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A tale of two accidents


Scruit

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I know that if you lose control of your car and wreck - and tell the police you were swerving to avoid someone who then fled the scene - then you will generally get a "Failure to control" ticket. The "phantom car" is a common story, is usually bogus, and the police know it. Same with "swerved to avoid a deer". Unless there is contact then they assume you're BS'ing them.

So I'm confused by these two accident reports:

http://www.dublin.oh.us/police/reports/files/apr2012/12-1300.pdf

Car on 270 in Dublin swerves to avoid a semi truck that makes an illegal lane change, loses control without making contact with the semi, which failed to stop. Story backed up by a witness. Ruled to be at-fault, charged with failure to control, semi is not listed as an involved vehicle, not a hit-skip.

http://www.dublin.oh.us/police/reports/files/apr2012/12-1409.pdf

Car on 270 in Dublin swerves to avoid a car making an illegal lane change, loses control without making contact with the other car, which failed to stop. No witnesses, no vehicle description other than "Black car". Ruled not-at-fault, no ticket, a car described only as "Black" is listed at the at-fault vehicle and the accident is ruled a hit-skip.

Both of these accident reports were reviewed and approved by the same seargent.

Are there any lawyers, police or insurance adjusters who can explain why a "phantom car" story with no witnesses was ruled a hit-skip, while a "phantom semi" story that has a witness was ruled the car's fault?

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Sorry, it's going to fall under "judgement of the officer".

I will continue to avoid contact even if (safely) running off the road to do so.

Although the point is taken, and from now on I'll tap them first, lol.

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It's more a question of why does one officer believe a "phantom car " story with no witnesses and no vehicle description, whereas another does NOT believe a "phantom car" story that DOES have witnesses.

Agreed, at the end of the day it's the officer's judgement, but it does show how different opinions can be. Getting the right officer apparently makes all the difference in whether you get blamed or not.

There was a similar "judgement call" a few months back where there were to identical accidents - car turned left into the path of an oncoming car when the light went amber to red, but the oncoming car admitted to running the red light.

In both accidents the red light running was ticketed - but in one of them the left turner was also ticketed because the oncoming car was "close enough to constitute an immediate hazard" (the wording of the left-tun-yield law). One cop thought the left turner was innocent, another thought the left turner should have seen that the oncoming car was running their red light.

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  • 1 month later...
It's more a question of why does one officer believe a "phantom car " story with no witnesses and no vehicle description, whereas another does NOT believe a "phantom car" story that DOES have witnesses.

Agreed, at the end of the day it's the officer's judgement, but it does show how different opinions can be. Getting the right officer apparently makes all the difference in whether you get blamed or not.

There was a similar "judgement call" a few months back where there were to identical accidents - car turned left into the path of an oncoming car when the light went amber to red, but the oncoming car admitted to running the red light.

In both accidents the red light running was ticketed - but in one of them the left turner was also ticketed because the oncoming car was "close enough to constitute an immediate hazard" (the wording of the left-tun-yield law). One cop thought the left turner was innocent, another thought the left turner should have seen that the oncoming car was running their red light.

Same thing happened to my wife when she was in her Dodge Stratus. Turned left on red into the path of an immaculate, brand-spanking-new Jaguar XF, owned by a lawyer. :nono:

He had hit the gas to beat the light, and he hit her so hard that he shattered the gear shift lever into multiple pieces inside the car and broke her key off in the ignition.

Both were cited as offsetting incidents. If the light had been yellow, my wife would have been at fault, but since the light had turned red the lawyer was also at fault, and the penalties kind of offset... she wasn't cited, but he got the ticket for reckless operation since he was doing 45 in a 25.

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  • 5 weeks later...

The POPO are not what you call the best investigators of car accidents. i'm helping a biker now where a lady pulled into the intersection from a stop street and my guy swerved to miss her. The cop did not even list her name on the report.

Remeber some out there are prejudiced against us

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  • 2 months later...

When I was in high school, I was on a rural 2 lane highway turning left into a driveway. Car behind me slowed down then pulled out to pass, T-Boning my car. State highway patrol came and ticketed both of us. Told me that since it was a passing zone, I should have check the lane was clear before turning.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

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