Need accident advice

wingnuts · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:10 pm

My wife was in a accident this morning with the KK. She is fine, just a little sore. She it a guy who was going well below the speed limit. When she looked to check the blind spot to make sure it was safe to change lanes and go around him, he slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting some ducks that were on the side of the road and she slammed into him. They both have a court date in august. The guy she hit must also appear in court because he didn't have proof of insurance. Any have any advice on how to handle this when it comes to the court date? Also, we are supposed to go on vacation in a week and we were going to bring a friends snowmobile out to them. Does anyone know any place that will rent a vehicle with a hitch?

bugnout · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:58 pm

Hope she's ok

Difficult to fight it when you run into them. I assume she was cited for following to closely, failure to keep a safe distance or something like that. Just stress that the other driver was driving erratically/unpredictably.

You could certainly rent a van or truck from uhaul. I think I've seen hitches on hummers and full size trucks and vans from avis and hertz. Enterprise has been running ads for truck rentals

jnaut · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:23 pm

Yeah, anytime you rear end someone, the fault leans toward you. The theory being that you were following too close. It's a bonus that he didn't have proof of insurance which may mean he's a dodgy driver with a record. However, his no-insurance issue will likely be handled as a separate issue altogether. Good luck. I'm a little surprised they have to go to court. I mean, even in a relatively damaging accident, if there are no injuries, there's usually a citation handed out on the spot. Or is that the case, your wife was cited and she's going to court to fight it?

hyedipin · **Joined:** Thu May 11, 2006 10:20 am **Posts:** 1667

Wow, I hope she is OK, and I hope jeep didn't take big hit. This is one of the reasons why I never turn around to look at my blind spot. I always lean forward and look, that way edge of my eye is always seeing whats ahead of me, if their tail lights work, I will probably catch. It is tough to fight that... Only if the other vehicle was hit as he was maneuvering to avoid the ducks therefore got in front of her as she was trying to change lanes, but a straight brake will be tough.

STINGN · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:48 pm

glad she is ok, how is the jeep we all love in illinois

and i know you can rent a hummer or ford explorer at hertz for sure with a tow package

callaway · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:53 pm

I did that a few years back - car in my blindspot, didn't see him at all, merged lanes and whamo - completely my fault. The guy didn't have insurance, I got a ticket and had to go to court over the incident. Maybe it was the other guy not having insurance or maybe I was there on good day but everything was thrown out.

How'd the KK fare in the accident ?

wingnuts · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:19 pm

She got a ticket when she went to the police station to pick up her insurance card and police report. There was not fine, it is just a mandatory court date. Not sure what is going to happen with that.

tan's2002kjlimited · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:17 pm

I hope the Mrs. and the jeep are ok.
No wonder I didn't see it in the driveway today.

RenegadeJay · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:56 pm

All cited accidents in DuPage county require a court appearance. Not saying yours was there, just throwing in my little bit of knowledge. As usual, the other driver will probably obtain insurance through some fly by night company which will back date his new card so he can get out of the no incurance ticket, which has no direct affect on your wifes case. Also keep in mind that Dupage County is now accessing higher fees on tickets for those who initially plead not guilty. Might be that way in other areas as well. I hope you wife is feeling better and the damage to you Libby is not to extensive.

jeepfrog · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:33 pm

I'm glad the Mrs. is ok. Hopefully the damage to the KK isn't too bad.

wingnuts · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:40 pm

I'm going to the body shop in the morning to take some pictures and get a look for myself, I'm just glad I was able to come home tonight, or I'd be going nuts in my hotel room tonight.

She was cited for "Failure to Reduce Speed to avoid accident" and there is nothing with the citation that talks anything about fine, is this normal in cook county? Yes it was in Cook county, on Irving park just west of the old Menards (east of the new one too).

The bottom area of the bumper is destroyed, the pass side fender just exploded off, radiator and oil cooler are wrapped around the sway bar, driver air bag deployed, hood rolled under on pass side and a crease right in the center ender the Jeep emblem, pass fender damaged, don't know about the driver fender until the flare is taken off, grill not broke but pushed about 3-4 inches under the hood.

All in all really not that bad, her brother will be fixing it, works at Certified Collison in Schaumburg, and is really good, he is their top tech. He was very suprised that there isn't alot more damage after hearing air bag deployed, he did complain to me all ready about my grill inserts because he will have to re-do them, unless I officially let them know to not worry about it, kinda funny though I think.

wingnuts · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:42 pm

oh hey forgot to ask

lawyer up? or not worth it?

callaway · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:56 pm

wingnuts wrote:

The bottom area of the bumper is destroyed, the pass side fender just exploded off, radiator and oil cooler are wrapped around the sway bar, driver air bag deployed, hood rolled under on pass side and a crease right in the center ender the Jeep emblem, pass fender damaged, don't know about the driver fender until the flare is taken off, grill not broke but pushed about 3-4 inches under the hood.

Sounds like a good deal of damage for a lane merger collision - Good to hear your wife walked away from it OK

wingnuts · **Posted:** Fri Jul 03, 2009 4:21 pm

I posted pics over in the KK section for all to see.

jnaut · **Posted:** Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:39 pm

wingnuts wrote:

oh hey forgot to ask

lawyer up? or not worth it?

No, don't lawyer up until you know something. Retaining a lawyer is quite expensive. If your wife looks like she's facing hefty fines or something really off the wall like jail time, definitely lawyer up. Too often, in traffic cases where there were no injuries obtaining a lawyer is far more expensive than the results in court. Now, if the guy walks into the courtroom with a neck brace and starts shouting "I'ma gonna sue!" then you lawyer up.

wingnuts · **Posted:** Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:06 pm

ok thanks for the advice.

right now we really dont know, we ahve given the insurance company the other persons information and he went to the hospital in the ambulance, no word on anything, but frankly as far as I'm concerned we don't need to be talking to him, that is what the insurance company is for.

They even told us to claim anything with the wifes ER visit and any follow ups with the auto insurance. So far there have been no issues at all, no suprising phone calls yet, and State Farm told us that they are assuming full liability because it was a rear end accident.

We are hoping that once it goes to court the judge just throws it out, he did stop for ducks, my wife said she watched the cop pick up 2 dead ones and there was a third that was injured that we assume got hit after she hit the guy and pushed him into them, who knows, we will see.

Need accident advice

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