I decided to head down to Sandy Springs...where I used to live. Made my way down 85, 285, and Abernathy. All the way down to Roswell Rd and thought hmm maybe I could make my way to the Kroger sooner by taking a detour.

I know this road well...very well.

I had a green light while I was approaching the intersection. I knew it wouldn't be green for very long. Then it turned yellow while I was nearly 2 ft from the line...so I thought well no one's turning yet. Let me watch for the cars turning right on the road to the right of me.

Then I see this lady and she's making a left turn in front of me while I'm trying to go through the intersection!!! OH CRAPPP!!

Slam on the breaks and BOOM hit her anyways.

Sat in the car for a good minute or two just in shock! My poor baby!!!!!! OMG my mom will kill me...ect ect. Everything is running through my mind. The first thing I think of is to call my mom. Because I can't call the local 911 with an out of state phone.

I went up to her and asked if she was okay...we're both fine.

We're stuck in the intersection. I forget to take pics. I'm mad now for that.

Police come to the scene.

She said it was a green arrow.
I say it was yellow when I was half way through.

One witness says it was red for both...which doesn't add up with either of our stories.

We both got tickets for failure to stop.

ARGH I'm not mad as much as I feel bad for my poor girl. Got her all nice and fixed up to look good too.

Damn...

But I'm suprised she took the beating and handled well. The lady's headlight was smashed along with bumper and radiator bled it's green fluid. So good job on Nissan's part.

So far what needs to be done is...

Left Headlight (all plastic is cracked inside)
Left Foglight
Maybe replacement of a fender
Fender cover
Replacement of Bumper
Aligning hood
Radiator Support
Eyelid
Re-mod to Clear Lense

Stillen front Lip fell off, but otherwise unharmed! If it was fiberglass it wouldn't of made it.

They had to cut out the bumper and fender cover so that I could drive it home. Man what a day like I said you gotta be kidding me!

Pic of the carnage >>>







Sometimes I really don't like living near the city.

 

that sucks

 

Coulda been worse, glad you're ok, and nice tires. I have a set as well.

 

Sorry to hear about your car...... looked like it was really nice.

 

Sucks Jess, but glad you're ok. At least it can be fixed.

 

wow that sucks!! atleast your okay though. The maxima seemed to do pretty well, i was expecting a lot more damage.

 

That sucks. Get it fixed and be back on your feet! My car got bapped much worse before.

 

Gray luster looks sooo clean on the 2003's.

 

git'er fixed. I'd tell you to argue the ticket as the cop wasn't a witness, and even on a green arrow(if that was actually true, was this a WIDE intersection?) it's common sense to make sure oncoming traffic doesn't blow the light. all you need is someone else (hopefully a camera at the intersection) to prove you right. eh, probably not worth it. I feel like we're a target for front-end damage on the max

 

No camera. Just one witness ... soccer mom with her kids lol. I've looked at the pictures I took afterwards and if you're not directly behind either of us you wouldn't of been able to see what the light was. I believe the witness was off to the other side of the intersection.

There's a cover on the lights and they're at such an angle it's difficult to see unless you're directly in front of it.

Me and a friend of mine have looked over the pics and the area was large enough for her to see an on comming car than it was for me to see someone "decide" to turn into the intersection.

The ticket states "failure to obey traffic device"

So...it's not exactly running a red light. I may just pay the fine, or maybe try to settle if there are a lot of points taken off my licence.

 

sorry about the car. try to settle to no points rather than just pay the fine.

 

Try and get it reduced...that shouldnt be too bad though, I'm not sure about GA, in new york here a "traffic light" ticket like busting through a red light is 3 points, but "failure to obey traffic control device" which i think could be any sign is 2 points, and maybe 150-200 bucks. So, not terrible, but see if theyll reduce it anyway

 

Looks like you may need a new bumper retainer too. Another plus is that when you get your new bumper there wont be holes for those ugly front license plate holders.

 

After I get the police report and call in for the fine/points I'll see what I can do if it's a lot.

By the way lol yeah I won't put holes in the bumper again.

I'll be going in on monday to the shop to see how much it'll run.

Good thing AllState has accident forgiveness.

 

That dont look to bad, get that thing fixed up and looking better than new.

 

I would fight it if only to avoid using your "accident forgivness" with allstate. if the soccer-mom couldn't see the light, then the judge would throw out her testimony. You should ask where she was, take a pic of the spot she said she was in from the road then take a pic of the light from the spot where she said she was. If the camera doesn't get the light, then her testimony is thrown out.

Also ask about red light cameras. If there was one and you ran a red, it would have gotten you.

No reason for you to pay a deductable when it was the old lady's failure to yield.

 

ahh it could have been a lot worse. Get it fixed and report back on the other

 

I do plan on doing that tomorrow. My fault that I didn't ask for anyone's information though. I was just in such shock that I forgot and just wanted to get out of there and go home.

So I will have to wait until the police report is done. Hopefully it'll say where the witness was located. Or I may have to call the officer and hope he remembers.

Sadly there wasn't a redlight camera on that intersection. There should be! The firefighters at the scene said that intersection always has accidents.


Edit to Add: I'm not sure but I think someone believed that I ran the yellow and had it turn red on me while I was in the intersection. Of course it turned red afterwards since we were stuck there after the accident. But if I would've been able to travel through the intersection I would've had maybe 30+ seconds after crossing to the other side.

 

that really sucks, hope everything turns out ok.

 

Damn.... That sucks I liked your car it looked so sexy I thought It was much worse then that but thank god it's not that bad most important of all is that your okay It's definatly her fault cause if the light was yellow for what I know is that if your caught in the middle of the intersection blast threw it and if your right about couple feets away from the cross walk and it turns yellow before you get to the intersection and you know that your not going to make it wait for the next set of lights. Now don't pay for something that you know that your not at fault for and get those unnessary points. Take to the court and win the case and hope the witness is not there. If the witness was not there to see if the light was yellow or red she should stay out of it but make her bring some kind off proof like a snap shot of what she witness at the time good luck hope this helps.

 

I got a ticket for "failure to obey a control device" in NY. Long story short, it was a "failure to fail a DUI test" ticket. Apparently Albany County police aren't happy when they pull you over for DUI and they get a 0.0 on your breathalyzer test. So I got that ticket instead, and even the cop told me to plead not guilty to it. Haven't heard anything back yet (this was May 20th), but I don't really think it's that serious of a ticket. I would just contest it to see what happens, they may not even listen to the case. They have speeders to attend to.

 

wow, I've never even heard of a "Failure to fail a DUI test" what a crock of ****, Albany cops have much more to worry about in terms of crime than giving out stupid *** tickets like that. Unbelieveable.

To the allstate accident forgiveness..... I wouldn't be to trigger happy to make that claim. Read the fine print in your insurance contract. Sure, They'll forgive that accident, but you may not get renewed at the end of your term. I've heard from people who've had it (all above 25) that people have been dropped for totaling (which is understandable) a new car, to a no-fault (which wasn't her fault anyway) $750 accident. I'd just be careful. I think allstate has the best rates, but they'll drop you like a bad habit, at least in NY.

 

Here's a picture of the intersection. Taken with my camera phone. Yes I forgot to take pics while our cars were there after impact. But it HAD to be moved since it was in the intersection.

I was traveling in the lane of where that SUV is. In those lanes you have the choice of going straight or turning in either direction. Plus the street closest to you is where I believe the witness was located. As you can see she doesn't have a clear view of what color the lights are on either side.

Sorry for the large pic...gotta see the details.

The area I circled is where you see her radiator fluid spilled onto the road. So it's the general area of where we hit.

Right now I'm unsure of who's at fault. I think that she had enough time to see an oncoming car to stop. My mom said that since she had a green and I had yellow she expected me to stop for her while she was making her turn. ??

I'll upload video later on.

Picture of the intersection taken from the side she was on.


Better picture to see the intersection as a whole.

 

Sorry to hear about the accident, hope you get her back soon! I had the same area hit earlier this year, but damage to my hood.

 

So that's why you have a CF hood jk

By the way I was looking at futher pictures. And I may have a case.

Actually you'd have to see the video to see it better.

But I'll explain...

All cars turning in the video would and could not have hit the car going straight the way we did (both front bumpers damaged) unless the person turning decides to go straight. If she would have turned like the other cars then curve needed to turn would've caused me to hit her on the side. But now it looks almost as if she drove straight into me.

You'll need to look at both pictures to determine the general area where we hit again. It's cleaned up already after the rain.

 

is it possible that she could see the lights on your part of intersection?

 

The pics taken were where I "think" the witness said she was. The officer was telling the other lady instead of me so I'm not 100% sure on where she was at the time of the accident. If she was where I think then no she couldn't.

 

Glad your alright though

 

you need to find out if the left turn signal (the road the lady was on) is still green while the light on the other side (road you were on) turns yellow. if her light was turning yellow too, then shes at fault.

 

She doesn't get a green arrow, but it would've been a green light. Both lights are timed to turn at the same time.

But my mom believes that from the pictures, she got farther than I did so she had gone through the intersection farther and I'm at fault for not stopping soon enough.

I believe that I didn't stop far enough, but if she may have had enough room if she did not drive such a large radius to turn.

 

The traffic signal will not give her a green arrow while you have yellow.

If she had a green circle then she has to yeild to you.

Fight the ticket, and fight liability. You entered the intersection in yellow, which you are allowed to do, and she has to let you clear out of the intersection before she goes.

It doesn't matter that she was further forward - left turners will 'stage' inthe intersection, that's normal.

If you both tell conflicting stories then they will likely ignore the parts of the stories that are in conflict... but the part that you DO agree on is that she made a left in front of you.


Don't just roll over. If you pay the ticket then you'll be admitting that you failed to obey the light, which will probably mean you get blamed equally.

 

Man, that accident sucks. Good thing your alright, but i feel your pain for the maxima. it hurts me too jus to see it look like that

Man, i never actually heard of that...."failure to fail a DUI test." How much was that ticket?

 

Uh... yes.

 

^
Looks good! They said they would re-use my hood. Which is fine it's in perfect condition other than being mis-aligned.


Well I went to get a price quote yesterday.

Total = $4,200

So can I just pay the deductable? Or wait until court? I'm just at a loss really. Because I'm afraid that if I pay then I'm admitting guilt and the insurance agency won't fight for a claim if they find I'm not at fault later on.

I just want to get her fixed up.

I'm planning on buying parts off .org or daveb to save some and use the $ for other things.

Also wanted to know if you need to show the insurance agency recipts?

 

they should reimburse you based on a quote. You do not need to fix your car for them to pay you for the cost of damage.

 

So paying to get the damage fixed does not mean I'm at fault correct? Just making sure.

Will be picking up the accident report in a few. Gotta drive back down there arghh.

 

Not at all. Just because you want your car fixed is not admitting guilt.

 

I think you probably both had a yellow even based on the witness' story. The witness probably saw you 2 wreck looked up and saw red. Based on your damage (and not seeing the other car) it looked like the other car started to make the left but hesitated at the last second, like the other person just assumed you were going to stop and they were going to proceed with their left turn. Just my guess.

Edit: I just re-read your first post, I assumed a standard signal pattern (left turn signal, then full green). What is the signal pattern at that intersection, i.e. is it the same pattern no matter if there are vehicles are present, or does it detect vehicles at the intersection and change accordingly?

 

It was probrably both yellow. She would've had a yellow light, but since she was positioning herself for a left turn I'm guessing she remembered the light right before it turned yellow.

Same pattern for cars traveling in the same direction. I believe it detects the cars. But truthfully I'm unsure.

I'll get a video up soon.

Edit: Here's the video but wow does compression make it look bad.

You'll see it goes from green arrow to green light. Also you can see how long the signal stays yellow before turning red. Pretty short yellow light.

Now you can see what I mean when I said there was enough room if she were to continue to make her turn. The cars making a left turn are hardly in the middle of the intersection. I was about 5 to 8ft from the white stop line behind me.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...69414837904942

PS: I find it funny it starts with a blk 5th gen crossing the intersection and ends with a white 4th gen haha

 

I don't know how many people know this but you can determine how long a light will stay yellow by taking the speedlimit and dividing it by 10 and thats how many seconds it will stay yellow. so 40 mph / 10 = 4 seconds. 35 mph/10 = 3.5 seconds

I am assuming that the speed limit through that intersection is 40 mph???