honest and pay the due expenses like the good ol' days of the pre-Lawyer Era? :confused:

Ask politely and more than likely the other person will be nice in return.

Unless both parties are strapped for cash. Then that's up to the insurance companies to duke it out. :p

Glad everyone's OK, though! :D

[Vampiric Angel]

Heh, wow. 'Well, I just wanted to say that you should not be a nice guy about this and blame it on the woman. That's what any respectable American would do! GLAD EVERYONE'S OKAY THOUGH!!!!1!!!1!1!!!!' C'mon...

[Molotov]

Heh, wow. 'Well, I just wanted to say that you should not be a nice guy about this and blame it on the woman. That's what any respectable American would do! GLAD EVERYONE'S OKAY THOUGH!!!!1!!!1!1!!!!' C'mon...

hmm...

[The Writing Writer]

Well the road we were traveling on is without turning lanes, though they should have them. It's also a very busy area, right next to the YMCA. And it was 5 o'clock. The guy in front of her was turning, and she was stopped behind him, and ofcourse I couldn't see anything, but didn't expect people to be stopped in the middle of the road, so I didn't slow down. =/

[Karuka]

We all have our little fender benders. It's a very good thing that no one got hurt. After all...hoods and bumpers are replacable. Lives are not, and injuries can take a lot of time to recover from.

[Jasmine]

First off, I'm also glad everyone's okay.

Second...

Your insurance won't skyrocket if you don't admit fault.

That is not necessarily true in all cases. When my sister had first gotten her driver's permit, she got into an accident in which she was rear ended. The intersection had three lanes, she was in the middle lane. The light turned yellow, so she braked in order to stop for the coming red instead of trying to speed through it. I assume that the guy behind her believed she would speed through the yellow and did not expect her to actually follow the traffic rules. He slammed into the back of our car. He was driving w/o license or insurance, but because our insurance company couldn't get a hold of him, and they wanted to get their money from somewhere, they decided that it was my sister's inexperience that caused the accident, and subsequently hiked our rates up. So you see, not admitting fault does not mean that your insurance won't go up. My sister was very clearly not at fault for anything other than obeying the traffic signal. The other guy should have been paying better attention and had 2 other lanes he could have used to avoid the accident. (No one was seriously injured in this accident either ^__^)

[Edward Judorne]

Major bummer.