The guy in front of me slammed on his brakes at a green light after the light had just turned from red to green. About a 7 mph impact....$8000 + in damages but insurance will cover it. Car will be fixed in about 2 weeks. The good news is I will get a fresh new midnight grill and bumper without plate holes drilled. I ordered a license plate re locator kit. The body shop is also going to take out some dents and reinstall my Stillen splitter. Right now I am in a Nissan Versa Note rental car that I am trying to change up for an Altima or Camry.

 

Sorry to see that Steven, but at least it sounds like you'll be getting a couple parts that you wanted anyway. Hope they get the paint matched well and you're happy in the end. G/L

 

The driver nailed the brakes for no reason? Or did someone cut him off/ran a red light.

 

Yeah some guy attempted to run a red light but then he reversed. I got this all on the dashcam which will help my claim

 

Good deal! Post up the video if you can.

 

I think this should work

Upload and Share Videos - Sendvid

 

You're not going to like this, but honestly, I don't know if that video is going to help your case.

Yes, the guy in front stopped unexpectedly (from your perspective) to avoid hitting the guy who started going on the red.

Part of defensive driving is expecting the unexpected. Paying attention and following distance plays a big role. If you can't see, proceed with caution, be prepared to stop, etc. I see this on the highway way too often - packs of cars so close to one another, that they'd all make a really big sandwich if one of them had to slow down for something in the roadway.

 

Unfortunately, if you collide with someone from behind, it's extremely rare that you won't be found to be at fault. Notable exceptions would be an intentional action by the other driver to purposely cause a collision or if you were struck from behind and pushed into the driver in front of you. Sometimes not even then.

At work I'm dealing with a crash from last week in which our driver hit another driver from behind and he's flabbergasted that the result of my investigation is that he was at fault and the crash was preventable. Even though he was clearly following the vehicle too closely and not paying sufficient attention to stop in time to avoid the crash.

I hope your car is repaired as good as (better than!) new. Be careful. Leave more following distance.

EDIT: Just saw the video you posted. Sorry, but you're at fault.

 

Sorry to hear/see what happened Steve. Hopefully as Brad said they can color match the paint and you get your new parts. After seeing the video, as messed up as it sounds, yeah you're at fault. The ONLY way I can see any of it playing out in your favor would be if either of you got the license plate of the SUV that almost ran the red light which I hope you did.

 

Unfortunately no. As soon as we pulled over, the light turned green and he took off

 

Even if you had gotten the plate of the car that almost ran the red light you would still be at fault. The fact is they did not pull out, the driver in front of you stopped to avoid a collision and you not stopping puts you 100% at fault.

 

Also, there can be multiple parties at fault, depending on the jurisdiction and scenario. For example, when a vehicle runs a red light and there is a collision with a vehicle moving perpendicular through the intersection that had a green light, BOTH parties can be culpable. The red light runner obviously will have liability because they failed to yield to a traffic control device. However a person with a green light that hits them from the side also might be issued a citation and share fault because they didn't yield to another car in that was already in the intersection even though they had a green light.

 

I can see this from both angles, but it seems like you would be at fault for not yielding. Can we get a traffic judge in here?

 

Why dont we just let o.p. lick his wounds.. and submit all info and see what his insurance says about it?

 

^^ That's clearly what is going to happen but throwing out different opinions and scenarios is also fun prior to finding out the official verdict.