Hello,
On August 21 I was leaving my first day at a new job in which I needed to drive my Mom's car. I had always been exempted on her vehicle, however since I got the job she was going to add me to the insurance so I could continue to get myself to and fro.
I came to a full stop at the T intersection shown
here and looked both ways; clear. As I inched forward to increase my field of vision I, and no sooner than I was a few feet in the southbound lane, saw and heard a black car skidding to smash right into the front left of my car. The police report states a skid mark reading of 58.7 feet. Not to claim to be a physicist or professional by any means, but I merely plugged in simple variables to the skid mark distance to velocity equation found
here to determine that he was going approximately, and minimally 67 MPH. The small, two-lane business/residential street lined on both sides with parked cars has a speed limit of 25 MPH. Furthermore, in reenacting the accident in a friend's car, I had no problem stopping within 10 feet with no skid marks while driving at just above 25 MPH.
His car didn't have plates and his insurance card stated the beginning of the policy to be two weeks prior. It was a brand new '06 Nissan Altima. He was 20 and driving with two friends. Several times the driver mentioned that he was angry that he couldn't get to lunch and that if he had known the correct directions to Burger King he would have actually needed to make a right onto the street in which I had stopped.
The police report claims we are both at 50%/50% fault; me for failing to yield and him for driving in excess of the speed limit. His claim in the report is that he was going 25-30 MPH.
My mother has since had to state on recording to her insurance carrier that she acknowledges that they will not represent the claim. The other driver's carrier took a recorded statement from me as well. Afterwards she told me that so far she has little evidence to show her client is at any fault. Now I'm looking at no cooperation from my mom's carrier, a suspended license?, a totalled car, and a single mother who has since made me feel so guilty for involving her in this..
I am at a complete loss for not only is my life going to be so dramatically affected by this situtation (suspended license means no job and a struggle to get to school - full time) but I can't believe that the other driver might get away scott free with blatantly lying to the officer at the scene.
Needless to say my Mom can't help and I (21 years old) must fix this somehow myself. Any help would be ever so gracious.
I live close to Pasadena, California if it helps.
Thanks,
Angelo