Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: A great way to save money (car accidents)

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-09-2003, 02:15 AM:

Today I got rear-ended by a 20ish Mexican woman who was apparently too busy fluffing her hair than bothering to watch the road. The details really don't matter all that much, but the lesson learned is priceless.

I get her identification and it is some Mexico ID card. Of course she can't speak any English to me, or perhaps she was pretending that she couldn't speak English, but she could say the words "no police" very well. Yeah, uhuh, like hell I'm not going to call the police. She just busted up the back end of my SUV! Hmmm "no habla Espanol and no police".

So 45 minutes after I call the police (bearing in mind I passed no less than 10 cops in the previous 15 miles of the trip giving out speeding tickets) Mr. Policeman shows up. He gets the girl and puts her in his car and calls up a translator on the phone. The translator reveals that she has no insurance. (Did anyone not see this one coming?) However I learn there is some recent new law that Texas and Mexico struck permitting Mexican residents to live and carry their Mexico IDs legally in Texas. (No I don't have a link, but John Pytlak does.)

So what does this fine, fine policeman do? Want to take a guess? He turns to me and says "she doesn't have insurance so there is nothing we can do" and lets her go!!! That's right, not even so much as a slap on the wrist and a ticket. Yes sirree, he just lets this woman go so she can run off and hit another person to fuck up their car too!

So the moral of the story is, everyone should immediately go out and cancel your insurance. The police won't do anything to you and you are just wasting money by paying for it. My opinion of our fabulous police force has really sank today. The way I see it, he should have impounded her vehicle and given her a ticket at the bare minimum for driving without insurance. I've never been the cause of an accident (although I've been hit many times) and I have this bizarre feeling that because I am going to have to collect on my insurance that my rates will now be raised, in addition of course to having to pay the deductible. So is it me, or is this whole situation just shitty? Was this just a waste of space cop, or am I somehow wrong in my thinking? I'm not sure between those two which I am more angry with.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 07-09-2003, 02:45 AM:

Brad - this is America! It took me and my company 4 months, tons of paperwork and high legal fees to prove my professional background to obtain a work visa.
A lot of the nice people I meet here in Southern California do not speak English either and very obviously have no valid work visas (because I know the requirements, I know that you do not get a visa to work at a drive thru window or a 7-11).

Apparently under this new law anyone from Mexico can come to Texas (do we have the same law here in California too?) without going through all this. Why would they take her word for it that she has no insurance? She most likely didn`t have any, but shouldn`t this be checked?

Also, if you do not have insurance, and you damage somebody else`s car, do you not have to pay for the damage out of your own pocket?

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-09-2003, 02:46 AM:

Not having an insurance card when stopped will get you a $400-600 fine up here in Washington. At the very least, you have to show up in court to prove you had insurance when you were pulled over. Considering that's what WE have to live by, I'd be freaking out if a cop let someone off because they were from "South of the border". [Mad]

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 07-09-2003, 03:19 AM:

In the commonwealth of Massachussetts you must have insurance to register your vehicle. If you are stopped without insurance you go to jail.

Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 07-09-2003, 03:32 AM:

That is one serious pile of [bs]

!!

Getting caught driving without auto insurance in Maine is an almost guaranteed way to get arrested!
Not to mention just plain stupid, considering all the things that can happen to cars on the roads in thise state - moose, deer, winter, people 'from away' ...

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-09-2003, 03:56 AM:

I thought in Texas if you don't have insurance, The Great State of TexASS will pay one day's rent free of charge in the "Cross-Bar Hotel." This happened to a friend of mine about 20 years ago.

I would presume you are going to have a few "discussions" with the TexASS Law Enforcement facilities, and maybe a few politicians? This is your chance to strike and really cause some flack for a bunch of crooked incompetent cops. I would jump at the chance to really stur up some Bullshit - (a product of which TexASS is notorious for!!!)

At least you were not injured. [Smile]

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-09-2003, 05:12 AM:

quote:
At least you were not injured

Ditto. Of course, Paul... If Brad had sprayed a little of his own product on his car, she'd have skidded right off without leaving so much as a speck of dirt base scratch.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-09-2003, 08:02 AM:

The problem I see here is that she damaged your property and she had a problem driving. Is it ok (from a driving sitation issue) to just hit one another in Texas? If not, insurance or no, she committed a moving violation. As to fixing your vehicle, you can always sue her just like for any property damage.

Steve

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-09-2003, 08:33 AM:

Ask and ye shall receive:

Insurance Journal

Texas Court Opinion

Immigrant Drivers Information

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 07-09-2003, 09:26 AM:

In Tennessee... they passed a law several years ago that freely gives out Tennessee Drivers Licenses to non-resident aliens and immagrants without proper documentation. All you have to do to prove you live in the state is provide a copy of your phone bill or a canceled check for your rent. It's ridiculus.

Of course our state requires proof of liability insurance at the time of registration, but most of them will drop it immeadiately afterwards.

Brad... what happened to you was just plain wrong!

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 07-09-2003, 09:41 AM:

Brad, I hope you got the name of everyone involved (the policeman and the woman) and enough information to use if you wish to take anyone to court.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 07-09-2003, 10:39 AM:

Glad you're ok Brad! Do you know how much damage she caused yet?

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 07-09-2003, 10:45 AM:

Brad,

Sorry to hear about your situation, however this highlights for the need of Uninsured and underinsured motorists on policies.

In this situation it appears that immigrants actually away with more than U.S. Citizens do (go figure). If you have a Texas drivers licence, have no insurance, and have an accident they will suspend your licence, and its a pain in the rear to get it back. [fu]

Texas Legislators.

[thumbsdown]

to any law that gives prefferental treatment to people that are not even in this country legally, or don't conform to our regulations.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-09-2003, 02:02 PM:

There are certain steps that need to be taken here:

1. Nuke Mexico. No one needs it, and it would solve a lot of problems. Even though we are America, we really shouldn't let so damn many people into the country and take our jobs.

2. Hope somehow that same lady rear-ends into the cop that let her go during his off hours. Remember, the police are better human beings than you and he won't let it slide if it actually happens to him. When it happens to you though, it's a waste of his time. You should know better.

3. Nuke Mexico again. It's the only way to be sure.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-09-2003, 03:50 PM:

This situation is not unique to Texas: pretty much the same thing happened to me in the north-east of England.

That day - Thursday 28 November 2002 to be anally precise - was a pretty shitty one for yours truly. Two days before my car had been nicked from the car park of the University at which I work (from right under the lens of a CCTV camera, as it happened). It was discovered abandoned the following day with a smashed quarterlight and minus the radio. So that Thursday morning I collected it from the police pound, got the quarterlight replaced and drove it to the very same car park from whence it was nicked, at work.

About 8 hours later, on the Thursday evening, I drove it out of the university, turned onto the main street through Middlesbrough leading to the A19 to York... then some t--t promply turned right out of a side street straight into the side of me. The damage was dents and scrapes, but did not render my car unroadworthy.

The car which hit me contained the driver and four passengers. It was a dark, rainy evening and the windows were steamed up (which, I suspect, was the reason why he turned right when the road wasn't clear). Two of the rear seat passengers were screaming kids, which probably distracted the driver further. The vehicle in question was a 10 year-old BMW; the inhabitants were all Asian and the driver either could not or would not speak English to me.

After having established that no-one had been injured, I called the police from my brainfryer (under UK law you have to report any road accident causing injury or damage to property to the police within 24 hours). I explained that the other driver appeared not to speak English and either could not or would not give me his insurance details (which he has to do by law) and asked them to attend. But their response was that I had fulfilled my legal obligations and as far as the police were concerned, the matter was closed.

I took photographs and reported the incident to my insurers. Their lawyers checked the BMW's registration against official records... and found that the BMW was logged as having been scrapped four years ago! Its last legitimate owner had paperwork which was all in order, and the scrap merchant he'd sold it to turned out to be a bogus company name with a false address.

So thanks to our shitty system this moron was driving a car around which officially no longer existed, was undoubtedly uninsured and probably a deathtrap on wheels. And not only was he willing to risk his own life in it, he put his KIDS in there as well! [Mad]

As it happens, no-one was hurt and no real financial damage was done, either. My car is a bit older than his and has nearly a quarter of a million miles on the clock, so I'm just going to continue driving it up and down the A19 until some mechanical or engine problem happens which is uneconomic to repair, at which point I'll scrap it (legitimately, I hasten to add) and get another one.

But what would have happened if he'd hit me a bit harder and done me an injury which put me off work for a few weeks? And more to the point, what if he'd hurt his own children in that way? But of course given the perpetrator's ethnic background we're not allowed to ask questions like that, because in the New Labour/New Britain utopia we inhabit that would of course be racism and xenophobia.

Posted by Jeff Stuckey (Member # 1718) on 07-09-2003, 04:15 PM:

Sorry to hear about the misfortune Brad. No justice, no peace, right?

You ought to call one of your local TV news stations and let them know about it. I don't know about Dallas, but here in OKC they thrive over stories about stuff like this. Maybe they can send one of their investigative reporters down to city hall and find out why they would have done that, and the state's policy on such things.

Of course, none of this fixes your car. I'm with you though on the insurance thing. I pay through the nose every month, and so far (knock on wood) have never had a wreck. The one time I do, it will probably be exactly like yours.

Take care man...life could be a lot worse, just watch Jerry Springer.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-09-2003, 04:25 PM:

Brad

Sorry to hear about your situation.

In California, if you are pulled over and have no proof of Insurance in the car. CHP will Impound the car and issue a ticket. Then DMV will send you a nice notice about Insurance afew weeks later. Then you have to send in a proof of insurance back to DMV. Or your licence will be taken away by the DMV.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-09-2003, 05:56 PM:

Brad that is really, unbelievably awful. So so sorry that it happened to you and also that it could happen again.

Here in The Bahamas you have to at least carry Third Party insurance to protect other drivers.

I think the law allows something like 48 hours to get your license and insurance in order if you are pulled over. Obviously, a driver is not covered if his/her insurance is not in good standing (i.e. paid for) at the time of an accident. There are also annual vehicle inspection stickers that have to be kept current at all times.

Back to Brad's story -- it's interesting that she was so nervous about getting the police involved since they turned out to be a great ally for her. It makes me wonder if there was anything else she may have said (read: promised) to the officer. I wonder about that because what happened seems way off-balance with what one would have expected.

Posted by Matt Hale (Member # 1518) on 07-09-2003, 06:48 PM:

Out here on Canada's fabulous left coast we have socialized car insurance. There is only one insurance company (The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) and they pretty much are the DMV, as well as having close ties to police and ministry of highways too. While I am not generally a fan of this setup it can make uninsured drivers easier to spot because if you dont buy insurance you dont get a liscense plate.

About a year ago my rear plate was stolen while I was parked at a gas station. After reporting it to the police and ICBC I was told just to drive to the nearest ICBC office and they would issue a new plate. Over the course of that journey (under 10 miles) I was stopped no less than 3 times and asked to produce proof of insurance. Fortunately each time the officer was satisfied after showing them my insurance certificate and giving them my case number.

As of a couple of years ago extended auto coverage was opened up to competition, but all cars and drivers must still get their basic compulsory insurance from ICBC.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-09-2003, 07:30 PM:

I think I agree about the TV news idea. Brad doesn't like being on TV, but they could just investigate the law and the P.D. and come up with a story.

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 07-09-2003, 10:06 PM:

Did she have an address and phone number? Maybe you should post it here. [Wink]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-09-2003, 10:34 PM:

I have everything on her except for her blood type. I've got her car's license plates, VIN number, picturs of the wreck and I even have a copy of her Mexico ID (digital cameras are a wonderful thing to have in the car during a wreck). Heck, I even have the phone number who she called right after this happened. (Yes, I let her use my cell phone.)

I really like the media coverage idea. I'll be damned if some cop is going to let this slide while I'm out roughly $2000 in damage to my car or having to collect on my insurance. At bare minimum I can at least give that cop's supervisor a few fun filled days of bad exposure. I didn't get the guy's name or badge number, but anyone want to guess what I'll be doing tomorrow on the phone? I have no use for careless cops who are too lazy to do their job. May he choke on his next donut.

Of course these guys have no problem ticketing people about wearing their seatbelt! With the frequency of them on the side of the road, you'd think it was some kind of sex for them. It's really hard to have respect for those who "serve and protect", when they harass and let the guilty walk free.

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 07-09-2003, 11:34 PM:

Here in Michigan, A No-fault state, your insurance company has to pay for your own car when damaged unless you are legally parked. I learned this the hard way 2 years ago when a drunk driver hit my 1975 Trans-Am I was restoring/occasionally driving, thus I had only Comprehensive insurance (covers going into the ditch and hitting deer). The drunk got away with only giving me $500 (the maximum penalty for the at-fault driver, (my car being worth $6000). and a few legal consequences. I think many states insurance laws have to change, whoever is responsible for the accident should have to pay NO Matter What... even if their car/home/dog/wife/first born child has to be sold to do it.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-10-2003, 02:12 AM:

I think what this boils down to is the difference between passing a law and enforcing it.

Here is it illegal to drive without third party insurance and an annual certificate indicating that your car has been examined and found to be in a mechanically safe condition. But as I found out, a great many people do so. If it is possible to drive around in a car which is officially registered as having been scrapped four years ago, then clearly these laws are not being enforced.

Stopping someone without a seat belt is an easy, straightforward crime to detect and enforce. Furthermore the offenders are usually non-violent, responsible citizens who are very likely to concede that they have been fairly apprehended (i.e. no risk to the police officer).

Driving an unregistered, uninsured car, on the other hand, is far more difficult to detect and enforce. I'm sure that tracking down the owner of that BMW could be done, but doing so would take up a lot of police time and detective work. The police will tell you that their time is more usefully spent catching rapists and drug dealers. However, I'm not so sure. The offence this person committed is more like organised crime than a one-off offence resulting from an error or forgetfulness. I sometimes think that fighting organised crime seems like too much like hard work and risk for our police. Far better to catch lots of non-seatbelt wearers and other minor criminals - it'll make the statistics look better.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-10-2003, 03:21 AM:

Brad, without reading all of the replies here... My blood pressure will not take it! I will explode! I am really surprised and dismayed that the cops did not even issue a ticket for no insurance to this POS, irresponsible law-breaker! (I assume Texas has a law that requires liability insurance?)

This is ANOTHER PERFECT EXAMPLE of how OUR FEDERAL AND STATE lawmakers are afraid to lose votes so they can stay in office and have their cushy phony baloney jobs at a cost to all hard-working citizens! [fu]

They much rather support and/or turn their head from all the ILLEGAL Mexican immigrants by giving them SPECIAL RIGHTS and having you and me pay for them in our schools, health-care, uninsured-driver insurance, and of course our criminal justice system!!!!!! [Mad]

I am all for LEGAL Mexican immigration, BUT I have NO tolerance for the LAWBREAKERS! They only take away from our resources and from people of other counties that follow the rules and want to come here for a "better" life. [Frown]

I, for one, am SICK TO HELL of our pussy-ass, vote-grabbing, POS law-makers!!!!! It's about time they got some BALLS and started supporting ALL US citizens and those that are here legally. [sex]

Well, that's it for now… I have to go and take a valium B4 I have a heart attack!!!!! [Big Grin]

(Brad, I would go out and get the BEST FUCKING ANTI- IMMIGRANT ATTORNEY you can find and sue the hell outta that bitch AND the irresponsible CITY!) [thumbsup]

>>> Phil

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-10-2003, 03:28 AM:

I agree.

quote:
Today I got rear-ended by a 20ish Mexican woman...

A car accident is bad enough, but sexual assault as well... [Big Grin]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 07-10-2003, 05:07 AM:

Here is what I don`t understand: what do American politicians gain from acting in the way Phil described. After all, illegal Mexicans don`t get to vote.(Or do they?)

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 07-10-2003, 07:14 AM:

Here in North Carolina, you must have insurance when you go to purchase a license plate. If you allow your insurance to lapse, you MUST surrender the plate. I've seen the sheriffs dept going to peoples homes to get plates.

Am I on drugs, or do some people in the US not have to abide by the same rules that tax-payers do? I'm getting tired of seeing examples of this.

GO GET EM' BRAD! Make her sorry that she let her insurance drop.

She KNEW she was in the wrong by saying things about her insurance problem.

Due to an employment problem in Georgia in the 1980's, I drove for a day without insurance. I went through a license check that day. To make a long story short, I had to sell the car. MAKE HER STOP DRIVING!!

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 07-10-2003, 08:57 AM:

quote:
After all, illegal Mexicans don`t get to vote.(Or do they?)

In Tennessee they do! Our new "Motor/Voter" law that was passed several years ago automatically registers you to vote when you get your drivers license. So... when the illegals get their license (with their phone bill as proof of residency), they're signed up to vote as well.

Makes NO freakin' sence!!

My wife and I got rear ended a couple of years ago by a drunk mexican guy out in front of the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. At the time she was about 5 months pregnant with our first child and we had gone out that morning to buy a video camera.

The roads were packed full of people, and this guy came barreling up behind us and plowed into the back of my '89 Beretta. The trailer hitch on my car penetrated the radiator on his Honda and broke out all the lights on the front end of his car. My car was untouched. Since I saw him coming in the rear view mirror, I was standing on the brakes when he hit.

Anyway, after making sure my wife and soon to be son were OK, I got out to look at the damage. He got out and offered to by us lunch at the mexican restuarant where he worked. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, so I immeadiately got the cell phone to call the police. As I called the police, he got back into his car and drove off..busted raditor and all. I did get his license plate number, but the ploice never showed up. They too said there was nothing they could do about it.
[fu]

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 07-10-2003, 09:30 AM:

Brad that sucks. What ass hole thought up that retarded law and it passed.

I would bring this to the local media attention. If they are like the local news here, they love stories about cops and laws that don't help out the American public.

Again, that sucks and I'm sorry, maybe you should move.

Nuke Mexico

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-10-2003, 09:56 AM:

Texas seems to have stupid laws. Maybe we should nuke Texas as well. Wait. EVERY damn state has stupid laws. So that wouldn't work. Is there a disease that kills only stupid people that we can unleash?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-10-2003, 10:31 AM:

quote:
My wife and I got rear ended a couple of years ago by a drunk mexican guy out in front of the mall...

Both at the same time? And in public?

quote:
The roads were packed full of people...

I bet!

quote:
The trailer hitch on my car penetrated the radiator on his Honda...

And there was innocent little me thinking that Crash was just fiction! [Eek!]

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 07-10-2003, 11:09 AM:

Joe here is a site for Dumb State Laws : dumb laws

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 07-10-2003, 12:27 PM:

Sorry to hear about that Brad. Sounds like its time for you to break out the Pimp Hand and Bitchslap somebody.

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 07-10-2003, 01:23 PM:

Brad, sorry to hear that happened to you.
Theres nothing I can suggest or say that is any different than anybodies elses view so all I can say is good luck.

Joe mentioned nuking Texas. He almost had it right, what he meant was NUKE MEXICO with a nuetron bomb and make a bunch more states.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-10-2003, 05:42 PM:

No Sam, I already mentioned nuking Mexico... twice. [Smile]

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 07-11-2003, 06:39 AM:

Actually, I think half of the Mexican population lives here in Vegas. Whether or not they have Green Cards is another thing... [Big Grin]

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 07-11-2003, 09:00 AM:

quote:
And there was innocent little me thinking that Crash was just fiction!

What is Crash?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-11-2003, 09:16 AM:

A novel by J.G. Ballard about people who are sexually aroused by road accidents, which was later made into a film by David Cronenberg.

Info on the book.
Info on the film.