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Uninsured and was involved in accident.

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Drpepr96

Junior Member
I was in an auto accident on 8/20/2014 and had no insurance. There was a big storm and power was out on the side of town I was on, Thus, the traffic signal at se 5th and porter was not functioning. Also there was no four way stop sign put into place at the time of the accident. I was going northbound on se 5th approaching the intersection of se 5th and porter and the driver ahead of me was going to go through the intersection until she realized the light was not functioning and suddenly stopped. At that point I tried to stop but started hydroplaning. I tried pumping my brakes to no avail. I ended up hydroplaning into the back of her car. A police report was filed and I received two citations. One for no insurance, and the other for failure to maintain control of my vehicle. My questions are: Was the accident really my fault? Or can it somehow be argued as a no-fault accident? My other question is regarding insurance. I went home and got insurance right afterwards to attempt to avoid the no insurance ticket. Is this possible since it only says the effective date and not the time on my insurance information? The Iowa DOT has sent me a letter saying: "We have received a report for your motor vehicle accident which took place on the date shown above. However, certain information required by the Motor Vehicle Division was either not provided by you or was provided incorrectly. Please complete the following and return to the address shown above. WARNING: Failure to respond to this notice within 10 days may result in the suspension of your driving and or motor vehicle privileges." If I list my current insurance information do they check with the company to verify? Also do they mention they are verifying because of an accident report? I don't want my insurance company to cancel my policy for two reasons. A: I like driving insured. B: When I go to court and have to show proof of insurance I dont want it to be a canceled policy if they check the status of it. One last question I have is will I be able to get out of the no insurance ticket since it says "Effective Date: 08/20/2014" Because that IS the day the accident happened.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
You are 100% responsible for this accident. You slammed into a car ahead of you. You should have maintained a slower speed/furhter distance because of the conditions. No reason for the driver ahead of you stopping (other than if they were intentionally trying to make you wreck) will get you out of this responsibility. In fact, they are OBLIGED to stop before entering an intersection with a inoperative signal.

You can't just go buy insurance after the fact and make the problem go away. They want to know you had INSURANCE **AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT**. They will want proof since the information they currently have shows you were NOT insured. This is solely to give those who actually were insured but appeared not to be because of some clerical mistake to correct that.

It's hard to get specific here because you DELETED the esentially question this forum inserts in every post: WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR STATE?

I can pretty much guarantee in most states you better not count on driving anymore until you:

1. Have insurance.
2. Deal with the state's sanctions for not having insurance.
3. Pay off your liability to the damage to the other party that you caused.
 

Eekamouse

Senior Member
I was in an auto accident on 8/20/2014 and had no insurance. There was a big storm and power was out on the side of town I was on, Thus, the traffic signal at se 5th and porter was not functioning. Also there was no four way stop sign put into place at the time of the accident. I was going northbound on se 5th approaching the intersection of se 5th and porter and the driver ahead of me was going to go through the intersection until she realized the light was not functioning and suddenly stopped. At that point I tried to stop but started hydroplaning. I tried pumping my brakes to no avail. I ended up hydroplaning into the back of her car. A police report was filed and I received two citations. One for no insurance, and the other for failure to maintain control of my vehicle. My questions are: Was the accident really my fault? Or can it somehow be argued as a no-fault accident? My other question is regarding insurance. I went home and got insurance right afterwards to attempt to avoid the no insurance ticket. Is this possible since it only says the effective date and not the time on my insurance information? The Iowa DOT has sent me a letter saying: "We have received a report for your motor vehicle accident which took place on the date shown above. However, certain information required by the Motor Vehicle Division was either not provided by you or was provided incorrectly. Please complete the following and return to the address shown above. WARNING: Failure to respond to this notice within 10 days may result in the suspension of your driving and or motor vehicle privileges." If I list my current insurance information do they check with the company to verify? Also do they mention they are verifying because of an accident report? I don't want my insurance company to cancel my policy for two reasons. A: I like driving insured. B: When I go to court and have to show proof of insurance I dont want it to be a canceled policy if they check the status of it. One last question I have is will I be able to get out of the no insurance ticket since it says "Effective Date: 08/20/2014" Because that IS the day the accident happened.
If you LIKED driving insured, you would have BEEN driving insured at the time of your accident. SMH
 

Drpepr96

Junior Member
All I'm asking for is advice and information. You have NO idea of my situation aside from this as to why I didn't have any. So please, think about if what you're about to say is actually going to be helpful. Otherwise, say nothing at all.
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
All I'm asking for is advice and information. You have NO idea of my situation aside from this as to why I didn't have any. So please, think about if what you're about to say is actually going to be helpful. Otherwise, say nothing at all.
Okay, if lights aren't working at a intersection, all traffic must treat it as a four way stop. :cool:
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
All I'm asking for is advice and information. You have NO idea of my situation aside from this as to why I didn't have any. So please, think about if what you're about to say is actually going to be helpful. Otherwise, say nothing at all.
HOW DARE YOU! You drove uninsured and were in an accident. Now you want people to have sympathy for your pathetic lawlessness and take pity on your stupidity so that you can get around the law. Not going to happen. You will most likely have a suspended license for at least six months. Better get a bus pass. You are a danger.

You should have been prepared to stop because that is the LAW at an inoperable signal. You don't like the law. You like throwing hissy fits. Immature individuals such as yourself SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING.
 

Drpepr96

Junior Member
Thank you. Damn, are there any arguments as to it being a no-fault, or, I don't know how I want to word that. But is there anything I can argue? I mean yes it's one thing if you slow down for a stop, but to do it suddenly? I don't know. If that's true that means I could go to a stop sign and slam on my brakes and make someone rear end me and get away with it and have it their fault. I'm not trying to be a smartass I just want some ideas as to what I could do.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Thank you. Damn, are there any arguments as to it being a no-fault, or, I don't know how I want to word that. But is there anything I can argue? I mean yes it's one thing if you slow down for a stop, but to do it suddenly? I don't know. If that's true that means I could go to a stop sign and slam on my brakes and make someone rear end me and get away with it and have it their fault. I'm not trying to be a smartass I just want some ideas as to what I could do.
It was NOT no-fault. You were following too closely for conditions, you weren't prepared to stop as the law requires (the whole four way stop at inoperable lights) so you should have been slowing down to begin with, you were traveling too fast, and you were driving without insurance. If you weren't driving improperly YOU would not have an issue. YOU broke several rules of the road IN ADDITION to breaking the law on insurance.
 
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FlyingRon

Senior Member
In Iowa you're going to lose your license (and registration) for a year if you can not show that you either have paid for the damages to the other vehicle or your on an agreed upon installment plan. This is over and above what your tickets are going to cost you.

In addition before you get your license back the DMV will insist that you prove you are NOW insured and that you must maintain that proof of insurance for the next two years. This is commonly called an SR-22 policy. Your current (now) insurer can probably get it for you, there may be an additional fee.
 

Drpepr96

Junior Member
HOW DARE YOU! You drove uninsured and were in an accident. Now you want people to have sympathy for your pathetic lawlessness and take pity on your stupidity so that you can get around the law. Not going to happen. You will most likely have a suspended license for at least six months. Better get a bus pass. You are a danger.

You should have been prepared to stop because that is the LAW at an inoperable signal. You don't like the law. You like throwing hissy fits. Immature individuals such as yourself SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING.
All I'm asking for is advice and information. You have NO idea of my situation aside from this as to why I didn't have any. So please, think about if what you're about to say is actually going to be helpful. Otherwise, say nothing at all.
Yes how dare I. Hooooww dare I. You act as if I am clueless to what I did. Once again: if it isn't helpful, DON'T post it.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
http://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/ods/financial.htm


without reading anything other than that link it would appear that if you can prove financial responsibility the suspension will be short, or maybe none at all.



btw: showing financial responsibility for the accident in the discussion means




You can prove financial responsibility in one of these ways:

Show that you are covered by automobile liability insurance at the time of the accident.

Post cash, cashier's check, certified check, bank draft or postal money order payable to the Office of Driver Services.

Get releases from all other damaged or injured parties.

Obtain a decision resulting from a civil damage action relieving you of all liability.


File an agreement to pay the other damaged or injured parties on an installment plan.

Execute a warrant for confession of judgment which includes an agreement upon payment schedule.

File evidence of a complete settlement of all damages or injuries.
damn that progressed quickly. When I started my post there was 1 or 2 replies



and just a note to everybody:

it appears there is no mandatory insurance law in Iowa, at least until you are involved in an accident with damages exceeding $1500.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
Will I need to get sr22 even though I already have insurance?
You may have insurance NOW but you did not have it at the time of the accident. That is likely to mean your current insurance company will re-evaluate your insurability and it is quite possible you will either be required to obtain SR-22 insurance or at the least, they are likely to raise your rates some amount.
 

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