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When I taught my kids to drive, I taught them that they should see both rear tires of the car in front of them when stopped at a light. This ensures that they are far enough back from them in case they roll back a little on a hill when starting forward but also gives enough room that should they see something coming in their rearview they should have enough room to get around the car in front of them.
One of the Smith driving principles, "leave yourself and out" - You never know when you have to get around the car in front of you, because it stalled, caught fire, etc, any CDL driver should know the Smith driving principles and she came up on you, which not only means she saw you before she stopped, but she stopped so close she didn't leave room to get around you, or even to see you in case you had a heart attack or something.
Get a lawyer and go after her employer. It is not a simple fix on a car that hasn't been made in 12 years. Get a shop that will thoroughly document (professional notes and photo/video) the unseen damage they find as they disassemble. Don't accept the settlement up front based on an estimate, wait until the repair is complete and it has been thru a thorough road test and alignment to make sure it doesn't drive all "wankered" as they say in England.
I’m sorry that happened to you. A similar thing happened to me on Father’s Day going to the Blackhawk cars and coffee with my teenage son. I was in my 2000 S2K with 26k at the light when a GX460 tapped me in the back. I was furious and kept cursing at the driver. He was looking to his left at the cross traffic and didn’t notice I was still at the light. My damage wasn’t as bad as yours and after much consideration, I decided to use PDR for the repair. I wanted to keep the original paint and didn’t want any mismatch or blending of the paint job. Took me a while but finally found a guy who was willing to do the job with the understanding that it may not be 100% perfect. I knew that going in but at least I still have the original paint. I ended buying another used trunk lid in silverstone as a backup just in case I want to switch it out. Obviously, your damage is much more severe. My outrage resurfaced as soon as I saw your post.
Visibility is an issue with small, low cars, especially in an urban setting and ever more popular SUV's and trucks, though cameras, etc. should help longer term. Have drivers bump me all the time in the front and the back. Just the other day, I'm parallel parked behind a vehicle. A person walks up and nods to me, gets in, and immediately backs into my front end. The front end has been bumped so much I just rolled my window down and waved him on since I expected there was limited further damage. Unbelievable!
This sucks! So sorry OP. My wife was rear ended by a Semi. These companies have VERY good insurance so make sure to get a good price for the damage/car. If the insurance company plays games with you and your insurance get an attorney if needed. After weeks/months of not returning calls it was the best decision we ever made. Takes much longer but they will fully get what you deserve. Best of luck glad it was not worse.
Awful - and scary. Glad you are OK. Lots of good advice given, but when you're stopped at the light in traffic, not much you can do. Ever since a bus tried to change lanes on top of my CRX in a tunnel, I've wished for a train horn in my small cars. Wonder if we should have safety flags, like we use at the sand dunes.
Damn. Can't even have a pleasant drive without some cunt ruining your day.
I had a look at that companies profile at the DOT and their safety ratings are above the national average. They were also involved in 2 accidents in the past 24 months with one involving an injury. I'm not sure if information like that would be helpful to your case but if it does, feel free to pull them up on fmcs.dot.gov.
Damn. Can't even have a pleasant drive without some **** ruining your day.
I had a look at that companies profile at the DOT and their safety ratings are above the national average. They were also involved in 2 accidents in the past 24 months with one involving an injury. I'm not sure if information like that would be helpful to your case but if it does, feel free to pull them up on fmcs.dot.gov.
Shouldn't it be standard practice with driving oversize vehicle that you make sure you can see the vehicle in front when pulling up to a light?
I find it infuriating how close everyone both drives behind and pulls up behind the next vehicle.
I fear for the future version of this scenario with a motorcycle, and an electric (silent) truck.
It is standard practice to stop while you can still see the vehicle in front of you. I drove truck for 23 years(a little over 2 million miles) and for the first 14 years of driving I had a COE(cab over engine) and there was no hood to block your view. When I got my first standard cab truck it took a while to figure out where your front tires were and your bumper. Never hit anyone but came close a time or two the first week or so.
The hood has to be that tall because when I was out on the road I had a 14L straight 6 cyl. engine under the hood that weighed around 3000 lbs You just can't make a small engine pull 80,000 lbs down the road. On a side note, I wish the trucks in the US had the same type of brakes they have in Europe, no truck I ever drove could stop as well m/t or loaded as the one in this video. By the way the truck in the video is a COE
If it was reported to the police then there will be a Car Fax report indicating a vehicle accident and it will lower resale price big time. Make sure you get the devalued amount from the insurance company. It’s damaged goods from here on! Glad your ok.
