I'm a holiday weekend statistic.

[Jind]

So - I'm an official "Thanksgiving Weekend" statistic - one of the 200+ accidents here in CT that state police have responded to.

Yup - smashed in the front end of my car.

Damn Dogs!!!!!

It's a true story too, not just one of those fake bullshit stories to cover for stupidity.

I was going down rt. 74 here in CT on my way to the store to do some grocery shopping, came over the crest of a hill and saw a dog (a yellow lab) in the road in the opposite lane. Well, the car that was two cars ahead of me, slammed on their breaks, the girl in the car in front of me slammed on hers, and me, being the last in line had to do the same. We had rain yesterday so I hydroplaned right into the rear end of her car. The dog ran off up the hill towards where I suspect it lives. This is out in a very rural area mind you.

Fortunately no one was hurt, called the police and when they showed up a guy that lives across from where the accident happened came out and told the officer that he has called several times in the past two weeks about that very same dog being off leash and in the road and almost caused several other accidents - he also told the officer that he believed the dog lived up around the corner. After clearing the scene, the police officer was heading up to the possible owners house to give them a ticket for the dog being loose.

My car took the brunt of it while the girls car had some damage, but not as much as mine. Unfortunately this ones going to be on my dime as I'm the one at the end of the accident and they tend to always assign responsibility to the driver at the end of chain collision. My insurance will cover it with no problems, but we'll have to wait to see if my rates go up. The cop was nice enough to not give me the common ticket "Following to Close" as is usual for these types of accidents so we will see.

I'm glad that neighbor came out and told the cop about the dog - he probably saved me from a ticket.

So - my car is at the body shop waiting for the adjuster to come out and determine what needs to be fixed - it looked mostly cosmetic as the car was still running and nothing was rubbing against the tires or anything, but it's going to be out of operation for probably at least two weeks - time to go get a rental today.

To add insult to injury - last night someone took out a telephone poll near our house so we lost power for about 3 hours - unfortunately it also took out my network router as the power went down and up about three times really fast - so now I need to also go pickup a new router today.

Happy $%@#ing Thanksgiving indeed! Can't wait for Merry $%@#ing Christmas!

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

I've had more than my fair share of accidents in my short time driving so I know how much they suck. It especially sucks when you know there was nothing you could do to avoid it. Not to thread hijack but I once had someone make a left turn right in front of me while I was going 40 mph. Totalled the car and fucked up my back/neck. My added insult to injury was I called AAA for towing and they never called, but they convinced the driver to serve them first because they were "closer". I was fucking pissed. Glad you're alright, shit happens.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Sorry to hear about that dude, and glad to hear the negligent dog owners are getting penalized, that's the shit that really pisses me off

 

[Nebulous]

Glad to hear you're ok though Jind.

 

[jangoux]

Dude, that sucks. I've been hit 3 times and it sucks. Sucks even more being without a car for long periods.

 

[Russtopher]

I don't know if CT is the same as MA, but I'm appealing being found at fault for rear ending someone in nearly the same type of conditions. I'm just waiting on the date to head to Boston for the appeal.

I was heading onto an onramp from 1 highway to another, when we had unexpected backup *just* around the onramp curve due to an accident at the top of the ramp (someone skidded right off the highway and into some trees during a rainstorm). The car in front of me actually ended up on the side of the car I ended up hitting; they skidded and hydroplaned but were able to go off the pavement entirely and onto some grass. Unfortunately I couldn't do the same, so it was either slide into a car, or go right through the guardrail. Thankfully damage was minimal to both cars (we thought), no one was hurt, but instead of a few hundred dollars to fix some paint he got an estimate for nearly $2K for body damage while my Saturn had a few scratches that buffed out.

When I filled out my insurance claim, they said drivers who end up doing the rear-ending in those instances usually have around an 80%-85% chance of winning an appeal; proof of bad weather plus an unexpected circumstance usually help get surcharges waived, and no points on your record. It's a $50 filing fee win or lose up here in MA, but it's worth it to try it. Good luck!

 

[eyes of wrath]

I live in CT too and work as an EMT. We see so many issues like this all the time and most of the time the person at the end of the chain is found at fault, regardless of the circumstances. My brother in law had the same issue a few years back and was given a ticket for following too close (I-91). Good luck to you on the repairs though.