# Accident on the 405



## ddelruss (Apr 25, 2008)

Matthew330Ci said:


> i always do this, but sometimes it's not possible with large trucks, suv's and vans...


Exactly, which is one reason I love the higher seating position of the X3/X5 (or any SUV really). I am lucky that on one major road I drive here no commercial vehicles are allowed, so no box trucks. Anytime I can't see ahead of the car in front I have to hang back (and get cut off of course, but you can't drive 70 behind a wall!).

No comments on the man rules of ass kicking? Surprising!


----------



## boriska00 (Sep 24, 2006)

To the poster that said "try driving in Turkey or Portugal"........
You're right, EVERYONE tailgates there. I've driven in Italy, Israel and Russia, all are not the easiest places to drive.

There is one HUGE difference though between US driving and the rest of the world. Over there everyone is expecting to be within 10 inches of the other car's bumper and nobody slams the breaks unless it's an absolute emergency.
Nobody wants to get rear-ended. So tailgating in Europe/Middle East is "relatively" safe  (well, you do get 100 car pileups occasionally...)

Here in the States, as soon as somebody gets on someone's rear, the car in front is trying to do everything in it's power to get the guy off. And in some unfortunate cases, crazies do slam their breaks out of nowhere


----------



## mclaren (Jan 5, 2005)

No comments on the man rules of ass kicking? Surprising!

I don't know about where you live but where I live you would very quickly be placed behind bars and be looking at a civil law suit.


----------



## Adumbration (Jun 23, 2007)

mclaren said:


> I don't know about where you live but where I live you would very quickly be placed behind bars and be looking at a civil law suit.


Yep. One of my friends was at a bar where some guy was harassing a woman friend of his. The guy was hitting on her pretty rudely. She was single, but was clearly not enjoying being hit on by this guy, and told the guy to go away.

The guy kept persisting and was getting a little gross in some of the things he was saying, so my friend punched him in the face and knocked him down on the floor.

In turn, my friend was hit by a civil suit, and had to pay $10,000 a year for 5 years to the guy he hit.

Personally, I'm not disappointed that we live in a society that doesn't condone street justice. Even though he's my friend and the guy he hit was an a**hole, I believe my friend was out of line. Street justice involving physical violence is a romantic concept that in theory seems like a great idea and is the basis for a lot of good movies, but in practice often doesn't result in a fair outcome.


----------



## cjwheeling (Jan 26, 2006)

He had to pay $50K in restitution? What did he hit him with, a wrecking ball?


----------



## Adumbration (Jun 23, 2007)

cjwheeling said:


> He had to pay $50K in restitution? What did he hit him with, a wrecking ball?


I only have this one data point of $50k, but if I recall, he said the lawyers mentioned that this wasn't abnormal.

Perhaps a lawyer can chime in on what is normal.


----------



## rmichae9 (Apr 27, 2008)

JW_BMW said:


> Driving 7am on a work day in LA and still have 2 car lengths to work with ...:thumbup:
> 
> 2 car lengths behind during normal weekend traffic is probably playing it close but during morning rush hour?...you are lucky if you get 1 car length of space before someone cuts you off. Welcome to LA !!!
> 
> ...


I also disagree with the "just because you hit him from behind, it is your fault" idea. I realize this is true the vast majority of the time, but every once in a while, luck shines down on you.

When driving down the Florida Turnpike near Ft. Lauderdale, a tourist in a rental car decided the toll tag lane had no one in it, so he pulled out from a dead stop and in front of me going the posted speed limit through the toll tag lane (45 mph). I hit the brakes, but hit him anyway. Funny- not much damage to his Saturn ($2400), but I had >$9,000 damage to my Acura RL.

Resigned to the fact that even though he did a bone-headed move, I would be at fault, I played it cool, hoping he would not start saying his neck hurt, etc. Luckily, the Florida Highway Patrolman came up and gave me a piece of paper with the other driver's info, and proceeded to hand the other driver a ticket for improper lane change.

When he tried to deny it, the patrolman told him he was able to have someone in the toll booth pull the video, and it showed he pulled out in front of me.

Next bonus- I traded in my Acura for my BMW.

Here's hoping there was a traffic camera close, and that CHP can be as technically savvy and caring as the FHP.


----------



## BM2W (Aug 9, 2007)

My condolences. Basic problem is that a lot of the people driving 'green/socaillly responsible' cars, particularly those festooned with liberal bumper stickers, have an agenda and a 'morally superior' attitude, feel that they have more rights than you and are 'entitled' (though I'm not sure to what). Usta be pretty much Volvo drivers, but now it's Subaroos and anything 'hybred". Afterall, you're grossly selfish and contributing to the destruction of the planet by driving a performace/premiuim/luxury car, and worhty of no respect and have no business on the road. I'd shoot 'em, or at least beat them soundly, if I thought I could get away with it.

When I'm elected God, there will be many changes, I have a long list . . . 

Vote NoBama!!


----------



## henry_desmond (Mar 28, 2008)

This is screwed up what I'm about to say... but it sounds like the other guy did it purposely so I would have gave him the wrong info..... then his insurance would've been stuck fixing his car. Your insurance is going to have to fix your car anyway b/c you hit him... which is screwed up b/c sometimes the drivers in front of you do actually cause the accident!!! But hey this is just what I would've did if the police didn't come out....


----------



## Adumbration (Jun 23, 2007)

BM2W said:


> Basic problem is that a lot of the people driving 'green/socaillly responsible' cars, particularly those festooned with liberal bumper stickers, have an agenda and a 'morally superior' attitude, feel that they have more rights than you and are 'entitled' (though I'm not sure to what). Usta be pretty much Volvo drivers, but now it's Subaroos and anything 'hybred". Afterall, you're grossly selfish and contributing to the destruction of the planet by driving a performace/premiuim/luxury car, and worhty of no respect and have no business on the road. I'd shoot 'em, or at least beat them soundly, if I thought I could get away with it.
> 
> When I'm elected God, there will be many changes, I have a long list . . .
> 
> Vote NoBama!!


Relax. The Prius driver that caused this accident is simply an a-hole. His political affiliation is inconsequential. There are a-holes on both sides of the political fence, and if anything, I would suspect that Republicans would more likely take the law into their own hands Chuck Norris style and do something like this, just like you describe in your post above.


----------



## Jever (Apr 16, 2003)




----------



## BM2W (Aug 9, 2007)

> Relax. The Prius driver that caused this accident is simply an a-hole. His political affiliation is inconsequential.


True dat. Don't get me too wrong, @$$holery isn't the province of any particular political persuasion, and I'm quite happy that my Bimmers get better than average mileage while providing excelent performance. Indeed, BMW won 'the green car of the year' with the 118D.

However, it has been my experience that many of those driving 'green' cars, scooters and even bicycles covered with enviro-political statements do tend to be lousy drivers in general and more prone to 'make a statement' with their driving behaviour/vehicles in traffic. They do have an attitude, Santa Fe is full of them. JMO.:tsk:


----------



## Adumbration (Jun 23, 2007)

BM2W said:


> However, it has been my experience that many of those driving 'green' cars, scooters and even bicycles covered with enviro-political statements do tend to be lousy drivers in general and more prone to 'make a statement' with their driving behaviour/vehicles in traffic. They do have an attitude, Santa Fe is full of them. JMO.:tsk:


I haven't noticed what you are claiming, and Seattle has an abundance of Prius's, environmentalists, and Democrats. No group has a lock on drivers with an attitude.

I personally know quite a few Prius drivers and they are pretty chill. Certainly not the type to seek out making a statement with their driving and purposefully causing an accident.

Perhaps Santa Fe is very different than Seattle, but my guess is that you decided that you don't like Prius's or environmental bumper stickers, so you get pissed off every time one of them pulls in front of you. And if one of these drivers does do something rude, you take careful note: ah ha, I knew it. It's human nature to carefully remember the things that reinforce our little theories, and dismiss as noise the things that don't.


----------



## jvr826 (Apr 22, 2002)

teh_jev said:


> I can't believe you didn't kick his ass!


I bet traffic would have stopped to give him a round of applause if he did. I loathe Prius drivers.

The commuter lane down there, as described, has marked entry and exit points. Crossing a double yellow (and I believe in some places it's 2x double yellows) is not allowed. If it were, they'd be dashed lines, not solid.

Instead of braking you should have floored it and pushed him into the next county. It's still your fault, but you'd have felt better afterwards. :angel:


----------



## BM2W (Aug 9, 2007)

Adumbration-
Having worked for Boeing (on the East coast) for 10 years, I was in & out of Seattle quite a bit, nice town, traffic genuinely sucks, but not as bad as the Capitol Beltway, but I digress. Santa Fe is a very liberal town, and the drivers here a really bad. I don't know what that has to do with the political posture. Turn signals are a rarity, and even if they use them, they don't necessarily mean it, lane discipline is very poor, and there seems to be a large number of just plain thoughtless people driving. DWI is a very popular passtime here, any day, all day. A lot of Prius drivers are quite 'normal', but you can pretty well predict the likelihood of dumb moves by the number of bumper stickers on the back and fuzzy things on the dash. I haven't seen any NRA decals on any of them. Just my observations, not trying to start a urination contest, but I suspect we're really in violent agreement - the guy the OP cited was an a-hole.


----------

