Wife just got rear ended

[stomachmonkey]

She's OK, low speed impact.

Bumper on the Yukon is slightly pushed down.

Trailer wiring junction is a bit mangled and pushed against the spare so that will have to be dealt with.

Teenage driver on her phone.

She asked my wife to not call the Police, no license.

Told wife absolutely call the cops I'm on the way.

By the time I got there the local FD had been out for a lunch run so of course they stopped to check on everyone and called it in.

Told the young lady, "sorry but you made a conscious decision to drive without a license. It shows a lack of responsibility which does not make me believe you will take care of this.

Yes, this will suck but this is your problem, not mine.

Welcome to life and dealing with the outcome of poor decision making."

I did pull the officer aside and asked him to go as easy as he could on her. Not let her off but consider giving her the fewest citations he could while still doing his job.

[Chocaholic]

Glad momma is ok. Hope the other young lady learned an important lesson about responsibility.

[island911]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Glad momma is ok. Hope the other young lady learned an important lesson about responsibility.

...and physics.

I mean, Yukons do not stop quickly, and can't imagine the offending car/driver faired well against that high-bumpered monster.

[JD159]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

She's OK, low speed impact.

Bumper on the Yukon is slightly pushed down.

Trailer wiring junction is a bit mangled and pushed against the spare so that will have to be dealt with.

Teenage driver on her phone.

She asked my wife to not call the Police, no license.

Told wife absolutely call the cops I'm on the way.

By the time I got there the local FD had been out for a lunch run so of course they stopped to check on everyone and called it in.

Told the young lady, "sorry but you made a conscious decision to drive without a license. It shows a lack of responsibility which does not make me believe you will take care of this.

Yes, this will suck but this is your problem, not mine.

Welcome to life and dealing with the outcome of poor decision making."

I did pull the officer aside and asked him to go as easy as he could on her. Not let her off but consider giving her the fewest citations he could while still doing his job.

Good call. I had a minor collision when I was 18. Fully insured fully licenced. Should of been paying better attention but one does not expect someone two cars in front to be making a stopped left from the passing lane.

Anyway, cop gave me as high of a citation as he could, and I had a blip on my insurance record for the other party claiming.....1000 dollars.

If the situation is reasonable, police and insurance can really make someone's life hectic unnecessarily.

But no licence? Pathetic.

[Evans, Marv]

I'm afraid I wouldn't have asked the officer to go easy on her. That is the kind of treatment that promotes their attitude that nothing is a big deal.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by island911

...and physics.

I mean, Yukons do not stop quickly, and can't imagine the offending car/driver faired well against that high-bumpered monster.

Wife was already stopped for a red light.

Kid was texting (she denied it).

You could tell from the damage to her car she likely never got on the brakes.

Trailer hitch on the Yukon punched a hole in her bumper skin. Lined up pretty well with a no panic brake impact.

Stupid part is she tried claiming the car needed work, her brakes were not working properly. She was taking it in this weekend to be fixed.

Well if thats the case WTF are you doing driving it?

[69porsche]

Originally Posted by evans, marv

i'm afraid i wouldn't have asked the officer to go easy on her. That is the kind of treatment that promotes their attitude that nothing is a big deal.

+ 1

[dienstuhr]

phrasing

Glad everyone is OK

Driving w/o license and insurance is not OK

[Tobra]

It is just a dumb kid trying to mitigate their responsibility and making it worse. Glad the wife is unscathed.

Situations like this are why my father always had his family rolling in ginormous American iron, you could land a Cessna on the hood of the last Caddy mom had. He of course was tooling around in a TR-3 when that was all he could afford, and an XKE when he had the means.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by dienstuhr

phrasing

^^^ This ^^^

You have to admit it's a bit surprising that no one's yet noted their dismay at their own wife's refusal ...

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I'm afraid I wouldn't have asked the officer to go easy on her. That is the kind of treatment that promotes their attitude that nothing is a big deal.

I made it clear to him that I was not asking for a total pass.

It was kind of obvious that money was an issue and yeah, I felt a bit bad for her, not that bad but a bit. You could see she was already crapping herself.

I was no angel as a teen, not going to be a hypocrite.

The minimum citations he was obligated to write by themselves are going to make an impression.

If they don't then nothing will.

At least she had insurance.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

At least she had insurance.

Providing that driving without a license doesn't negate it.

[Evans, Marv]

Is insurance normally valid if you're driving illegally, like in her case w/o a license (& maybe registration)? I never specifically read about that in any of my policies.

[John Rogers]

Get a lawyer right now! I would guess her neck and back hurt and she needs a doctor to check her out. Asking for advise on a Porsche forum is not the way to go. I imagine Texas has those lawyers that work for a % of the settlement and they love these types of cases.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Norm K

Providing that driving without a license doesn't negate it.

I have never seen that to be the case although regulations vary by state so a possibility.

A license is not necessarily a requirement to acquire insurance.

An example would be an elderly person no longer able to drive who owns their vehicle but has a paid driver.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by john rogers

Get a lawyer right now! I would guess her neck and back hurt and she needs a doctor to check her out. Asking for advise on a Porsche forum is not the way to go. I imagine Texas has those lawyers that work for a % of the settlement and they love these types of cases.

What advice did I ask for?

[creaturecat]

i like the way you dealt with this accident, stomachmonkey.
a bit of compassion is a good thing.

[ckelly78z]

Bad decision making shouldn't be responsible people's problems. You made the right call to go easy on the girl, but not let her off....hopefully, it will be a wakeup call to leave Pokemon Go off the roads.

[fred cook]

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me and the wife. We were stopped in traffic at a red light in our Ford Excursion and a woman in a small GM SUV was talking to her teenage daughter who was in the front passenger seat. I saw in the rearview mirror that she wasn't going to stop so I rolled forward as far as I could and stood on the brakes. She saw that traffic was stopped at the last second, nailed the brakes and slid into my car. It slightly bent the Excursion's rear bumper and the trailer plug bracket and one of the tailgate hinges. Her car was totaled and had to be towed! Fortunately she had good insurance and my car got properly fixed without any hassles. Being in the biggest car has it's advantages!

[SiberianDVM]

In my last "accident", in which my '84 Targa was totaled, the other parties insurance company tried to weasel out by claiming that his lack of a valid license negated the policy. I had to lawyer up to get them to pay. Took 1.5 years for the property, and I'm still waiting on the medical.