Accident ?

I want everyones input on this.

I was just involved in an accident with an atv.
I had just been riding and was coming home. I was in my truck pulling my trailer with the grizzly on it. I was heading down a back road (speed limit not posted). I was doing between 40-45mph and a fairly straight flat road. As I approached a house, an atv pulled up next to the road and stopped. I started to slow down just in case (as I always do with cars because I have had several pull out in front of me). Well he sat there a few seconds and as I got about 100 ft or less from him, he went... I hit the brakes and swerved(I have ABS) but he hit the side of the avalanche at the back of the rear door and scrapped all the way down the rest of the side of the truck.

He somehow missed the trailer that is 2 ft wider than the truck. It threw him off the atv into the road. Did not flip the atv. He was still on the ground when I got out of the turck and called 911. Thankfully he wasn't too badly hurt and refused an ambulance. He was saying he was ok but I know he will be bruised and sore. He was going to the hospital just to get checked out after the cop finished the report.

Here's my problem...
I was issued a ticket for "failure to reduce speed to aviod and accident". I was going under the speed limit ( In illinois, the speed limit outside city limits is 55mph unless posted otherwise). I was going 40-45 at most because I was pulling a trailer. The atv rider did not dispute that speed and the cop seemed to thing that was close to the speed I was traveling but thought it was too fast.

No tickets were issued the the atv rider.



I feel this is not correct since I was on a main road, there were no stop signs and he pulled out and ran into me. I feel he should have gotten a ticket for "failure to yield right of way". It's illegal for the atv to be on a public roadway in illinois, so why would the cop give me a ticket when he cold have given the atv multiple tickets?

Since I got the ticket he is saying I am at fault so I will have to pay my deductable, my insurance will go up, I will have to miss work to deal with the ticket, and I WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY MEDICAL BILLS THE ATV RIDER INCURES.

Is there anyway fault can be reexamined, and changed or am I REALLY at fault?

Thought, comments, suggestions.

Thanks

you can go to court and dispute it and have the fault charge changed to the atv rider, you can also go down and see what they say at the police station.

sucks that it happened glad everyone is ok

you have insurance and the guy most likely dosent, so in a way (i know it dosent look like it) the cop was looking out for you, incase the guy try's to sue you later, your insurance will pay it, simular thing happend to me when a kid ran his go cart across the path of my truck (never touched him),but his dad tried to sue me a couple of weeks later (to no avail), had to get a lawyer and what a costly mess that turned out to be, good luck to ya

First thing I would do is talk to a lawyer and see what your options are. After that I would fight the ticket. If you were traveling under the speed limit and he pulled out in front of you then there is no way you should be held liable, whether or not he was insured if he was at fault then any lawsuit he filed would probably be thrown out. Something smells fishy to me.

my wife and i just talked about this. we both work for an insurance company. just because the police report says you're at fault, doesnt mean you have to pay his medical bills....unless you get stuck with a retard adjuster and they decide to pay for it. they can deny his claim if he tries file on your insurance. if he tries sues you, you're insurance company will pay court costs and lawyer fees to defend you.

there's a thing called negligence, each state picks what kind they want, there's several different kinds. here's IL.....

"Contributory Negligence (Limit to Plaintiff's Recovery)" - Originally, under the doctrine of contributory negligence if it were shown that the plaintiff contributed in any way to his injuries, he was barred from any recovery. This has been modified over time to permit the plaintiff to recover even if he contributed to his injuries, as long as his fault is under 50 percent. In these cases, recovery is relative to fault. For instance, if a jury finds a party's injuries worth $100,000 and holds that the party was 25 percent at fault, the party's recovery would be $75,000. On the other hand, if the jury found the party 60 percent at fault, the party would be barred from any recovery.


it's gonna depend on who is found at fault

the damage is to the back door of your avalanche so that seems to mean that he hit you & he is at fault,maybe the cop is a relative to the guy on the ATV ,something really sounds odd

94 lngbd said:

the damage is to the back door of your avalanche so that seems to mean that he hit you & he is at fault,maybe the cop is a relative to the guy on the ATV ,something really sounds odd

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exactly, that's why if he can get an adjuster that isnt a moron, they'll deny any medical claims to the atv driver. i'd say the atv rider will be found at least 50% at fault which will bar him from recovery.

c.c.muddog said:

you have insurance and the guy most likely dosent, so in a way (i know it dosent look like it) the cop was looking out for you, incase the guy try's to sue you later, your insurance will pay it, simular thing happend to me when a kid ran his go cart across the path of my truck (never touched him),but his dad tried to sue me a couple of weeks later (to no avail), had to get a lawyer and what a costly mess that turned out to be, good luck to ya

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This does not make sense to me. How would the cop be "looking out for me" by giving me a ticket (thus putting me at fault) for the accident? I have a lot of phone calls to make but I really don't agree with this one.

The problem I have is to fight the ticket I will have to miss at least one day of work (loss of $500 in wages) and may have to pay my $500 deductable plus possibly increased insurance rates, and lawyer fees might be a possibility. With the economy, reduced work for both my wife and I, this could put me in an extreme financial bind-just because the cop didn't know what he was doing...

kcm1582 said:

First thing I would do is talk to a lawyer and see what your options are. After that I would fight the ticket. If you were traveling under the speed limit and he pulled out in front of you then there is no way you should be held liable, whether or not he was insured if he was at fault then any lawsuit he filed would probably be thrown out. Something smells fishy to me.

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+1

Get a lawyer on retainer right away, I am willing to bet the other guy has already. Sorry this happend and hope it goes in your favor.

This stinks.....any idiot (that'd be me) could see from the evidence that the atv rider caused the accident......

sometimes the LAW just......................plain..........................








SUCKS !!!!!!!

97_4x4 said:

This does not make sense to me. How would the cop be "looking out for me" by giving me a ticket (thus putting me at fault) for the accident? I have a lot of phone calls to make but I really don't agree with this one.

The problem I have is to fight the ticket I will have to miss at least one day of work (loss of $500 in wages) and may have to pay my $500 deductable plus possibly increased insurance rates, and lawyer fees might be a possibility. With the economy, reduced work for both my wife and I, this could put me in an extreme financial bind-just because the cop didn't know what he was doing...

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you make $500 a day???? sounds like you should be fine.


did you read anything i posted? you're not gonna have to pay anything and your insurance company should represent you if the guy tries to take you to court.

i'd call the police and get them to look at the ticket again, then call mr. atv guy and see if he can give a statement saying that it wasnt your fault. i wouldnt go running straight to the lawyers just yet. if you have an insurance company finding the atv guy more negligent that you AND the atv rider saying that it wasnt your fault, i bet they'd drop the charge.

the only way the guy has insurance on his atv is if he has a farm policy on his property. if he tells his insurance company that he uses the atv to check on his cows, or get the mail, or checking fences or some shit related to the property, he could file under his own insurance.

88_Eddie said:

you make $500 a day???? sounds like you should be fine.


did you read anything i posted? you're not gonna have to pay anything and your insurance company should represent you if the guy tries to take you to court.

i'd call the police and get them to look at the ticket again, then call mr. atv guy and see if he can give a statement saying that it wasnt your fault. i wouldnt go running straight to the lawyers just yet. if you have an insurance company finding the atv guy more negligent that you AND the atv rider saying that it wasnt your fault, i bet they'd drop the charge.

the only way the guy has insurance on his atv is if he has a farm policy on his property. if he tells his insurance company that he uses the atv to check on his cows, or get the mail, or checking fences or some shit related to the property, he could file under his own insurance.

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Total package, including pension plan, annuity, health insurance and hourly wage- yes I make about $500 a day but I don't work everyday. My court date is one of my upcoming scheduled workdays... I think I can get it sorted out, hopefully a phone call to the District Attorney may be all that is needed to take car of the ticket. I have already left a message with my insurance agent and we will go from there. I should find out something with the deductable tomorrow.

But looks like the consensus is that, the ticket does not necessarily show fault, and that will be up to the insurance company to figure out but the ticket doesn't help the situation.

97_4x4 said:

Total package, including pension plan, annuity, health insurance and hourly wage- yes I make about $500 a day but I don't work everyday. My court date is one of my upcoming scheduled workdays...

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oh i see, try to trade with someone? if you can.

good luck with it all

I really want to know what the cop was smoking.

You have a streak that starts halfway back the vehicle and its your fault that he hit you? Hmm....

Did the officer look like this?

ATV's are illegal to run on the street....period. Here, the idiots get pulled over by cops and they are issued a ticket..if they have no ID on them the ATV is impounded (or supposed to be). I asked several of my cop and FHP buddies and they said that is the law. He pulled out in front of you? He is at fault. You need to sue the police department for improper writing of a ticket. The ATV is not allowed on the street......never..noway. I saw two cops pull over two different riders at two different times riding on the streets near my house. I saw one get picked up by a wrecker driver so I presume it was impounded. Read your state laws on the use of an ATV, Bro!!!! Fight fire with fire. I will never let anybody pull the wool over my eyes. I can be a mean SOB when I get pissed off!!!