Looks like I wont be at summit point...

[mpg9999]

Ok, so I'm traveling down 460 east just past south gate. I'm in the left lane. I'm behind a red pickup truck. Its an old F150, im not tailgating, but its a big truck and I can't see around it. In the right lane there are some flares and in the shoulder there is a car that has hit the guardrail and another car that pulled over to help them. Apparently cars up ahead slowed down to a near stop for this. The red pickup in front of me didnt notice or couldnt see it, I dunno. He nails his brakes and gets sideways and impacts a white pickup truck ahead of him. He is now sidways with his front end in the left land and rear in the left. I had already started to brake as soon as I saw him brake, but he impacted the white pickup truck maybe a second at the most after he was on the brakes. I started to try to steer around him as well, but him going from traveling speed to zero in the middle of 460 didnt really give me much time to do anything. I hit his rear bumper, which impacts my hood. My sunglasses go flying off my face. Fortunatly I was buckled up, I don't have a mark on me. His rear bumper was a little bent from my impact, and his front was destroyed from impacting the white pickup. My hood is buckled, right fender damaged, lights all destroyed, radiator and condensor bent back and broken open, radiator support bent, grill destroyed, and front bumper is scuffed up. I could theoretically drive it for a few minutes until it overheats.

Both myself and the driver of the red pickup got a ticket for followign to close. Its complete BS because I was in no way following to close. I must have slowed down a decent amount before impact because the damage to his truck isnt very bad. He also said there was a few second delay before I hit him, so I had to have time to slow down a little bit. I will be fighting the ticket, but unfortunatly I think im SOL as far as getting any insurance money from the driver of the red truck.

[white_2kgt]

ouch, now I see you are from VT, I was trying to figure out where 460 was anywhere near SouthGate (we have a SouthGate at JUM as well)

summit is a month away, you can get it fixed by then!

[Andy]

OMG, I'm sooo sorry. That is horrendous. I only hope that precious VE isn't damaged

[CaptainHenreh]

I know someone with a nice SE-R shell.

I actually know two someones with such a thing.

[Sijray21]

omg, i'm soo sorry Mike....

I'm really glad to see you're alright. You can definitely fight that "following too close" thing though. Mainly b/c that takes into account that the car infront of you is also braking and not coming to an immediate stop.

If you need any help with anything let me know. I'm sorry man

[Mike]

fuck! sorry to hear

[Evan]

:oops:
sorry to hear it man, good luck with the court battle and getting your car back together!

Apparently cars up ahead slowed down to a near stop for this.

:x
ugh....that pisses me off to no end. People that rubberneck and have no comprehension of how it affects traffic behind them and causes accidents. grrrr.....
:evil:

[JohnC]

Glad you're ok - hope you can get 'er back together soon...

[Maengelito]

shit, that sucks man, glad you're alright

[Feersty]

Sorry about that mang. Go carbon fiber front end

[mpg9999]

VE, Suspension, basically everything but body parts and the radiator are ok.

I'm looking into a few options right now:

1. Fix the car. A new hood unpainted is 98 bucks. Thats the biggest thing I need. A fellow SE-R friend offered up a set of headlights and the grill for free. Fenders are good enough for now. I've also got a radiator in my basement. AC condensor doesnt need to be fixed right away. The biggest things are painting a hood if I don't buy one from a red se-r, and repairing the damage to the radiator support. I'm not sure if I can repair it myself or not.

2. Buy an SE-R shell and swap everything. Like a few people have already mentioned, some of you have shells. If I can find one in a relativly decent condition I may do it. Its just a pain in the ass to swap everything out of my car into another.

3. Say screw it, part it out, start over again with something else. I somehow doubt I'll do that.

The biggest problem is all of these options leave me without a car for the time being. I do have my motorcycle, but its not running right now. One of the guys in CCVT does have an 89 tracer he is selling for 300 bucks. I may have to pick that up so I can get around. I'm supposed to go home tommorow...

[Chris]

shit man that sucks! sorry to see that happened but glad you're ok. sounds like fixing it might not be a bad choice, you'll get it on track eventually!

[Hunter]

Sorry to hear about that, I vote buying a shell, putting a cage in it, and building an SE-R cup car. Of course I'm not using logic, I just want to see more racecars around here.

[ScottyB]

man, when i opened this thread i ignored the text and went straight to the picture.....i literally got an adrenaline rush like you get in those "oh shit" moments

so sorry Mike. glad your ok and hopefully you can nab up a cheap SE-R shell.

[Dragon]

Sorry to hear about the accident man, and glad to hear you're ok. Good luck in court, but I don't think you'll be able to do much to fight it. Standard rule in a accident involving more than one vehicle in VA "nothing is unavoidable" which is why he gave you a following too close. That's the least severe infraction the police can give you in this circumstance. Did he charge either you or the guy in the red pickup you with the accident or just the Following To Close?

I'd get a lawyer and see what kind of spin he puts on it, because if you go to the judge and say "there's no way I was following too close" he's just gonna look at you and say "did you stop in time to prevent collision with the other vehicle? no? Then you were following too close". Not trying to say anything about you, just telling you what the judge will say.

[HAULN-SS]

how'd your ticket turn out anway? wasnt that you Dragon?

[Dragon]

how'd your ticket turn out anway? wasnt that you Dragon?

Nope, not me.

[mpg9999]

Sorry to hear about the accident man, and glad to hear you're ok. Good luck in court, but I don't think you'll be able to do much to fight it. Standard rule in a accident involving more than one vehicle in VA "nothing is unavoidable" which is why he gave you a following too close. That's the least severe infraction the police can give you in this circumstance. Did he charge either you or the guy in the red pickup you with the accident or just the Following To Close?

I'd get a lawyer and see what kind of spin he puts on it, because if you go to the judge and say "there's no way I was following too close" he's just gonna look at you and say "did you stop in time to prevent collision with the other vehicle? no? Then you were following too close". Not trying to say anything about you, just telling you what the judge will say.

My roomates dad succesfully fought a following to closely ticket, but he had a lawyer. He was also actually following to closely, talking on a cell phone... Both myself and the driver of the red pickup in front of me got tickets for following to close. I may talk with a lawyer tommorow if I have time. I may also have the guy in the Red pickup testify for me that I wasnt following him to closely. He told me that there was a few seconds between when he hit the car in front of him and when I hit him. I think I slowed down by a considerable amount.

[Dragon]

Typically you can fight the "following too close ticket", but I'd suggest getting a lawyer. The "it took me a few seconds before I hit him" excuse won't fly with the judge unless he's in a forgiving mood, or the officer that issued the ticket also speaks on your behalf. Following too close is typically the infraction that an officer will give someone in a case where they know that in all honesty there was no way to avoid the accident and it's really not your fault. Standard procedure, an officer arrives at an accident, and has to issue tickets, it's only the rarest case where they don't have to. That's why I asked what the officer said when the ticket was issued, that's always a good clue as to how things will go when you get to court.

[Maengelito]

i've been rear ended by a few cars in my days. once, the cop gave the guy behind me a following too close ticket which he got out of because there was an accident ahead of me which is why we all slammed on the brakes. another time, the guy never got a ticket cuz there was an accident ahead of me which is why we all slammed on the brakes. regardless, it kinda sounds like a similar situation so see if the judge will be lenient because everyone had to abruptly stop.

and if not, then i know someone who will pay a premium for a couple of SR20 motors before racewarz