When Dummies attack

[Jared]

I was driving back from a  friends this evening ( truck ).... Stopped at the light...I get my green light-My green ARROW...(left turn)...so I go... Putz on the other side decides to go ( running his red light- he was turning right ) and mashes into the side of my truck.

Door bent in pretty good and he got the cab too.... Progressive insurance on his end so we'll see- I'm not expecting them to try to be fair in the least...

Low speed so no injuries that I can feel right now... 

I have an old Nissan King Cab (1990) with 150k miles on it... paint is rough and  the body needs a little bit of attention but it runs great...the AC will freeze you out.  It's my good little reliable truck...

I'm sure the repair cost will exceed the book value...so I'm about to get screwed... They wont pay to fix it  and they wont give me enough to replace it in kind.

We'll see...

[Adfalchius]

  Argg! That sucks, Jared!  I run a little old reliable worthless car, but I'd hate for it to get smashed.  Crazy Ray's junkyard treasure hunting is your third option!

[mister]

So, he didn't see you or what?

[Jared]

I'm going to see what they'll do before any runs to crazy rays...but I'll probably end up needing to go there.


See me...I guess he didn't -that or he just wanted to run into my truck.  We didn't talk much - just enough to deal with the police officer .

I had the green arrow- which means I had the right of way- he was at his red light turning right. My light went green- I started driving and 2/3rds the way through my turn - BANG...door glass exploded etc etc.

Hopefully his insurance will handle things well.
Off to work.

[The Buddha]

Progressive isn't too bad. Allstate is really awful.

Cool.
Buddha.

[scratch]

Glad you're all right.  Hope you get a decent settlement.  He hit you pretty hard to knock the glass out.

[Jared]

He caved the door in pretty good and part of the cab. The weather stripping is whats holding the door shut now.

Ok so no witnesses stopped last night ( nobody was behind me at the light )- so he tells his insurance I ran a red light- he had the Red... 

Since we are at odds ...me telling the truth and him a fairy tale.... I'm about to get boned...but they are "investigating" it and will look at my truck on Monday.

So... let me see....I'm investigating something that can cost my company more or less depending on my findings.....hmmm I wonder which way it will turn out.

I'm going to stop by the business's at the intersection and see if any of them have any surveillance looking at the intersection...that's pretty much my best/only shot if the "investigation" doesn't go the right way.

[mister]

So it still makes no sense. I don't care Who has a red. If he didn't see you he needs his license revoked end of story.

You didn't think he would admit he ran a red did you? Didn't think he would cost himself money by being honest.

One thing in favor of "you had the green he didn't" is... does he even have a green arrow? If his side had a green, how did you manage to turn across all those oncoming cars without being hit? him being first cab off the rank, how did he not make the corner before you came all the way across? Answers = you had a green arrow he did not.

make sure you document the sequence the lights work, photos, everything.

Michael

[Jared]

Yes it makes no sense. The left turn arrows at the Intersection are the first in that sequence-the straight through traffic gets green after that  .  The far left lanes are left turn on arrow only- he was coming the opposite direction turning right ( you can turn right on red if it's clear at this intersection )- I got my green arrow and went- he hit me.

I've struck out on video for the intersection so far- I posted a few adds on CL hoping for a witness but I'm not optimistic.

Without a witness  or a traffic citation  they (insurance) just say "he said/he said" and  your own insurance takes care of it ( I only have liability). I can diagram and argue but they're going to screw me over in the end I think.   It's not right and not fair.

I guess I'm a rare person in that I own my mistakes- and the idiot die-hard Idealist part of me still thinks other people might actual take responsibility for their actions.

[mister]

Yes it makes no sense. The left turn arrows at the Intersection are the first in that sequence-the straight through traffic gets green after that  .  The far left lanes are left turn on arrow only- he was coming the opposite direction turning right ( you can turn right on red if it's clear at this intersection )- I got my green arrow and went- he hit me.

So THAT is your proof. No way could YOU have run a red otherwise you would have had to cross oncoming traffic. This needs to be detailed, with diagrams, etc., and presented to your insurance company.

Michael

[yamahonkawazuki]

well said mister. 

[The Buddha]

Yes it makes no sense. The left turn arrows at the Intersection are the first in that sequence-the straight through traffic gets green after that  .  The far left lanes are left turn on arrow only- he was coming the opposite direction turning right ( you can turn right on red if it's clear at this intersection )- I got my green arrow and went- he hit me.

So THAT is your proof. No way could YOU have run a red otherwise you would have had to cross oncoming traffic. This needs to be detailed, with diagrams, etc., and presented to your insurance company.

Michael

I see plenty of people do left turns as soon as the light goes green. I even saw it today @ one very hard intersection to make a left cos the lanes of traffic going straight are hidden by the left turners. It is easier to turn left @ that intersection if you're good at flooring it and have a responsive car. Anyone who's been @ that intersection knows this. When you are alert and trigger happy and have the car you know can do this, its very safe cos you can see the stopped car in the opposite side. There is no hidden car runnign along @40 clicks.

Cool.
Buddha.

[Jared]

Well progressive filed against my insurance so it looks  like I'm getting boned short of a miracle.


On the not so shitty side I got a door at the junkyard and swapped it out- I kicked the body out into close enough shape for the door to shut and seal. Hinges need tweaking to make it fit a little better -but it's good enough for now ( no rain/cold wind  coming in.)- getting damn cold and  supposed to get rain tomorrow night...

Proof..No......

Logical conclusion yes ( to Mister). Proof would be video or at least some sort of  witness.

[ Devils advocate ] It"s "possible" to run a red light and not be hit by the  cross traffic ( traffic was light...was well after rush hour).[/Devils Advocate]  That's not what happened - but they spin whatever they can to get out of paying.

Short of a witness or video it's  only my word against his- and in those cases they  just say handle your own.

Completely unfair to me ( I can feel my blood pressure building so I need to  finish this post...been too irritated to talk about this  til now...).

[Paulcet]

We didn't talk much - just enough to deal with the police officer .

So, the police report doesn't say who had right-of-way?

[Jared]

They didn't even do a police report-just an information exchange form-- No witnesses stopped so they couldn't confirm anything (I wasn't happy with this at all) so he didn't write  up a citation.