Community Forums

dpinvidic · 06-24-2016, 07:03 PM

This is not motohome related, but my son does have a Fleetwood.
Last night, my grandson was hit almost head-on by a mid-twenty year old girl who ran a red light while he was making a left turn coming home from school. No major injuries to either driver.

His dad is a cop, and got down there inside of 10 minutes.
He got 6 independent witnesses who confirmed she ran a red light.
She admitted to the police officer who took the report that she ran a red light.

Today my son calls her insurance company to find the status. She had reported the accident, and her statement to her insurance was it was the other drivers fault.

We don't have any worries that she will be held liable, but this just goes to show what people will do.

Maybe the "younger generation" feel that owning up to your mistakes is no longer important. We are just lucky to have witnesses.

My wife was in a fender bender last year, with no witnesses. It was close to our house and I was able to get there and get pictures, and the other driver admitted fault....he was over 60.

We were lucky in that the next day he called his insurance and admitted fault.

BUT WHEN IT IS JUST YOU AND THE OTHER DRIVER, IT IS HE SAID & SHE SAID. Good luck oin that case

Dashcam....Dashcam....Dashcam....

Regards,

Dan

roxy13019 · 06-25-2016, 04:56 AM

You are absolutely right, we all need dashcams to protect ourselves. We drive our rv alot during the year, and we see so many distracted drivers (and many that should know better). Dash cams are very inexpensive and they always tell the truth.

jacwjames · 06-25-2016, 08:20 AM

Last week my SIL was visiting. She left our house to go somewhere and called within minutes. Just leaving our subdivision road onto a 4 lane divided road a car pulled right out in front of her, she caught the back of his car and it spun around. We arrived to the accident before the police. The other driver admitted fault.

As I was standing there talking to my SIL to try and understand what happen the police walked up. I asked if he was going to issue a citation to the other driver for failure to yield. The police officer said "NO, it's not our job to determine fault, we let the insurance companies haggle it out"

After again asking if the other driver was going to be cited the Officer got very agitated with me so I decided I'd better leave as it seemed like I might get in trouble for trying to get the officer do the right thing.

ralphie · 06-25-2016, 08:27 AM

I agree, a dashcam could be helpful. One does not have to admit fault. Even your insurance company, and definitely a lawyer, will tell you that. OTOH, I don't understand a police officer not determining fault in order to issue a ticket.

aauummm · 06-25-2016, 08:43 AM

Mine came in handy this past April. I was parked in a drop-off zone when a lady in front of me put her car in reverse and slammed into me and then took off. Thankfully my dash cam caught it all. I contacted my insurance company and emailed the video to them. With video evidence, my insurance company assigned the blame to her and it does not effect my insurance record or rates.

I bought our dash cam after reading a thread on here about the need for one.

Here's a little longer Youtube version of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjLoNxZifxE

Steeljag · 06-25-2016, 09:05 AM

Admitting fault, or not, at that scene does not come into play at a traffic crash in the eyes of the court, at least not here in Florida.

The Insurance company NOT admitting fault when called the next day may have been the companies position, and not so much of that of the female driver. They do so obviously in order to protect themselves, and to allow for time to obtain all reports, statements, videos, facts, etc !

That is sometimes a timely process!

Mike and Cha · 06-25-2016, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeljag

Admitting fault, or not, at that scene does not come into play at a traffic crash in the eyes of the court, at least not here in Florida.

The Insurance company NOT admitting fault when called the next day may have been the companies position, and not so much of that of the female driver. They do so obviously in order to protect themselves, and to allow for time to obtain all reports, statements, videos, facts, etc !

That is sometimes a timely process!

X2...it really doesn't matter what anybody but any independent witnesses and the evidence of the collision say when investigating a traffic collision. You would be amazed at how easy it can be to put all the evidence together to figure out what happened which is generally more accurate than what either driver says at the time of the collision. When the traffic accident investigators document the collision, it then goes to the Accident Investigators who determine the primary collision factors and also determine if there will be any citations issued. Many times several days or weeks after a major collision occurs they will file charges or make arrests if warranted.

I'm glad nobody was seriously hurt, they were lucky. On Tuesday night in Lakewood Ca., my brother in law's Niece and Nephew were killed instantly in a head on collision, which according to the news reports the other driver was a suspected DUI. You can read and see the story in the Long Beach Post/ABC ect. They were in the white car.

Dtwallace · 06-25-2016, 02:32 PM

Mike, Charlotte,

My condolences to you and your family.

Jim J,

I think it was a matter of training that prevented that officer from issuing a citation.
In some circumstances, if the officer on the scene has not been trained and qualified as a crash scene investigator, he or she mite be reprimanded for trying to do the right thing. When a judge makes the officer look like a fool for a mistaken call, the officers are not so fast to stick their necks out for anyone.

DTW

dpinvidic · 06-26-2016, 06:31 PM

Mike and Cha, so sorry for your loss.

Here in Orange county, the offucers will not dven fill out a report if nobody wax injured.
They will come and watch while the drivers exchange info., but that is it.

Most times the driver at fault knows it. So simple for them to jyst tell the truth.
Am sure there are some cases where both drivers think they are correct.

I believe nobody ends up in court unless a driver or insurance company wants to dispute something or get money gor damages.

Dan

DonavonP · 06-26-2016, 07:07 PM

Mike and Cha, Sorry for you loss.

Mike and Cha · 06-27-2016, 11:31 AM

Thank you to all for the condolences.

Mike and Cha · 06-27-2016, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpinvidic

Mike and Cha, so sorry for your loss.

Here in Orange county, the offucers will not dven fill out a report if nobody wax injured.
They will come and watch while the drivers exchange info., but that is it.

Dan

Dan, that is just City by City in Orange County. When I retired I was a Captain overseeing our traffic division. We still took non injury accidents, and yes if it were just a little fender bender we would encourage the people to exchange names. But if it is a major damage collision we normally took a report. I can't tell you how many times even when there were no reported injuries at the scene, they later turned into an injury accident and occasionally people have died as a result of the accident several hours/days later.

alvo · 06-30-2016, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacwjames

The police officer said "NO, it's not our job to determine fault, we let the insurance companies haggle it out"

As it should be. They weren't there when the accident happened, so have no way of determining fault. They can record details told to them, but that's about all.

JMonroe · 07-01-2016, 07:55 AM

Police officers can not determine fault, however, if their observations seem to warrant it, they can issue a citation. That citation can be contested in traffic court and sometimes the driver wins. The officer, in serious cases, may be called in as a witness but all he/she can attest to is what they saw or were told once they arrived on scene. It's extremely rare to have an officer as a direct witness to the accident. Another problem in some jurisdictions is the officer, if called as a witness, must appear on his own time, he is not paid for the appearance. This can make an officer loath to issue citations for less serious infractions or where there was a small amount of property damage.

While as a percentage it didn't happen often, I had countless cases cross my desk where someone would exclaim "but the cop said it was all their fault". Well, police officers can make mistakes and the officer's opinion is just that, not a conviction.

Police officers are generally instructed to record objective findings, solicit and record participant and witness identification and statements and possibly issue a citation if the facts seem overwhelming in favor of doing so. Further, the fact that no citation was issued at the scene, especially in the case of a serious accident with complicated contributing factors, does not mean that one will not be issued later.