Damn kids & their cell phones

[Scott Sislane]

reason #1 why I'm keeping my big-ass diving boards.

[penth2o]

Thought about it but in MI. you get a $30 ticket for not having your car in control enough to stop. Dad pays the ticket and the premium hike and she's on her way to school the next day talking on the phone.

On a minor hit like this the cops usually ask if your going to report it to the insurance company and if not why go through the process and paperwork. Had that happen many a times.

Sure it was an easy way out for her but do you really think she will learn her lesson on my minor bump with a $30 ticket that Pops paying. No. She needs to see decapitation or mutilation. All these punks on the road these days need that. Sounds harsh but after living in Europe for 9 years and the high speed accidents I saw were enough to tame my ass down and take classes to drive defensively and that was at 30 years of age. Most of those brutal accidents I came upon were caused by an American over there.

I blame our scam driver education system. In Europe they go years in school before getting their license and pay an ungodly amount to get it. They take their driving serious over there. Shit, look at our Television. They show you eating, talking & putting on makeup while driving. It is part of our daily routine here. These punks won't learn cause were not teaching them...

[JHG762002]

It's been my experience that the cops won't even show up unless someone has been hurt and will be going to the hospital or the cars are impeding traffic. They just tell you to go to the DMV get an accident report and fill it out. If the other person does not file an accident report the non-reporting party automatically gets their license suspended. Don't know how it is in your state, but it doesn't matter who is at fault, the NON-reporting party gets the shaft. Happened to a friend of mine when she got she got rear ended. They agreed the damage was minor no need to do the insurance claim etc.. Next time she was stopped she was informed that she was driving while suspended. The person that hit her filed the accident report so their insurance would pay to fix their car.

[Craig74tii]

It's against the law to text or have the phone to your ear here in CA. The fines get progressively larger until it's a few hundred. People still do it anyway. Stupid.

I think any damage over $500 requires police here.

[penth2o]

Michigan is No-Fault insurance.

Each parties own insurance company covers their own cars.

If parties agree no damage or if they want to agree no damage they walk. No claims can be filed later as it has to have a police report at the time of incident witnessed by the cop.

Sure I could cry my back and miss work for months and have my insurance company sue her insurance company and bone them for what it's worth to teach her a lesson.

But to me it is worth a new shock bumper and accordion that I have than to mess with my record with Hagertys. I have too many other vehicles & a clean record to have a score on record. If it was serious that would be different.

Craig, They are thinking about doing that in MI. They are talking 21 & under. Guess they figure 22 & above can concentrate while talking. :}

Political B.S.

[Meintii]

I I I ! I was expecting worse, and Im VERY glad it wasnt... now you got me thinking...what if I get hit

SHHHHT

Maybe I need that BUMPER ASAP! and I live in a college town too eek!

[penth2o]

You will be getting a hold of your insurance company for that one.

Then again they may deny you as you don't have the factory equipment on it.

That's asking for trouble in any town...

I hope you don't find out either way. Your dead meat with that one.

[Napes]

Joel; Although it may not appear to have pushed in your center shock, that is probably not the case. The bumper is fixed - it doesn't just bend. So, if the right side shock is in a ways the center shock will probably be in a little also. You'll obviously be able to tell when you get the new outside shock installed.

Bob Napier

[penth2o]

Yes thanks Napes. I was thinking the other two may be twacked & binding and that's why I can't pull it by hand like a lot of others said they could on theirs.

I'll let you know what happens when I get time to hook a ratchet to it and slowly pull it back. I probably won't know the exact tweaking it went through until I totally remove and replace everything when I restore it down the road.

Sounds like anyone that has gone through this really never got it back quite right. New shocks are probably the only way to cure any bumps on these things. I just want to get it pulled back so I don't have to look at that accordion like that anymore. Every time I come out of the house it seems my eyes go straight to that. She will be done properly down the road.

Thank all you guys for the input on this post.

[c.d.iesel]

and you stated: ......."These punks won't learn cause were not teaching them...

well you certainly maintained that

poor judgement

this is a discussion board, and I just wanted to

repeat - you did no one any favors.

[oldguy]

take a chain.. wrap it around a tree... hook chain to bumper there.. First gear tug.. give it a little yank and it'll be back to normal..

as to the girl on the cell phone.. shouting is the new beating.. if she doesn't think your batshit crazy and call the cops on herself.. then your not doing a good enough job.. grab a 9 iron and wave it around.. slap her iphone out of her hands.. make sure to remind her she's going to end up in a trailer park with 5 kids..

I mean if the police report said.. "I drove into him and then he went crazy. He then started tap dancing on my hood in golf shoes waving a 9 iron because I was still on my cell phone with my bff jill after I hit him." I'd frame that.

Btw. The police no longer dispense justice. You need to get it on your own.

[aa/fd]

Actually I think you did the best that could be expected, barring setting there and letting her hit you at speed.

That would convey a message, but some one would have gotten hurt.

If she in her 16 years of learning did not understand your gift of forgiveness, and the level of her stupidity. Then a ticket from the cops will not have made her any brighter.

[penth2o]

Yep, Your right Cd. Probably wasn't the best decision I could have made at the time.

Everything happen so fast and now I'm home talking about it so looking back there are many things that could have been done different.

Oldguy, I'm glad I didn't have a nine iron in my hand. For sure things would have been different. God would have had to strike me down like the old guy on Caddyshack on the golf course.

[mcaden]

First, I am glad you are okay and that your car survived mostly intact. I have no idea whether you have a third brake light, but, if not, its gotta make you think about one in the future. Personally, I hated installing a third brake light in my 02, but I think some people have become conditioned to seeing them. In your case, a distracted teen may have still hit you.

Earlier in the summer, I was rear ended by a distracted soccer mom in a Chevy Suburban (under similar circumstances as your incident). Her hood was roughly the height of my 02's roof. It was the first accident my 02 had ever been in... and luckily there was very little damage. Fortunately, her insurance company paid for a new bumper. I really wanted to tee off her (literally, and give me a oversized driver, not a 9-iron), but then I remembered she could have been my wife... and how would I feel about it if someone had treated her that way.

We all know if you drive long enough, you will eventually be rear ended. However, a third brake light may help lessen the incidence (in any event it can't hurt, right?). Again, glad you are okay and good luck repairing the damage. It is so unfair when you are forced to spend time and money at no fault of your own.

-Marc

[Napes]

Joel; One other thing. I'd get the baby buggy bumper accordian end off as soon as possible. Molecular memory is taking place and the longer you leave it like it is in the photos the harder it'll be to get it back to its original shape.

Bob Napier