Auto Insurance Claims: Re: Car Accident, siderails, side rails

Question
Am I "at fault"?
This happened last week. I was driving at less than 40miles an hour. It was raining heavily.
Suddenly I felt a jerk and my car lost control. As in it was not moving in a direction that I was trying to.
My breaks were not working.I realised that it would be best to take the car off the road as it would be
dangerous to control the car while I am on the road. So i took a hard right turn and moved towards the side
rails. Since my car din't have breaks and the tyre had blasted the car wasn't stopping. So finally it hit the
siderails and stopped. After stopping I realised that there was a big plank with some nails etc stuck to my
front wheels.A sheriff came by and told that this could have also happened due to "hydroplane". I was not given
any ticket though.
Few other details include that I was driving on a road which was midst of the ocean ie. on both sides of the
road were water.There was a bridge within few feets from the acident spot.So even if I would have tried
"controlling" the car without hitting the side rails, I might not be alive today as I would have fallen
off the bridge or something. Also I avoided from colliding with other cars on the bridge. I do have the
photo of the plank under my car etc in my mobile.

Now the insurance company tells me that "I am at fault".
Can you please tell me how this is true? Or how I can clarify the situation more?
I cannot afford a premium hike on my insurance. My insurance policy is with GEICO.

thanks,
Samy

Answer
Hi Samy,

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Unfortunately, this is considered to be at-fault. The law requires that you always be able to control your vehicle no matter what happens. Whether it due to weather conditions or a deer jumping in front of you or a child running out in front of you, you must maintain control of your vehicle without hitting anything. When yo do hit something it is considered that eiher you did not maintain control or you over corrected to a situation. Either way it will be considered to be an at-fault accident.

They can not raise your rates until it's time to renew your policy. At that time you can shop around if the increase is very high.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh