Anyone do this?
My wife was in a collision. She was going straight down a T-intersection. Another driver came from a stop sign and was turning left. So with this image, she's on the left moving right (straight without a stop sign) and the driver on the bottom is turning left (from a stop sign).
She told me that the impact was at the left fender of the driver side door of the turning car. I was pretty sure that this was going to be an easy failure to yield right of way determination.
It was taking forever for the report to be filed and she just got it today with a finding that she was at fault. I haven't read it yet, but apparently the reasoning was that the turning driver was already in the intersection and had no way to stop. My guess is that he didn't look left before turning; I've seen a lot of drivers who look in the other direction before turning.
I know collision report findings aren't specifically allowed in court, but are pretty strong arguments when insurance companies settle amongst themselves. My wife is cheap and refused to get collision on her own car, so basically insurance was only going to cover it if the fault was of the other driver. She was also feeling kind of abused by the cop who took the report, as if he was immediately taking the side of the other driver. The driver was a Spanish speaker, along with the (Hispanic) cop so my wife couldn't tell what they were saying. About all I found out was that the other driver claims my wife was going too fast and he didn't see her coming.
Certainly the damages aren't enough that we could justify hiring an attorney and expert to dispute the findings. Nobody was physically injured and in court I'm thinking an attorney could tear that finding apart. My wife also has no pictures of her own because she has a habit of using up the batteries on her phone and not charging it; we're looking to get copies of the photos the cop took. I have the feeling that questioning the report findings isn't going to be effective in this police department. I'm wondering if it might be subject to review from another agency. At the very least, anyone have an idea of how to get our insurance company to fight on her behalf in a settlement? I doubt that they want to pay if they feel the other driver failed to yield when he had a stop sign.
My wife was in a collision. She was going straight down a T-intersection. Another driver came from a stop sign and was turning left. So with this image, she's on the left moving right (straight without a stop sign) and the driver on the bottom is turning left (from a stop sign).
She told me that the impact was at the left fender of the driver side door of the turning car. I was pretty sure that this was going to be an easy failure to yield right of way determination.
It was taking forever for the report to be filed and she just got it today with a finding that she was at fault. I haven't read it yet, but apparently the reasoning was that the turning driver was already in the intersection and had no way to stop. My guess is that he didn't look left before turning; I've seen a lot of drivers who look in the other direction before turning.
I know collision report findings aren't specifically allowed in court, but are pretty strong arguments when insurance companies settle amongst themselves. My wife is cheap and refused to get collision on her own car, so basically insurance was only going to cover it if the fault was of the other driver. She was also feeling kind of abused by the cop who took the report, as if he was immediately taking the side of the other driver. The driver was a Spanish speaker, along with the (Hispanic) cop so my wife couldn't tell what they were saying. About all I found out was that the other driver claims my wife was going too fast and he didn't see her coming.
Certainly the damages aren't enough that we could justify hiring an attorney and expert to dispute the findings. Nobody was physically injured and in court I'm thinking an attorney could tear that finding apart. My wife also has no pictures of her own because she has a habit of using up the batteries on her phone and not charging it; we're looking to get copies of the photos the cop took. I have the feeling that questioning the report findings isn't going to be effective in this police department. I'm wondering if it might be subject to review from another agency. At the very least, anyone have an idea of how to get our insurance company to fight on her behalf in a settlement? I doubt that they want to pay if they feel the other driver failed to yield when he had a stop sign.