My Car Accident Situation

[Vassago]

I was involved in an accident a couple of weeks ago. Here goes.

I was pulling out of a parking lot to make a left turn. The area was completely dark because of out street lights that have been out for a years. The city has not replaced them to my knowledge in a long time. It was a dark rainy night. There was a black SUV without it's headlights on. Obviously, due to all of the above, I could not see it. I pulled out and he hit me full force, didn't even attempt to brake. Of course, the 18 year old kid lied to the cops and told them he had his lights on, so they issued me a ticket. So, not only now do I have a citation to pay, but a totaled car I will have to replace and a back injury to boot. I feel like I have not received justice in this situation. Can someone give me some recommendations? Should I fight the ticket? Do I have any case due to the out street lights? Please help! Where's my justice in this?

 

[lwpat]

You should fight the ticket. It is doubtful he will show for court and they will have to dismiss. This will save you in future insurance premiums. I would also contact an attorney about suing the other driver and notify your insurance company in writing that you were not at fault.

 

[Vassago]

Thanks for the reply. When you say he will not show, do you mean the cop? If the cop does not show, does that mean the ticket is thrown out? How does that work exactly? I've never contested a ticket before.

My insurance company already said I was at fault since I received a ticket. What would writing a letter do in this situation? How can I prove otherwise?

Thanks for you reply!

 

[Duranie]

You might get the ticket dismissed but it will not relieve you of responsibility for the accident. You did not have the right of way. I am not sure whether or not the other car having his lights off or not would be a factor but you are going to have to prove it nonetheless.

 

[CdwJava]

Thanks for the reply. When you say he will not show, do you mean the cop? If the cop does not show, does that mean the ticket is thrown out? How does that work exactly? I've never contested a ticket before.

I think lwpat was referring to the other party not showing. The fault was likely determined largely based upon the statements of the other driver. The officer can express his opinion about the crash, but the other driver would have to be there to present his argument as well. However, this process varies by state and in your state (whatever it is) the other driver may not be required to show.

My insurance company already said I was at fault since I received a ticket. What would writing a letter do in this situation? How can I prove otherwise?

The insurance company is NOT legally bound to determine fault based upon the police report. They should be able to change that if they conduct their own investigation and determine the validity of your claim.

As an officer who has investigated close to 700 collisions in my career, I would have to say that I would have likely assigned you the fault as well. Sorry. But, the primary collision factor is loosely defined as that one element that when removed from the mix would have prevented the collision. So, with that in mind, there is no proof that even had the other driver had his lights on that you would not have pulled out in front of him anyway. Thus, the one act that would have certainly prevented the collision would have been you NOT pulling out into the traffic lane. His lack of lights, the lack of street lights, and the weather might certainly be "associated factors" (using CA collision reporting terminology), but these would generally not be related to the PCF. Also, since not having lights on is NOT an act of bad driving, it could not be a PCF (at least I'd be hard pressed to decide it was).

Having said that, insurers and civil courts ARE able to take divided blame into account for purposes of fault. Law enforcement generally cannot parcel out percentages of blame (at least no state I know of has a process where law enforcement assigned percentages of fault ... though I concede that someone might do it).

If this were in CA, even if you beat the citation you would still have a point assigned against you by the DMV for the fault as determined in the report. The only way to remove that would be through the DMV administrative hearing process. Your state might have a similar procedure.

- Carl