At fault accident--Should I fight it?

[SurlyBDR 22907]

I know I'm going to catch shit for this... but... fuck it.

I was in an accident a few weeks ago, and trying to decide if fighting it is a viable option for me. The problem begins with me being cited for entering the right of way of an oncoming vehicle. The only problem is, I didn't see them coming. I was traveling west bound, when I pulled into the center turn lane to turn left onto my street. As I was coming to my turn, I noticed that all of the eastbound traffic (hollow green ovals in illustration) was in the left lane. A truck had stopped to leave a gap for traffic to enter/exit the street I was turning onto. I inched forward, didn't see anybody, and went for it. 

The only problem is, there was a car barreling down past the line of stopped cars in the right hand lane at the (presumptive) speed limit of 35mph. He didn't have enough time to stop, so he t-boned me on the passenger's side of the vehicle. My vehicle is a total loss with the damages sustained.

I was cited for failure to yield ROW while turning left at an intersection/alley/private road. 

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell by fighting this using common sense and safe driving practices? Or cut my losses, and take defensive driving?

 

I drew you all a picture, but unfortunately, I am not thujone and there are no dicks or dickbutts in it.

 

What say you, Surly collective?

[CooterBrown 18151]

You seeing them is irrelevant. You pulled in front of them. You are at fault.

[SurlyBDR 22907]

I knew this would be the answer. My dumb ass just wants to be right because his dumb ass drove like a regard. My first at fault accident in 20 years of driving. Sounds like I'm just going to have to cut my losses and learn how to drive better in the future. Furk

Edited March 24, 2020 by SurlyBDR

[NeverMarryAStripper 22070]

Was the car being driven by an invisible teen?

A few months ago my mom was stopped at a red light and was rear ended (insert South Austin's mom joke here) by a 16 year old who had just received her license.  Her father made her demand a jury trial to fight her ticket.  His reasoning was that my mom was too old to be driving so the accident was my mom's fault.  Are you related to him?

Edited March 24, 2020 by NeverMarryAStripper

[SurlyBDR 22907]

Is your mom old enough that she can take her teeth out? Just curious 

[BBQ2Bayou 807]

52 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Was the car being driven by an invisible teen?

A few months ago my mom was stopped at a red light and was rear ended (insert South Austin's mom joke here) by a 16 year old who had just received her license.  Her father made her demand a jury trial to fight her ticket.  His reasoning was that my mom was too old to be driving so the accident was my mom's fault.  Are you related to him?

What came of this? Her father should eat a dick. His daughter should eat your dick, 2 years from the date of the accident. 

[52-80 19291]

There's a 0% chance you're gonna win that.

 

But also that's a sketchy ass situation and I actually hate when that near-side vehicle leaves a gap, cuz it coerces you to go, and depending on the vehicle configuration it is difficult to see if there are cars in the further adjacent lands.  (More reasons why I hate SUVs and trucks)

[NeverMarryAStripper 22070]

1 minute ago, BBQ2Bayou said:

What came of this? Her father should eat a dick. His daughter should eat your dick, 2 years from the date of the accident. 

Pending trial.  If I was on the jury for this waste of time, I would ask the judge if it was possible to send someone to jail for a traffic ticket.

[SurlyBDR 22907]

22 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

There's a 0% chance you're gonna win that.

 

But also that's a sketchy ass situation and I actually hate when that near-side vehicle leaves a gap, cuz it coerces you to go, and depending on the vehicle configuration it is difficult to see if there are cars in the further adjacent lands.  (More reasons why I hate SUVs and trucks)

More than anything, my dumbass brain tricked itself, because there has been rolling construction in that right hand lane (heading eastbound) over the last year. The Atmos Energy gas leaks resulted in many pipes being replaced under the sidewalks along the main road. Long (and dumb) story short, when I saw all of the cars stacked in the left lane and no traffic in the far lane, I assumed it was coned off like I'm used to seeing. That simply wasn't the case this particular day. 

Rushing home to get logged in to work didnt help, as my ex (no pics) was bringing our 4 year old to me because she threw up at school from a stomach bug. 

I made a hasty decision and it sounds like I'm just gonna have to own it 

Edited March 25, 2020 by SurlyBDR

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

4 minutes ago, SurlyBDR said:

I made a hasty decision and it sounds like I'm just gonna have to own it 

Congrats on being a mature adult!

[SurlyBDR 22907]

I dont know if I'd go that far. 

[ROFL BOX 6650]

Yeah, I stop quite often in Drip to allow people to cross 290 & get onto Mercer as I'm headed West or cross 290 to get onto Creek Road & the smart ones s-l-o-w-l-y inch their way out to see if there's any oncoming vehicles.

Obv. you didn't do that & just flew through it.

I will give you a bonus point for owning the accident where 99% of the time people say it wasn't their fault (especially the women).

[SurlyBDR 22907]

I wouldnt say I flew through it, but I guess I could have inched a little more. But when you see the eastbound traffic getting over way before the cross street in this picture, it makes me wonder why this one dumbass thought he was in such a hurry to get his passenger to the airport that it would be cool to do the speed limit past a line of cars that are completely stopped (not in this pic but at the time of me crossing)

Edited March 25, 2020 by SurlyBDR

[horn4life 3819]

My wife was in a very similar accident except the driver was on the shoulder making the turn. I can't remember, but I think it went 50/50, but it might have been the wife's fault.  i know I thought it was....

[ROFL BOX 6650]

2 hours ago, SurlyBDR said:

I wouldnt say I flew through it, but I guess I could have inched a little more. But when you see the eastbound traffic getting over way before the cross street in this picture, it makes me wonder why this one dumbass thought he was in such a hurry to get his passenger to the airport that it would be cool to do the speed limit past a line of cars that are completely stopped (not in this pic but at the time of me crossing)

Because to me, it would appear that the line on the L is maybe waiting for traffic to clear so they can turn L while the R lane is free flowing?

That could easily be West Koenig (either E or W bound) in the Brentwood neighborhood where there is a need for a designated turn lane for 2 traffic lights & 3 additional streets but there won't ever be one due to the lack of land to take via I.D.  Amirite, @Jack Straw or @MissingInAction ?

[Iceman 2820]

Post 16 in a thread is never too early to virtue signal my sensitivity on the Surly...

 

Glad you're OK, man.

 

[SurlyBDR 22907]

5 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

Because to me, it would appear that the line on the L is maybe waiting for traffic to clear so they can turn L while the R lane is free flowing?

That could easily be West Koenig (either E or W bound) in the Brentwood neighborhood where there is a need for a designated turn lane for 2 traffic lights & 3 additional streets but there won't ever be one due to the lack of land to take via I.D.  Amirite, @Jack Straw or @MissingInAction ?

The left lane is stacked up because there was construction in the right lane just out of sight in the bottom picture. They were tearing up the sidewalk to add a right hand turn lane at the red light. There was signage stating so, and that's why you can see a couple of cars getting over well before they even got to the street I was turning onto. 

Still, I'm not trying to justify my stupidity. I know I made a mistake. Just seems to me (if even in a fantasy world) that he was driving like a dickhead to get to the front of the line because they were in a rush.

[idigTexas 2297]

3 hours ago, SurlyBDR said:

Still, I'm not trying to justify my stupidity. I know I made a mistake. Just seems to me (if even in a fantasy world) that he was driving like a dickhead to get to the front of the line because they were in a rush.

I'm sure that is exactly what he was doing, but being a dickhead isn't always illegal. 

[davidg 4042]

6 hours ago, SurlyBDR said:

The left lane is stacked up because there was construction in the right lane just out of sight in the bottom picture. They were tearing up the sidewalk to add a right hand turn lane at the red light. There was signage stating so, and that's why you can see a couple of cars getting over well before they even got to the street I was turning onto. 

Still, I'm not trying to justify my stupidity. I know I made a mistake. Just seems to me (if even in a fantasy world) that he was driving like a dickhead to get to the front of the line because they were in a rush.

Still a free flowing lane until obstacle then zipper merge.  I never cross a two or more lane street  like that unless all opposite lanes are stopped and its obvious that the opposite lane drivers are expecting me to cross.

 

 

 

[deadshank 24653]

You just need to own this one. 

[TwiceHorn 31705]

If you were to take it to civil court, you might have a chance of attributing some negligence to the other driver, reducing the damages.  The ticket for failure to yield would be a bad fact establishing your negligence, but not dispositive of the case.  Also, inasmuch as the cop didn't witness the accident, apparently, there might be a basis for challenging the ticket in a separate matter--but you would have to be able to counter his/her "reconstruction."

But, you are in insurance world, which is a crude duplication of civil negligence litigation, so the ticket winds up being pretty much dispositive.

 

[SurlyBDR 22907]

23 minutes ago, deadshank said:

You just need to own this one. 

Oh I am owning it, even if it doesnt come across that way. 

Totaled car is a wash on the loan, down payment on a new vehicle and I'm sure my rates will skyrocket.

 

I was just hanging onto a modicum of hope that I could somehow wiggle out of some of the financial burden. Then again, I dont even have time for court dates, etc. Dont know who I'm kidding with all of this, I guess I just wanted to share my stupidity! Ha

[NeverMarryAStripper 22070]

I'm sure that I speak for all of Surly when I say that we appreciate posters who share their stupidity

[deadshank 24653]

2 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I'm sure that I speak for all of Surly when I say that we appreciate posters who share their stupidity

corallary:  Take my advice, I'm not using it.

[Steel Shank 9440]

@SurlyBDR, you seem like a good candidate for one of my "I'd rather be laying pipe" t-shirts.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Steel Shank

[SurlyBDR 22907]

Does it come with a recipe book?

[mr.goodkat 464]

i was in the exact situation on halloween 4 years ago . teenager took off the front clip of the g ride . 16 year old kid , it totaled his nissan pos . man his mom was pissed when she got to the wreck . the kid was scared shitless i look back on it and i laugh . if he hadn't been doing 50 down gattis school road it would have been avoidable . but all well,  i ended up with a cervini hood and  a paint job,  so fuck it right ? 

[Wild Bill 325]

On 3/24/2020 at 5:55 PM, SurlyBDR said:

I know I'm going to catch shit for this... but... fuck it.

I was in an accident a few weeks ago, and trying to decide if fighting it is a viable option for me. The problem begins with me being cited for entering the right of way of an oncoming vehicle. The only problem is, I didn't see them coming. I was traveling west bound, when I pulled into the center turn lane to turn left onto my street. As I was coming to my turn, I noticed that all of the eastbound traffic (hollow green ovals in illustration) was in the left lane. A truck had stopped to leave a gap for traffic to enter/exit the street I was turning onto. I inched forward, didn't see anybody, and went for it. 

The only problem is, there was a car barreling down past the line of stopped cars in the right hand lane at the (presumptive) speed limit of 35mph. He didn't have enough time to stop, so he t-boned me on the passenger's side of the vehicle. My vehicle is a total loss with the damages sustained.

I was cited for failure to yield ROW while turning left at an intersection/alley/private road. 

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell by fighting this using common sense and safe driving practices? Or cut my losses, and take defensive driving?

 

I drew you all a picture, but unfortunately, I am not thujone and there are no dicks or dickbutts in it.

 

What say you, Surly collective?

I hate when i get in this situation and the car in front of me is waving me by but I cant see past them.