Crash!! You’ve had an accident with a car. What do you do now?

[Rufino]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the support. I’ve followed up with the police station, but the hit and run unit is closed today. Believe it or not, I’m a fairly recent graduate of law school and brought up many of the above mentioned points to the officer (i.e. red light cameras, strict liability when it comes to operating a vehicle, etc.). Truth be told, he didn’t have an answer. I didn’t tell him I was a lawyer, because I don’t think it should make a difference. I’m some what naive, but I still believe we are all offered the same protection by the law. Anyway, he kept asking me “What do you want to do?” Followed by – If you can’t ID the driver, I can’t do anything. Seemed contradictory at the time and even more so now. I really think he wanted me to say – Fine! Whatever! I’ll just go home. But I didn’t. I said – I want you to write up a report. File that report and go after the jerk who hit me. I’ll stop by the office on Wed. to pick it up. Even if he can’t go after the driver – which I plan to get to the bottom of – I want a report. What really upset me was how he reacted when he found out I was riding a bike. When the officer showed up, he seemed genuinely concerned. When he found out I was riding a bike, he seemed dismissive.

Finally, even if nothing comes from the official law enforcement unit, I plan to do something about this. I rarely facebook and never tweet (don’t even have an account), but I have friends that are junkies. DC is a small city and word travels fast. I’m sure if I could get 100 friends to post something on-line with this guys tag number. From those 100 people, magnified exponentially – something will turn up. Good old fashion social pressure. Green Saturn 4 door SUV w/ DC tags…CV ####

[OneEighth]

How about a searchable database that captures license plates, vehicle/driver descriptions, date, time, location, concise nature of incident, whether a police report was filed, etc (to the extent that info is available)? I would definitely have concerns about privacy and the quality of the information put in, for starters, but something like that could become a very useful tool.
Lots of details would need to be worked out, but what do y’all think?

[RESTONTODC]

@dasgeh 10260 wrote:

We have Erie Insurance and have been very happy with both service and prices. I don’t know about liability/collision/medical, but our bikes are on our jewelry policy, which I believe has 0 deductible. We had Metlife the last time we had a bike stolen, and they paid for the current model year of the same bike (a carbon racing bike, so no small price difference) and paid for all the upgraded components. Very happy with that service.

Wow, I just call my Erie Insurance and they said my bike is cover under my car insurance policy. It’s including hit and run. My medical deductible is 5k and I don’t want to pay 5k when I get in to accident. Erie says they will cover it no cost.

Thanks for the tip.

[dasgeh]

@OneEighth 10365 wrote:

How about a searchable database that captures license plates, vehicle/driver descriptions, date, time, location, concise nature of incident, whether a police report was filed, etc (to the extent that info is available)? I would definitely have concerns about privacy and the quality of the information put in, for starters, but something like that could become a very useful tool.
Lots of details would need to be worked out, but what do y’all think?

YES! I’ve been thinking this could be a very useful tool, even for close calls. It could help to establish a pattern of behavior for aggressive drivers that would be very helpful in civil suits. It could be something simple: users (cyclists/peds) report accidents or close calls including: location; description of incident; identification of car (make/model/plates) and identification of driver (whatever you remember). Helmet cam footage could be attached. If that car is involved in another accident the victim/police would be able to contact the users making other reports against the driver to help make the case.

Plus, it would make me feel better to be able to report some of the insanely ridiculous drivers I encounter every morning.

@RESTONTODC – glad I could help. I’ve been very happy with Joan at the Erie Spicer Agency

[dasgeh]

@Rufino 10361 wrote:

Finally, even if nothing comes from the official law enforcement unit, I plan to do something about this.

I fully support you doing as much as you can about this.

I came across this tidbit here http://dcbac.blogspot.com/2011/11/dr-gridlock-chat-11-7-11.html:
“Regarding the question about the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) enforcement of bike lane infractions, contact Lt. Nick Breul of MPD’s Traffic, Safety and Specialized Enforcement unit. Lt. Breul met with the D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council Wednesday, November 2 to discuss the District’s efforts regarding educating police officers and bicyclists about the laws involving bicycling. “

Maybe Lt. Breul can help you get a response from the local precinct…

Glad you’re ok. Keep us posted!

[Arlingtonrider]

I’m not a personal injury lawyer nor a settlement negotiator, but it seems to me, after reading through Bruce Deming’s points again, that one might also want to be careful about posting too much information on a public website, including this forum, in case an insurance company or other party wants to trip you up. As was succinctly stated elsewhere, just sayin’ . . .

[Author]

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