OUCH! My poor baby.

I have to apologize up front because my first reaction to Godiva's account of the accident was to laugh outright at the cascade of errors, misperceptions and escalating actions that went BANG against a sharp final pitard of irony.

I am sincerely sorry the episode has such severe repercussions for what should have been a trivial encounter, and I hope Godiva's renewed Prius comes out of the shop better than it was when it left the dealer's lot - and that any actual financial costs turn out to be relatively trivial.

Meanwhile, as far as fault, this is evil gods toying with human frailty, and neither Godiva nor the truck driver can be blamed for anything more serious than being human.

First, the truck driver sees he might be beat by an opposing Prius onto the northbound leg, so he keeps his speed up and, from the sound of it, virtually cuts Godiva off getting through the turn. He's only got a YIELD sign - no reason to stop - but neither does he yield: he abandons courtesy and zooms into the turn ahead of Godiva.

Godiva feels slighted (she should, considering she believes the truck ran a stop sign); the truck driver feels a little guilty for his discourtesy (as he should).

Godiva completes the turn right behind the truck and decides, in an all too human way, to express her pique at being cut off. Does she fire the 55mm cannon mounted between the ICE and the ignition module and blow the truck into the next county? No, she's a decent person: she simply toots the horn a tart blast. She does so in the hope that the truck driver will be made to feel guilty for cutting her off.

What she (and anyone else in the same situation would also) fail to take into account is that the truck driver ALREADY feels guilty, so all the horn blast does for him is escalate his feelings to new heights, driving him to do something completely unexpected and dangerous: stop in his tracks. Not pull over and stop, which is what a normally rational mind would have done - get out of the road and out of the way if you're going to stop - no this guy's feelings have overwhelmed his good sense and he stops right in his tracks, knowing he'd "done wrong" back there at the turn and now he's gotta "defend his honor."

Except the LAST thing poor Godiva expected was that the truck driver would actually react to her horn, and certainly not by stopping abruptly dead in front of her, so WHAM BANG crunch goes the Prius and they are into ACT 2 and its hilarious dialogue.

If there's a"jerk" in this comic-opera it's the truck driver, to my mind, but I can't see blaming either driver for the accident because it was the inevitable result of people reacting in what they perceived as small, appropriate ways to the situation: she honks, he stops. What could be more innocuous?

Next time, they get the cannon, eh Godiva?

What you should do is peddle this story to a sitcom screenwriter - it'd make a great centerpiece in just about any sitcom out there (much better than 95% of what passes for humor in most of those shows) - the royalties might be enough to buy a fleet of Priuses!

I wish you the best -

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

Hey signboy, mind if I drive in front of you and stopped suddenly just on a whim?

 

Godiva doesn't mention she was at a stop sign, just that she was turning left. What sounds stupid is the placement of the yield sign. Who is the truck driver suppose to yield to if he doesn't have to stop? Usually on-coming traffic has the right of way to someone doing a left hand turn, so at this intersection it's opposite of that? Even if Godiva had a stop sign who is the truck driver suppose to yield to? I don't think I've ever seen this arrangement. It seems to make more sense to have just one stop sign on the vertical part of the T and that's it, or go with three stop signs. Maybe someone screwed up painting the road.

 

I am sorry about your Prius! You are not at fault for using your horn! Hang in there and let us know how it comes out.

 

No matter how many assumptions, explanations or reconstructions are discussed here the fact is we were not there.

I look on the posting here to be supportive, offer HELPFUL advise and not make the poster regret making the post in the first place.

I make an exception for signboy...

IF signboy is not a troll, someday his karma will call. What a shameful rant!
At first I thought he was 14 years old but looking up his other thread below, he said he was old.

His other post is similar:

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=13035&st=0

"I am amazed at how gullible so many here are to be so smart."

All he did there was antagonize as well.

 

To Godiva,

My condolences on your troubles. I hope for you that your car will come back in perfect condition and that the financial troubles won't be unbearable. The most important thing to come out of this is that nobody got hurt (if that is correct). Cars, after all, can be fixed or replaced. Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

That's probably enough damage that you needed to get the police to fill out a report of some kind.

What does the police report say? "Act of God accident", or "Prius owner caused it" or "Truck owner caused it".... Who did the police access the cause to? I think they need to do that for the insurance company maybe.

and secondly,

Did anyone get a ticket.... Failure to yield right of way, following too close, etc..?

Who did the police decide was the stupid guy/gal?

 

I don't know about other states, but here in Florida ALL rear-end collisions are the fault of the person in the rear. They were following too close. Maybe it is different in other states.

As you guys continue to coddle this WRECK-CAUSER it makes it worse. One writer offered "condolences" for the wreck.

Maybe I should try to rob a bank, get caught and then whine on here.

Maybe in other states it is OK to whack someone in the rear end for being rude.

I was not trying to start a fight in any way. However, flipping people off, honking, swerving toward them and all things like that are evidence of immature drivers.

You guys continue to drive like that if you wish. We need more jerks on the road in hybrid cars. There is already enough in pickup trucks.

Two facts:

1. She escalated the incident by honking and follwing too close.
2. She followed too close.

Had she simply slowed down like an adult and let it go then her car would not be a heap of metal now.

There are ALWAYS consequences for bad behavior...adults know that.

 

Signboy, I think most states including Fla, when someone rear ends someone it's the driver in the rear that is thought to be at fault. I rear ended a lady at a red light. We both had stopped for the red light (sort of like a T with us both on the vertical turning right), when the light turned green she went into the intersection and for no reason stopped. I started to go at the same time she did, I took a quick glance to my left and when I looked back saw that she had stopped and bumped into her. I broke her taillight and offer to pay for it, she refused and said she wanted to talk to her husband. Police were called and we both made statements. Later that day I got a call from her husband saying he wanted three days of pay for his wife. I said talk to the insurance company. So began my year long experience with being sued for her back and neck injuries (she was able to meet all the dollar thresholds and had doctors to back up claims), loss of her job, couldn't sleep with her husband any more, etc. They wanted around $75,000+. This went to a two week jury trial.


Signboy, If you were that lady how much do you think the jury should award you for being rear ended?

 

Godiva,

The insurance companies usually let 'ya get away with one accident, unless you were doing somethign really grievous.

Fixing yours won't be a problem - it'll come out looking like new, and most likely will stay that way for the life of your car, which hopefully will be a long, long time. I'm a magnet for bad drivers - i've been hit like half a dozen times (i'm waiting for an '06 next month - my last car was smashed by a semi on the freeway. My first thought was 'Gee, surprising to be alive right now, and, later, guess its time to buy that Prius).

The quality of the repairs always surprises me. The only sorry episodes were many years ago and really cheap shops, where the paint faded differently many years later. Take it to a good shop, and don't worry about it.

The first person to run into me was a 17 year old kid, and the lesson he taught me was far beyond the damage. I was about 30. He was responsible, apologetic, and had more grace than I showed in forgiveness. He shocked the heck out of my wife and I be sending a gift certificate for a nice dinner out by way of additional apology. I often think back about that when I'm in a situation where I'm at fault, and over the years, I've bought a lot of those dinners.

Rick

 

Govida,

Ignoring me is fine. Your friends are doing a great job standing around in a circle and telling you what you want to hear.

Your title of your post is "I REAR-ENDED..."

Maybe you and your whiny friends here could better handle this by changing your story to "HE JAMMED HIS CAR IN REVERSE AND RAN INTO ME. WHAT WILL I DO?"

You have yet to take responsibility for your actions.

 

Godiva, All we need now is a close-up (Hybrid ) Google map of the offending intersection . . .

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.731263,-...22439&t=h&hl=en

. . . then the PriusChat jury can come to a decision.

I feel a poll is in order.
So I made one . . .
http://priuschat.com/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=13228

[the “Poll Only†option did not work . . . please vote there, but respond here]

 

O.K. WHO LOCKED MY POLL!!!</span> :angry:
(If it was an attempt to lock out the replies - I’m all for that - but it also locked out voting in the poll.
If that was indeed the intended result, may I remind you that it was posted in FHOP?!
That, and the fact that I was locked-out from replying to Godiva’s posting of “It was an accident. Get over it.â€

To which I was going to reply:

This was only meant as a lighthearted joke. Sorry if it offends you. I was only trying make light of what happened to your post, not your situation. Absurdity as a form of humor sometimes comes across the wrong way.
(So Godiva . . . did you vote? ) I didn't.

Please, at least unlock the Poll!


<span style=\'color:red\'>[Update: The locking of the poll was inadvertent, and the poll is now open. The poll was meant as an inditement against the absurdity to which this string has swung. Godiva was looking for some commiseration with others who have been involved in what can only be described as an ACCIDENT . . . not to be skewered by fellow PriusChatters.]

 

Yoo Hoo Signboy,

If you rear-end someone at night because he doesn't have is lights on it's your fault?

Someone parked on the side of the road suddenly pulls out in front of you and you rear-end him. Your fault?

Someone runs out of gas on a curving stretch of freeway, doesn't pull over and just sits in their car to call AAA, forgets to put on emergency flashers or turn signals, you rear-end him. Your fault?

ALL?

 

Gak, that's entirely too many red birds in one place. Which way
is north on the .gif? How far does cardinal *road* continue?
How could you both have been on cardinal *road* if cardinal *road*,
*drive*, and *lane* all converge at one spot [as it looks like here]?
What's the expected traffic flow around the offending intersection,
i.e. who's supposed to yield to who, at least on paper?
.
If it's any help, and it probably isn't at this point, I try to not
not make any assumptions about what anyone else is going to do, and
make my own actions very deliberate and low-transition-rate [that
is to say not necessarily *slow*, but clear and predictable]. That
has saved my butt [and bodywork] more times than I can count, and
while it gets me honked at on some occasions where someone else is
*assuming* I'm going to whip my turn and then I don't, but in a way
that they have ample forewarning to *not* accelerate hell-bent into
me. No biggie, I'm out of their impatient, little-head-driving way
soon enough and life goes on. And of course people do weird and
abrupt things right in front of me sometimes but usually I've
anticipated that they *are* going to do that and have already
adjusted accordingly.
.
It's sort of hard to explain -- the "defensive driving" moniker
doesn't quite cover it, and I haven't come up with a better term.
And one of these days it may fail me in an inescapable situation
anyways; nothing's foolproof.
.
_H*