The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Hit and run someone's vehicle without realizing it
LockedOnTarget
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So yesterday I accidentally hit someone's vehicle. Problem is, I didn't think I hit it. I was following behind her on a two-lane road. I shoulder-checked to change lanes, saw the coast was clear, and started to turn and go. As I looked back in front of me, I suddenly saw that the woman in front of me had stopped. So I slammed on my brakes. We were both going slow to begin with, so I stopped almost instantly. I felt no impact, heard no noise. I sat up as much I could and looked in front of me, and it looked like I had stopped in time. Relieved, I continued into the right lane and went on my way.
I get to work today and a cop calls me. Turns out I actually did hit her and was being accused of a hit and run. After speaking with him I ran outside to look at my car, and lo and behold there was a bit of black paint smudged on the left front bumper. However, it appears like it will wash right off, and there was no other damage. The cop told me that I had scraped paint on her back bumper, didn't mention any dents or other damage. He didn't seem to believe me when I told him I truly thought I had avoided hitting her, which was frustrating.
So now I have to go to court next month, and I'm kind of freaking out. I accept full responsibility for hitting her...I was following a little too close and should have been more careful. But I did not intentionally try to get away with hitting her. I'm really worried about huge fines and even worse, losing my license. I deliver pizza for a living, I need to drive. I've never been in a situation anything like this, never been to court, never been in an accident that was my fault...and I just don't know what to do. I don't even know if I should plead guilty or not guilty in this situation. I'm scared that the judge won't believe me because the cop seemed really skeptical. Is it really that hard to believe? Considering there was literally no damage to my car and very minimal damage to hers, is it still pretty unbelievable that the impact was soft enough for me to not feel it, and quiet enough for the radio to drown it out?
I get to work today and a cop calls me. Turns out I actually did hit her and was being accused of a hit and run. After speaking with him I ran outside to look at my car, and lo and behold there was a bit of black paint smudged on the left front bumper. However, it appears like it will wash right off, and there was no other damage. The cop told me that I had scraped paint on her back bumper, didn't mention any dents or other damage. He didn't seem to believe me when I told him I truly thought I had avoided hitting her, which was frustrating.
So now I have to go to court next month, and I'm kind of freaking out. I accept full responsibility for hitting her...I was following a little too close and should have been more careful. But I did not intentionally try to get away with hitting her. I'm really worried about huge fines and even worse, losing my license. I deliver pizza for a living, I need to drive. I've never been in a situation anything like this, never been to court, never been in an accident that was my fault...and I just don't know what to do. I don't even know if I should plead guilty or not guilty in this situation. I'm scared that the judge won't believe me because the cop seemed really skeptical. Is it really that hard to believe? Considering there was literally no damage to my car and very minimal damage to hers, is it still pretty unbelievable that the impact was soft enough for me to not feel it, and quiet enough for the radio to drown it out?
LockedOnTarget on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
How is your driving record, otherwise? Any speeding citations, DUIs, anything like that? If you're clean aside from this, coupled with the rather benign damage and zero repair costs other than a quick spit and shine, I wouldn't expect to get the book thrown at you.
One thing that worries me is that I have a dent around that area on my car that was NOT caused by this. It's been there for years. Happened while I was in a mall and I never got it fixed or claimed it because I had no one to blame, and didn't really care about the dent more than I cared about not paying my insurance deductable. There is a small amount of blue paint around that dent that doesn't match the vehicle I hit yesterday, so the optimist in me wants to believe that I can convince them it's old.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure that here in SK, Canada, there's basically no risk of jail time for this. Still, I pretty much live day to day on what I earn, and the potential big fees scare the crap out of me. My court date isn't until late september, so I guess I'll just save what I can and hope for the best. I've been trying to find out what kind of ballpark area the fine will fall in but I can't find any information.
I'm not worried about losing my job. I've been working there for over six years and I know I won't get fired for this. Of course, if I actually got my license taken away for a while I'd be pretty screwed.
It may not be a matter of how long you've been at your job or if your boss likes you or whatnot. Many delivery places will simply not allow you to drive for them with certain moving violations on your record. Sure, they probably won't fire you outright, but you may not be allowed to drive anymore and have to work inside where you of course don't make nearly as much, comparatively.
If you happen to be a student, your school should have a legal department to provide legal services to students. If you are low income (if you don't have to claim your tips, you probably are low enough waged to qualify), you could qualify for a public defender or some pro bono aid. You need to look into those options sooner rather than later.
Did they pull over?
I believe your case, you don't sound like you were at major fault and I think you were trying to do the best thing and didn't realize you made contact.
This strikes me as a case that the other vehicle got to their destination, got out, THEN realized they were suffering some scrapes and decided to record it before notifying the police with your make, model, and plates.
My point is, did the other car attempt to notify you, in any way, that a collision had taken place?
I'll look into the school thing, as I am a student. Thanks for the tip.
What I meant by the six years remark is that I've been around the company a long time to know how things generally work. They've never had or enforced any kind of "have a perfect record or you're out" rule and plenty of people have been in worse situations than this without gettin canned. Hell, I've seen employees who show up obviously stoned to work every day and then drive while stoned, and everyone knows it and they aren't fired or punished at all. I've seen the management allow people who don't even have a license to drive before. Honestly the rare firings that actually happen are pretty much always about attitude, or because the person stole from the store. So I really don't feel like I need to be worried about my job right now.
Contact your school's offices first thing monday and ask about legal aid. They usually have a fair bit of a waiting list for this stuff, and there's no such thing as getting a lawyer too soon.
Take some pictures if you haven't already.
I didn't notice anything. But to be honest, at the time I didn't really look for anything either. My mental state was pretty much "oh shit, did I hit it? Phew, I didn't. I can go, then." then I continued changing lanes and went on my way. I didn't hear a horn or anything like that.
You could be right, but then again, they did get my plate number so they must have knew I hit them.
They will most definitely not do this. I can't speak to Canada but American law is a serious business and purporting to offer law services from a knowledgeable standpoint prior to bar certification is a very serious issue. The school may offer legal services (mine did), but in general those legal services do not apply to criminal cases which this is if you were officially charged (in this country anyway). Legal services are usually more geared towards civil disputes, and most of the time for school legal services that means landlord/renter issues.
PSN: TheScrublet
actually, in many provinces, Legal Aid is mostly law students now.
(hurray for almost all legal aid funding being cut)
You probably won't get your license taken away for this, but even if you did, most courts will allow provisional driving in cases of employment. Such as getting to and from work, and in a job like yours where driving is essential to performing the job. You just wouldn't be able to drive on off time.
Call a lawyer though. Most will offer a free 15 minute (or somewhere around that) consultation, letting you know roughly where you stand.