And the award of Driver of the year 2007 goes to .........

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Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:27 pm

The twat who rear ended me, sent three people (in two different cars) to the hospital and when challenged asked 'what's the problem?'

Myself and two others were returning home. We stopped because of of line of traffic, and we got hit behind by a van who shunted us quite heavily into the car in front.

The bloke didn't give a flying. A company van, so he won't be paying for anything. Bloody twat. He gave his company's contact details.

Bloody whiplash too.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:32 pm

Sorry for the bad luck. Are you in pain? You bet you are! And non-specific spine pain is hard to disprove. You need to be paid by this gobshite's company for pain and suffering. Lawyer up.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:36 pm

You can get a good insurance payout for whiplash. Unfortunately I forgot and ran at the guy who'd rear-ended me in such a temper he locked his doors and wound up his windows.

Only later did I realise I should have stayed in the car, holding my neck and groaning quietly.

I did get �800 for a new tailgate, though. Which was cool, especially when I sold the car still with a dent in it.

I don't condone insurance fraud, btw, I just think anyone dumb enough to drive into the back of me in broad daylight deserves all he gets.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:06 pm

Bait him!

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:42 pm

you should have destroyed his childhood memories by explaining magic tricks to him.
"... so you see? the bunny was in the hat the whole time!"

but seriously, i hope youre alright.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Feb 2005 Posts: 2301

A couple weeks ago, I was at the drive-through window of Wendy's (a fast food place....for all you outside the U.S.). The roads were about 2 inches thick of ice, and VERY slick. All of a sudden I hear this "BAM!". I look to the right, and this person had smashed into the front of my SUV. Then, they started to drive the opposite direction around the building.

I looked at the manager (who happened to be serving me) and told him that I'm going to "smash someone's skull in" and that he'd better call the police. I jumped out of the car and stood in the middle of the "road" as the person came around the corner, ready to throw a large rock through the window. Apparently, the person inside had 2 or 3 working brain cells at that moment, and stopped.

As I approached the driver's window, I realized it was a woman, so I started to feel like a dickhead, but nonetheless, this person tried to run from the scene of an accident, and I had not had a chance to survey the damage to my vehicle yet.

She rolled down her window and didn't speak a word of English (wonderful). About that time, the manager ran out of the building and started rattling seeming to her in Spanish, and then he told me she was pulling over.

When all was said and done, she had NO driver's license, NO insurance, and worked at Wendy's. In fact, she was in the country ILLEGALLY. Knowing that, I'm kind of glad there was no damage to my vehicle, because I would have probably gone to jail that night......

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:31 pm

I was in an accident two days before Thanksgiving, it was my fault, I was driving too fast for the conditions (black ice) that I was coming upon (in that case, 35 mph in a 50 zone was too fast). The worst part was waiting for the impact, after braking and steering away failed, and my continued efforts were doing nothing.
I think I annoyed the people in the other car when I had to check on their health before I would even talk insurance and paperwork. However, I don't know how you can think of anything else in that situation. The worst thing I can think of is actually hurting another human being (scammers excluded, since they prove on a daily basis that they are not human beings), whether by accident or purpose. All I could think of was the fact that I had possibly hurt someone else. Later that day, as I was dealing with insurance companies and them, they said something about their back, and I was the first to give them advice to get it looked at now, not next week.

I hope the guy that hits you loses his job. At the least. To hit you and not care about it, that makes my blood boil.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:44 pm

I feel your pain. Couple of years ago I was the meat in a three car sandwich. The girl behind me had her temp license at home and was giving a girlfriend a thrill ride. The damages to my car alone maxed out her parents' policy limit. My medical bills were three times the parents' policy limit. The surgeon wrote me a one year medical excuse. I took 6 days off. It was hell and yes I did sic the barristers at them. I was so angry I filed a claim against their insurance adjusters with the State that took 14 months to settle. They waited until one day before the trial. The question was do we throw the parents out of their house? Pretty tough call.

BTW, in my location, a new driver under 18 cannot drive anyone under 25 for a year.

I did have her license revoked for a year. (But it was for a technicality. She did not report an accident over $600 or involving injury to the state. That took a while but was completely worth the effort.)

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:37 am

Stargate, sorry for your "accident". But,.... never mind. Think it will ever happen again? Wink

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:19 am

A friend recently retired and bought two new vehicles, a truck and a SUV. Both vehicles were parked in front of his house and a local college student lost control, hit the truck headon and drove it back into the SUV. Totalling both cars. The kid only had the state minimum insurance that was not enough to cover the down payment on those vehicles. He was also drunk and his father was some kind of Government official from Nigeria so he was able to leave the country with diplomatic immunity. My friend now has two piles of junk sitting in his back yard and is making payments on them for the next 5 years.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:44 am

Yesterday during the Gales the UK experienced they dropped the speed limit on the M54 down to 50mph.
Amazingly everyone (yes even the heavy Mercedes drivers) slowed down and kept close to 50mph.
The only car that passed me (doing about 80mph+) was a small light Ford KA driven by a young woman with the usual half a teddy shop hanging from her rear view mirror.
Did it not dawn on her that maybe her car was getting buffeted about a bit more than normal.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:01 pm

One good thing was I had a digital camera with me and I took photos of the damage to the three vehicles and the driver who hit us. If I didn't know any better I would use his photo in a bait.

Once the insurance battle starts, I'll write a letter to his employers asking for their comments.

Reminder: I'd better check he has informed his company.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:01 pm

Stargate wrote:

SUV

What's that?

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:17 pm

Sport Utility Vehicle ..... any wiser ?

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:22 pm

Yes, thanks a bunch!

/edit: I googled that and found this on the wikipedia:

Quote:

A sport utility vehicle, or SUV, also known as Penisersatzfahrzeug...

and on top of the article:

Quote:

This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.

Indeed.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:28 pm

@Dionysius It's a long shot, but you should try to get comments about him as a person from his employer before the battle begins. Also, if you go to the DMV and get a Court Print of his driving record, that might bolster your case if he has anything in his past.

Just a thought...

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:32 pm

Hope you nail the sod Dionysius, a friend was rear ended by a works van and the buggers wouldn't admit liability, it took a while. Thankfully they were towing a small trailer so that took the brunt of the hit.
Best of luck with it.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:22 pm

OUCH! Sorry to hear that. Hope you and the 3 people recover.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:30 pm

spotthepot wrote:

Sport Utility Vehicle ..... any wiser ?

I thought it was Stupid Unwanted Vehicle. Laughing

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:24 pm

Cheers, but in the UK (where I am) I don't think the DVLA will hand out that sort of info. I will ask his employers for their views on his behaviour. Not calling the police or the ambulance, not checking to see if anyone was injured.

One other thing. On the photo of the idiot sitting in the van, his passenger is hiding his identity for some reason. He is holding his hand in front of his face. His skin and clothing shows up the cracks in the windscreen from where this passenger hit the glass with his head. The idiot didn't bother getting his passenger checked out by the ambulance crew.

Also, there is a possibility that the idiot driver may be charged with driving without due care and attention. So one big Thumbs up

to the police if the do.

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:16 am

It's great that you took pictures. I often have my digital camera with me, but I keep a disposeable camera in the glovebox as well for those kinds of situations.

Glad no one was hurt!

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:21 pm

^^^Don't forget the camera phone. Even if your cell phone does not have a camera, going through the motions can reduce the incidence of lies. The film in the disposable camera may over ripen in a glove box or car boot over many summers.

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:38 pm

From the way he just didn't care about an accident, especially one where his passenger hit the windshield hard enough to break it, I have to wonder if he was on any alcohol or recreational drugs at the time. There's just something not right about that. Did he exhibit any other interesting characteristics?

In the accident I referenced above, the other driver wanted to call the paramedics for me because he thought I was in shock. I actually wasn't but just quite upset that this had happened, so I can't imagine hitting someone and not caring. That's a very disturbing problem you have there.

Here in the US, the Department of Motor Vehicles does give out info, for a fee. I hope they do that in the UK, too. Your driving record, in my mind, should be an open book. If you don't like that, then drive more safely.

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