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Author Topic: A great way to save money (car accidents) Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-09-2003 02:15 AM                     Today I got rear-ended by a 20ish Mexican woman who was apparently too busy fluffing her hair than bothering to watch the road. The details really don't matter all that much, but the lesson learned is priceless. I get her identification and it is some Mexico ID card. Of course she can't speak any English to me, or perhaps she was pretending that she couldn't speak English, but she could say the words "no police" very well. Yeah, uhuh, like hell I'm not going to call the police. She just busted up the back end of my SUV! Hmmm "no habla Espanol and no police". So 45 minutes after I call the police (bearing in mind I passed no less than 10 cops in the previous 15 miles of the trip giving out speeding tickets) Mr. Policeman shows up. He gets the girl and puts her in his car and calls up a translator on the phone. The translator reveals that she has no insurance. (Did anyone not see this one coming?) However I learn there is some recent new law that Texas and Mexico struck permitting Mexican residents to live and carry their Mexico IDs legally in Texas. (No I don't have a link, but John Pytlak does.) So what does this fine, fine policeman do? Want to take a guess? He turns to me and says "she doesn't have insurance so there is nothing we can do" and lets her go!!! That's right, not even so much as a slap on the wrist and a ticket. Yes sirree, he just lets this woman go so she can run off and hit another person to fuck up their car too! So the moral of the story is, everyone should immediately go out and cancel your insurance. The police won't do anything to you and you are just wasting money by paying for it. My opinion of our fabulous police force has really sank today. The way I see it, he should have impounded her vehicle and given her a ticket at the bare minimum for driving without insurance. I've never been the cause of an accident (although I've been hit many times) and I have this bizarre feeling that because I am going to have to collect on my insurance that my rates will now be raised, in addition of course to having to pay the deductible. So is it me, or is this whole situation just shitty? Was this just a waste of space cop, or am I somehow wrong in my thinking? I'm not sure between those two which I am more angry with.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 07-09-2003 02:45 AM                        Brad - this is America! It took me and my company 4 months, tons of paperwork and high legal fees to prove my professional background to obtain a work visa. A lot of the nice people I meet here in Southern California do not speak English either and very obviously have no valid work visas (because I know the requirements, I know that you do not get a visa to work at a drive thru window or a 7-11). Apparently under this new law anyone from Mexico can come to Texas (do we have the same law here in California too?) without going through all this. Why would they take her word for it that she has no insurance? She most likely didn`t have any, but shouldn`t this be checked? Also, if you do not have insurance, and you damage somebody else`s car, do you not have to pay for the damage out of your own pocket?  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-09-2003 02:46 AM                        Not having an insurance card when stopped will get you a $400-600 fine up here in Washington. At the very least, you have to show up in court to prove you had insurance when you were pulled over. Considering that's what WE have to live by, I'd be freaking out if a cop let someone off because they were from "South of the border".  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 07-09-2003 03:19 AM                        In the commonwealth of Massachussetts you must have insurance to register your vehicle. If you are stopped without insurance you go to jail.  |  IP: Logged Gracia L. Babbidge Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 709 From: Bowdoin, Maine Registered: Aug 2000 posted 07-09-2003 03:32 AM                        That is one serious pile of !! Getting caught driving without auto insurance in Maine is an almost guaranteed way to get arrested! Not to mention just plain stupid, considering all the things that can happen to cars on the roads in thise state - moose, deer, winter, people 'from away' ...  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 07-09-2003 03:56 AM                     I thought in Texas if you don't have insurance, The Great State of TexASS will pay one day's rent free of charge in the "Cross-Bar Hotel." This happened to a friend of mine about 20 years ago. I would presume you are going to have a few "discussions" with the TexASS Law Enforcement facilities, and maybe a few politicians? This is your chance to strike and really cause some flack for a bunch of crooked incompetent cops. I would jump at the chance to really stur up some Bullshit - (a product of which TexASS is notorious for!!!) At least you were not injured.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-09-2003 05:12 AM                        quote: At least you were not injured Ditto. Of course, Paul... If Brad had sprayed a little of his own product on his car, she'd have skidded right off without leaving so much as a speck of dirt base scratch.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-09-2003 08:02 AM                     The problem I see here is that she damaged your property and she had a problem driving. Is it ok (from a driving sitation issue) to just hit one another in Texas? If not, insurance or no, she committed a moving violation. As to fixing your vehicle, you can always sue her just like for any property damage. Steve  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-09-2003 08:33 AM                        Ask and ye shall receive: Insurance Journal Texas Court Opinion Immigrant Drivers Information  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-09-2003 09:26 AM                        In Tennessee... they passed a law several years ago that freely gives out Tennessee Drivers Licenses to non-resident aliens and immagrants without proper documentation. All you have to do to prove you live in the state is provide a copy of your phone bill or a canceled check for your rent. It's ridiculus. Of course our state requires proof of liability insurance at the time of registration, but most of them will drop it immeadiately afterwards. Brad... what happened to you was just plain wrong!  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-09-2003 09:41 AM                        Brad, I hope you got the name of everyone involved (the policeman and the woman) and enough information to use if you wish to take anyone to court.  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 07-09-2003 10:39 AM                     Glad you're ok Brad! Do you know how much damage she caused yet?  |  IP: Logged Jason Burroughs Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 654 From: Allen, TX Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-09-2003 10:45 AM                     Brad, Sorry to hear about your situation, however this highlights for the need of Uninsured and underinsured motorists on policies. In this situation it appears that immigrants actually away with more than U.S. Citizens do (go figure). If you have a Texas drivers licence, have no insurance, and have an accident they will suspend your licence, and its a pain in the rear to get it back. Texas Legislators. to any law that gives prefferental treatment to people that are not even in this country legally, or don't conform to our regulations.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-09-2003 02:02 PM                        There are certain steps that need to be taken here: 1. Nuke Mexico. No one needs it, and it would solve a lot of problems. Even though we are America, we really shouldn't let so damn many people into the country and take our jobs. 2. Hope somehow that same lady rear-ends into the cop that let her go during his off hours. Remember, the police are better human beings than you and he won't let it slide if it actually happens to him. When it happens to you though, it's a waste of his time. You should know better. 3. Nuke Mexico again. It's the only way to be sure.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-09-2003 03:50 PM                        This situation is not unique to Texas: pretty much the same thing happened to me in the north-east of England. That day - Thursday 28 November 2002 to be anally precise - was a pretty shitty one for yours truly. Two days before my car had been nicked from the car park of the University at which I work (from right under the lens of a CCTV camera, as it happened). It was discovered abandoned the following day with a smashed quarterlight and minus the radio. So that Thursday morning I collected it from the police pound, got the quarterlight replaced and drove it to the very same car park from whence it was nicked, at work. About 8 hours later, on the Thursday evening, I drove it out of the university, turned onto the main street through Middlesbrough leading to the A19 to York... then some t--t promply turned right out of a side street straight into the side of me. The damage was dents and scrapes, but did not render my car unroadworthy. The car which hit me contained the driver and four passengers. It was a dark, rainy evening and the windows were steamed up (which, I suspect, was the reason why he turned right when the road wasn't clear). Two of the rear seat passengers were screaming kids, which probably distracted the driver further. The vehicle in question was a 10 year-old BMW; the inhabitants were all Asian and the driver either could not or would not speak English to me. After having established that no-one had been injured, I called the police from my brainfryer (under UK law you have to report any road accident causing injury or damage to property to the police within 24 hours). I explained that the other driver appeared not to speak English and either could not or would not give me his insurance details (which he has to do by law) and asked them to attend. But their response was that I had fulfilled my legal obligations and as far as the police were concerned, the matter was closed. I took photographs and reported the incident to my insurers. Their lawyers checked the BMW's registration against official records... and found that the BMW was logged as having been scrapped four years ago! Its last legitimate owner had paperwork which was all in order, and the scrap merchant he'd sold it to turned out to be a bogus company name with a false address. So thanks to our shitty system this moron was driving a car around which officially no longer existed, was undoubtedly uninsured and probably a deathtrap on wheels. And not only was he willing to risk his own life in it, he put his KIDS in there as well! As it happens, no-one was hurt and no real financial damage was done, either. My car is a bit older than his and has nearly a quarter of a million miles on the clock, so I'm just going to continue driving it up and down the A19 until some mechanical or engine problem happens which is uneconomic to repair, at which point I'll scrap it (legitimately, I hasten to add) and get another one. But what would have happened if he'd hit me a bit harder and done me an injury which put me off work for a few weeks? And more to the point, what if he'd hurt his own children in that way? But of course given the perpetrator's ethnic background we're not allowed to ask questions like that, because in the New Labour/New Britain utopia we inhabit that would of course be racism and xenophobia.  |  IP: Logged

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