driving fun

[cellio]

Dear City of Pittsburgh,

I'm not unreasonable; I don't expect pristine roads while snow is actually falling. But you've known this was coming for days, and it's not off hours, and Forbes Avenue is kind of a major road (to say nothing of the lesser roads). I really expected to see some evidence of plowing or salting this morning.

No love,
Monica

Dear driver from Ohio,

You should be familiar with the white fluffy stuff from back home. No one else on the highway is having difficulty maintaining the posted minimum speed of 40mph. If you really think that's twice what's safe, could you at least have the decency to stop swerving between lanes and slamming on your brakes at every little twitter of fear? And maybe consider getting off at the next exit and taking local roads?

But hey, at least I know my horn works now.

What is the law (and etiquette, for that matter) concerning stopping for accidents you witness but aren't in? Ever since I was run down by someone speeding through a red light, and not one of the several witnesses stopped to support my story (or see if I was ok -- I was thrown several feet), I've tried to stop if I actually see the accident and I can. I always stop if I see clear fault (and especially if I think the underdog is going to take the hit unfairly, like when the bicyclist or pedestrian really was being stupid), or if anyone seems to be injured. (Well, unless police or an ambulance just happen to be there...) But I didn't stop for either of the two fender-benders I saw on my way to work today, because they looked minor and what would be the point? It got me wondering about what my obligations are in all of these cases, from fender-benders up to major squishings, in light of my observation that no one else ever seems to stop. Does everyone just assume that the insurance companies, police, and ambulance crew will work it out, and your testimony or other help is irrelevant?

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

That is a good question -- about stopping. I often use my cell phone to notify police that it is there...if I witnessed the accident directly, I think I'd stop and give my name to whoever seemed right to give it to, or wait around for police. I've never witnessed an accident that I wasn't involved in, though.

Wow -- no one stopped when you were hit? That is terrible. I was hit when I was 17, and I remember being appalled (as only a teenager can be) with the crowd that assembled. One guy wrecked his own car chasing the car that hit me, in fact (not a police car). Upside of that was that the driver was caught and charged.

But then, I got hit in Verona (yep, where I teach now), which is pretty much a small town. People reacted the way small town folk tend to when there is trouble. Where was your accident?

[cellio]

I was hit in Swissvale, at Braddock and Edgewood and, err, whatever that other street is. (The intersection with the CoGo and gas station, near the overpass that trucks often get stuck under because they don't understand that 10'6" means them.)

If anyone stopped, the gesture didn't extend to actually getting out of the car. There was a line of traffic stopped at the red light when it happened; any of those people could have pulled into the adjacent parking lot, walked over, and handed me a phone number, but none did.

[cellio]

This is, by the way, why I will always carry the full-tort option on my auto policy. It has already paid for itself for a couple decades. The driver's insurance company was going to stiff me; they didn't believe my account and I couldn't prove it, and they mistakingly believed I had signed away my right to sue over it. When I told them I had full-tort coverage, they settled within a day. It wasn't a big settlement, and I think I could have gotten more in court, but I also would have had the hassle of going to court, and really what I wanted was expenses and fair compensation for my hassle. The lawyer I talked to at the time gave me some guidelines on what would be fair for that type of accident.

In retrospect it wasn't enough, as the accident was a non-trivial contributor to my leaving my then-employer. But I couldn't have known that at the time.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that intersection. I can't believe no one stopped. That is terrible.

A lot of people won't, though.