Witnessed an accident today

[ripcord]

I am stopped at a cross street waiting for a break in traffic to cross, the guy on the other side of the road pulls up to the intersection, looks left, looks right, looks left again pulls out and broadsides a lady. Even though he was at fault he kept screaming at the lady for causing the accident so I stuck around to give my statement. The cop is taking the report and looks a little frustrated and finally tells me if I would stop referring to the guy as shit for brains this would go faster.

[cate94]

1. Haha

[FakeNoose]

2. Wow I hope everyone is okay

I've been a witness a few times, (fender-benders only) and I find that it's better to give my name and phone number on a piece of paper so I can be contacted later. The interested parties are usually too wound up to be listening to me anyway. The police can talk on the phone later, and they appreciate it when the witnesses can be impartial and non-emotional.

[Scrivener7]

3. Lol! I hope you didn't stop referring to him that way. Because he had to write it

in his report like you said it.

[ZonkerHarris]

4. Here's a fun activity to try: At any accident scene between a man and woman the man will yell

at the woman regardless if it's his fault.
Watch and see it happen every time.
I've noticed this in 40+ years of driving.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. Every. Time.

True story.

[cstanleytech]

11. Overly broad statement and I should know as I was in an accident a few years ago and the driver of

the other vehicle was a woman and the only yelling I did was mentally at myself as it was my fault for not taking more care when changing lanes.

[NH Ethylene]

18. I was a female in an accident with a male once and there was no yelling.

We talked it over calmly while waiting for the police.

Not all men act like assholes.

[cstanleytech]

19. Ya, only good thing about my accident was it was very minor with some paint scrapped off the front

right area above the tire for her car.
Oddly enough my car suffered no paint damage and only a minor dimple in the side of the rear driver side door which you could only even tell was there if you looked at it in the right angle in sunlight.

[quakerboy]

14. And double if the male is white and the female is not

[herding cats]

16. I can top this.

I was in a multi vehicle accident. I was struck in the right quarter panel of my vehicle (it totaled my car), at a stoplight by a vehicle which had been struck treating the shoulder as a driving lane. When they hit me they were already upside down. Every other vehicle in the primary accident hit someone else but me. I (miraculously) steered through the other cars stopped in front of me and missed ever last one. 4 people tried to sue me. Me, the only the only zero fault driver (my state has shared fault) and the only woman driver.

No joke. This is a fact. I've received zero from any of their insurance because (a) one had none, and (b) the other at fault person never deemed it necessary to speak to his insurance. My own insurance refunded my deductible and I ate the copay on my medical. I'm still salty about it all.

[lark]

20. Ha, not if they caused an accident with me.

I have a bad back from birth so really get pissed & scared if someone runs into me. This has happened 3 times in the last 15 years, injuring my back worse every time. All 3 times hit by a man. I jump out, go up to them and ask them what's wrong with you, couldn't you see me, why didn't you stop? All yelled really fast because I am so afraid of more damage and losing my mobility.

Now I almost refuse to drive in rush hour traffic, I avoid it like the plague.

[wysimdnwyg]

21. I take exception to this blanket statement

In my last accident (all of them have been when someone rear-ended me), the person who hit me was a drunk woman who hit my brand new (8 weeks) truck. I was absolutely LIVID, to the point where I started smoking again after four months without. And yet, I did not raise my voice even one time. Even after she ran off, leaving her passenger to speak with the police, I did not raise my voice. I DID point her out to the police where she was peeking around the corner from a nearby parking garage.


Now, all of this said, I would agree that, should yelling occur, it is much more likely to be the man raising their voice. I just ask that you please not tar us all with this particular set of feathers.

[iscooterliberally]

23. Were it not for a woman driver, we might all still be riding horses.

Apparently the first long distance road trip ever taken in an automobile was accomplished by one Bertha Benz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz

[11 Bravo]

28. Quite a few years ago I was rear-ended at a traffic light by a woman.

There were no injuries, and damage was minimal, but my then three year old son was in back, in his car seat. He was crying, so after I got him settled I turned to the woman. She was also crying, and shouting at me for "suddenly slamming on the brakes" (I was at a dead stop at a red light).
I never raised my voice, stated what actually took place, and simply waited until the police came. At that time a witness who had been standing curbside corroborated my account of the incident. The police wrote up the accident report, the woman calmed down, and we exchanged insurance information and went our separate ways.

The problem with broad brushes is that they sometimes fling paint onto the wrong surface.

[Shermann]

5. "Shit for brains" only has three syllables

"Alleged perpetrator" has seven. Faster my ass!

[Turbineguy]

6. "shit for brains"

"how do you spell that?"

[MLAA]

7. I needed that laugh! Thank you, shit for brains, haha.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. That would be a funny read when both sides and ins. companies get copies of the police report.

[russ1943]

9. A picture is worth a lot of words

Consider investing in a dash cam

[wnylib]

12. A big thanks to people who offer their

statements as witnesses.

I was in an accident years ago where the other driver was clearly at fault, but it would have been my word against his if not for witnesses. It happened early on a Sunday afternoon when there were few people around and little traffic. I entered an intersection when a traffic light turned green and was broadsided by a speeding pickup that ran a red light. My second hand compact car was totalled.

I was unable to think clearly in responding to police at the scene because I had a serious concussion. I did not realize it until EMTs who were called to the scene asked for my address. I could picture the house and neighborhood, but could not remember the street name or house number, so they insisted that I go to the ER, leaving my car behind in the intersection.

The truck had obviously struck my car in the side, but the other driver could have claimed that I was the one who ran a red light. Except ... There was a convenience store on the opposite side of the intersection where groups of young men often hung out. Five of them came forward as witnesses, which made it a slam dunk in my favor.

[Unwind Your Mind]

13. I did that once

Mostly because the woman who caused that accident was so awful to the other driver.

I could have easily gone on my way but instead gave the driver my card and told her I saw the whole thing.

The insurance company called me promptly the next morning but I never heard anything from police.

[wnylib]

17. The police report on my accident

listed the names of all the witnesses who volunteered their statements.

The responding officer went to the hospital to check on me and gave me a ride home.

The other driver's insurance agent called me to arrange for a rental car and payment to me for the value of my destroyed car. She gave me no arguments or problems. I'm sure that my company had already contacted her and the police report from the witnesses left the other driver with no defense.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Similar Experience

I was gassing my car, and a woman pulled out of the station in front of another car.
I saw every split second of it, including the "oh no, there's a car right there" moment.
The woman at fault started complaining about the other driver going too fast, not driving courteously, blah, blah.
I was on my way to a meeting, but stayed to talk to the cop.
The driver of the other car was about 16, and I was worried the 40ish adult would complain her way into convincing the cop it was the hound lady's fault.
I did have to do a recorded statement for both insurance companies by phone a few days later.
I only assume the outcome was fine, because I know what I saw, and I said what I knew.

[11 Bravo]

29. I hadn't read this when I related my story upthread.

Yes indeed, thanks to those willing to stick around and provide a witness account.

[SeattleVet]

15. 'Asshole' is only two syllables...

would he have preferred that?

[LisaM]

22. I'm a bit curious about this.

I had an accident once, where I did just what you described, stopped, looked left, looked right, looked left again, and when I pulled out, hit a car (low speed) that seemed to come out of nowhere! I still don't know how it happened. Was he speeding? Obscured? Why didn't I see him after making multiple attempts to be careful?

He yelled at me at first, but I was apologetic and took full responsibility (and Michigan had no-fault insurance at the time), so it all turned out fine, but I still, to this day, don't understand why I didn't see him when I was being so careful.

[Treefrog]

24. I too had a similar accident. Probably 20 years ago on a country road, which did have a blind spot.

But I looked several times both ways, as I always do, then pulled right into the path of another car. We were both female and she screamed and yelled at me until I retreated to my car to await the police. She was so nasty even the police had difficulty calming her.

That's why they call them "accidents."

[iscooterliberally]

25. I got screwed in an accident because there were no witnesses once may years ago.

It was about 5am and the other driver ran a red light and tried to make a u-turn right in front of me. I had the green light and the other driver had to have a red light, unless the light was malfunctioning. Not only did the other driver scream at me at the scene, she also left threatening voice mail messages on my phone days later. I was able to talk the officer out of giving me the ticket at the scene. Both of our cars were totaled. I really think the other driver was pulling an insurance scam. I lost my old beater of a car that night with no insurance money to cover it. I had liability, but not comp and collision. It just wasn't worth it to pay for that kind of insurance on an old bucket of bolts like I had. I wish we had vehicle inspections and more strict insurance laws here in Florida. So many drivers have no insurance at all. Every day I drive I end up behind people with out brake lights. Every day I see people with quarter panels hanging off the sides of their cars. If you drive in Florida, make sure you have uninsured motorist protection. My insurance ended up paying for the other driver's car even though she caused the whole mess. I really really hate driving in the US. The only place worse for me was Colombia and I have worked in 18 different countries on 3 different continents.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

26. I witnessed an accident and the lady at fault was very upset.

Her husband who was following her pulled into the parking lot and jumped out and started checking out their truck. No word to her at all. What a complete ass. I was sitting next to her trying to keep her calm.

Many years ago I hit a parked car going around a corner. Still can't figure out why I lost that much control. The owner of the car was not happy but he was nice. I was crying knowing I could have hurt someone. I am usually a good driver.

Another time I was at the stoplight coming off the freeway when a SUV rammed into me and they fled the scene. This was after an accident on a moped that almost killed me and it brought back some of the memories of the accident. I was very upset.

Then there was the time I was parked on a side road in town with my engine off waiting for a friend to do some business when this guy in a huge ass truck rearends me because the guy was on the phone. He jumped out of his truck and started yelling at me that I had hit him. His wife got out of the truck and told him to shut up because it was his fault. She asked me if I was alright. We did not call the police. My bumper was pushed a little out of place but you would have to look real close to see it.

I also saw a car get flipped over from another car hitting it.

[lunatica]

27. LOL!

so did you switch to Braindead guy?

I was broadsided once and got hurt. The safety belt tightened across my chest like it was supposed to and cracked my sternum. The safety belt left a long red bruise slanting down from left to right from my shoulder to my lower right ribs. Sneezing was horrible!

[Tiger8]

30. Sounds like how Trump would drive.

Trump would definitely run into somebody and blame the other driver....and then sue for damages, and even sue the police department.