Hit and Run Driver Totaled my Car
Posted: Sat 08 Dec, 2007 9:24 am
Weeks ago, I woke up to this scene after a driver at my apartment smashed into the back of my 1996 Dodge Neon. The pictures pretty much say it all. Front & rear bumper damage, broken mirrors, busted door locks--and that's just the driver's side. The force was so violent, it shoved my car 12 feet over two concrete bumpers and halfway through a wooden fence. On top of that, it pushed my car against a third vehicle (coincidentally another Plymoth/Dodge Neon) parked adjacent to mine.
Basically my car was totaled. And I'm betting the 3rd car lost at least 1/5th its resale value. Worse still, the coward drove off without so much as a note or 911 call. It's lucky no one got killed.
Incidentally, the red sign in the second picture says cars incorrectly parked can be towed.
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Now, my car was pushing 12 years old. I'd always assumed some idiot would manage to wreck it eventually. It's just appalling some spineless hit-and-run driver had to do it. The timing was no more convenient. This happened just one day before what I've always called "the fall stretch." The four weeks of late mid-terms and final exams just before the semester ends. So much for focus.
After the wreck, I did some legal research and ran across some hit-and-run statistics. The figures are staggering. Rates in California rose 19% just between 1999 and 2001. And a certain article from the Los Angeles daily news suggested only half those cases even get solved. Yeah, it's LA but I at least tried to act surprised.
Closer to home, I recall this case in Fort Worth, TX where a woman ran down a homeless man as he crossed the street. Despite having him embedded in the windshield and bleeding to death, she drove to her home to have sex with her boyfriend only a half hour after the strike. She's serving time for felony manslaughter. And who could forget the Dallas Cowboy's former Dwayne Goodrich? Who-- four years ago-- ran down two men who were helping a man from a car wreck on a Dallas Interstate. Before the arraignment, he whipped up some half-baked yarn about thinking he'd run over tires. And if not a for a quick-witted onlooker, it would just be another unsolved death. Goodrich won't be breathing fresh air anytime this decade.
Intentional? No. But intent is fairly immaterial considering the financial and human toll. Maybe it's a sign of the times. So many looking out of number #1. Everybody says they would stop. Nobody HERE would deny it for sure. But when it hits the fan, who would really stay behind? Only 2...maybe 3 out of five? Honestly, I'd like to believe the situation isn't really that dire. But it seems accountability is something you find a lot less of these days.
Anyway, the point of all this isn't so much a rant as a public service announcement. First off, make sure your insurance offers hit-and-run/uninsured motorist coverage. Better yet, look into full coverage if you situation allows. Second, keep cameras in your car. Third, (this is everybody) pay attention to license plates and vehicle makes/models when you're out, because you never know who's about to be involved in what.
Since this situation is still on-going, I can't give out any details that might jeprodize my case, but I'll eventually post the details.
Basically my car was totaled. And I'm betting the 3rd car lost at least 1/5th its resale value. Worse still, the coward drove off without so much as a note or 911 call. It's lucky no one got killed.
Incidentally, the red sign in the second picture says cars incorrectly parked can be towed.
----------------
Now, my car was pushing 12 years old. I'd always assumed some idiot would manage to wreck it eventually. It's just appalling some spineless hit-and-run driver had to do it. The timing was no more convenient. This happened just one day before what I've always called "the fall stretch." The four weeks of late mid-terms and final exams just before the semester ends. So much for focus.
After the wreck, I did some legal research and ran across some hit-and-run statistics. The figures are staggering. Rates in California rose 19% just between 1999 and 2001. And a certain article from the Los Angeles daily news suggested only half those cases even get solved. Yeah, it's LA but I at least tried to act surprised.
Closer to home, I recall this case in Fort Worth, TX where a woman ran down a homeless man as he crossed the street. Despite having him embedded in the windshield and bleeding to death, she drove to her home to have sex with her boyfriend only a half hour after the strike. She's serving time for felony manslaughter. And who could forget the Dallas Cowboy's former Dwayne Goodrich? Who-- four years ago-- ran down two men who were helping a man from a car wreck on a Dallas Interstate. Before the arraignment, he whipped up some half-baked yarn about thinking he'd run over tires. And if not a for a quick-witted onlooker, it would just be another unsolved death. Goodrich won't be breathing fresh air anytime this decade.
Intentional? No. But intent is fairly immaterial considering the financial and human toll. Maybe it's a sign of the times. So many looking out of number #1. Everybody says they would stop. Nobody HERE would deny it for sure. But when it hits the fan, who would really stay behind? Only 2...maybe 3 out of five? Honestly, I'd like to believe the situation isn't really that dire. But it seems accountability is something you find a lot less of these days.
Anyway, the point of all this isn't so much a rant as a public service announcement. First off, make sure your insurance offers hit-and-run/uninsured motorist coverage. Better yet, look into full coverage if you situation allows. Second, keep cameras in your car. Third, (this is everybody) pay attention to license plates and vehicle makes/models when you're out, because you never know who's about to be involved in what.
Since this situation is still on-going, I can't give out any details that might jeprodize my case, but I'll eventually post the details.