Accident

[Champ]

Today on my way to work I broke my never-in-an-accident streek.

With the Viggen. 

I was in the left lane of 3, the guy in the right lane decided the middle lane would be his best lane and moved over without looking.  This caused the guy who was in the middle lane to excessively swerve directly into me.  Happened instantly didn't even see this happening until I got smoked.

Worst part is the guy wouldn't pull over, until I held my phone up and dialed 911 while he watched.

I'll update when I can.

Yes, I'm ok and so is this other guy.

So now my streek changes from never been in an accident to never been at fault in an accident (officer determined it was the other guys fault in his report.)

[Eye of the Tiger]

 

[Rupert]

How's the car?

[Champ]

How's the car?

Looks like no mechanical damage, just body stuff. (hopefully).

He managed to contact every single body piece on my passenger side.  I'm thinking: replace the front QP, mirror and door.  Rear QP "MIGHT" buff out - It has A LOT of scuffs and scrapes but no dents like the door and front.  Front bumper should buff out, just some minor scrapes.

Car drove nice and straight and smooth like always.

[S204STi]

Sorry to hear it man...as you might know, I was rear ended in the WRX recently.  Kinda sucks.

[ifcar]

Sorry to hear it man...as you might know, I was rear ended in the WRX recently.  Kinda sucks.

I must have missed that. How serious?

[S204STi]

I must have missed that. How serious?

Not too bad.  Worst of it was my wife's whiplash...  they managed to damage the bumper and the tailgate slightly.  You can hardly tell.

Again, I'm more worried about my wife healing up.

[Raghavan]

How is it the other guy's fault if the guy in the right lane caused the other guy to swerve into you?

[AKL]

How is it the other guy's fault if the guy in the right lane caused the other guy to swerve into you?

Well I don't know the laws behind it.

But I think both are at fault. The guy in the middle lane chose to swerve into Champ without looking. A "proper" way of driving I guess, is to just hit the person in the right lane instead of taking the risk of swerving without looking.

But it's only human nature to swerve immediately when you see someone come right into you.

It's better to not take the risk of causing another accident. I only swerve if its safe now. You don't know whose beside you. It could be a truck, or no one. It's better not to take the risk and potentially cause an even worse accident. Of course, if you're aware of whose beside you. It's fine to swerve. That's why I always take the time to check the rear view mirror to see whose behind/beside me for situations like this. 

[Raza]

Beat his ass to death.

[saxonyron]

Damn!  At least it sounds like the damage isn't too bad.  Why didn't this guy want to pull over?  Did he hope you didn't notice who it was that just took your passenger side out? Sometimes people are major assholes, especially after an accident.  You can never trust anyone at their word after an accident.  The reality of the insurance surcharges sink in, and they'd sell out their own mother to avoid getting blamed.  Good luck getting the car back together!

[etypejohn]

How is it the other guy's fault if the guy in the right lane caused the other guy to swerve into you?

Because the guy who hit him  shouldn't have.  The guy in the middle lane has a right to maneuver to avoid being hit by the guy in the right lane, but he also has the obligation to ensure his maneuver doesn't cause him to hit anyone else.  Sucks to be him, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The guy in the right lane was in the wrong too.  I suspect he just motored on.  Had he stayed around he most likely would have been ticketed also.

[Champ]

How is it the other guy's fault if the guy in the right lane caused the other guy to swerve into you?

Because the guy in the far right lane didn't hit anything and is long gone by now.

The guy who hit me took a very extreme action by swerving as hard as he did.  He should have braked or even honked!

I've always grown up learning to never swerve.  See a deer in the road?  Stay your course.  Half the time people people swerve and the deer jumps and they hit it anyways because they swerved.  If this guy didn't swerve and the guy in the right did hit him, the guy who hit me would now still be in an accident, but getting it paid for by the original guys insurance instead of paying for my damages.

Swerving is just all kinds of dangerous, especially when he clearly wasn't paying attention to what cars are around him.  What if he had hit the back of my car and spun me out?  We got lucky we connected side to side.

Well I don't know the laws behind it.

But I think both are at fault. The guy in the middle lane chose to swerve into Champ without looking. A "proper" way of driving I guess, is to just hit the person in the right lane instead of taking the risk of swerving without looking.

But it's only human nature to swerve immediately when you see someone come right into you.

It's better to not take the risk of causing another accident. I only swerve if its safe now. You don't know whose beside you. It could be a truck, or no one. It's better not to take the risk and potentially cause an even worse accident. Of course, if you're aware of whose beside you. It's fine to swerve. That's why I always take the time to check the rear view mirror to see whose behind/beside me for situations like this. 

Yep to the bolded.

Damn!  At least it sounds like the damage isn't too bad.  Why didn't this guy want to pull over?  Did he hope you didn't notice who it was that just took your passenger side out? Sometimes people are major assholes, especially after an accident.  You can never trust anyone at their word after an accident.  The reality of the insurance surcharges sink in, and they'd sell out their own mother to avoid getting blamed.  Good luck getting the car back together!

No idea why he wouldn't pull over... Maybe he hoped I would just forget about it?

Thankfully the damage should be easily repairable and it was nothing mechanical.  So the car should look like a million bucks.


Estimate was $4,312 - the front bumper cover is almost $1,500 alone for part + paint!  Damn those nice looking body parts.

[Champ]

Because the guy who hit him  shouldn't have.  The guy in the middle lane has a right to maneuver to avoid being hit by the guy in the right lane, but he also has the obligation to ensure his maneuver doesn't cause him to hit anyone else.  Sucks to be him, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The guy in the right lane was in the wrong too.  I suspect he just motored on.  Had he stayed around he most likely would have been ticketed also.

Yes!

[etypejohn]

Looks like no mechanical damage, just body stuff. (hopefully).

He managed to contact every single body piece on my passenger side.  I'm thinking: replace the front QP, mirror and door.  Rear QP "MIGHT" buff out - It has A LOT of scuffs and scrapes but no dents like the door and front.  Front bumper should buff out, just some minor scrapes.

Car drove nice and straight and smooth like always.

Did the guy that hit you have insurance?  If so forget the "it might buff out" stuff>  Get it repaired correctly.  That's why people carry insurance, to fix what they cause to be damaged.

[Champ]

Did the guy that hit you have insurance?  If so forget the "it might buff out" stuff>  Get it repaired correctly.  That's why people carry insurance, to fix what they cause to be damaged.

Yes he did, and I am at the mercy of what the body shop guys say is reasonable.  The rear QP is not dented in any way, just swapped paint.  Getting the estimate this morning the guy told me they would repaint the whole panel.

[Raghavan]

Well, just be happy you weren't on your bike... Could be a much different story right now.

[Champ]

Well, just be happy you weren't on your bike... Could be a much different story right now.

No doubts there.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Well, just be happy you weren't on your bike... Could be a much different story right now.

I wouldn't have happened on my bike, because I never ride with traffic. You never know what kind of idiot is going to come up where you can't see them and try to occupy the same space as you, and that's why I always ride faster than traffic on my bike. I really think it's the safest thing do to.

[Champ]

I wouldn't have happened on my bike, because I never ride with traffic. You never know what kind of idiot is going to come up where you can't see them and try to occupy the same space as you, and that's why I always ride faster than traffic on my bike. I really think it's the safest thing do to.

Me too, except this happened as I was passing a guy!  I am usually cautious but this accident is equivalent to driving by someone and them just swerving at you, no way to have avoided it.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Me too, except this happened as I was passing a guy!  I am usually cautious but this accident is equivalent to driving by someone and them just swerving at you, no way to have avoided it.

I ride even faster than that. 
But seriously, that certainly would have been very bad if you were riding.  I don't even want to think about that.

[the Teuton]

Poor, poor Viggen.  So when are you buying an XWD again?   

[heelntoe]

damn, sorry to hear man.
someone hit my friend today and broke his leg(tibia is fractured in three places. he;s getting a rod put in there. 'twas a hit and run so there wasn't much we could do.

[Champ]

damn, sorry to hear man.
someone hit my friend today and broke his leg(tibia is fractured in three places. he;s getting a rod put in there. 'twas a hit and run so there wasn't much we could do.

Do you guys think I should get the pinstripe redone by the guy who did it?  It was free hand and signed under the gas cap.  I haven't really said much ever about the 'stripe on here but it really sets it apart from the other Viggens (as if it's a common car lol).  I called the guy and he lives just over 5 hours from me and is willing to redo it.  He does it all free hand.

The body shop guy told me they would redo it with masking tape and I don't think it'll look nearly as good.

I think I want to drive out to have it redone.  I don't have any pictures of the signature but it is under the gas cap (passenger side) and just above the stripe, says "Sid did it" about 1-2mm tall and 1cm wide.  From 3 feet away it looks like a blurb of paint, really got to get close.  Absolutely amazing he can sign it like that.

For reference:

[Raza]

The pinstripe doesn't even look bad on your car. 

Get it redone by the original guy.

[TheIntrepid]

Damn, Champ. This sucks.

[Rupert]

Original guy, most definitely.

[AutobahnSHO]

The guy's insurance should cover the original pinstripe too!

Sorry to hear- at least you'll get it fixed. Some aren't as lucky..

[Champ]

The pinstripe doesn't even look bad on your car. 

Get it redone by the original guy.

I think it's what I'll do.  Everyone I tell that I have a pinstripe usually says they hate pinstripes and think no one should have them, then they see mine and are like hey that's actually pretty nice.  I've been happy with it and I think it adds that little extra.

I got quoted $130 by the original guy, $80 by the body shop.  I am guessing the insurance will pay for whichever I choose, but probably not gas down there.

[hounddog]

Because the guy who hit him  shouldn't have.  The guy in the middle lane has a right to maneuver to avoid being hit by the guy in the right lane, but he also has the obligation to ensure his maneuver doesn't cause him to hit anyone else.  Sucks to be him, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The guy in the right lane was in the wrong too.  I suspect he just motored on.  Had he stayed around he most likely would have been ticketed also.

Nope.

For the purposes of this debate we will call the right lane car 1, the middle guy 2, and the Viggen 3.

Once the initial contact is made, all bets are off.  2 can be the victim of the laws of physics, where he was pushed into 3.  You know, that whole transfer of energy thing! 

Unless 2 did something which could be construed as at fault PRIOR to the intial collision, the entire fault rests with 1; as described here.  Even if there was no contact between 1 and 2, swerving to avoid a collision is often seen as proper. 

Most likely the car in the middle had no insurance, was wanted, no license or anything along those lines.

We see these types of crashes almost daily on commutor-ways.  Often, if the merging and at fault guy does not stop he is found at fault in the report.