Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with accident

Hit and run insurance claim?

Pater Aletheias — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:39:38 -0800

At some point, my parked car was hit. I didn't notice until I got home. It could have happened in three or four different parking lots--I ran several errands. There is fair amount of damage to my front bumper and a dent in my hood, but I can't prove I didn't do it myself. Am I going to be able to file an insurance claim on this? What do I need to know before I call my insurance company? Could this raise my premiums? Details: Texas, State Farm, clean driving record, I have uninsured motorist coverage.

Hit by a fence

zackola — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:28:11 -0800

So I was biking home from work last night and was hit by a fence. It was very windy and a portion of the fence at Grand St. and Center St. in Manhattan blew over onto me. I'm mostly fine, a little bruised but annoyed because it tore my fancy rain jacket. I know I'm going to get a lot of IANAL responses but I wanted to see if anyone had suggestions of things I could do to possibly be remunerated for the jacket by the city. Here's a picture of the bloodthirsty fence after I extricated myself and my bike from it. Any advice much appreciated.

Progressive is being regressive

IzzeYum — Tue, 28 May 2013 17:43:26 -0800

We live in Mass and my wife got into a car accident the other day while I was out of town. How can I convince the insurance company it was not her fault? She was pulling onto a street that was perpendicular to her - she couldn't see because the cars on her side of the road were blocking her view. The problem is they are always blocking the view there during most time of the day - so you basically have to wait for a gap, then ease your way through, wait for a car to notice your car nose and then scoot through when they stop.

My wife tried this the other day, pulled forward a bit much and some woman t-boned her basically.

They did not call a cop ::sigh:: however my wife did notify the insurance company. They now are saying it is her fault - want to put 3 points on her license and jack up our rates. This seems crazy her vehicle was struck by someone who was clearly not paying attention. They are saying that it is her fault as the other woman was already in the road - but that is insane - how far down the road does she need to be for that to count?

I also don't understand how the insurance company has any right to determine points on her license because they determined, without any witnesses that she was at fault.

Last note - no one has been able to get in touch with the woman who hit her. She is not answering the phone calls or returning the calls of either my wife or the insurance company. We do have her license plate number.

So

1) Can they actually claim it is her fault without proof? If so how can they say that when she was the one hit?

2) Can they really put point on her license? Is there anything I can do to fight that?

You are about to be rear-ended. Is it better to open the door?

krautland — Sat, 18 May 2013 05:17:58 -0800

You are about to be rear-ended. Is it better to open the door? I was once in a fairly significant accident where I was rear-ended.
What sticks in my mind is that I saw the guy coming from behind as I was stopped.

I keep wondering if it's better to open your door when you think you are about to be hit from behind or to keep it closed.
An open door can't be jammed shut and thus enables rescuers to get to you faster but does it weaken the structure of the car as well?

Helping a daughter who is far from home

jfuller — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:29:43 -0800

My daugter, age 22, is in trouble a long, long way from home (Burlington, VT; her mom and I are in middle GA) with the family car. She had an accident, her fault. Nobody was hurt, thank heavens, but she was arrested (for the record, not DUI) and the car was towed off and impounded. It is pretty badly damaged and not driveable. There's no other car to use. The disabled one is running up a $50 per day impound fee which I need to stop as soon as I can. Probably I should just give it to a junkyard and let them haul it off, but I've got no notion how to arrange that. More important, what can I do from here to help my girl? Can I find her an attorney by remote control somehow? What else should I be thinking about? Ideas and advice? I would be very grateful!

Can I give them a copy of my insurance card?

cm1088 — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 08:38:55 -0800

I live in a apartment building with a floor of parking inside the building. Two days ago, a neighbor who was parking her car next to mine dented and scratched the rear of my car. The damage is fairly minimal but will require some work. She was very apologetic about the situation and left me a voicemail stating that she had hit my car and that would should sync up to exchange insurance information. Later in the day, we talked and she suggested the we exchange a copy of each others insurance card. In this situation, is it ok to give her a copy of my entire insurance card? Is there any information on this I should not be sharing? For reference, my insurance is GEICO.

PlumbingAccidentFilter, UK edition

Pallas Athena — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:10:13 -0800

I let the plumber in to replace the hot water tank this morning, and just got home to find that he'd flooded the floor of the 3rd floor bathroom badly enough that there's water leaking through the *extractor fan opening* of the bathroom immediately below. There's also a small run of water out of a light switch in the 2nd floor wall. The house is full of little pools of water that I don't know if they have been tracked there or have leaked through. How compromised are my electrics and what is the plumber's liability? The plumber said that one of the valves wasn't fully closed, and he'd left water running in the assumption that it was closed while he went downstairs from the 3rd floor to his van. When he got back up he said he found that the bathroom floor was flooded.

The extractor fan set in the ceiling of the bathroom below was leaking grey water (several drops at once, like hard rain). Unthinkingly, I turned the fan and lights on, and within a minute or two it was starting to buzz and smell kind of burny. They're now turned off.

The plumber is still upstairs replacing the hot water tank, and I haven't yet paid him beyond a deposit. He works for a larger company whose number I have? What do I say when I call them? Will the electrics be all right tomorrow if I turn them all off and let them dry out, or do I need to get an electrician in?

I'm kind of panicking here. I haven't dealt with this kind of thing without backup before.

Other driver suggested settling outside insurance, now ignoring me.

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:31:16 -0800

I rear-ended someone last month while on vacation and the other party, an elderly couple, suggested not involving insurance. The police were not called. After supplying an initial estimate that I agreed to pay, they suddenly realized that they are entitled to a car rental, too, and after I agreed to that they stopped answering their phone and email. What now? -They got an initial estimate that seemed a bit high, then got a second one that was 50% higher, so I suggested that I pay the initial estimate, to the body shop, in exchange for a waiver signed by them. Their only reply, after a few days, is that it suddenly dawned on them that they'll need me to pay for a car rental too for the x or even x+1 days of the repair, no estimate attached and no comment on the other stuff.

-They went to the initial body shop because by their admission they've brought their car there before, repeatedly. I also ran a preliminary VIN check on their car and while I can't see the nature of the records without paying a hefty fee, they have nearly two dozen for a relatively late model car. (A high number of records can mean anything, but may indicate the number of accidents reported).

-Basically I just haven't read anything on askme where the person paid for anything besides the repair estimate, though I am definitely planning to cover the rental. However, I'm not sure I can afford a bunch of open-ended costs that they might suddenly realize they need paid for. Not to mention, I called the body shop and they said they are perfectly willing to pick up and drop off their customers.

-Worst of all: they've stopped communicating. I feel that I assertively laid down terms but emphasized that I was open to discussion, asked them repeatedly to phone, have tried phoning them, and they are not answering. I'm not sure if I scared them off by trying to pin down a number instead of saying "Sure, I'll pay for any numbers you come up with!"

I'm reading horror stories on askme (like this one: http://ask.metafilter.com/123079/Paying-out-of-pocket-and-preventing-future-involvement-of-car-insurance-co#1759460) and the rest of the internet about people taking the money and making claims and reports anyway, or even worse, claiming medical problems.

How do I proceed here? Keep emailing and calling? Get insurance involved stat before they do? (If possible I'd like to talk to my insurance, but I'm afraid that any inquiry at all will be considered a claim.) This is in California.

Throwaway email: insurancefilter@gmail.com

Help with minor accident.

futureisunwritten — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:49:18 -0800

My car slid into a pole on a slippery street. What now? I live in an extremely hilly part of town. Today it was snowing and roads were slippery. I started sliding down a narrow hill and had to steer off the road and hit this pole with my car. I did an annoying amount of damage to the front end of my car and the pole (which was buried in snowbank) was bent over at maybe a 60-70 degree angle.

Anyway, when I got home, I called the local police and told the cop who answered the phone what had happened. He only seemed concerned that I was okay and told me I could come in and file a report in the next few days and that it would probably be good to call the city and report the bent pole. He didn't take my name or ask for any specifics. My dad said this is probably the 500th phone call of this nature the guy had answered that day since the roads were so greasy.

A few people have said I shouldn't bother to report it and that this stuff happens all of the time. Which made me wonder if they would make me file an insurance claim to pay for the pole? Or if this is just par for the course for municipalities in snowy places? I guess I'll find out when I talk to them but I'm curious to hear if anybody else has had a similar experience.

Hey! I'm walkin' here!

threeants — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:11:46 -0800

What should a pedestrian do if hit by a car? As someone who walks, I am frequently put into potentially dangerous situations by cars. I realized I have no idea what I would do if I were hit. I've never owned a car, so not being familiar with the car-on-car collision procedures, I don't even have that as a benchmark. Do you...get their driver's insurance? Call the police? Then do what? If you have a resultant injury, do you have to sue them for medical costs? Or does this somehow magically come out of their driver's insurance?

I'm assuming for this question that the person didn't just hit you and then peace out.

Crashed my car, should I fix or just get a new one?

xtine — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:01 -0800

I've been on a cross country road trip for over 35 days, originally departing from Los Angeles. While driving back home, I got caught in a rain/thunderstorm in Louisiana and rear-ended the car in front of me. I only have liability insurance, so the other party is taken care of but I have to take care of my own busted car. I'm wondering if it's worth getting it fixed up or just getting a new car once I get back home. My car is a Honda Accord 2004 with about 103,000 miles, which I have impeccably maintained and has been super reliable ever since I got it new in 2003. When I was in New York I even got the serpentine belt, oil, and transmission fluid changed. In the crash, the hood was bent, radiator damaged, and the left light broke off entirely.

Fortunately I was able to find a shop in Baton Rouge that was able to patch up the hood and replace the transmission and fan to drivable condition, but was not able to get the left headlight replaced. The AC is busted, the seat belt doesn't retract (but I can safely wear it), and the airbag light is on (it never went off though). All this cost $1400. I can safely and easily drive it back home this weekend (my dad flew in to help me out and is driving back with me).

To properly get everything fixed at a body shop in Los Angeles may easily cost many thousands of dollars. At this point I'm wondering if I should rather just sell the car for a few thousand dollars and get another car. I know Hondas are reliable cars but I'm not sure how the car will fare after this crash. I'd rather avoid a potential money pit of repairs as an aftermath and I'd rather just cut my losses and get something new, unless AskMe can help me out with advice otherwise!

Please advise on car insurance issues after an accident.

A dead Quaker — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:46:40 -0800

A guy hit my car parked on the street in Cambridge, MA, causing some damage (to the car only, I wasn't around). He left a note. I called him and he wanted to bypass our insurance providers. Please advise. My car is a Honda Civic, about 9 years old. The damage was to the left front corner, which he hit hard enough that part of the outer shell below the hood came off, leaving the windshield washer container exposed (between the front wheel and the front bumper). I worry a little about further unseen damage.

The guy who hit my car says he has four vehicles under his insurance, including two trucks for business (he is a carpenter) and his wife and daughter's vehicles. His son has been involved in some accidents, so he doesn't want his premiums to go up more. So, I have sympathy for him. I've talked to him on the phone twice. My plan is to go to a garage that I trust and get an estimate, then present it to him. He has agreed to give me a certified check for the amount of the estimate.

I'm in reasonably good standing with my insurance provider; I had another problem with someone hitting my parked car a couple years ago (and not leaving a note) but other than that I haven't been in any accidents in the past decade. I could just contact my insurance provider and let them handle this, but I feel for the guy. He did leave his phone number, which was something.

All that said, I'm finding this situation to be quite stressful. I don't like worrying about the trustworthiness of a stranger. I am also concerned that there might be things I'm missing.

Are there any legal or insurance aspects to this that I'm overlooking? Am I being a sucker for not immediately filing a claim? Is there anything else about this that might come back to bite me later?

What. The hell. Did I do.

AthenaPolias — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:51:53 -0800

Driving home this afternoon, I spun my car 360 degrees. I have no idea what happened. Please help me figure out what it was so that it never, ever, dear god ever happens again. I had just dropped a friend off at the airport. I was driving around a slight curve, accelerating gently, and going 38mph. I know this because I checked my speed before shifting; for whatever reason, the less-than-conscious part of my brain that governs shifting thought I was in second and needed to get to third, when I was, in fact, in fourth (I must have seen my gear stick out of the corner of my eye). I shifted into third and hadn't yet pulled my foot off the clutch when I heard the engine rev slightly and I realized I was in the wrong gear. I rapidly put the car into fourth and that's when I felt a slight jerk and then I was spinning. I was already steering into the skid so I just waited the spin out, and the car stopped at nearly a full 360 degree turn.

There are no factors in this scenario I haven't driven in and through a million times before. Some factors must have doubled or tripled up, but this is beyond my expertise.

Other factors: the road was damp but not wet - it wasn't raining so much as mildly sprinkling (I had my wipers on the lowest setting and even that was a bit much). It's decidedly above freezing here (Siri said 48, now that I'm home my local weather says 52), so no black ice. My car is a standard transmission (obviously), the car is in overall good condition, and my tires are a little more than a year old. Nothing is wrong with the road where I lost control. I've driven this spot countless times; it's a very normal, gentle curve - much like an entrance/exit ramp designed for ca. 40mph traffic. I've also, like every manual driver, hit the wrong gear many times and never had any issue other than excessive or insufficient revving. I pulled over afterward to calm down, and also checked all four tires while doing so; I could see no outward sign that anything had happened or would cause anything to happen.

Can someone tell me what happened, or may have happened, so I can ensure this never happens again? I'm thoroughly freaked out, partially from very nearly being in a bad accident, but more so because I don't know what happened and can't be sure it won't happen again. Also, my car is about 18,000 miles before its next service, but I'm happy to take it to my mechanic now, especially considering I've got a 12 hour drive coming up for the holidays.

Sweet baby jesus.

Why am I paying $10k for another person's property damage?

Coke15 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:46:40 -0800

I got into an accident with another motorist. She side swiped my car and then hit a electric post. She failed to yield and was found to be at fault. Now the electric company is asking for $10k to repair the pole damage from me. Without having property damage insurance, and living in a no fault state, is there anything I can do?

The Morality of Hit and Run

Quisp Lover — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:25:25 -0800

What's the moral argument against running away from an accident if the victim's being cared for (aside from insurance issues)? I'm catching up on "Homeland" (warning: extremely minor spoiler ahead), and just watched the episode with the hit-and-run accident. The driver says that since the victim was being assisted by someone else, and 911 was obviously being called, he saw no reason to identify himself and be involved.

My first reaction was "what a jerk". But as I ponder it, I'm wondering....what is the basis for the moral compulsion to self-identify if (big "if") the victim's already being looked after?

Is it an insurance issue? If so, I could suggest scenarios (e.g. accidents in a no-fault state) which eliminate that factor, but my moral compass still says it'd be wrong. But...why, exactly? My head can't account for my gut on this.

What to do if I accidentally shoplifted?

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 08:47:37 -0800

I accidentally left a store without paying for a few items. I realized it the next day, and I'm mortified. What should I do? This is so embarrassing. I was in a CVS yesterday (with video monitoring). I didn't see any shopping baskets, and I had a lot of stuff, so I took off my fleece jacket and put my things in it (like one might carry something in an apron or atop a blanket, etc.). I shopped a little more. Then when I went to check out, I noticed some baskets in a corner that I hadn't seen when I entered, so I dumped my items in one of the baskets and double-checked to be sure I had everything in the basket. I checked out and took a cab home. Later, I put on my jacket and was horrified to realize that three small items had slipped into the jacket sleeve! I shoplifted without knowing it! I feel awful, but I'm terrified that if I return to the store they could charge me with something or at least detain me and chew me out.

I'm a college student, and I really can't afford a huge fine. I've been stressed and burnt out lately, and I don't want to be in trouble for trying to do the right thing - but I do want to do the right thing.

What should I do? Swallow the guilt and hope no one notices? Return and explain I forgot to pay for the items? Return and surreptitiously buy them?

Can a second accident affect a yet-to-be-settled case?

nonmerci — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 10:11:08 -0800

YANML, but please help me weigh the benefits of filing a police report about a car-bike accident when a settlement is still in process from a previous accident. The question might be confusing, so let me explain.

Situation #1: My partner was hit by a van last night while biking home. The van ran a stop light, and both he and the van were going around 5 mph. The van sped off before he or any of the passers-by could see the license plate. He was considering filing a police report, but he is unsure for the following reason:

Situation #2: About 10 months ago, he was in a worse accident, where a car hit him in a different area, also while biking. That settlement is pending, and they are paying for his health insurance, etc. He had right of way in this instance (as in the above), has a lawyer, etc.

He is concerned that if he files a police report about situation #1, then situation #2 will be affected. Mostly, he is concerned that he might not get a settlement as a result, or that his health problems from the first situation will be blamed on the second (he suffered a separated shoulder from situation #2--he is fine as far as we can tell from situation #1), etc.

His parents think he should absolutely file a police report regardless of these concerns. What do you all think? Will it hurt him to file? Does it matter? As far as I can tell, nothing will happen if a police report is filed, since police here don't spend much effort on bike-related crime or accidents. I know you are not our lawyer, but any advice would be appreciated.

Fighting the (insurance) man!

kanuck — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:04:58 -0800

Got rear-ended and am thoroughly unhappy with repair results. Any tips for negotiating with the insurance company re: how they're handling this? I was rear-ended while at a standstill on the freeway, and pushed into the vehicle in front of me, resulting in damage to both the front and rear of my car (significantly more in the rear). In order to expedite the handling of the matter, I processed the claim through my own insurance company, but fully expect to get back my collision deductible through subrogation (it is pretty obvious that the party that hit me from behind is at fault).

Edmunds blue book value of my car is ~$7000. Original estimated and insurance approved bodywork was ~$4000. Once work started and they pulled the bumpers off, it was apparent that more needed to be done, which was approved by the insurance company (I never saw the updated estimate). 10 days later all the bodywork is done, but when I see the car, it looks terrible -- the paint matching was really poorly done, it basically looks like a two-tone paint job. The masking/taping was poor, there's overspray visible in a bunch of places, etc. It's obvious to even a layperson that this car has been in a major accident, and my resale value is clearly shot. We haven't even gotten to mechanical issues yet; I'm pretty sure there's at least some work that needs to be done there that hasn't been scoped because the bodyshop has had the car all this time. At this point, it seems clear they should have totalled the car in the first place (the bodyshop guy implied they would have done as much had they known the full extent of the damage before starting work on it), and I don't see any way that I'm going to be "made whole" (in terms of having a car remotely as valuable as the one just prior to the accident).

I'm looking for some tips on how to negotiate with the insurance company over this. They are reluctant to total it and cut me a check since a bunch of work has already been done. But the work they seem willing to pay for (partial painting etc) just seems completely inadequate. Are my expectations of being "made whole" out of whack here? Seems to me that the adjuster made a bad call (possibly in conjunction with poor/overtly confident info from the bodyshop), and I shouldn't be made to pay for their mistake. Where's my leverage, if any?

Help me understand what fool thing I did

Frowner — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:08:42 -0800

What horrible injury have I done myself? Not-immediately-threatening bike accident injury question. A week ago today I was in a pretty serious bike accident. I've had a CAT scan of my head (fine!) and an eye check-up due to some visual symptoms (also fine!). Bruises are large but healing. Generalized soreness is declining. However...

....I have two weird injuries the like of which I've never seen before and which I didn't really realize I had when I saw the doctor. YANMD and neither seems threatening - I'd just like to know what the heck I did to myself.

1. I took a lot of impact on one side of my leg, luckily covered by sturdy pants. I have no bruising at all, but the flesh swelled up a lot and is extremely sore. (Although slowly but steadily improving.) Why did it swell up and hurt but not bruise? How did it swell up and hurt but not bruise?

2. I have a lump in my leg near but not directly beneath a big bruise. It's about an inch long and 1/2 inch wide. It's well under the skin, feels like it's in the fat. I haven't poked at it much. It's a bit sore. It has well-defined edges and it is absolutely in the wrong place (wrong location on leg, wrong depth) to be a DVT/blood clot in the femoral vein. It has no surrounding swelling or redness. I do not know when it developed - if it was there right away or not. I only noticed it three days ago. How did this happen? What is it?

I would rather not go back to the doctor for these things since they seem to be stable or improving and don't seem life-threatening. If they change/get worse, I'll go like a shot, of course, but I've already missed a bunch of work time.

What car dash cam to buy?

c0nsumer — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:39:08 -0800

What dash cameras should I consider purchasing? There's a bunch of them out there, but I'm having little luck finding info about which are good and which aren't. After a couple recent close calls while driving, I'm thinking it'd be nifty to get a dash camera. I don't have a pressing need for one, but I think it'd be interesting to have a recording of those times when someone cuts me off in a silly manner or something interesting happens up in front of me.

Unfortunately, I'm not having much luck finding decent reviews that differentiate one from another.

I'm mostly just interested in a basic couple-hour ring buffer, perhaps with some sort of something-interesting-just-happened-make-note-of-this button. I'd also like it to be very low profile, so it doesn't obscure my vision and isn't very noticeable.

Proper protocol after auto accident claims request?

chloe.gelsomino — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:41:38 -0800

(CA) Driver who hit me is uninsured and I've begun the claims process with my ins. co. Should I give uninsured driver a head's up? This is a fairly straightforward question and I wanted to get a flavor of what the proper protocol is. I was rear-ended on the freeway by an uninsured driver (not sure if the vehicle has insurance, it may not have been his car), got the plates, exchanged numbers. He left me a message the next day informing me that he didn't have insurance and wanted to know where things stand, as his lack of insurance may complicate things.

I have started the claims process, but have yet to respond to the driver. Should I give a call back or just let the insurance company handle it from this point on?

How do I prove I'm at least as not at fault as the other guy?

ictow — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:43:01 -0800

On Friday morning I was in what I consider to be a no-fault fender bender, but Illinois isn't a no-fault state. The other party has already contacted my insurance; I'm not sure what I should be doing to best protect myself. Details inside. While on a road trip, my 2 passengers and I stopped at a grocery store to grab supplies. We got in the car, I started to back up and immediately stopped because a pedestrian walked behind me. I checked behind me, checked to my left side to make sure other pedestrians weren't coming, checked my mirrors and began to back out. Another driver backed out at the same time and we collided at the literal midpoint of the lane (exactly on the tip of the directional arrow in the parking lot lane). I drive an SUV, he was driving a Mercedes, the corner of my rear driver's side bumper hit the corner of his rear passenger bumper. My bumper has a spiderweb crack; his taillight was broken and bumper dented.

The police were called, but since it's private property they stated they wouldn't determine fault. The other driver has already filed a claim with my insurance, claiming that it was my fault. I don't know how he could possibly claim that, given he backed into me at least as much as the reverse.

So:

1) Is there anything in particular I should be doing or saying to make it clear that this was not my fault?
2) Should I file a claim on his insurance even though there wasn't significant damage to my vehicle? As in, should I be doing this just to make it more emphatic that I don't believe I'm at fault?
3) One of my passengers was in line behind the other driver at the store, and said he overheard the driver say that he'd recently had eye surgery and was having a hard time seeing the signature line on his receipt. Should I be stating this in the police report I have to file and to our insurances? It's hearsay, but also, dude did seem to have some bad eyes.

Ultimately, I don't want to win so much as I don't want to lose. Thanks for your help, especially since yanml.

Hit and run - finding the scumbag

pjern — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:59:29 -0800

How to find a hit-and run driver in a fairly large city? My wife was turning left into her work parking lot the other morning, when she was rear-ended badly enough to total the car. This is what we know:

The other driver was a Caucasian female, maybe 5'10, dishwater blonde hair, wearing a maroon polo shirt with a white logo over the left breast, and plaid shorts.

The accident occurred on a busy city street during morning rush hour. We know the direction in which the other driver fled.

All of the above information, witnesses, etc was provided to the police department, but no one got her license plate, and our insurance won't cover the deductible unless we can prove the other driver was uninsured, so we have to find the driver. To that end, I have contacted likely auto repair places to watch for the vehicle (a champagne of gold Dodge Caravan-type of vehicle), and chatted with the actual officers who patrol the streets in the accident area (as opposed to the accident investigation task force, which does nothing but...investigate accidents. Go figure.)

At this point, I'm looking for other things to try and do- I am turning at least one eye to the idea that since it was going-to-work hours, the other driver was in some kind of work uniform (the Purple Polo). Maybe this would tickle someone's memory in the Hive, I thought.

Anyone have any other useful ideas? We've started some #BOLO tweets, etc. I want this person, bad, if nothing else to collect my wife's deductible, as well as satisfying my sense of justice.

Creamed me in his mom's minivan!

InsertNiftyNameHere — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 22:26:23 -0800

Corvette body shops in the Chicago, IL, USA area? (sorry for the wall of text!)

Some dumb, moronic 16 or 17 year old driver blasted into the rear end of my 1996 Corvette and did a lot of damage while I was stopped (with my turn signal on) waiting to make a left turn without a dedicated left turn lane. His explanation was, "I wasn't sure what I was thinking." I'm pretty sure I know what he WASN'T thinking like "keep your eyes on the road in front of your vehicle." I insisted that he stay until the police showed up, and, while he didn't have an insurance card in his vehicle, he phoned his parents and got the info. I'm guessing it was valid because the police officer gave me his info with Allstate listed as his valid insurance.

The car seems to still drive OK, but I'm not sure what will crop up in the future as a result of this. It appears that I'm going to need three estimates from body shops for an estimated cost of repair. From talking to body shop guys I know who work on conventional steel vehicles, since this has occurred, they all seem to think I should find body shops that specializes in corvette body (fiberglass, I guess) repair, and it makes a lot of sense to me.

I hope the hive mind can help me find three (or more) such businesses in the Chicagoland area. IIRC, there was a body shop that worked exclusively on corvettes in Glen Ellyn, on one of the major east-west roads there. I plan on checking that place out to see if it's still there, but I'd really appreciate any other ideas.

The other driver was ticketed for failure to yield, so I'm hopeful that I can get a corvette only shop to fix the damage without a huge fight.

I don't want to try and make a profit here, I simply want my car back in the same shape it was before this joker hit me because of his inattention.

Many thanks to all!

How to model the accident rate on a certain stretch of road

col_pogo — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:19:34 -0800

How could I approach modeling the number of accidents on a certain stretch of road? I've got some semi-ecological approaches in mind but no idea if they're workable. Are there standard approaches to this sort of problem? Recently I've been traveling a certain 250 mile stretch of road quite a bit. It's reasonably dangerous--one wet, drunken three-day weekend several years ago 27 people died on it--and I've found myself wondering what the serious accident rate is. (No lives will depend on my answers; nor am I doing this for a school project. This is all about curiosity.)

It occurred to me that I've traveled this road--let's say 30 times in 6 months. That's effectively 30 "samples" (or "transects," maybe?), and I've seen the remains of one serious accident. Could I use these samples to make an estimate of the serious accident rate?

I gather ecologists and zoologists do something similar when doing animal censuses: they do a transect, count up the animals they see, then make some assumptions about how many they're missing and derive an estimate from that. Others look for animal leavings (dung, animal carcasses, etc) and extrapolate from there. Could I do something similar in this case with the wreck I saw (and those I didn't)?

(Of course my "transect" is different in that cars don't travel outside the transect; I'm only interested in accidents along the transect itself.)

My thinking is that the remains of a serious accident will have a "half-life" based on how long it takes to get a tow-truck service out to remove the wreckage. I'd guess that 50% of remains are gone in a day or so: support can be called out relatively quickly as there are five towns along this 250-mile route, spaced fairly evenly (two at the termini, and then every 50 miles in-between), but it might take a while for them to muster up removal services, especially for big wrecks. The one I spotted was a burnt-out tanker and a delivery van that appeared to have had a head-on collision. I assume that large wrecks like this would have been difficult to move.

So could I use my "samples," my one observation, and some assumptions like the "half-life" of a wreck to produce a sensible estimate of the accident rate?

I don't need this data: I'm mostly just curious about whether and how my line of thinking could be used to make a reasonable estimate of the accident rate. Would it work? Are there other, better ways of approaching this kind of modeling?

Full workings of the problem, tips, examples, links to articles and books on modeling technique would all be very welcome.