My first accident. I rear-end a guy. My fault? not entirely! no charges laid. I was sitting west, second in line at a red light, two minivans to my left, turning south. The light turns green, we begin to roll, I check my mirrors and then BANG!!
A couple of Durham Regional's finest heading north, blow thru their red light, causing the car in front of me to stop suddenly, a third cruiser witnesses the crash and attends to the scene. He says he can't write up the report because he was a contributing factor in the accident. I inform the Sgt. who is writing up the report that no sirens were heard before the accident. He says he has to charge me with careless driving. I re-informed him that no sirens were blaring, minivans blocking my view, CRUISERS RAN THE RED LIGHT. He drops the charges.

The impact-- my bumper slides under his, pushing his bumper into my grill, pushing the hood latch into the radiator. Can't drive it, it gets a piggy-back ride to the body shop. I'll have to wait until Monday to get estimates.



after dropping off the car, I reach for my cell phone to call my wife for a ride, it fell out of my pocket in the backseat of the cruiser. Tow-truck guy calls 17 Div. they have it at the front desk

It gets worse-- we finally get home, wifey falls down the stairs and sprains her ankle. I'm not leaving the house for the rest of the weekend.

 

Glad you're okay!

 

I'll bet a donut you become the "at fault" driver for "failure to maintain proper spacing" between you and the vehicle in front of you. Most rear-enders end up like that. And yes, it sucks.

 

my first accident was exactly the same thing,it was about 30 years ago,didn't have to worry about at fault back in the day.glad your okay & stay in the house & help your wife hopping arond

 

The insurance co. puts me "at fault", but no charges because the cops were a contributing factor of the crash. The other driver even asked me if I was charged and said he would testify that no sirens were heard and the cops ran the red light. He didn't even see the first one until it was already past him, and had to slam the brakes to avoid the second, that's when I smacked him. Cops have to obey all traffic laws, too.