QuestionHi Mark,
Is there a way to force an insurance company to re-create an accident if they haven't done so and is it too late anyway if three months have elapsed since that accident?
Three months ago we (my wife and I) were involved in a three car collision in Los Angeles. We crossed into an intersection on a green light and were hit by an elderly driver who ran the red light. We were on a three lane road (N,S and turn lane) heading south, the other driver was on a five lane road (2-westbound lanes, 1-turn, 2 eastbound lanes) heading west.
After he hit our car it immediately spun 90 degrees and flipped over onto the passenger side. It continued sliding another 30 feet after impact, more or less in a straight line and came to rest still perpendicular to the center line of the lane I had been driving in. We were wearing our seat belts as we always do and somehow my wife and I were fine when the car finally stopped. We felt lucky to be alive as the crash was so violent. I sent her to the hospital to receive treatment for minor lacerations on her arm and I stayed with the car at the request of LAPD. No one else had injuries at the scene or went to the hospital.
Almost instantly after hitting us the elderly driver hit yet another driver's car head on. This driver claims she was stopped in the turn lane facing him preparing for a left turn. I say “claims” because I have my doubts she was completely stopped. She was certainly hit head on, his driver fender (or what was left of it at this point ) to her driver fender. I believe she was spun around 180 degrees into the west bound passing lane but still on the western side of the intersection. I can't remember this clearly and I haven't received a copy of the police report yet to confirm her final position. Would this suggest she was hit while stationary or while moving? Where should her car have wound up if she was hit head on
while stopped and yielding to opposing traffic in the turning lane?
This third driver would later say in a statement to my insurance company about a month after the accident that I ran the red light. Her statement was relayed verbally to me in a phone call from my adjuster who was repeating what she had transcribed from memory. It was very disconcerting to be falsely accused but I believed that her description of what happened would not be upheld because it proposed a preposterous event.
This is the sum of what I found preposterous:
The witness claims to have been stopped at the red light waiting to turn left. She says the light was red for her at this time. As the light changed to green for her, she said I came through the intersection. Now the light I faced has a 25 second green, 5 second yellow and 60 second red. It's the reverse for the east-west drivers: 55 second green, 5 second yellow and 30 second red. My contention is that if you accept her statement, there is a corollary that you must also accept and that is the placement of my vehicle and the one that hit me in the time frame her statement proposes.
If you assume for the sake of argument that her statement is true, the corollary to what she is saying is that after my green light expired I and my wife ignored 5 seconds of a yellow light, traveling 300 feet in the process at 35-40 mph and crossed into the intersection as my light turned to red. But she is also saying that the elderly driver faced 30 seconds of red light as he traveled west and crossed into the intersection just as the light turned green. If he traveled at 40 mph on the same road as the accident for 30 seconds he was staring at a red light for 1700 feet in her scenario ! I felt at the time that at the very least the insurance company should be able to prove that this was an untenable explanation for the crash. Clearly I was hit by a car traveling at least at the speed limit.
Anyway, my insurance company was in possession of this statement for a month and half or so before the police report came out and apparently thought there was nothing wrong with it because they did nothing to challenge it. When the police report finally came out it was revealed that this witness also told the officers at the scene that I was speeding. I'm going to request a copy of her statement to my insurance company to see if the speeding allegation is in there because it's very odd indeed if it is in statement given at the scene and not the one given to the insurance company.
The elderly driver of course makes no mention of seeing a red light and claims his light was green the whole time. He also claims I was speeding though I'm convinced that this claim is the result of an extensive conversation he had with the third driver at the scene. I truly believe he doesn't know what happened and gained most or all of his knowledge of the accident from information gleaned from talking with the third driver. He made no statement to anyone until the report came out and revealed there were no witnesses to the accident on one of Hollywood's busiest intersections other than the third driver. No one would be coming forward to confirm or deny my contention that my light was green for me the entire time.
I'm going to leave an exchange or two with my adjuster out just to try and make this long and complicated story shorter but the wind up is that my insurance company sent me a letter saying they had found me principally at fault for the accident. They say I ran the red light. My adjuster claims the turn lane driver is a third party witness whose testimony is above mine or the other driver's. As I understand it, my testimony and that of the driver that hit me cancel each other out. In the absence of witnesses I had sort of expected that. My problem is that the statements of this supposedly superior witness have not been challenged by my own insurance company and I don't understand why.
I asked the adjuster to explain to me how it was that we could be hit with such force that we were rolled over half a second after the light turned red in her witnesses' version of events. Turns out she was only dimly aware that we had in fact rolled over. She went on to say that “maybe” - she really used the word maybe- it was because of forward motion due to my speeding. Again, that was from my adjuster. Needless to say I have requested a review.
I'll wrap up with a quick summary of the damage to my car, a Ford Escape, which was totaled. The point of impact was the left rear tire. There is no damage to the sheet metal on the drivers side of the car. Pictures show the front and top of the wheel well faring intact. There is a wide scrape across the tire (which is still inflated) and the corner of the bumper is curled under.
A picture taken from the rear of the car shows the tire bent in about 20 degrees off of the vertical so the associated suspension components were pushed in by the impact. The rear hatch is shown to be off line (higher on the right than the left) and not able to close. The passenger side rear quarter panel is moderately crumpled and the roof above the passenger door is severely mangled . The fold in the metal bows the roof up in the center. The top rail of the passenger door shows severe abrasion as does the rear corner of the car. These later scrape marks are at a 45 degree angle. The windshield and passenger door glass are the only glass that was damaged. A picture taken from the front of the car shows the most damage. It almost looks like the car was dropped on the front corner of the passenger side roof.
I literally never saw what hit me. We went through the green light and as I reached the middle of the intersection I became aware of a car approaching in my peripheral vision. There was no horn beeping or brakes squealing. We were hit hard and the car seemed to helicopter in slow motion and then it rolled over and then it hit the ground and slid.
I looked for skid marks at the scene later and saw none. I don't believe the police noted the absence of skid marks in their report either. If you see a Ford Escape on the street note that there is only about two feet of distance between the center of the rear tire and the tip of the bumper. This driver who could apparently observe my car long enough to accuse me of speeding didn't have enough time to turn the wheel to his right enough to move his car over two feet ? He didn't have enough time to lock the brakes up?
He almost missed me by doing nothing. Except that I don't believe he did “nothing”. I know I can never prove this but I believe this driver panicked and hit the gas instead of the brake when he saw me in the intersection. It's really the only explanation that makes sense to me.
Anyway, if you can offer any advice I would sorely appreciate it and thank you for taking the time to
help people out with your experience.
AnswerI do not do reconstructions anymore now that I work full time, but you can go to the ARC network;
www.accidentreconstruction.com and find an expert to do a reconstruction of the collision. This may vindicate your side of the story. You can then take it to the insurance company and at least demand that the reconstruction be entered into the record of the case. If they do not wish to change the verdict you can then sue your company if it would cost you more money out of pocket or in new premiums.
