Family Forum / Parenting / Single Parents / February 2006

Well, I know it's all stupid and pointless to sit and think like a dummy.  I
know people use cars all the time, all day, every day.  I know there's less
accidents than there are cars and people on the road, so I think that's a
good start.  I'm not even really sure what I'm scared about exactly, yet I
still seem to be!  lol
I think I am going to call around and see if I can work through something
with the help of a lawyer.  As of right now, I'm more pissed off about it
all than anything.
I got a call from that same cop that had called me the night before who said
he couldn't find my statement.  He called again at about 9:30pm to say that
he had found my statement and the registration for the car, and that was all
good.  He also said that based on what they have to go on, it seems that it
is MY fault.  Alright, I can deal with that if that has been proven, but
then the cop, in the same breath, had told me that it seems to be my fault
because I didn't leave enough time to clear the intersection BECAUSE they
cannot prove or not prove the truck was speeding.  That, he said, was the
one thing that seems to be the issue and reason for it being my fault.  I
asked him if he had even seen my car.  No one in their right mind should be
able to look at that car and confidently say that there is no way that the
truck was speeding.  The cop I was talking to said that he had seen the
car - but he had also seen the truck, and they cannot determine he was
speeding BECAUSE the truck had little damage to it.  Hello.  Are  you dumb?
Big truck front end vs. little car's side.  Which is stronger?  Truck or
car?  Front end or side?  Would doing 50km/h (about 30mph) cause that much
damage and toss and spin a car across the road and around?
THAT is the part that pisses me off.  If he simply said it's my fault, I
would easier accept that.  But he tossed in that it's my fault because no
one can say for sure if he was speeding or doing the speed limit.  That
right there is what makes me angry because I KNOW the intersection was clear
when I went to turn.  I KNOW that truck wasn't there and I KNOW he was
speeding.
My mom is going to call the insurance company and see if they can do
anything to prove speed was a factor.  See if they have an adjuster or
someone come out who can commit to saying, "Yes, based on damage, the truck
was speeding." or "No, based on damage, the truck was not speeding."  They
have people who deal with this kind of stuff every day, I assume, and people
who know accidents and damage involved, so I think it might be worth a try.
The officer that I talked to last night asked how B was and if he got hurt.
I told him he got hurt pretty bad, had a bad scalp laceration as well as a
fracture in his nose.  I said he's doing alright now, all things considered.
He's not dead or stuck as an invalid for the rest of his life, he survived.
The cop asked if he had any surgery or anything, and I told him yes, there
was a plastic surgeon that had to stitch up his head, but there was nothing
that could be done for the fracture.  He said, "No, I mean, did he go into
surgery and be put under?" and I said yes, that's what I had just told
you... He went into the OR, was put under and operated on by the plastic
surgeon at the Stollery Children's Hospital that same night, at around 11pm.
I knew exactly where he was going with this, and he then said at this point,
he doesn't know about charges.  He said he was going to talk to his boss and
explain some things and see what she says.  If she tells him, no, you must
go give a ticket and charge me, then he said he'll have to do that, but I
know he was asking to possibly go to his boss and say something like, "Look,
her young kid was hurt pretty good in this accident.  She's taken a beating
enough as it is with his injuries, why write her a ticket?"
Either way, he said he didn't know and would call me back anyways in the
next couple days.  He said he hoped he didn't have to come down and give me
a ticket, but if he does, I am definitely going to fight it.  No one can say
for sure if he was speeding.  I can definitely say for sure he was, and I'm
sure the guy in the truck could say if he was as well, but obviously that's
something that one would leave out of a statement in a case like this.  And,
come to think of it, I pictured in the intersection... I am facing west.
Truck is facing east.  Cars facing south and north would not have been able
to see the truck until it was pretty much right in front of them, given that
there were AT LEAST 2-3 cars, maybe even 3-4, in the inside lane turning
left (to go north)  They would not have been able to see half way down the
block to see if the truck had always been in the outside lane or if it had
been on the inside lane and changed lanes.  I know that truck wasn't there,
and yes, if it comes down to it, I will fight it for a dismissal or even a
lesser charge.  We'll contact the insurance and tell them the situation and
see if there's anything that can be done to determine speed, or to even just
determine if there was excessive speed or not.  I can guarantee there was,
but what's my word worth?  They didn't even really need my statement to make
a decision on fault, but I guess they had to wait anyways.  My dad says our
insurance probably wouldn't take a look at the car because there was no
collision on it, but I would assume my insurance would stand behind me and
try and help with something like this, given I was told the only factor was
that they can't definitively prove he was speeding.  Maybe insurance would
help so they didn't have to pay out for this guy's truck... I'm hoping
anyways, and now I'm ripped and ready for a battle.  I'll call around to
some lawyers and see if there's ANYTHING I can do.  Anything right now would
help, since I just found out that an ambulance bill, for starters, is more
along the lines of $400, not the $200 I had thought... That's double the
money I didn't have to start with for a bill.
Anyways, sort of went off on a rant.  My apologies!  I'm just real angry
about all this now.  I am standing my ground that the truck was definitely
not there until the last minute and that he was speeding for sure. ;) lol