# I was in an accident the other day



## Shishkabob (Mar 5, 2011)

Nothing major at all.  A guy changed lanes without looking and clipped my front, tossing my puppy on to the floor giving me the look like "Why would you do this to me?!".   As luck would have it, I had my phone on my car dock running an app I just found that acts like a dash cam where if it detects a change in G-force, it saves a video, and it caught the fender-bender.  

I know the video makes me look like I'm hauling ***, but I was actually going the speed limit.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EitRlSgOF0Q[/YOUTUBE]





Now, a dilemma.   He caused a minor crack in my headlight, and scratched/dented a bit of my front fender.  Nothing major at all, everything still works fine and is attached.  Would you get it fixed and screw the guys insurance over, or would you just not even worry about it?

The left side of the same fender is dented from when the same thing happened 2 years ago, so that would be fixed as well.  Weird thing is, when it happened 2 years ago I got a ticket even though the other guy admitted fault, and I actually go to court on Thursday for it.  This time, no one got a ticket.  Gah.  Why couldnt I have video proof from last time too?


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## lightsandsirens5 (Mar 5, 2011)

Dude! That is awesome! What is that app called? 

I would say with that minor damage, just forget it. But that is just me. My truck is already full of scratches and dents and such...so to me one more doesn't matter. But if you got a nice looking rig and want to keep it that way....I guess it depends on who nice you want to keep your rig looking. 

And how could they not issue a citation for that? In WA that guy would get hammered! Out here, even if it is snowing and the road is covered in ice so slick you cant even stand up if you put your rig in the ditch, the WSP will cite you for failing to control your vehicle. :wacko:


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## abckidsmom (Mar 5, 2011)

The mom in me says that stupid behavior has consequences.  If he had gotten a ticket, I might let it slide, but since he didn't, I would want to make sure he remembered to look before changing lanes in the future.

Cool app!


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## Shishkabob (Mar 5, 2011)

lightsandsirens5 said:


> Dude! That is awesome! What is that app called?


  DailyRoads Voyger 



> And how could they not issue a citation for that? In WA that guy would get hammered! Out here, even if it is snowing and the road is covered in ice so slick you cant even stand up if you put your rig in the ditch, the WSP will cite you for failing to control your vehicle. :wacko:



The cop we had was a douche.  First thing he said was "Is anyone hurt?  Then why am I even out here?" and essentially refused to do a report (still debating if I want to bring that up as a complaint to the PD as well...)  but once he saw that I was a Paramedic he switched tones a bit.


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## bigbaldguy (Mar 5, 2011)

Probably best just to let it go. Was the guy cool about it did he offer to slip you a few bucks for the head light? Assuming he at least had the courtesy to apologize I'd write it off and take the karma boost in lieu of the whole bunch of grief and tiny amount of money you'll end up getting from the insurance company.

Glad your pooch is all right I have a seatbelt harness I put mine in so she doesn't hit the dash every time I hit the breaks.


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## adamjh3 (Mar 5, 2011)

Too bad it doesn't record audio, for some reason I'm picturing you yelling "Hey, full throttle douche bottle!" As he's coming into your lane.

I'd definitely go after the insurance claim. He screwed up, he should pay the consequences. Everyone makes mistakes now and then, sure, but if everyone's let off without consequences, how are they ever going to learn?


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## ffemt8978 (Mar 5, 2011)

Linuss said:


> The cop we had was a douche.  First thing he said was "Is anyone hurt?  Then why am I even out here?" and essentially refused to do a report (still debating if I want to bring that up as a complaint to the PD as well...)  but once he saw that I was a Paramedic he switched tones a bit.


I just want to point you that you starting this thread and then making the first highlighted comment may not do much to help you if you do decide to file a complaint.


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## johnmedic (Mar 5, 2011)

Depends. I've let a rear-ender go just because I didn't feel the result would really be worth the time & effort & empathized with the guy. Even though he had insurance, I took his information for reference but told him I wasn't worried about it. He was grateful & I haven't regretted it at all. Sure my pretty black shiny car has a scuffed bumper, but I hardly see the bumper. 

But you don't owe him a thing so if you want your car fixed & he's liable, that's what insurance is for.


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## dmc2007 (Mar 6, 2011)

I'm absolutely annal about keeping my car in showroom condition, so I may be throwing some bias in here, but here it goes:

I would absolutely file a claim.  You did nothing to deserve this accident, and now have a car in worse condition than when you started your drive that way.  Why should you suffer?  If he's that concerned about his insurance, he can pay you for it himself.

Given the way he was driving, it's only a matter of time before he does it to someone else.


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## TransportJockey (Mar 6, 2011)

file the insurance claim. and if you want to fix it, buy the parts yourself and fix it. if not, pocket the check.


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## rwik123 (Mar 6, 2011)

My idea is that my vehicle is changed and different than 4 seconds before the incident. If anything that someone does changed my car cosmetically, it's worth fixing. I am also OCD about things like that... So maybe it's just me


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## Bon-Tech (Mar 7, 2011)

Also keep in mind that the crack in the headlight might let moisture in in the long run, causing it to fog up. Don't know what you drive, but that would run me $600 at the least at a shop...(not that I would go that route).


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## 8jimi8 (Mar 7, 2011)

Give him a chance to pay for the total repair cost, if not file a claim.


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## clibb (Mar 7, 2011)

Damn that's a good video. I just invested in the Galaxy S 4G and LOVE IT. I'm a pretty big computer nerd so I have done a lot of programing with this phone. Rebuilt the kernel on my old N900 . 
I need to find this app. We have crazy college kids and old people driving around town really crazy and accidents happen all the time here.


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## emt_irl (Mar 7, 2011)

ouch.. what an idiot he ovbiously didnt check his mirrors before he switched lanes.

id claim his insurance, you can bet if you done the same to him, he'd try to screw you!


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## socalmedic (Mar 7, 2011)

I would get a quote from the shop to fix that side, then send it to him. if he pays great, if not. file a claim with his insurance. it is hard to tell anyone that your f150 was in his blind spot... and i have to agree with the headlights, i would absolutely get them replaced.


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## firetender (Mar 7, 2011)

emt_irl said:


> ouch.. what an idiot he ovbiously didnt check his mirrors before he switched lanes.
> 
> id claim his insurance, you can bet if you done the same to him, he'd try to screw you!



Been watching this for a while and can't sit on sharing what I see.

The video captured the OP's car coming up very fast on a car in the right lane (call it C2); proportionately, I'd estimate three times C2's speed.

Though a bit obscure in the video you can clearly see a car in the right lane in front of C2 is going much slower than C2. 

Why? Because it's TOWING another vehicle (T1)! and a big vehicle at that.

But it could even be that T1 is *parked *in the right lane; it's not that clear. I'd say C2 was coming up on T1 proportionately as fast as the OP was coming up on C2. But C2 was STILL moving much more slowly than the OP. I really didn't see the OP slowing down.

Regardless, T1, for the OP would HAVE TO BE clearly visible. If you can SEE a very slow vehicle, towing something else (or stopped!) in the right lane, and the car in it coming up fast behind it, it would make sense to ANTICIPATE potential danger.

Maybe slowing down would have been more appropriate OP.

Just sayin' what I see.


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## Hockey (Mar 7, 2011)

Next time accelerate and PIT him


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## Shishkabob (Mar 9, 2011)

Meh, turns out he filed a claim with his insurance and accepted fault but when Geico tried getting in contact with my company, my insurance couldnt release my contact info so they need me to call them >_>

Oh well, no more dilemma since he filed against himself


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## medicRob (Mar 9, 2011)

Linuss said:


> Meh, turns out he filed a claim with his insurance and accepted fault but when Geico tried getting in contact with my company, my insurance couldnt release my contact info so they need me to call them >_>
> 
> Oh well, no more dilemma since he filed against himself



This is what was happening in the other car:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXM_g3mqew[/YOUTUBE]


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## DesertMedic66 (Mar 9, 2011)

Hockey said:


> Next time accelerate and PIT him



i have thought about that before. 2 hopped up cars (in this area we call them rice burners) racing on the street going 80+ on a 55MPH street. one cut me off. i saw him about to cut me off so i slammed on my brakes. if i didnt slam on my brakes he would have clipped my off-road light bar and went down a cliff. if there wasnt a cliff i would have let him clip me. i have been rear ended 3 times and 2 of those times a cop saw the whole thing. no damage on my truck due to my tow hitch and ball. so the cop said "no damage to your truck so you dont have to trade info and your free to leave". people have wonderful driving skills (sarcasm).


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## looker (Mar 10, 2011)

If you haven't already done so call a lawyer  You did experience high g-forces as result of the crash. I am sure you head some headache at night as result of this accident...etc


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## EMSDude54343 (Mar 14, 2011)

I was in a fender bender about a week ago, was rear ended at a red light. Called pd just so i could get a report to file, no vis damage, no inj, but the other veh went under my car and im one of those people who like  a spotless perfect car. Cop started out to be a douche also about there was no damage he wasnt going to do a report and if we wanted to get each others info we could do it ourselves. argued with him for a min untill i finially got him to give me a driver info exchange form, (you can only get them from pd where i live). 
Told the other driver i wasnt going to file the report with the state unless my mechanic said there was damage, she was nice and apologised multiple times, no one was sited because , per the ofcr, no one was hurt and he didnt want to worry about it and there was no damage. When i asked if he had xray vision and could see under my car and see if there was any damage underneath, or was a mechanic and could tell me that the force of the impact didnt break any of the collision springs (or whatever they are called) on the inside of my bumper. it was then he noticed my uniform (was headed home from work). He started to back step and i told him all i wanted to begin with was a a driver exchange form to begin with and if we all treat each other with respect from the get go then maybe those we meet in the field will be respectful too. (hopefully he caught on) needless to say i never filed the report because the driver was actually sorry and admitted that she wasnt paying attn, plus there ended up being no damage. 
if you dont really care about the damage and the person who hit you and apologized then i wouldnt really worry about it. but if they didnt and you do care about the damage, report it. but also remember that it will up your insurance too just because you were involved in an accident, no matter who was at fault.     but awesome app!!


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