What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
I was leaving a parking lot. The driver ahead of me stopped at the yield sign located here and I stopped behind him.
The driver in front of me pulled out into the road. This is a road with 4 lanes plus a left turn lane, 5 lanes in total.
At this time I took my foot off of the brake and allowed my vehicle to roll forward. I did not use any gas. This is due to the fact that my vehicle has a five speed manual transmission and the exit of the parking lot is on a hill; removing my foot from the break while keeping my other foot on the clutch allowed it to roll forward.
I looked to the left as I approached the yield sign at the end of the parking lot exit to make sure that there was no oncoming traffic. I turned to the right to do the same and noticed that the driver ahead of me was still moving. I did not notice any traffic coming from either direction.
Still allowing my car to roll forward (I had not yet taken my left foot off of the clutch or applied any pressure to the accelerator) I began to turn back to look in front of me when my vehicle bumped the vehicle ahead of me. For reasons unknown to me the driver in front stopped his vehicle half way across the road and across two lanes of traffic.
I know that I am at fault, and normally I would just plead guilty and be done with it, however, I do not see this going away that easily. While there was no damage to either car the other driver was complaining of neck and back pain. This person was in a company car and this is what I see happening. The person will go out on worker's compensation claiming an injury. Not only will I be sued for damages and a (likely non-existent) injury, but I will also be sued for the person's wages by their comp insurance company.
How should I plead this? I'm thinking that I should plead not guilty even though I know I will loose in the end, just so that I can get these facts in some type of record. I'm told that if I just plead guilty that I will have a harder time fighting any type of future claims.
I was leaving a parking lot. The driver ahead of me stopped at the yield sign located here and I stopped behind him.
The driver in front of me pulled out into the road. This is a road with 4 lanes plus a left turn lane, 5 lanes in total.
At this time I took my foot off of the brake and allowed my vehicle to roll forward. I did not use any gas. This is due to the fact that my vehicle has a five speed manual transmission and the exit of the parking lot is on a hill; removing my foot from the break while keeping my other foot on the clutch allowed it to roll forward.
I looked to the left as I approached the yield sign at the end of the parking lot exit to make sure that there was no oncoming traffic. I turned to the right to do the same and noticed that the driver ahead of me was still moving. I did not notice any traffic coming from either direction.
Still allowing my car to roll forward (I had not yet taken my left foot off of the clutch or applied any pressure to the accelerator) I began to turn back to look in front of me when my vehicle bumped the vehicle ahead of me. For reasons unknown to me the driver in front stopped his vehicle half way across the road and across two lanes of traffic.
I know that I am at fault, and normally I would just plead guilty and be done with it, however, I do not see this going away that easily. While there was no damage to either car the other driver was complaining of neck and back pain. This person was in a company car and this is what I see happening. The person will go out on worker's compensation claiming an injury. Not only will I be sued for damages and a (likely non-existent) injury, but I will also be sued for the person's wages by their comp insurance company.
How should I plead this? I'm thinking that I should plead not guilty even though I know I will loose in the end, just so that I can get these facts in some type of record. I'm told that if I just plead guilty that I will have a harder time fighting any type of future claims.
