accident mania

[Bubba1]

I guess I live on an unusual street. It's a straight level, 25mph residential road, but yesterday afternoon was the 4th car accident in 12 months within 500 of my house. Some pretty bad drivers around here. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries in any of the accidents, but all cars involved were totalled.

Yesterday's crash was a woman in a new Focus at a stop sign on a side street who proceeded to cross my street after severely underestimating how quickly a mom in an old Ford minivan was approaching. The minivan was doing well over 50. They met at the middle. Ouch. The whole front of the Focus ended up in little pieces on my neighbors lawn.

the other crashes included an inattentive cellphone user, a drunk, and joyriding teens. Gotta wonder how these people got licenses.

[audtatious]

was the woman in the minivan going double the speed limit?

[Bubba1]

was the woman in the minivan going double the speed limit?

Yep.

[IBCoupe]

Driving over here is an adventure, to say the least. You do it at your own peril. The white dashed lines, apparently, aren't for lane demarcation, but rather for reminding you which way the road is going. Where the yellow lines in the middle might be mistaken for direction of travel lanes, that's pretty much only a suggestion if there's a putting MPV ahead and you're in a minor hurry. Honking the horn is less about road rage than letting the people ahead of you know that you're about to do something foolish.

But I've been over here now for two weeks, and despite a watchful eye, I haven't seen a single wreck. Not even a minor fender-bender.

[audtatious]

was the woman in the minivan going double the speed limit?

Yep.

She may be charged with reckless driving while the other person would be charged with failure to yeild of right of way and being at fault.

[Bubba1]

Right, that's what should happen, but this case has an interesting curveball. I was told the minivan Mom's son was one of the fireman on the scene.

[frapjap]

Retarded how that will work out. Regardless of who she knows, blatant fault is blatant fault. If they don't want to give her a citation, fine- but she is still responsible for the damage.

[Bubba1]

Retarded how that will work out. Regardless of who she knows, blatant fault is blatant fault. If they don't want to give her a citation, fine- but she is still responsible for the damage.

I agree. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Although the minivan mom's speeding infraction was more serious, the minivan mom still had the right of way despite her speeding. The Focus owner had a stop sign.

[frapjap]

Good point, but being that she ignored and was traveling at a much higher rate of speed than the posted limit, the fault could potentially be turned over to the minivan using the "the driver was not in control of their vehicle" agrument. Had she been obeying the posted limit, she would not have completely creamed the Focus. I'm going to guess she didn't attempt (or get the attempt) to slow down either, which is what the skid marks and damage impact on the focus would suggest.
Hopefully she at least gets a massive speeding ticket, even if she doesn't get put at fault for the accident.

[Bubba1]

Good point, but being that she ignored and was traveling at a much higher rate of speed than the posted limit, the fault could potentially be turned over to the minivan using the "the driver was not in control of their vehicle" agrument. Had she been obeying the posted limit, she would not have completely creamed the Focus. I'm going to guess she didn't attempt (or get the attempt) to slow down either, which is what the skid marks and damage impact on the focus would suggest.
Hopefully she at least gets a massive speeding ticket, even if she doesn't get put at fault for the accident.

Agree. Judging by the lack of skid marks by the minivan mom prior to the impact, I'm guessing she wasn't paying much attention.

The 2nd of 4 crashes was also an interesting one. Late one night, a pair of unlicensed siblings from Trenton (with outstanding arrest warrants), borrowed (without permission) their uncle's unregistered, uninsured, uninspected Ford Excursion to buy some drugs. They were flying down our street at an estimated 60mph when they lost control, drove thru a stone retaining wall, richocheted off my neighbors house, wiped out his wood steps, cracked his foundation, crushed some old shrubbery but kept rolling. They then drove over the same retaining wall farther down but at taller point, which crushed the front end, ruptured the crankcase and radiator, flattened the front tires, but they was determined to keep on going. They made it a couple hundred feet before the engine seized. They fled what was left of their uncle's SUV on foot, but in their panic, forgot the drugs they just purchased and unregistered handguns. They were arrested within minutes and are now in prison. My neighbor is a building contractor so he ended up doing the property repairs himself.

[frapjap]

Yeesh! That sounds like an insurance nightmare!
You've got property damage that can't be recoiped from any insurance company due to some degenerates.
Your neighbor can't even recoup the costs himself because those guys don't have any money and will probably pay him anyway. I hope they went to jail for the property damage, guns, and drugs in addition to the plethora of moving voliations.

[Bubba1]

Yeesh! That sounds like an insurance nightmare!
You've got property damage that can't be recoiped from any insurance company due to some degenerates.
Your neighbor can't even recoup the costs himself because those guys don't have any money and will probably pay him anyway. I hope they went to jail for the property damage, guns, and drugs in addition to the plethora of moving voliations.

The cops told my neighbor the siblings would be gone for several years, but never told him the specific charges. I thought my neighbor might have been able to make a claim thru his homeowners policy, but he opted to fix it all himself rather than go thru the hassle.