so i was in a car accident this past Wednesday 7/21, it was a 3 car crash, i was the one that ran into the 2nd car who ran into the 3rd. so i got the ticket for following too closely. i accident occurred on 64 west short pump exit. so as usaul we all know that exit gets busy around 5. so there's traffic, the situation is the 3 cars in front of me slammed on there breaks one after another, by the time i slammed on mine i was close 15-20 feet away... so any who shit happens...

today when i get the police report on the last page where it shows what happened, it says they were slowing down, when obviously they slammed there breaks, if they slowed down, i would have notice and slowed down too...

and one more thing, the person i hit, was a fbi agent, in her gov. car. so i hit a gov. car.

also the cop wrote, how much it'll aprx. cost to fix the cars, how the hell would he know? i went to bruces yesterday they told me it'll cost 2500 to fix the car, the cop said 1500... so he was off by a few
for the first car i hit, he said for her bumper it'll cost 1500, i mean all she needs is a new bumper... that'll cost like 300-400 plus labor/painting, not 1500...
then for the first car he said 500... NOTHING happened to his car, she was just pushed into him, he had no scratch marks or anything! but he said it'll cost him 500 to fix his, but fix what!?

has anybody been in this kind of situation?
should i get lawyered up?

i really would like help, i am really nervous, this has been my first accident, but accidents happen, just who i hit...

 

was there anybody in the car with you when the accident occurred?

 

Do you have insurance? Because you shouldn't give a fuck if you have insurance.

 

Police accident reports are not admissible in Virginia courts (though they will use them for recollection if they're called to court). I think they just write the estimated repair costs down for internal purposes.

 

yes my 7 year old nephew

i do. i hope i don't need to give a fuck!

oh ok, well that explains a lot.

 

Yes, I was in a situation very similar to this when I was 16 except that I had no damage on the front of my car and the rear bumper of the car in front of me only had 2 small dimples in it where I hit her. I was charged with following too close and my insurance covered the damage to both vehicles in front of me.

Usually the last vehicle in the chain gets all the blame. Not much defense because you should have enough following distance to be able to safely stop if the car in front of you suddenly stops.

While the police report is not admissible in court, it's usually a pretty good indication of what the officer will testify to. It may be a good idea to consult with an attorney, however following too close is only a traffic infraction and the fine will be relatively small so it may not be worthwhile unless you have a very bad driving record.

 

accident reports are the officer's opinion. yes you were following too closely. just pay it (it's cheap like 30 + court costs) and go on with your life. damage estimate is officer's opinion as well. anything with estimated damage over $1500 is a reportable crash which means they have to do the crash report. less than 1500 is not reportable and usually is just an information exchange of insurance, vehicle, driver info. Unless there's any injury in which case it's reportable no matter how much damage is done. If it's a reportable crash, you can bet your ass somebody's getting a ticket. Now, having said that i have seen a totalled Mercedes (single vehicle no injury) written as a non reportable crash.

 

wtf are you even asking?

 

This.

 

I will never believe a police report again as my mom just got a letter from all state saying she was partially at fault for sitting at a red light and getting rear ended by some rubber necking douche.