heres the situation:

morning traffic on my way to school on the parkway going toward springfield. traffic is heavy and moving at about 55-60 mph. i was on the far left lane doing around 55 mph. as im watching the car in front i see him driving and then slam on his brakes and crash into the van in front of him (the van was coming to a stop) seeing this, i slam on my brakes immediately. (im following behind maybe 5-6 car lengths) by the time i slam on my brakes, i slide into him doing maybe 30-40 mph. my front clip is totalled and so is his. me and the guy in front get a ticket for failure to control vehicle. my argument is that i didnt have enough time to stop since it was morning traffic and i was keeping up with traffic. any input? the way i see it, he caused the accident

ps my car was declared a total loss