Blue Bomber
12-19-2001, 08:12 PM
It happened down in North Wildwood. My friend and I were driving around the NJ shore, taking pics of all the lighthouses (her dad loves them), and the last one for the day was in N. Wildwood. We were parked in the little lot in front of the lighthouse, which was on a 25mph four lane road, divided by a grass median with bushes.
I went to pull out (needed to go left), waited for all of the traffic to go by, and pulled out towards the road between the median. I turned left, and BAMMM! I didn't have a clue what had happened until I saw the other car stopped about 300 feet in front of me. I wondered where the hell this guy came from. I double checked for cars before I crossed the road, and I didn't see any headlight beams on the ground coming towards me.
At least he was a nice guy (and really old with a cane). None of us had a cellphone, so my friend and I started knocking on doors, hoping someone would call the police for us. Unfortunately, N. Wildwood is a summer town, so it was pretty much vacant today. My friend found some construction workers, and one of them let me borrow his cellphone. I dialed 911 (didn't know the local police #) and tell the operator what happened. All of a sudden, the phone died! My friend said she saw "Low Battery" on the screen while I was talking. I guess the phone was right. :(
I went to look for more houses and stores that might be open (none of which were). I finally flagged down a guy in a truck and asked him if he can call the police. He said he talked to my friend and the police were on their way. Then I saw a police car driving past our cars. I flagged him down and told him what happened. He said he heard about it and they were sending someone for it. Five minutes later, the same cop came back and got all our info! Idiot. At least everything went smoothly when explaining the whole situation to the cop and there were no arguements between me and the guy.
Five minutes after we left, there was this horrible scraping sound! I'm like WTF?!?! I pulled over and checked under the car. The front ends of the skid plates were loose! There was nothing I could do because I didn't have a socket wrench or screwdriver to remove th bolts and screws, nor did I have any light to see what I was doing. I had to drive home at 55mph on the Parkway, 100+ miles!
DAMAGE
My Car:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p98efd074eafd4449c34702a4289f2d7d/fe10da55.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p2fe9f63ab48c55e17c96ec99a7de8705/fe10da4d.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pd9fc4f8cb9d6f8d982306388ad37e7d8/fe10da49.jpg.orig.jpg
Front passenger side quarter panel: scraped and crushed
Front bumper: scraped and crushed on passenger side, misaligned
Passenger side headlight: only scraped, pushed downwards, they're invincible! ;)
Passenger side fog light: bent inwards
Hood: misaligned, won't open, no visible damage
Skid plates: torn from bumper, scraped down from driving home
APC euro bumper lens: AAARRGGHH! do you know how hard it is to find these!
I'm not sure how much internal damage there is yet, since I can't open the hood. :(
His car:
Driver's door: crumpled
I've got a few questions. Is there any chance I can win this case in court? There's a good chance the guy didn't have his headlights on, and it was getting dark outside at the time. Also, he was probably going pretty fast since I didn't even see him on the road before I made the turn, and he was pretty far ahead when he finally stopped. If he was going 25mph and stepped on the brakes when he got hit, he would've been much closer to me when he stopped. Finally, should I let my insurance company handle this (State Farm, same company as the guy's), or should I do this myself?
I went to pull out (needed to go left), waited for all of the traffic to go by, and pulled out towards the road between the median. I turned left, and BAMMM! I didn't have a clue what had happened until I saw the other car stopped about 300 feet in front of me. I wondered where the hell this guy came from. I double checked for cars before I crossed the road, and I didn't see any headlight beams on the ground coming towards me.
At least he was a nice guy (and really old with a cane). None of us had a cellphone, so my friend and I started knocking on doors, hoping someone would call the police for us. Unfortunately, N. Wildwood is a summer town, so it was pretty much vacant today. My friend found some construction workers, and one of them let me borrow his cellphone. I dialed 911 (didn't know the local police #) and tell the operator what happened. All of a sudden, the phone died! My friend said she saw "Low Battery" on the screen while I was talking. I guess the phone was right. :(
I went to look for more houses and stores that might be open (none of which were). I finally flagged down a guy in a truck and asked him if he can call the police. He said he talked to my friend and the police were on their way. Then I saw a police car driving past our cars. I flagged him down and told him what happened. He said he heard about it and they were sending someone for it. Five minutes later, the same cop came back and got all our info! Idiot. At least everything went smoothly when explaining the whole situation to the cop and there were no arguements between me and the guy.
Five minutes after we left, there was this horrible scraping sound! I'm like WTF?!?! I pulled over and checked under the car. The front ends of the skid plates were loose! There was nothing I could do because I didn't have a socket wrench or screwdriver to remove th bolts and screws, nor did I have any light to see what I was doing. I had to drive home at 55mph on the Parkway, 100+ miles!
DAMAGE
My Car:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p98efd074eafd4449c34702a4289f2d7d/fe10da55.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p2fe9f63ab48c55e17c96ec99a7de8705/fe10da4d.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pd9fc4f8cb9d6f8d982306388ad37e7d8/fe10da49.jpg.orig.jpg
Front passenger side quarter panel: scraped and crushed
Front bumper: scraped and crushed on passenger side, misaligned
Passenger side headlight: only scraped, pushed downwards, they're invincible! ;)
Passenger side fog light: bent inwards
Hood: misaligned, won't open, no visible damage
Skid plates: torn from bumper, scraped down from driving home
APC euro bumper lens: AAARRGGHH! do you know how hard it is to find these!
I'm not sure how much internal damage there is yet, since I can't open the hood. :(
His car:
Driver's door: crumpled
I've got a few questions. Is there any chance I can win this case in court? There's a good chance the guy didn't have his headlights on, and it was getting dark outside at the time. Also, he was probably going pretty fast since I didn't even see him on the road before I made the turn, and he was pretty far ahead when he finally stopped. If he was going 25mph and stepped on the brakes when he got hit, he would've been much closer to me when he stopped. Finally, should I let my insurance company handle this (State Farm, same company as the guy's), or should I do this myself?