Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

Well, yesterday, while I was pulling out of Taco bell on a 6 lane highway, I was trying to make a left on Dale Mabry (for those living in Tampa). I had all three lanes of traffic stopped for me, so I was sneaking out into the suicide lane to take a look and BAM! I got nailed on the front quarter panel of my car. Knocked my passenger front tire off the wheel, folded the hood, bent the frame, bent the wheel on the driver's side and possibly the axle. There is unknown damage under the hood, but thankfully no one was hurt. I hit my head on the B pillar, but I'm okay. The estimate will come in today.
Now for the killer ... I got the ticket! I can't believe it. Apparently when you pull out of private property in FL, you must yield to oncoming traffic, even in the suicide lane. I'm not 100% sure about the legitimacy of that (it being the suicide lane and all), but that's what the cop told me. Basically I'm looking at an accident that is 100% my fault meanwhile I think it's more 50/50 since I really think he was heading to the traffic light 150 yards up to make a left. Of course he told the cop he was turning at the next side street. Basically this is a headache in more than one way, as my insurance is sure to skyrocket (and just after I turned 25 and my rates dropped). I've had this car for over 4 years and never had an accident ... I'm depressed.
The guy at the body shop seems to think it's fixable. If he fixes it, i'll just keep it since it's paid off, but if it's totalled, i'm not sure what I'll do. All I know is they call it a suicide lane for a reason ...

rmb

The car sounds totalled to me.

The cop is technically right about you yielding in that situation. I've driven in Florida and I'm surprised more people are killed everyday on those stupid roads. Tough break but be real glad noone was injured, then you'd see some major $$$$ loss and insurance skyrocketing. Even writing off two totalled cars is NOTHING for an insurance company compared to the money lost from serious injuries.....

Fight the ticket anyway, just like a speeding ticket. Take LOTS of pictures of where it happened and have lots of diagrams in color. Bring all this when you go to meet the prosecutor. Look like you have your **** together. Dress nicely and be firm in your case and belief that you're not guilty. Don't do the 50/50 thing, that doesn't work. Tell the prosecutor your job depends on having a clean record and offer to make a donation (in the same amount of $$$ as the ticket) to a charity of his choice in return for it not showing up on your record.

-RMB

tmkforever

What is a suicide lane? Is this type of road native to Florida?

Dev

iTrader: (5)

sorry to hear about the accident, but thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

my max also got hit while it was PARKED, and the guy just left. Turns out to be $1300 of damages and i gotta pay a $500 deductable for something i had nothing to do with.

anyways, i hope for the best with your trial and all.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

The beauty of this is that the cop won't be subpoenaed for it becaus ehe wasn't witness to the accident. The only person subpoenaed will be the other driver and I'm going to try and coerce him not to show up so at least I can drop the ticket and the charges ...

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, what's a suicide lane?

That really sucks, man, and though I don't really see what you could have done differently, isn't it true EVERYWHERE that you have to yield to the drivers on the road when you're pulling out of a driveway? I mean, how can people in driveways have the right of way anywhere? Then they could just pull out whenever they felt like it and cause all kinds of accidents.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

A suicide lane is a right or left hand turn lane in the middle of the road. It is separated from the road by a yellow dashed and solid line. Some people affectionately refer to this lane as the "bonus lane".

tmkforever

Oooh, if I think what you're talking about is what I'm thinking about....we've got them here in Jersey, they're called shared left-turn lanes. They separate the two directions of traffic and everyone can pull into them to make left turns.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Sorry about your accident. Hey Dev Nice shiny black Max, but whats up with your 1/4 mile times?

GaMax97GLE

iTrader: (3)

But, the ticket show fault and insurance pays based on fault. If you get the ticket dropped then you wouldn't be at fault and your insurance won't pay for his damages. If I were the other guy I would want to show up to make sure you didn't get the ticket dropped.

However, I just got my "following to closely" ticket dropped yesterday because the guy I hit didn't show up, so that would be the way to go, but there was no damage so he didn't care I guess.

Good luck and sorry about the accident.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

My problem is that a suicide lane should not be considered a normal lane in my opinion. That should be a cautionary lane on its own. Additionally, it's not as if I just went, I was sneaking out to see if I could go, therefore I was yielding, but I had to get to a point where I could see. Like I said, i'm not trying to make this accident 100% his fault, I just want a 50/50 accident like it should be.

Ruckus

dude i go to UT, i know EXACTLY where you are talking about. they need to do something about that lane, i have no idea what but i knew exactly what you were talking about when you said "suicide lane."

and you know damn well that guy wasn't turning right there, you better send a painful message to him letting him know not to show up to court that day.

i swear tampa has the worst drivers in the US.
NYC drivers are crazy, yea, but Tampa drivers are just plain st00pid.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

why don't you try seeing if he was breaking before you hit you. look at the skid marks. you might be able to calculate how fast he was going when he hit you. sounds like he was moving pretty fast.

and if it seemed a little fast then there would have been no way he could have turned into the street he stated he was turning in. and in fact he was going to the light 150 yards away.

take pictures and make diagrams and stuff of the accident sceen and the street he said he was going to turn down. lay down some tape measure and take a picture of the skid marks if any. try to track his speed. maybe you might be able to win your case being well prepared and showing evidence that it would have been more his wrong then yours.

as it stands you really have nothing to lose.

Vesaijan

iTrader: (1)

I got into a similar accident with my 96. I was clipped by a driver that failed to yield to oncoming traffic on the driver side quarter panel and driver side wheel. Hood was warped, frame bent, and wheel damaged. The impact deflected me into a telephone pole so my passenger side quarter panel was also damaged.

The pillar that the driver-side door hinge is bolted to was so badly bent that they had to cut it out and super glue a new piece in.

At the time my car was estimated to be worth ~10 grand. The body shop and my insurance company thought it was reparable. The estimate came to $7500 for just visible damage. The limit my insurance company put on the repair was 9000.

To make a long story short, my car was in the shop for 40 days (during which time I had to drive chevy malibu, yuck), the tranny needed a new bearing, and the total came to $9038. In my opinion, the car should have been totalled.

The stink of it that the accident was not my fault as stated above, and the other driver's insurance still has not settled the bill with my insurance company. All I know is that I got screwed big time.

Hope your experience is better.

RL

korupter

I haven't been to Tampa, but I could tell you that So.Cal drivers are bad also, mainly the Asian immigrants, (not to be racist, i am asian also), and old people. I swear, i probably save my **** a few times with my fast reaction and quick lane changes.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

hahahahahahahahahaah thats because they come here and drive like they would drive back home. which goes to show DMV will give anyone a license in so cali.

i swear when they say asians can't drive (older folks) they are right. freakin always have these close incounters where someone will just switch lanes into my lane and im still there. if i don't move then bam there goes the side of my car. just makes me so mad.

dko

iTrader: (7)

i was in almost the same situation as you are now. this happened going down waukegan (in glenview), which is two lanes each way. It's raining and I'm in the left lane going through a yellow light. this ******* in a brand new black ford explorer peels out of the parking lot that is parallel to waukegan and pulls into my lane just in time. I was going about 35mph and he slammed into my passenger side door (a foot or so from where you got hit, if i understood correctly).

my car spun right and went over the curb, the sidewalk, the lawn and went into the parking lot. luckily no one was there and I was able to stop. both airbags went off, the door was smashed to **** and there was glass everywhere. when the cops got there they talked to both of us seperately and he said that I ran the light.

of course they believed him and I got the ticket. both of my front wheels were crumpled and even the cop said that it was almost certain that the axle was bent. i drove my car around the lot and backed up for the towtruck without a single problem. his car wouldn't even start.

The estimate was for $7500 for repairs. At the time, the car was worth about $9000. luckily it was NOT totaled, the axle was fine. everything was fixed up in a month and a half and my insurance didn't triple like I thought. my premium is only $150 more per term, that's all.

even more luckily for me, the cop wrote down the driver as the complaining witness. when he didn't show up to court the ticket was dismissed even though the cop was right there.

so the moral of the story is that sometimes you are much luckier than you think. don't despair before you know for sure. either way, it sounds like he is to blame. also, make sure there was a police report filed and that it was accurate.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

You are absolutely right. I lived in NJ my whole life up until 2 years ago, and this town has NO IDEA what they are doing. No one pays any attention to where they are going or what they are doing. It is clearly partially my fault as I said before, I'm just fuming because I am so careful most of the time and then something like this happens ...

nismomaxima

i am sorry to hear that

Weasel

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear about it, but glad you're okay. Sounds to me like the car is totalled - the frame is bent, the front suspension is toast, and enough body panels are tweaked that it should be a very costly repair. Even if they do fix it, sell the car. Front-end accidents are especially destructive to FWD cars, and it'll never drive the same as it did before.

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

I understand now.. that really sucks. My grandparents live in Arizona and they have those lanes everywhere. I HATE them. They are the most dangerous things ever, and only to save one lane's worth of pavement.

I hope it all works out well for you!

Max Power X

Was it the Taco Bell by Mons Venus? Dale Mabry sucks a$$. This car looks just like my 97 gxe did minus the rear damage:
http://www.salvagepix.com/salvage_im...0/4708a(1).jpg
Mine was totalled. Also, the cop that ticketed me showed up at court even though he wasn't a witness, so I wouldn't count on him not showing up to yours.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

My car almost looks worse than that one. And yes, it was the one by Mons ... REALLY SUCKS. Anyway, the cop didn't witness the accident so him being there wouldn;t matter ... he even told me so. I have to worry about the other guy showing up. If it were me, and I was subpoenaed to show up to court with no consequence of not showing, I wouldn't bother showing ... that's what I'm counting on.

MaximaMan

The rosewood max is a rare color, we can't lose another one... whatever happens dont get a baige one hehe

dko

iTrader: (7)

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

Then you might not want to see the page with all the pics ... here

As you can see in the pics, it's more than likely totalled and It's a God awful shame, but that's the hand I've been dealt ...