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Road rage -Guy PITted my wife, car totaled

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tomt

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?
MN

Last week my wife entered a freeway from a double lane metered on-ramp (MN thing). Apparently the guy who had pulled up to her left believed it was his turn to go (it wasn't) and got p.o.'d.
He literally chased her down the 3 lane freeway for up to five miles, purple faced and foaming mouth, both middle fingers flying left and right, and pinning her in the right lane.
She tried slowing down and speeding up to get away, but he matched her speed.
Finally, knowing she needed to get off on an exit ramp on the left side of the 3 lane in a mile, she turned on her turn signal, but he still would not let her in.
Eventually she saw an opening ahead of the guy, sped up and attempted the lane change. He sped up to and executed what sounded like a perfect PIT maneuver, hitting her rear fender and sending her into a tailspin that caused her to fishtail and eventually 360 across multiple lanes and crash into the medium wall on the left side of the freeway.
Wife's car is totaled - Road Rage guy had some front end damage, he pulled up on shoulder ahead and waited.
Wife called cops, they show and after speaking with RRG he apparently admitted that he was angry at my wife and was chasing her. They are considering pressing criminal charges against him.
There were a few witnesses that stuck around, a semi driver who at first scolded my wife for not paying attention, but after talking to RRG and cops now corroborates wife. Another witness isn't quite sure what happened.

The first evening she felt OK but shaken, but over the next few days, side and neck are stiffening. She is seeing doctor today and, on advice from friends, is taking pictures of totaled car.

Does anyone have any advice from this point on? Should we consider civil action? Should we see if skid marks are still on freeway and take pictures of them, or would the cops already have done that?


Thanks for any info legal type people!What is the name of your state?
 


alnorth

Member
The first evening she felt OK but shaken, but over the next few days, side and neck are stiffening. She is seeing doctor today and, on advice from friends, is taking pictures of totaled car.

Does anyone have any advice from this point on? Should we consider civil action? Should we see if skid marks are still on freeway and take pictures of them, or would the cops already have done that?


Thanks for any info legal type people!What is the name of your state?
Yes, get all the evidence you can think of, names of any witnesses, etc.

If the doctor says that your wife has soft tissue injuries and the other guy has liability insurance, you may want to strongly consider seeing a Personal Injury lawyer. He'll probably take about 1/3 of whatever he collects, but you would very likely receive more money from pain and suffering above and beyond the legal fees than you would get trying to collect from the other insurance company by yourself without paying a lawyer.
 
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Some Random Guy

Senior Member
He'll probably take about 1/3 of whatever he collects, but you would very likely receive more money from pain and suffering above and beyond the legal fees than you would get trying to collect from the other insurance company by yourself without paying a lawyer.
Talk to a personal injury lawyer. You will be suing the other driver, not their insurance company. If the situation is as you describe, his insurance company may not come to his defense or pay, since this was an intentional attack by the other driver and not an accident. Do you have uninsured/underinsured coverage on your vehicle?
 

MikeKV

Member
If you haven't done this already contact YOUR insurance co. immediately. They will help you proceed which is (one reason) why you pay them in the first place. Your 2nd step can be to contact a lawyer.

Oh, one more thing. I've been in two recent accidents where the other drivers were at fault. Don't expect things to proceed quickly. When you contact a lawyer he/she will typically want to wait until your wife has completed her treatments (hope she'll be ok) before proceeding with any pain and suffering compensation. This does not happen over night. This can be as long as six months to a year. The insurance reimbursements usually proceed a little quicker but can also be slow. Utilize your insurance co. and a lawyer and proceed as they recommend. Try not to expect things to proceed quickly.
 
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ecmst12

Senior Member
There are two parts to your claim - property damage and injury. The property damage, they will want to settle as quickly as possible (and probably you do too!) to keep storage charges from getting into the stratosphere. The injury, as mentioned, will take a long time, probably 1-2 years in all. And a lawyer will be a big help.

If you have collision coverage on your car, you can let them pay for your car (less your deductible) and let them pursue RRG's insurance for reimbursement - if successful, you will get your deductible back too. Or you can try filing the claim with them yourself; if you don't have collision coverage then you won't have much choice, you'll HAVE to file with them yourself.
 

tomt

Junior Member
I appreciate all the input guys - Well she does have some soft tissue damage and x-rays indicte that two of her vertabrae were pushed together (although this might be an old injury that was re-aggravated)
Another thing that is p*ssing me off - she was driving an '03 American manufactured car (Don't want to mention company name... save that it is often abbr'd to two letters... and the second letter is M)
Even though she hit the median in excess of 30 mph semi-head on, neither airbag deployed.
I have been nagging her for ten years to put her seatbelt on -at least this time she did.

Thanks again -AND BUCKLE UP!
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
If this plays out as you say, this is not a traffic collision or accident - it is a criminal act. In my state this would be assault with a deadly weapon as well as road rage, and he would be charged with a felony (IF it can be proven that the act was intentional). I doubt that he will be indemnified by his insurance for a criminal act ... so hopefully he has assets to claim in the event of a successful lawsuit.

As for the airbags, they won't deploy unless the angle and speed of impact is just so. A "semi head on" impact was apparently not sufficient. You find that in many rollover collisions, sideways skids and spins, and quarter panel impacts that the bags do NOT deploy.

- Carl
 

Ozark_Sophist

Senior Member
Another thing that is p*ssing me off - she was driving an '03 American manufactured car (Don't want to mention company name... save that it is often abbr'd to two letters... and the second letter is M)
Even though she hit the median in excess of 30 mph semi-head on, neither airbag deployed.
Air bags do not always deploy when one would think they should and sometimes they deploy when one would think they shouldn't. My airbag deployed after I was run off the road at over 40 mph. I struck a glancing blow to the driver's side fender to a fence parallel to the road and the airbag deployed. Unfortunately, I was still traveling 40 mph and lost control with the airbag knocked me silly. There was only minor damage to the car, and if it wasn't for the deployed airbags, I could have driven home.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
Not to mention that it apparantly costs over $1000 to replace a deployed airbag, I had no idea! Just having one go off can total an older car.
 

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