Hello,
I live in Colorado and was driving in the far left lane on the interstate a few days ago. I noticed a column of cars in front of me were slowing down and took the proper steps to slow myself down. When I was about a car length in front of the mini-van in front of me, an Infinity behind me could not stop in time and pulled onto the left shoulder to avoid hitting me. He ended up swiping my left side, denting in both my doors and tearing off my mirror. Then not a blink later the person behind him (in an SUV) hit me directly in the rear at a speed of roughly 40mph, my car was propelled forward and right, and into the wheel well of a large drilling truck that was driving in the lane next to me. My car is absolutely destroyed, totaled beyond recognition.
The officer at the scene gave me, the driver of the Inifinity, and the driver of the SUV tickets for "following too closely". Note that I never hit the vehicle directly in front of me, however the driver of the SUV had so much speed left over after she ejected me from my lane, she ended up rear-ending the mini-van in front of me as well.
Now my questions are these (any light that can be shed would be greatly appreciated): Why would I receive a ticket for following too closely given the above facts? Given that I lack collision insurance, what are the odds that my damages get compensated in the face of my "following too closely" ticket. Is there any way that anyone can see that I may be held partially responsible for this accident? Thanks in advance for any responses.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
As for the ticket. You need to go to court and explain your side of the story to the judge. As for the damages. Let your insurance company work things out. These multi- rear end crashes take longer than most because of the several insurance companies that are involved. Getting your ticket dismissed/ reduced/changed will go a long way toward you coming out on top here.
I am a little bit surprised also on the ticket for following too closely since if as you stated, you have no front end damages and you were hit by 2 vehicles that were not keeping an assured clear distance and not paying attention. I think the officer at the scene saw the 3 cars damages and just wrote up 3 tickets, 2 for the guys at fault and driving recklessly and you for just being there.
My suggestion is to get copies of the damages to YOUR AUTO. Most shops when they write an estimate, they also take photos of your damages to your auto. If they do, then you could bring this to court and argue that the SUV hit the guy in front of you, and the other guy got your side trying to avoid hitting you in the back. The main thing is showing that you have no front end damages. You still maybe on the hook for the ticket, even though it may not be warranted, but hopefully the judge maybe lenient. Also one other consideration, is to find out if the officer at the scene took photos? Some do and would be part of the accident report and you would have to pay for those photos.
Since you lack collision coverage you will be at the mercy of the 2 insurance companies. Most likely each company will pay only for the part their vehicle is responsible for, but it could get messy say for instance the 2nd guys damages are mixed in with the 1st guy, then they could argue they owe only this part or not.
You might want to consider calling your own insurance company for advice if they do indeed put some blame on you due to this ticket. Since in that case, it would become a "liability claim" vs a collision claim.
good luck, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time applies here.
fight the ticket and contact the police to see if they will amend their report with your statement. he may have wrote it like that based upon what he saw in damage, rear end damage to the vehicle in front, or maybe another driver suggested you rear ended someone first. who knows. you have no collision coverage so your insurance won't be able to help you except for defending you or paying for a judgement against you if someone claims you caused some of the accident or rear ended them. they just can't pay for or fix your car. i would contact both the insurance companies of the vehicle that hit you on the side and the one that rear ended you. the one who hit your left side i think should not give you a hard time as the suggestion that you rear ended someone has nothing to do with him side swiping you, that left side damage is clearly not from rear ending anyone. the driver behind you will not give you a hard time on your rear damage, they may however give you a hard time on your front end damage so you should get money, you just may have a hard time getting it all. see what they offer, fight the ticket and argue with them if they refuse to pay you in full. if it comes down to it you can always file a small claims suit.
I don't know how you might convince the police that you weren't at fault, even though it sounds like you weren't. I got a ticket for failure to control my vehicle when my car rolled after being swiped by another! I spoke to a policeman I knew and his advice was to just pay it.
I really don't think it will interfere with your getting your car replaced. That should be done by the insurance from the driver of the SUV. He's the one who caused the real damage to your vehicle. I'm sorry you're having to go through all this!
Best of luck to you.
What a convoluted mess!!
You need a lawyer for this, not advice from a free forum. The insurance companies will try everything to get out of paying you anything.
The cop just ticketed you to cover all bases.