so there I am

[D. Bergin]

Back in college I rear-ended a woman in a junker on my way to school. She had slammed on her brakes right under a green light while getting off a highway exit.

I had been looking at the light and didn't see her quickly brake in front of me. I hit my brakes but it was too late and I lightly dinked her rear bumper. No damage to either car.

She jumps out of her car........."Did you see that guy standing in the road?" she says................there was no guy.

My friend is also getting off the same ramp on his way to school and sees the whole thing. He stops and sticks around for when the police show up. The woman I hit is walking around like nothing is wrong.......then all of a sudden she goes........"I better get back in the car, for when the police show up".

Cop shows up, I tell him what happened and he goes and talks to the woman in the car. He comes back to talk to me and says "The woman requested an ambulance." My friend and I can't believe it.........she was just flitting around here a second ago. The cop is sympathetic, notices there's no damage to the cars and doesn't even give me a ticket. I think he gives me a written warning for following too close because he has to, since there is a report filed.

He knows what's going on but can't do anything about it. He says it's the law, when somebody requests an ambulance, you have to send for it, regardless of the circumstance.

I call my insurance company and tell them the story, they say they'll take care of it, don't worry. A few months later I get a letter from them telling me they settled for some ridiculous amount, like $25,000 or something. I was pissed. I knew this lady and her lawyer must have just scammed them for the cash.

Funny thing was, I was expecting my Insurance rate to skyrocket because of the big payout, and it never did. I think it went up very slightly or stayed the same if I remember correctly.

[mark evans]

It's happened to me twice here in D.C. suburbs. I sure hope you don't get a sore back.

Mark

[teetwoohsix]

I know this story too well.....you guys would not believe the amount of people who will drive straight into the rear end of a parked bus that has it's hazzard lights blinking and everything !!! I don't know what some of these people are doing with a driver's license.....

When I used to live in California, my wife and I were driving home from having dinner. I was heading south into a four way intersection and I had the green light and was going between 35-40 MPH....a teenage girl was in the left turn lane facing north (music blasting, possibly on a cell phone)....right before I entered the intersection, she pulls out in front of me, sees me, and STOPS !!!

Like a deer in the headlights....I slammed on my brakes and T-boned her car...couldn't help it- it all happened so fast. Her car spun around 3 times and landed up on the sidewalk and my whole front end was smashed in, could barely open the doors.

Come to find out, it was her parents car.......luckily they had insurance. I have had a screwed up back ever since. To this day I still appreciate the lady who was behind her in the turn lane, because she pulled over and waited for the police to come (to be a witness for me),,,and then even gave me her phone #.....she was so awesome to do that.

[barrysloate]

There are too many drivers gabbing away on cellphones while speeding down the highway. As long as that continues we will have more accidents, not fewer. And even worse are the texters. People caught doing either while driving should have their licenses suspended ( I'll cut a little slack for those bluetooth devices).