Me v GS-r..I feel a little bad for the guy

You being a girl I think you did the right thing. You at least stopped to see if he was okay, and when you obviously saw that he was since he was chasing you, you left. I would have done the same thing, only I'm not sure I would have stopped

Anyway, I suggest you hook up some sort of recording device in your car. My story is that 2 months ago, I was going up a two lane highway in my 6-Speed following a White Paseo in the right lane. This BMW guy come from the left lane wanting to get into the right lane to make a turn that he missed. Since he was between me and the other car infront of me (only on the right lane) he speed up as we were approaching a traffic light, cuts the solide line that is always near a traffic light, and immediately slamms on his brakes to try and make right hand ilegal U turn that his car physically could not make. Needless to say, the Paseo slammed on her brakes and hit him as he was tyrying to make that turn, I slamm on my brakes only to slightly clip her rear bumper and smash my right fender slightly (damaging my 1 piece lights while at it). Anyway, since out laws say that we need an independent witness, and that the occupants of the cars involved int he accident can't be a reliable witness, he lied to the officer and inurance company saying he was simply slowing down to make a rigtht turn when the girl hit him. Don't worry, my long post does have a point Anyway. If if we could not proove him wrong, the girl wold be responsible for his damages and I would be for her rear bumper. Long story short, It all worked out for me two months later as my insurabnce called saying the BMW took 30% resonsibility and the girl 70% with me ZERO.

My story is, because of this whole ordeal and the posibility of trying to proove this in court, I bought those little color spy cameras to hook up to my car. It be just behind the rear view mirrot viewing anything in front of me. I also bought another weather proof one as a reverse camera. (I have those LCD monitors). It will be hooked up to a mini DV camera and recording everytime I drive. I haven't figured out how to get it to auto record yet, but for now you just need to remember to hit the record button.

Now, if any jack+ss tries to pull something stupid like that, I have video proof.

It cost me about $60 for each camera, and for now I'm using my mini DV, but I'm trying to find a cheap one on ebay to use for thecar exclusively.

ChrisK said:

You being a girl I think you did the right thing. You at least stopped to see if he was okay, and when you obviously saw that he was since he was chasing you, you left. I would have done the same thing, only I'm not sure I would have stopped

Anyway, I suggest you hook up some sort of recording device in your car. My story is that 2 months ago, I was going up a two lane highway in my 6-Speed following a White Paseo in the right lane. This BMW guy come from the left lane wanting to get into the right lane to make a turn that he missed. Since he was between me and the other car infront of me (only on the right lane) he speed up as we were approaching a traffic light, cuts the solide line that is always near a traffic light, and immediately slamms on his brakes to try and make right hand ilegal U turn that his car physically could not make. Needless to say, the Paseo slammed on her brakes and hit him as he was tyrying to make that turn, I slamm on my brakes only to slightly clip her rear bumper and smash my right fender slightly (damaging my 1 piece lights while at it). Anyway, since out laws say that we need an independent witness, and that the occupants of the cars involved int he accident can't be a reliable witness, he lied to the officer and inurance company saying he was simply slowing down to make a rigtht turn when the girl hit him. Don't worry, my long post does have a point Anyway. If if we could not proove him wrong, the girl wold be responsible for his damages and I would be for her rear bumper. Long story short, It all worked out for me two months later as my insurabnce called saying the BMW took 30% resonsibility and the girl 70% with me ZERO.

My story is, because of this whole ordeal and the posibility of trying to proove this in court, I bought those little color spy cameras to hook up to my car. It be just behind the rear view mirrot viewing anything in front of me. I also bought another weather proof one as a reverse camera. (I have those LCD monitors). It will be hooked up to a mini DV camera and recording everytime I drive. I haven't figured out how to get it to auto record yet, but for now you just need to remember to hit the record button.

Now, if any jack+ss tries to pull something stupid like that, I have video proof.

It cost me about $60 for each camera, and for now I'm using my mini DV, but I'm trying to find a cheap one on ebay to use for thecar exclusively.

Click to expand...

You are very smart...

yes, our laws lean toward preponderance of the evidence in tort cases...so without independent witness, it would be a little difficult to prove if all of yor damage was sustained in the front.

When I got into an accident in my CRX, I hired a private investigator to determine the primary collision factor and brought him to court as an expert. It was worth it since the plaintiff was suing me for a lot of money...I spent $200 to save a lot more....The best thing is I won my counterclaim and won sanctions from the opposing party for filing a frivolous claim.

I am soo sorry about your one piece....OUCH.....

Are you and your car ok now?

thanks for your advice....it is most greatly appreciated..

=) g2girl

Re: chrisK

lawman said:

Yo chris, I agree with G2girl, about the legal fight. Although a witness could be a good thing it is not required here in HI and as you mentioned witnesses memories are all over the place sometimes - I deal with this daily, actually hourly. G2girl got an investigator - solid- and if your insurance Co is solid then accident recon experts will be used to determine speed, brake, liability etc. Just remember that video is good but may not be admissible in court becasue of foundational issues such as tampering/fixing/editing of tape. Also the tape could be used the other way, not that you are at all a bad driver. By the way next time I see your ride I will be sure to smile for the camera.

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Actually, that is exactly what happend. State Farm sent their accident investigators to the sceene of the accident. I also had my digital camera, so I took pictures after the cop left. What pisses me off was the cop refused to take a police report down. All he was willing to do was have us write down our info on the police document. I wanted to give a written statement as I knew the guy was disputing the incident and I've gone through accidents before where an official written police report was filled out by each driver.

Also, my insurance warned me that it would be difficult to proove the situation (The part about him already being in the right lane as opposed to crossing over the solid line from the left lane), and the only shot I had was if the right turn he was attemping was really proven to be illegal. What also made this situation worse for me was that the BMW and the Pasao both had Geico. So, if the BMW took 100% liability, Geico would pay for all 3 cars. In the end, that is what ended up happening as he took 30% and she took 70%. They cover me 100%

As for the video, I agree with you, but the intent is to show it to the officer at the time of the accident. I understand where you are coming from about it being used against me, or the tampering, but I figure if the officer views it at that time, he can use it in his report. What happend was the officer asked for independent proof and we had nothing but our word. He said if someone else saw what happened and was there to tell the story he could add that in a report. But anyway, the video is more for the insurance companies to have some scare leverage against the other drivers making false claimis What insurance do you work for, or is it something else? I worked for AIG briefly long ago.

Re: Police officer...

lawman said:

Chris, the police officer should have asked for your side of the story and then at least let you fill out a HPD-108D form titled "Minor Motor Vehicle Collision Report". If it was a bigger accident then a more comprehensive report with signed written statement may have been done - I say may because here in Hawaii HPD does MVA reports for the State - yeah pretty strange that the City needs to do state work, you will notice on the top of HPD MVA reports that it is the property of the State of Hawaii - so as you can see sometimes MVA's unless major are not top priority for HPD.

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That is what I though. Also, since it was a 3 car accident, I believe it was considered a major accident even if there were no injuries. At least that was what the last officer told me a few years ago. The other sticking point with me was that I specifically requested the officer take a wirrten police report since I knew the parties involved where in dispute. EIter way, I ended up not being liable at all, so I'm happy. I get my deductable back and no accident liability on my recored

G2girl, I wonder if I could be considered an expert. I work in the engineering department at a TV station that deals with recording video, repairing video recording equipment, and setting up video recording equipment. Anyway, I see where you guys are coming from. Some lawyers could really pick things apart if they wanted to.

You know, the funny thing is some guy with a crappy video camera catches the Rodney King beating on video at night, but no one disputes it. Then we as citizens want to protect ourselves with video, and we may run into all sorts of problems. You gotta love America

Re: Re: Police officer...

ChrisK said:

G2girl, I wonder if I could be considered an expert. I work in the engineering department at a TV station that deals with recording video, repairing video recording equipment, and setting up video recording equipment. Anyway, I see where you guys are coming from. Some lawyers could really pick things apart if they wanted to.

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ChrisK,

it is quite possible that you could be considered an expert.

Witnesses are are generally called to relay perceived "facts." However, they may not relate inferences ot conclusions drawn from those facts which are left to the court/jury.

An expert may give their opinion though.

An expert is someone with special training, knowledge, skill or experience regarding subject matter that is beyond the understanding of the court. The opinion should assist the trier of fact and it must be based on matter that is reasonably relied on by that expert.

If the court does not understand the process of video editing or recognition of tampering, you may give your opinion regarding it if you are deemed to have enough experience, skill, training, or knowledge AND your method is one that you generally rely upon to determine this.

Hope this helps

=)
g2girl