Non hit and Run

[Tadius]

my wife was in an accident caused by a car entering her lane at her door, she swerved to avoid that accident and spun around loosing control and was hit by a truck, the accident causing driver sped away but several witnesses stopped, one left her info, the police did not seem to interested in the vehicle that left the scene, and insurance sounds like it will not be covered under Uninsured moterist, unless the police investigate it. what can i do, we only had liability and the car will be totaledWe are in Texas

 

[seniorjudge]

my wife was in an accident caused by a car entering her lane at her door, she swerved to avoid that accident and spun around loosing control and was hit by a truck, the accident causing driver sped away but several witnesses stopped, one left her info, the police did not seem to interested in the vehicle that left the scene, and insurance sounds like it will not be covered under Uninsured moterist, unless the police investigate it. what can i do, we only had liability and the car will be totaledWe are in Texas

You had witnesses who saw this phanthom driver?

And these witnesses made statements to the cops about the phanthom driver?

 

[Tadius]

the witness

The withness could not wait until the cops came she had to go but left her business card and the police have that, weather they actually call it is another matter

 

[seniorjudge]

The withness could not wait until the cops came she had to go but left her business card and the police have that, weather they actually call it is another matter

Unless and until you can get third party verification, you have a phanthom driver situation (which is a very common story):



Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat. (Smokers...pot or tobacco...literally stink. Remember that before you head for court.)

Bathe and wash your hair.

Do not bring small children or your friends.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation. Ask about traffic school and that the ticket not go on your record, if applicable. Ask also about getting a hardship driving permit, if applicable.

From marbol:

“Judge...

You forgot the one thing that I've seen that seems to frizz up most judges these days:

If you have a cell phone, make DAMN SURE that it doesn't make ANY noise in the courtroom. This means when you are talking to the judge AND when you are simply sitting in the court room.

If you have a ‘vibrate’ position on your cell phone, MAKE sure the judge DOESN'T EVEN HEAR it VIBRATE!

Turn it off or put it in silent mode where it flashes a LED if it rings. AND DON'T even DREAM about answering it if it rings.”

(Better yet, don’t carry your cell phone into the courtroom.)


Here are five stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job in [name a state five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this.

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.” Or, another variation: “I was forced into it by a bad guy!”)

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=854687#post854687

Public defender’s advice

http://newyork.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/70300494.html


Other people may give you other advice; stand by.

 

[Tadius]

So is your suggestion to take the insurance to court to get them to cover under uninsured motorist, or is this information in case my wife is found guilty of a violation and has to appear in court? my goal it to get the insurance to cover my car. the SOB in the Jag that drove of i would like to find but think there is little chance of that, unless all toll roads have video cameras that run non stop

 

[seniorjudge]

So is your suggestion to take the insurance to court to get them to cover under uninsured motorist, or is this information in case my wife is found guilty of a violation and has to appear in court? my goal it to get the insurance to cover my car. the SOB in the Jag that drove of i would like to find but think there is little chance of that, unless all toll roads have video cameras that run non stop

So no one got the tag number of the phathom driver?

 

[Tadius]

No Tag ( Jag S type's are fast) just make, model, dealer name, and description of car and driver

 

[seniorjudge]

No Tag ( Jag S type's are fast) just make, model, dealer name, and description of car and driver

You have all this info and you STILL cannot find this phanthom driver?

 

[Tadius]

this happened 4 days ago I was going to let the police ( who have the witness info ) do their job and investigate, unless there is no other way, to get my car covered, I guess from the way it sounds, I need to try to find the phantom driver, the witness testamoney will not do the trick? is that the correct interpretation?

 

[seniorjudge]

this happened 4 days ago I was going to let the police ( who have the witness info ) do their job and investigate, unless there is no other way, to get my car covered, I guess from the way it sounds, I need to try to find the phantom driver, the witness testamoney will not do the trick? is that the correct interpretation?

I give up...start from the beginning of your thread and read every post; I can't explain it any more.

 

[Tadius]

I appreciate your time here. I gather the non consise answer to my question of " what can I do to make sure the Insurance pays a claim on Uninsured motorist" is, "find the Phanton driver."

Short of a Miracle from TxDPS, and highering a private detective, is there any precident in a witness testamony swaying the case for this common occurance.

Or another angle is, Is there a law requireing a person to try to avoid an accident?

 

[seniorjudge]

I appreciate your time here. I gather the non consise answer to my question of " what can I do to make sure the Insurance pays a claim on Uninsured motorist" is, "find the Phanton driver."

Short of a Miracle from TxDPS, and highering a private detective, is there any precident in a witness testamony swaying the case for this common occurance.

Or another angle is, Is there a law requireing a person to try to avoid an accident?

The state cops in my area call what your wife said happened, "the black dog story". If there is a one-car accident, drivers around here tell the cops that "a black dog" ran out in front of the driver and, to avoid an accident, the driver had to run off the road or whatever.

So, without that phanthom driver, you ain't got squat.

 

[empsystem]

never thought of this until now

Thanks for this discussion; I am glad I found this thread, as I had a similar situation a year ago. (I'm in California)
To make things short, I'll just ask these:
suppose I memorize/jot down--as I frantically tries to control my car --the license plate number of the "black dog", would I be able to file this with my insurance company, AAA? (I have had uninsured waiver before then).
A nice samaritan stopped his car and lended me his cellphone right after I spun out. Suppose that perosn, the witness, sees me spinned out of control, but could not identify the "black dog", would it help in my case? Or should I not mentioning the presence of witness to the insurance company?

 

[moburkes]

Your insurance company is going to find your wife at fault for this accident. Had the phantom vehicle hit her, then she would not have been at fault. But, since she chsoe to avoid the accident by swerving, she lost control of her own vehicle, and was then hit. So, therefore she was at hit. Sorry. There are no other answers for you today.

 

[efflandt]

Why did she spin the car? Apparently she needs driving lessons if she cannot either tap the brakes or change lanes (but should not do both at the same time).

I have had tractor trailer rigs cut me off twice while in the left lane of interstates. In one case at night in Indiana my only choice was to drive onto the grass median until I could hang back and pull in behind him. In another case crossing a Mississippi River bridge, my only choice to not getting wedged up against the wall was tapping the brakes. And people attempting to change lanes "before they look" is quite common in Chicago area traffic (usually they jerk back when you suddenly appear in their mirror).

But I am an autocrosser. Maybe she should join the Texas SCCA and get some Solo II practice in parking lot slaloms to learn car control. Defensive driving is also keeping an eye open for where you can go if something unexpected happens (try to avoid being sandwiched by vehicles on both sides).