Post by Shuftin on Sept 18, 2006 4:15:28 GMT -5
1991
I lived on a high traffic four lane road. One morning at approximately 7:30 am I backed my 1979 Ford F150 full bed pick-up truck out of my driveway and onto the roadway. With my foot still on the brake pedal I shifted the transmission into drive. Before I could press the gas pedal I was struck square on in the rear end of my truck by another car. With a lap full of hot coffee all I could do was watch in the side view mirror as the other car made a u-turn and sped off in the opposite direction. I was completely shocked and so didn’t gleen much information about the other car other than it was mid-sized and pale colored. I checked and there was zero damage to my truck as I had a steel step bumper. The other car however, judgeing by the debris left behind on the street, had lost both headlights and most of the front grill. I thought briefly about getting an accident report but decided against it and drove on to work.
My reasoning for this dicision was 1) I had no definate information to pass on to the police concerning the other vehicle, as they had sped off. 2) My vehicle had received zero damage. 3) Everyone knows that “When a person is rear ended it is always the other persons fault” so this cleared me of any wrong doing. By the time I got to work the situation had actually become funny to me. I passed my morning experience on to my then business partner. He stressed to me stringently that I ought to get an accident report anyway, “To cover my ass.” I thought that this was a stupid idea and a complete waste of my time. However, because I valued and trusted his opinion I decided to go ahead and humor him by getting an accident report. Sometime later that day around twelvish and in my leisure I meandered into the police station and finally filled out an accident report. This took all of five minutes and this was 4 ½ - 5 hours after the accident. I placed the accident report in the glove compartment and promptly forgot about it.
Eleven o’clock that same night I was woken up by loud pounding on my front door. When I opened the front door there were three police officers. One officer was facing me, another was to the left of the door with his back plastered to the side of my house and a third officer was standing three steps down the brick staircase. The officer facing me spoke turned and with a grandiose sweep of his arm pointed at my truck in the driveway and said “It’s been reported that that truck was involved in a hit and run accident.” I replied “Yes this morning and I have an accident report in the glove compartment.” It’s rare to see one police officer much less three police officers temporarily shocked, stupefied, and frozen in place. The speaking officer asked if he could see the accident report. The four of us walked over to my truck. Two officers continued on to the back of the truck investigating the body for damage. I opened the passenger door of the truck, reached inside the glove compartment and retrieved the accident report and handed it to the officer. At this point he burst out laughing while reading the accident report. He stated that the other party was currently at the police station after making out a police report indicating that I was the one who had left the scene of the accident and that they had come to arrest me. This was 15 ½ hours after the accident. The police officers left and I went back to bed. To this day I don’t know what they did with the other party upon their return to the police station.
Sometimes it’s wise to listen and act on other peoples opinions even if you may think its stupid and a waste of time.
I lived on a high traffic four lane road. One morning at approximately 7:30 am I backed my 1979 Ford F150 full bed pick-up truck out of my driveway and onto the roadway. With my foot still on the brake pedal I shifted the transmission into drive. Before I could press the gas pedal I was struck square on in the rear end of my truck by another car. With a lap full of hot coffee all I could do was watch in the side view mirror as the other car made a u-turn and sped off in the opposite direction. I was completely shocked and so didn’t gleen much information about the other car other than it was mid-sized and pale colored. I checked and there was zero damage to my truck as I had a steel step bumper. The other car however, judgeing by the debris left behind on the street, had lost both headlights and most of the front grill. I thought briefly about getting an accident report but decided against it and drove on to work.
My reasoning for this dicision was 1) I had no definate information to pass on to the police concerning the other vehicle, as they had sped off. 2) My vehicle had received zero damage. 3) Everyone knows that “When a person is rear ended it is always the other persons fault” so this cleared me of any wrong doing. By the time I got to work the situation had actually become funny to me. I passed my morning experience on to my then business partner. He stressed to me stringently that I ought to get an accident report anyway, “To cover my ass.” I thought that this was a stupid idea and a complete waste of my time. However, because I valued and trusted his opinion I decided to go ahead and humor him by getting an accident report. Sometime later that day around twelvish and in my leisure I meandered into the police station and finally filled out an accident report. This took all of five minutes and this was 4 ½ - 5 hours after the accident. I placed the accident report in the glove compartment and promptly forgot about it.
Eleven o’clock that same night I was woken up by loud pounding on my front door. When I opened the front door there were three police officers. One officer was facing me, another was to the left of the door with his back plastered to the side of my house and a third officer was standing three steps down the brick staircase. The officer facing me spoke turned and with a grandiose sweep of his arm pointed at my truck in the driveway and said “It’s been reported that that truck was involved in a hit and run accident.” I replied “Yes this morning and I have an accident report in the glove compartment.” It’s rare to see one police officer much less three police officers temporarily shocked, stupefied, and frozen in place. The speaking officer asked if he could see the accident report. The four of us walked over to my truck. Two officers continued on to the back of the truck investigating the body for damage. I opened the passenger door of the truck, reached inside the glove compartment and retrieved the accident report and handed it to the officer. At this point he burst out laughing while reading the accident report. He stated that the other party was currently at the police station after making out a police report indicating that I was the one who had left the scene of the accident and that they had come to arrest me. This was 15 ½ hours after the accident. The police officers left and I went back to bed. To this day I don’t know what they did with the other party upon their return to the police station.
Sometimes it’s wise to listen and act on other peoples opinions even if you may think its stupid and a waste of time.