Isn't it wonderful when you have to pay for another's mistake?!
 

Well over the long weekend, I got into an accident:

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Story:
I was on EB glenmore and was behind a truck, preparing to take the exit to Deefoot SB. All off a sudden, a bloody SUV cut off the truck infront of me and the truck had to come to a dead stop. As soon as I realized that, I stomped on the break too but well, I ended up rear ending the truck, deployed the airbag. Luckily, no one was hurt other than my friend on the passenger sit who got his right hand scratched due to the airbag. Nothing happened to the suv and it didn't even bother to stop to damage was caused due to his/her ignorant driving.

The lady who was driving the pickup was really nice and cooperated extremely well; she even agreed that I wasn't responsible to the whole incident (despite being "technically" responsible; once again, thank you suv) and as a result (and out of the good heart of the police officer), I didn't get any ticket.

P.S. I wasn't over speeding, had my eyes on the road, maintained enough distance but not "enough" to come to a dead stop in a sec and I reacted asap.

How I am paying for this incident:

Well since my car only worth $2000, I didn't bother taking the comprehensive for my car; just 3rd party liability. So the insurance is going to cover the dent (nothing major) to the metal bumper of the F150 (2014 model). On the other hand, my car is a complete wreck and I will have to throw it away. It was towed to the municipal lot and have been sitting there since 30th evening, waiting for the insurance company to write it off. But since the insurance won't cover anything related to the car, I have to pay off the towing bill + the storage fee and IT IS GETTING ACCUMULATED EVERYDAY at $28/hr! The adjusted started working on the case since yesterday due to long weekend and I am already at $220+. I didn't even know about the "storage fee". Towing fee is understandable. Now I am trying to reach the adjusted as soon as possible so that I can just throw away the car to the junk so that I don't have to pay $28/day for storing a wasted car but no luck yet. I thought about not claiming the vehicle but I will need the registration plate to cancel the registration so I will have to claim it no matter what.

With no job and eating up my savings, this incident just made it worse. But I strongly believe in karma and it will get to that suv which is the primary cause of all these problems I am facing.

If anyone has any insight, please share :)

I'm sure you can call the impound yard and tell them you want to forfeit your car to them to exempt you from any charges of towing / storing.

if not - best pay right away and find someone steel scrap guy who will pick up your car for free.

Perhaps Alberta is different (like many things) but if you rear end someone, your fault 100%. which makes sense, because you have little to no control of avoiding someone rear ending you, but you have more control of avoiding whats in front of you. You have to be prepared that a vehicle in front of you, can stop a lot faster than you as well as most people don't react immediately, so leave some space!

That's the problem, I can't forfeit it since I will need the registration plate to cancel the registration and to get that, I will have to pay off the due. And I cant do that until the insurance write it off.

Yah I am at 100% fault over here and I am not arguing about that. It's just that this wouldn't have happened if that bloody suv didn't cut off the truck infront of me. And like I said, I did have enough space; just not enough to come to dead stop from 80 on a highway within a sec. And on that road, even if I try to maintain a good enough space, someone will get in between eventually; especially during heavy traffic.

Situations like this, are the reason I bought a dash cam this summer. I see way to many people driving like a-holes everyday, it's only a matter of time before an accident happens. This way I'll at least have a complete record of any incidents that happen. You would have caught the guy on camera that made the unsafe lane change, complete with license plate, and been able to submit that to police. Money well spent in my mind.

Not to sound unsympathetic but it's your responsibility to leave enough room between yourself and the vehicle in front of you to react and stop in the event of an emergency. Now if the truck in front of you had hit the SUV that made an unsafe lane change in front of it then that truck driver might have a case. But you simply hit the person in front of you who had to stop quickly. So that one is sadly your fault :(

North Americans really don't know how to drive and I have seen very few that leave enough room between themselves and the vehicle in front. I remember being tailgated in my old Porsche by people in SUVs and trucks etc. if I had to brake hard due to some circumstance there was no way they were going to stop as quickly as I could. I would often then be forced to slow down significantly due to their dangerous driving or would sometimes brake check them to make a point (also not really safe but hopefully woke them up a bit).

Thanks for the idea. I will think about that when I buy another car.

I absolutely agree, it is my fault. Well a lesson learned the hard way :( It was all so quick. Despite having 2 car lengths, I just couldn't stopped. I should have had more space and I am not trying to justify that I am not wrong but it was possibly the fate :cry: There were previous occasions where I kept enough distance but someone would just merge into the gap. I don't understand one thing: north americans are so cautious about every form of safety possible but when they get on the road, their nature changes. Hell, I even got flipped since I was going at speed limit in a construction zone.

****ty deal, your fault in the end, enough about that.

To the good part! You should call some wreckers and see what you can get for the car. Once you have a price you can get them to pick it up and pay the tow company out of that. Technically you must still own the car since the insurance company hasn't paid you out for it yet?

Glad no one got hurt!

Well yah I still own it but I can't do anything until the adjuster goes to the lot and write off the vehicle; only then I can take it out and throw it away. At least, that's what I understood.

But since you have no coverage what does the adjuster have to do with it? It's not like they are going to give you anything for it correct?

I have no idea. I don't really know the rules about this things so I am just following what the insurance company said. Don't know why but the adjusted said he will be going to the lot to see the car and have it written off. And nop, the insurance won't give a penny for the car.

FYI safe/proper distance is 1 car length per 10mph or 16kph so for 80kph you need 5 car lengths not 2. Not that anybody really does it but that's what it is if you were curious. Sorry about your loss, I remember you were pretty proud of that car when you got it.

Thanks for the information. Yah I came to know about that after the collision. I was taught about the 2 secs rule at the defensive driving course. And yah, hardly anyone does that and if you want to do it, someone won't let you. But then again, its was my responsibility so cannot argue.

Well, it was my very first car that I owned. I even paid $260 for repairing the steering pressure hose only 2 days before the accident and filled the tank too; and not to mention the amount of money that just vanished due to my stupid decision of taking it to Canadian Tire. Thanks :)

I loved my first car a lot more than my first girlfriend so I get it. Sucks.

Sorry, I am from Saskatchewan and don't understand the no coverage thing :)

There's no need for the adjuster to look at your car. There only concern is the other truck. Go get your plate. And ask to give up the car alot of towing company will sell it for scrap which would cover the storage

You could have it towed to private property and let the adjuster know where it is. My girlfriend hit a post in a parking lot and bent the engine in 2. We have a friend who works for AMA, so he towed it to her house and they inspected then towed it away once it was confirmed a write off. Sucks to have more fees but if you paid them now, got it moved, could save you in the long run.

With airbags deployed, yours is a goner. could you not just report the plate stolen?

Sorry this happened to you and glad that you and your friend are ok!

I know exactly what your going through Raied I rear ended a lady 18 yrs ago truck vs car I was driving the truck minimal damage but her car was heavily damaged she took full blame for the accident but ICBC said it was my fault and I paid dearly for it. Still ****es me off to this day

As to your car as Proteus said grab your plates and give up the car to the towing company they will make all the impound fees back selling it for scrap.

I was confused since the adjuster said that his people will go and look at my car to write off. Don't really know how it all works. I have left a message for him saying that I don't want to add any more charges on a car that I won't be able to use. If he doesn't give me a call back by tomorrow afternoon, I will go grab the car and sell it off to any junk yard. Or I will see if the lot will just let me grab the plate and forfeit the car.

I wasn't aware that you could tow the car by yourself to any place you want. I have canadian tire road side assistance and I could have brought it back home but I didn't know about that :(

I could report the plate stolen but that might complicate the whole thing since its already under a case number now. I am not sure though. This whole thing is new to me; it was the first time I had conversation with a police officer so I just nodded to everything he said.

I didn't think that I would be getting in such a situation in such a short time. Sorry to hear about your incident too. Seems like trucks are the perfect vehicle for NA. I am moving away from the concept of buying a car next; possibly an SUV with better safety features and stuffs.

I will wait until tomorrow afternoon and then will go to the lot to settle it.

I may be wrong but as far as I know the camera only benefits you. I think the cops and court won't even take that footage into Acount because the other person doesn't know that he or she is being recorded and you have no approval or consent to video them

I may be wrong

Public roads equals fair game however that being said dash cams could incriminate you as well it's happened before on many occasions

Bummer. No one wins in an accident, even fender benders some times. Take comfort in that there were no serious injuries. That whole scenario could have ended much worse!

I needed to run some errands this afternoon & I swear I should have stayed home. I decided to ride my motorcycle instead of the truck. Not sure what was up, but it seems like many drivers were not paying attention or were in a crazy hurry. Really, in the bustling metropolis of Vernon? You big city boys are dealing with a whole different ball game. Anyhow, I did manage to make it home in one piece.

I've been cut off over the years like anyone else (I've been known to mess up & cut off other drivers too), but this afternoon I got cut off 4 times! First was a lady making a right turn on a red light, she didn't even stop or look! From what I recall a right turn on red is legal in every province except Quebec, but you do need to stop and only proceed when it's safe to do so. I had been waiting for the opposing traffic left turn advance green and once I finally got the green, proceeded across the intersection. Fortunately I reacted quickly enough & hit the brakes. The pickup behind me gave her the horn big time & when she realized what she had done, hit the brakes & moved over to the curb. I had no time to hit the horn, just the brakes to save my butt. When you ride a motorcycle for as long as I have, you almost get a 6th sense to survive.... either that, or you become a statistic pretty quick. On a motorbike you tend to be invisible to many drivers, but this lady didn't even look my way when she made that turn without stopping.

Next 3 close calls were all folks making a left turn in front of me when I had the right of way. Right of way is well & good, but means little when you're on a bike & end up t-boning an impatient car or truck driver that cuts in front of you. No air bags or seat belt for me, I'll just go flying & hit the pavement. All this happened within a space of less than an hour.

Hey, but I'm still here & so are you, posting & ranting away on a fish forum about poor driving habits.

The lot probably won't just let you forfeit your car for free, they will charge (probably overcharge) to tow it away for you on top of the lot fees but it never hurts to ask. If it comes to that, a number of charities will tow your car for free and give you a tax receipt of a few hundred dollars but I would call around to a few scrap yards first to see what they would give you for the car and then decide what is most cost effective. The insurance company can't force you to keep your car at the lot since they are not paying you for it so it won't become their property nor will they be paying the fees. I would email the insurance company, so you have written confirmation, that you intend to move the vehicle immediately due to ongoing costs and they can contact you for the vehicles final whereabouts.

True enough, you can be right and dead at the same time.

Edmonton roads are bad but everytime im in Calgary im glad I live here . Its brutal driving there . Word of note on new cars with abs press the brake pedal as if your trying to break it off , don't stomp on it just press it fricken hard . Theres a lot of stopping power people never use because the abs ecu never sees max demand .

Glad to hear that you and your rides are alright :) I always show extra respect to the motor cyclist while on the road and always make sure there's enough space between him/her and me (and they seems to cooperate more than drivers). It is just sad when idiotic motorists cause the problems for which you have to pay, with life at worst.

Exactly my thought. I don't know the adjuster's email so I left the voicemail that I want to take care of it. I have planned to go tomorrow to the lot to settle it and give the vehicle to any scrap company; there's no point waiting for the adjuster to look at my vehicle since they are not going to do anything about it anyways. I will not cancel the registration until I get to talk with the adjuster about it but at least getting the car away from the lot is fair for my pocket.I hope I won't "violate" any rule.

Haha. Yah people in edmoton drive very carefully. I even saw people overtaking car while still under speed limit. And yah, abs always interferes with the braking mechanism while you stomp on the brake. It was my first experience and my foot worked spontaneously before I could even take a decision. The experience was quite daunting for me.

I do this.. there really isn't a reason to drive so close to someone in front of you. Drive defensively. Always assume that the guy in front of you can come to a dead stop at any moment for any reason.

At any rate, glad to hear you're safe! It could have been much worse.

I was in a collision in about 2001. The rear left wheel of an oncoming '79 Ford truck came off its axle. The wheel bounced off the road once and landed square into the grill of my newish '99 GMC Sonoma. Since this was at highway speed with a closure rate of at least 180 kph, it destroyed the front end, and almost killed me.

Be happy things were not worse.

Haahaa it just gets frustrating when someone pulls into the space in front of you. You're driving safe, then they close the space on you.

Yeah I think realistically, especially here in Calgary, if you left 5 car lengths in front you would literally never move. The secret is to get a car with low weight and big brakes ;)

awd and big brakes is a good combo too , buddie of mine has big brembos on his Subaru and the car can stop so fast your face comes off.

The problem with that is the idiot tailgating you won't stop as quickly :(

At least the idiot would then be at fault. You're still in a wreck, but at least it would be on the other guys dime.

AWD makes you go, not stop.
All wheel drive vehicles still only have 4 brakes. Same as a 2wd.
Yes, Big brakes help.

This is why so many 4x4s end up in the ditch in the winter.
Drivers feel that because they have added traction of 4 wheels while under acceleration that they have the same advantage stopping.
Engine braking yes, emergency braking not so much.


Sorry to hear of your vehicle loss Raied. Not that it helps, but, your situation could have been much worse.

I'm playing the waiting game with the insurance company after a hail storm and its frustrating not having control over your own property.

A hard downshift in an awd car is way different than in other cars all 4 tires slow down and provide a ton of braking , but that's in the dry . In the snow ya all cars stop the same or not at all. Most 4x4 split power differently than an awd car , they have open center diffs and send power to the wheels that are slipping usually the back wheels . When you have limited slip center diff it sends power to the wheels with grip and is also usually front wheel biased 60front 40 rear spilt for example . In my Subaru I have a heck of a time getting the rear to swing out in the snow , it just grips and takes off in a straight line , no fun at all.

I have big brembos on my car and know that I can stop quicker than most. I took my husbands van and had to adjust my driving as my stop time was a lot more. Calgary drivers are aggressive, I still see people talking on cell phones all the time, so defensive driving is a must. I watch people for sudden lane changes as I've been cut off to many times, also don't watch the car ahead, but 3-4 in front. And those who constantly ride their brakes-I get away from, can't predict what they are going to do.

And I love swinging out my back end, rwd in the snow -can't resist...lol. Comes in handy for tailgaters, drop a gear, back goes out and they back off....of course at lower speeds, but traction control and stalitytrac keeps things to a minimum.

By far the best piece of advise in this thread.

yes, this happens, but not every single time. I dunno.. I'm also a fairly slow (by Calgary standards) driver and rarely in a hurry to get anywhere so it doesn't bother me :-)

Thanks everyone for the kind words and the great info :)

I wish I have the patience of yours. I get extremely ****ed whenever I see idiotic drivers and just try to run away from them :neutral: