So i got into an accident...

[Project_Legacy]

yea i got into an accident with my 1990 legacy AWD (turbo swap). my car isnt bad. just has a little rear quarter panel damage. but the other guy's trunk was pretty fucked up.

The story goes like this... this guy in a maxima and this lady in a newer camaro got into an accident on the freeway around this blind corner. the camaro gets pushed far ahead and into the barrier on the left side of the corner. and the guy in the maxima parks up on the right side, NEAR THE EXIT OF THE CORNER.
Alright, so now i come rolling along with my friend, we were driving UNDER the speed limit on the freeway (the on-ramp was 40MPH, i was going around 35MPH) and i come to this corner. i start to turn and once i finally see the guy in the maxima on the right side, my car has just started to SPIN to the right for some reason... i spin nearly doing a 360 ( which seemed to have lasted for a LOOONG ass time) before the rear right quarterpanel of my car hits his maxima in the middle of his trunk. i was a little shocked, and maybe 2 seconds after that this SUV comes barreling down, loses control as well, and nearly runs into the left side barrier. (my car was sticking sort of half way out into the road...) he wasnt the only person to lose control either. there were nearly 3-4 other cars that lost control and come within inches of hitting the maxima as well. i was thinkin there may have been debris from his crash left on the road as it was literally between minutes when he had just crashed with the camaro. The maxima had no road flares, or even his hazards on.
An undercover red Impala comes to help us out. he gets our information, and minutes later, a big (Chevy?) truck loses control and smashes into the left side barrier, dumping all of its coolant over the road. my car is the only one drivable, so the cop lets me drive off as he says he will mail the other guy's insurance info to me.
about 2 weeks later i still havent got shit. i go get it myself (which i didnt know i could do in the first place) and the FUCKIN cop charges me with speeding too fast and causing a collision. he also shows on the report that my front end damaged the maxima's rear end. im like WTF is that?? anyone else who would read that report without knowing everything would clearly read that i was going too fast and rear-ended the guy.
so now i recieve a 150 dollar ticket in the mail, which the fuckin cop clearly did not say ANYTHING ABOUT AT THE CRASH. it just seriously pisses me off. AM i wrong here?? please give me some opinions as i have not been in an accident before. ive been so stressed out about all this shit. ON TOP OF EVERYTHING, I WAS DRIVING NORMALLY, AND UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT!!!

im done ranting.... thanks for listening... and any opinions/advice you have...


EDIT: Forgot to mention, the roads also were kind of slick, because of the previous rain....

[A_DuB]

Sorry to hear it man. I've been in a little legal trouble in the past and all I can say is its gonna cost you. There is no way your getting out of this unless you hirer an attorney which is even more $$$. I have no respect for any cops anymore, they will fuck you any chance they get!!!! The whole legal system is all fucked up.

[A_DuB]

Just be glad your on the westside too they're 10x worse here.

[Project_Legacy]

heheh. yea i do plan to get an attorney... i think im going to need it because i really do not want this on my record. i work as a delivery driver so it will seriously fuck me up. thanks for the reply man.

[Project_Legacy]

anyone know of about how much money i would be spending on an attorney for something like this??

on another note, the cop seemed all friendly and crap at the accident. he was all smirkin and shit like it was fun or something. doesnt even tell me he was giving me a ticket or anything... FUCKER. was totally not expecting that at all.

[dscoobydoo]

Since the whole thing was a huge pile-up, you have the right to ALL of the information in the accident. Since it was big, there should be diagrams. If not, how are either side to prove WHO HIT WHO? Since you had a friend/witness, a lawyer should be a good move. IF the initial accident was not you or your fauly- a good lawyer will take your case to #1 prove you were not at fault- and #2 sue whoever was at fault in the first accident.

[Project_Legacy]

well it wasnt really a pile up. but it was a pretty big mess. do you think the debris and the wetness could have caused me to spin out so easily? i still think about it to this very day about how i spun THAT easily.

[A_DuB]

Is it possible that either of the first two cars in the accedent was leaking oil. A good attorney is going to be anywhere around 2500 depending on the kind of case, dont know about this sort of thing though.

[Manarius]

It seems to me that the cop who wrote you up doesn't know how to look on the road. From how you describe, it seems very clear to me that 1. That Nissan was making the situation very dangerous and 2. There's a big possibility that there was fluid on the road that caused you to spin. I don't know why a cop would write you up for that....it makes no sense.

[Manarius]

[delete this post] SMTP error occured, post still went though.

[Legacy777]

[delete this post] SMTP error occured, post still went though.

It's because Project_Legacy doesn't have a valid formatted email address.

I've gone in and made it "formatted" correctly, so at least the board doesn't have a hissy fit.

Project_Legacy, correct your email address!

[206er]

wow that sucks dude! where did the accident happen?

[jake15]

pics man? if it hurt your bumper or anything i have all that stuff at the shop in the same color i think sorry too hear about it though don, good luck!

[Project_Legacy]

yea it hurt the rear bumper a lil bit. i dont have any pix but holy crap thats an expensive ass attorney! i was lookin at 300 to 400?? umm. but yea stuff could have been dumped onto the road by both cars of that earlier incident. the cop clearly saw the truck that dumped fluids all over the road.

accident happened on the freeway from I-5 in tacoma to merge onto SR-16 WB. or at least thats what the paper says. and yea i couldnt believe i was getting a ticket for that either. you guys think i may have a fighting chance myself without a lawyer?

and sorry about the email address. forgot to change it when my comcast got changed... thanks for all the replies guys.

one last question, anyone on here ever used an attorney for lower cost tickets like this? other things such as speeding tickets or what not? how much was it for your attorney's fees??

thanks everyone. feelin a bit better than before.

[Manarius]

I think most people here would say that fighting a speeding ticket is rather easy without a lawyer provided that you weren't going way over and that you didn't get hit by radar or laser. However, as for accident tickets, I would assume, as long as you can prove your case, then any normal judge would see that this ticket in particular is very unecessary. But, that's assuming the judge is smart; unfortunately, some just don't take time to listen to the defendant and automatically believe the cop.

[LaureltheQueen]

do you still have cut springs?

[Project_Legacy]

do you still have cut springs?

uh me?? i never had cut springs......



im gonna get some photo evidence of the road, my car, things like that. how can the judge believe the cop if his report was wrong in the first place too? this cop seems VERY busy as he hasnt returned my call yet... i was tryin to ask him about the police report. but i might just use it against him. i dunno how this all works....

[Project_Legacy]

o yea one more thing, just like minutes ago im coming home from work and this freakin cherokee starts following me. i pull over a couple blocks from my house to see wassup and this lady starts askin me all these questions about when i got my car and shit. im like WTF and she tells me that her brother's car just got jacked 3 weeks ago. she's all blah blah blah it looks just like it. shit like that. i show her the registration and she still doesnt believe me. she drives off like she's going to get her brother or the cops or some other bs to check out my car...

AHHH!! I DONT NEED THIS KINDA CRAP RIGHT NOW!!

damn lady even asked if i did a VIN swap on it. i was like wtf????

[wiscon_mark]

Crazy people....yes there IS more than one subaru in the United States (eyeroll)


As for the ticket, he probably put "Driving too fast for conditions" or something stupid like that...according to that kind of speeding ticket, you weren't using proper discretion due to the conditions of the road. If you go to court, make it absolutely clear that the maxima had absolutely no markings that allowed you to see that it was in an accident, and that fluids and/or shrapnel/debris from the accident caused you to go into a spin, NOT driving unsafely.

Also point out that is why so many other people got into that mess, and you were not the cause of the accident...

Definitely take pictures, a lot can be told from the markings, and the debris and stuff left on the road...

I would think you could win this one (or at least not get a ticket, dunno if that's "winning") by yourself in court. The judges should be plenty fair.

[Project_Legacy]

yea. the only reason i didnt even see the maxima in the first place was that it was a blind right corner. you absolutely CANNOT see anything until you are actually already in the turn. and that is exactly what the cop wrote on the ticket. and yea i was also thinkin that i could win this by myself. im just nervous as i have never been in somethin like this before.

thanks for the advice!

[Manarius]

AHHH!! I DONT NEED THIS KINDA CRAP RIGHT NOW!!

damn lady even asked if i did a VIN swap on it. i was like wtf????

That woman wouldn't have even gotten a stop from me. I would have went the whole way home and then I would have made her leave via calling the cops. People don't have the right to follow you like that just to inquire about your car for that reason. That's intrusion of privacy imo.

[professor]

you normally can't be cited for speeding on a ramp, as the speed is a suggestion rather than the actual speed limit. the ticket seems like crap

you may beat the ticket but you'll still be on the hook for the property damage, oil or no oil.

[Project_Legacy]

yea i didnt like the way the lady was doin shit like that. i was thinkin of just smashin off and leavin her in the dust but i thought she would try and follow me and that would be dangerous. she had a freakin kid in her car too.

but yea i have insurance so the damage should be fine, and yea the ticket does seem like crap. but the speed limit on there is the actual limit of 40. its the white sign and not the yellow.

this attorney i went to said $250 for her help... should i try and fight this with lots of pictures and my witness by myself or just have her take care of it all? im scared of messing up in court as i never been in that situation before. does $250 sound ok to you guys?? and thanks to everyone. im feeling a lot less stressed from all this.

[wiscon_mark]

I say do it yourself...I think you can win easily.

I probably said it before, judges are usually very reasonable in these matters. If you calmly and clearly explaint his, he'll probably let you off of the ticket.

Damage might be a different story, but I think you're just trying to get a ticket off your record.

hell, the cop didn't have you on radar, and he didn't ask you how fast you were going, so i dont' see how he can get you on it...

[LaureltheQueen]

I think you need a lawyer. If it was a blind corner, and you hit someone going around it, you WERE going to fast for conditions, whether they were percieved or not.

Sorry bout the cut springs comment, I remember someone from Tacompton who doesn't post much having cut springs.