Death In The Family - '62 Pontiac aftermath

Some of you have undoubtedly seen this elsewhere, but I feel it needs to be seen by as many as possible.

My family lost one last week... The '62 Pontiac Star Chief that was my girlfriend's pride and joy was T-boned last Tuesday evening. She pulled off of a stop sign and made it about halfway across the intersection when this monkeyf*cker rounded a blind curve topping a hill (speed limit 25) and punches the Pontiac square in the seam between the right front door and the fender. He shoved the whole mess across the intersection, into someone's yard, and the car quit running by then (the engine broke loose and smashed the distributor cap on the firewall). My girlfriend had to stand on the brake with both feet to keep from hitting the house, and she succeeded admirably. They both get out, and the old man driving the Dakota that hit her walks up and when she asks him how he is, his answer is "I was going 25." Looking at the car, I say bullshit. This is a street where people (including me) routinely go 45-50 all day. The cops cited her for running the stop sign because "We can't prove he was going over 25." Look at the pics and see how far up their asses the West Carrollton, OH police have their heads. I hope there's one of 'em reading this. They couldn't solve a murder if you did it in front of 'em. The dash is crushed on the right side, crumpled on the left, the firewall is bent and trying to get out thru the left side, the door post is crushed and the A-pillar is bent inward giving the roof a sharp outward crease above the right side of the windshield, the stamped fan shroud is even bent and torn, and I found light frame damage.

 

If they can't prove he was going over 25, how can they prove she ran the stop sign enough to give her a ticket? I'd fight that one in court.

Also, your insurance should have an investigator that would determine if he was going over 25 or not. If so, then the things should be different....

I'd make a claim against his insurance and contest your ticket in court.

 

Dude at least your lady is safe....Think about this story if she was driving a honda.

 

That kind of stupid driving and police attitude is such a thorn in the ass.
Stoopid shits

 

That blows!! That's alot of metal to punch in like that. 25 my ass!

 

do what he says! Can't prove he was speeding, fuck that.

Glad your girlfreind is ok!

 

Dude, I hate to hear that.

 

No way 25mph would punch the A pillar over like that! More like 45! And the cops can prove it by measuring the length of his skids and factoring in the weight of the vehicle.
Maybe they wouldn't have been so lazy about it if you were driving a Lexus, then again, the accident would probably have been a fatality!

 

That will buff out!

 

Holy shit, glad your gal is ok...contest the ticket, thats BS....What was the other guy driving?

 

They both get out, and the old man driving the Dakota that hit her walks up and when she asks him how he is, his answer is "I was going 25."

 

A buddy of mine used to do traffic investigations. Yes, he was an officer, and a stickler for the rules. You would be suprised at what they can tell you just by where the vehicles ended up. Get it investigated. Be glad she wasn't in a lighter vechicle.

 

Did anyone take pics of the scene before all the cars were moved? Gonna be a tough process without clear evidence of how far he shoved her and the Pontiac as an indicator of his speed. Without that, it's gonna look like any other incident where a car leaves a stop sign into the flow of traffic and gets hit by an oncoming vehicle which they did not/could not see, and which could not stop in time.

Good luck with it - glad to hear no one was seriously hurt.

 

Always hate ta hear crap like this ,glad she's OK

 

25 is actually pretty slow and actually pretty hard to maintain with modern cars that can easily go much faster, even if you try. I know, the limit around here on city surface streets is 25 and I do try to watch it, but it is pretty hard to stay under it. And the reality is, if you are doing 25, not much excuse to hitting someone like that even if they do pull out in front of you. You can stop a modern car pretty quickly if you are only doing 25, that's is precisely the reason why the limit is 25 for a lot of city driving. So, unless he can prove you pulled out right in front of him, I think you might have a good basis for an argument. But, despite that, if she had a stop and he didn't, he has the right away and it was her primary obligation to make sure if was clear and safe for her to pull out into traffic. She will have to prove that he was speeding excessively enough beyond the 25 to have overcome her primary obligation. Regardless, glad to hear they are both ok. At least he is for now until he thinks more about the opportunities and/or maybe talks to his lawyer. So, advice for her is to defend herself with insurance, and lawyers if needed, if for no other reason then to not open the door to even more liability if they think they can roll her over and get more out of her.

Disclaimer: I am no lawyer, but I play one in my own mind.

 

id fight the ticket , officer fife probably didnt even have his one bullet with him that day ,

 

bummer!!! glad shes okay!!

 

............and stude trucks did stay at a holiday inn express the other night lol


I am so glad she is ok even though it sucks about the car

 

The whole thing sucks, but you'll work it out. Now you need to find another '62 Catalina and keep this one for a parts car.

 

At the most she should have been charged with Failure to yield the right of way.That would be a not guilty on the driving through the stop sign.Might be hard to prove he was speeding but the evidence shows it for sure. Take lots of pics to court and get some of the skidmarks! Pictures that is.....

 

ouch man. glad shes ok

 

Glad your girl is ok, sounds like the same old sh*t to me.

 

Sorry about your car, but glad to hear that your girlfriend wasn't hurt.

 

You would have to get someone who is trained in accident re-creation. Skidmarks will only tell you the minimum speed he was going at the point of impact. You also need the coefficient of friction of the roadway. You would also have to factor in the amount of force it would take to push that thickness of metal in.

I wouldn't be too harsh on the officer. Traffic Investigators general only come out if there's a fatal collision or dept vehicle involved. Most cases, only the traffic investigator is trained in accident re-creation. If the officer only has basic traffic investigation, this allows him to write a report and give an opinion. It will be upto the traffic investigator to determine if there was a secondary collision factor such as speed. From reading the description, the officer only wrote the primary collision factor.

 

on the car. . .but so glad your girlfriend is Ok. . .keep us posted on this one. .

 

As a fellow star chief owner, this breaks my heart!

 

If you haven't got them now get out there and get pictures of all the marks from the accident. No way 25 MPH shoves someone that far and does that much damage. Too bad you got the lazy useless asshole cop who was more interested in getting to the donut shop than in doing an accident investigation. I mean, I've seen demo derby cars take whacks in the cowl and hardly get any damage to them, your girlfriend is probably lucky he hit there and not say between the front and rear door, instead.

It should be relatively easy for the insurance people to compare the damage to the old guy's Dakota to others in front end hits to help determine his speed, too. The Pontiac I would imagine they aren't going to have much data for anymore. Did the guy leave skidmarks from slamming on the brakes? That alone can tell them how fast he was going. If he didn't leave any then he was going way too fast to even react.

I get so I carry my little digital camera everywhere with me when I drive, if I ever get into another accident, before I even talk to the other driver I'm going to be taking pictures, even if I have to leave the road blocked and dodge traffic to do it.

Oh well, at least she didn't get hurt.

 

Here is what I posted in a PM to Devilleish to post the story behind the wreck,and my advice I gave:

My advice is to get a lawyer,get an investigator,and go after the old man that hit your womans car.25 miles per hour is straight out bullshit.That's at least a 45 MPH hit on a broadside to a car of that nature.And it takes more than 25 MPH to push a car across an intersection,break the motor free to the point of smashing the dizzy cap against the firewall,and push a door in that far and wrinkle the door skin like that.Get a copy of the police report before you talk to an investigator.Make sure her statement was taken and it says that the accident pushed her across an intersection in to a front yard.That enough is indication that the person who hit her was doing well over 25.The tires should have led some kind of skid mark at the scene from sliding sideways.The responding officer should have taken pictures at the scene if the damage totals over the states limit before reporting a collision,in which this case I would think it damn well does.If the officer didn't bother to take her statement,or was negligent in his investigation of the accident,then move to get the traffic charges reversed and proceed with a lawsuit against the person that hit her.Also,post the story on here because there are many cops on here that would probably be able to advise you on what you can do.

 

Like fuck they cant prove he was only doing 'Only 25'!! I say go to court.
Glad to hear your other 'half' is ok.
Doc.