by Guest Tue Jan 20, 2009 8:06 pmdriving home tonight, 6:30 pm, very dark and cloudy night, running more or less the speed limit, there was a big truck pulling a trailer almost stopped in the road, making a right turn. There were no taillights or running lights to be seen. I saw it too late to stop fully, So I went for the shoulder of the road. As soon as the truck hit the wet grass, it stopped slowing down until I slammed into the side of the trailer.
The guy pulls off into a parking lot and comes to see about me, I tell him I'm OK and he looks around, then at his truck, leaves and goes over and plugs his lights in, they all come on. While he's doing this, a woman stops, tells me she saw everything, gives me her name and work number. She said if I need a witness to call her.
The cop gets there we both tell him our story, he asks the guy if the lights were on on the trailer and he says they were. I tell him again that the guy went over and hooked the lights up, the guy finally agreed but said I must have knocked the connection loose when I hit him. He said they were on when he left his job site earlier. His passenger wouldn't agree to either story. The cop calls the witness and she's not there, will not be in until tomorrow.
So, without a witness, I get charged with the accident! My first accident in over 35 years of driving. The cop told both of us that if my witness agrees that the lights were not on when I hit him, the charges against me will be dropped and placed on the other driver. So now I sit, with my terribly torn up truck, a 2006 Dakota, without even a door ding on it until tonight, with the truth in the hands of a complete stranger, and I won't know the outcome until at least tomorrow.
It bent the drivers door, tore the front fender and inner fender all the way off, the headlight, parking light, fog light and part of the front bumper cover are gone. I couldn't even drive it home. Who knows what else we'll find tomorrow in the light of day.
I'm steamed!
Rob
The guy pulls off into a parking lot and comes to see about me, I tell him I'm OK and he looks around, then at his truck, leaves and goes over and plugs his lights in, they all come on. While he's doing this, a woman stops, tells me she saw everything, gives me her name and work number. She said if I need a witness to call her.
The cop gets there we both tell him our story, he asks the guy if the lights were on on the trailer and he says they were. I tell him again that the guy went over and hooked the lights up, the guy finally agreed but said I must have knocked the connection loose when I hit him. He said they were on when he left his job site earlier. His passenger wouldn't agree to either story. The cop calls the witness and she's not there, will not be in until tomorrow.
So, without a witness, I get charged with the accident! My first accident in over 35 years of driving. The cop told both of us that if my witness agrees that the lights were not on when I hit him, the charges against me will be dropped and placed on the other driver. So now I sit, with my terribly torn up truck, a 2006 Dakota, without even a door ding on it until tonight, with the truth in the hands of a complete stranger, and I won't know the outcome until at least tomorrow.
It bent the drivers door, tore the front fender and inner fender all the way off, the headlight, parking light, fog light and part of the front bumper cover are gone. I couldn't even drive it home. Who knows what else we'll find tomorrow in the light of day.
I'm steamed!
Rob
