Tuesday, December 9
What would you do?
So this morning I'm on my way to work, driving up Tujunga Cyn Blvd, which is a little windy and people drive pretty fast on it. After one curve there's a spot where some people have to completely stop to make a left turn into a convalescent home parking lot. The street is only one lane each way so that stops all traffic going that direction until it's clear. I saw that a truck was stopping there and figured they were turning so I started slowing down also. The car right behind the truck also slowed down. The car behind them (and right in front of me) did not and rear ended the woman in the 2nd car. I stopped in time so it was just the two of them I think. So the woman who was hit pulls to the right to get out of the way and the car that hit her pulls around her to pull over also, right? Wrong! He fricken' takes off! And I'm like, no way, that's BS, so what do I do, I go after him. But he obviously knew I was following him because he is zooming along, I have to go thru a yellow light and then he goes into a residential area and I ended up losing him. Totally sucks :( I wasn't trying to get him to stop, I just wanted to get his lic plate number but I never got close enough. When I went back the woman was gone also, so I guess it's a moot point, but still, my question is, what would you have done in that situation?
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15 comments:
Nothing there are so many cctv cameras in this country they would have been caught on cam
I would've got the make, year and color of the car, the street and neighborhood name where the car was last seen, and then call Bert. In all likelyhood, he could trace the driver. And I'd then have Bert and his ganga put the muscle to the guy and we'd split the pay off.
This is eclectically fascinating...
Since you are an unknown factor to the lady who was hit, when she tells her tale of woe to her insurance company (assuming she has Uninsured Motorist coverage) she doesn't know that there's a person out there who can testify that she was alone in her car. So if she wants to lie, cheat & steal, she can rush home, get some relatives and friends rounded up and they can coordinate their stories and then she can report they were all in the car when the accident happened. Then they all get an attorney who sends them to the doctor or chiropractor currently kicking back the biggest percentage of the medical billings and then the case eventually settles, at a minimum cost to the carrier of $30,000, of which, assuming there were four claimed occupants in the vehicle, the four will each net about $2,000. Weird, huh?
The law office takes 1/3. They'll each have had, minimum, $3,000 in medical expenses, but probably more. The law office tells them that they have to pay the doctor the $12,000 total, leaving $8,000 to split among them. But the law office will only pay 60-75% of the medical billings, keeping the rest as additional profit.
I'm told (but have no way of knowing) that stuff like this goes on in every industry and facet of life...
I think you did the right thing; and there is one more thing you can do.
I'm with Ded; you at least have a description of the cars, and a location where the accident happened. But I would call the cops (whoever would have taken the call about the accident, and then sent a patrol car to work the accident), and tell them that you witnessed an accident, and give them the details. Then, if the lady or anyone else wants to talk to you, they know about you.
Ded, how would you know the year of the model? Or the make, in most cases? The color, I could handle.
Kath, you're incorrigibly optimistic!
In all of Southern California no police department is as bad as LAPD when it comes to traffic accident investigations, at least when it comes to routine cases. And by routine cases I mean anything not involving the death of someone newsworthy. Out of 100 cases like the one Beanns describes, 2 or 3 will involve a patrol car that gets flagged down and the officer(s) help the parties exchange information. If calls are made to 911, the 911 dispatcher (CHP) either tells them that if there's no need for an ambulance, to just exchange information, or if the CHP dispatcher is busy, she'll transfer the call to LAPD, where the LAPD dispatcher will tell them the same thing. If the caller pushes hard for a report, with no info on the driver at fault, the caller will be told to visit the closest LAPD division to make out a counter report. Which in U/M H&R cases is demanded. Sometimes the counter reports are made days or weeks after the event, just so the insurance company has it on record that you swore under oath to the police that it all really happened.
Swear to ghawd, even if she had a plate number, all LAPD would do was send a post card to the registered owner, asking him to call in... Honest to ghawd truth. And of course in 95% of these cases, an illegal immigrant, with no drivers license, will be behind the wheel of a vehicle he or a friend bought a few months earlier and never registered in their name.
And it's all taken for granted that this is the way things are...
Bert, that assesment is not only correct for the LAPD but also for every PD in every town with a population over 40,000.
Tree, surely you know a Ford sedan chasis or profile from that of a Honda. Or a 2007 Chevy Malibu from a '87. After that, it's just a matter of study and attention to details. And maybe an exchange of subscriptions from the New York Review of Books to that of Car and Driver.
Hey, Blank Field, are you related to Sally? :D
Ded, you give me too much credit. I could tell you a car from the 1970s vs a 2000s model, yes. But that's about it. I have a terrible eye for detail.
Ms. Verb, you scamp, I am more closely related to Right Field...
It is one of my theories that when the girls in junior high are taken to see a "Becoming a Woman" film ("you will be experiencing changes in your body, and you will need Kotex products for these changes"), the guys are taken out behind the gym by Coach and taught how to make rude noises with their mouths & elbows and how to identify any make and model of a car instantly by one glance at a dusty bumper from 200 yards away.
Is there any truth that "Blank Field"'s real first name is Ebbets?
when i was pregnant, a man in a truck hit my car and drove off. i called the police and i think it was the words "i'm 6 months pregnant!" that got a police car to my location fast, they were able to track the truck down (i wrote the tag# down) and bring him back to my location to instigate the information exchange. he also got a ticket for leaving the scene, but i really think it was very pregnant state that got such action from the police.
jilly
Kathryn, my 15-year-old daughter is taking "Health" class and those sex-segregated talks are a thing of the past. Now, I am not kidding, they watch Lifetime movies with important themes to teach them life's big lessons, along with the much-anticipated STD slide show that is apparently every bit as gross as you would imagine it to be. Kotex no more!
in my state, "alternative lifestyles" are part of sex ed. yes, the government is turning your kids gay via high school sex ed.
jilly
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