Isn't it wonderful when you have to pay for another's mistake?!

[mike31154]

Bummer. No one wins in an accident, even fender benders some times. Take comfort in that there were no serious injuries. That whole scenario could have ended much worse!

I needed to run some errands this afternoon & I swear I should have stayed home. I decided to ride my motorcycle instead of the truck. Not sure what was up, but it seems like many drivers were not paying attention or were in a crazy hurry. Really, in the bustling metropolis of Vernon? You big city boys are dealing with a whole different ball game. Anyhow, I did manage to make it home in one piece.

I've been cut off over the years like anyone else (I've been known to mess up & cut off other drivers too), but this afternoon I got cut off 4 times! First was a lady making a right turn on a red light, she didn't even stop or look! From what I recall a right turn on red is legal in every province except Quebec, but you do need to stop and only proceed when it's safe to do so. I had been waiting for the opposing traffic left turn advance green and once I finally got the green, proceeded across the intersection. Fortunately I reacted quickly enough & hit the brakes. The pickup behind me gave her the horn big time & when she realized what she had done, hit the brakes & moved over to the curb. I had no time to hit the horn, just the brakes to save my butt. When you ride a motorcycle for as long as I have, you almost get a 6th sense to survive.... either that, or you become a statistic pretty quick. On a motorbike you tend to be invisible to many drivers, but this lady didn't even look my way when she made that turn without stopping.

Next 3 close calls were all folks making a left turn in front of me when I had the right of way. Right of way is well & good, but means little when you're on a bike & end up t-boning an impatient car or truck driver that cuts in front of you. No air bags or seat belt for me, I'll just go flying & hit the pavement. All this happened within a space of less than an hour.

Hey, but I'm still here & so are you, posting & ranting away on a fish forum about poor driving habits.

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

I was confused since the adjuster said that his people will go and look at my car to write off. Don't really know how it all works. I have left a message for him saying that I don't want to add any more charges on a car that I won't be able to use. If he doesn't give me a call back by tomorrow afternoon, I will go grab the car and sell it off to any junk yard. Or I will see if the lot will just let me grab the plate and forfeit the car.

The lot probably won't just let you forfeit your car for free, they will charge (probably overcharge) to tow it away for you on top of the lot fees but it never hurts to ask. If it comes to that, a number of charities will tow your car for free and give you a tax receipt of a few hundred dollars but I would call around to a few scrap yards first to see what they would give you for the car and then decide what is most cost effective. The insurance company can't force you to keep your car at the lot since they are not paying you for it so it won't become their property nor will they be paying the fees. I would email the insurance company, so you have written confirmation, that you intend to move the vehicle immediately due to ongoing costs and they can contact you for the vehicles final whereabouts.

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Next 3 close calls were all folks making a left turn in front of me when I had the right of way. Right of way is well & good, but means little when you're on a bike & end up t-boning an impatient car or truck driver that cuts in front of you. No air bags or seat belt for me, I'll just go flying & hit the pavement. All this happened within a space of less than an hour.

True enough, you can be right and dead at the same time.

[toytech]

Edmonton roads are bad but everytime im in Calgary im glad I live here . Its brutal driving there . Word of note on new cars with abs press the brake pedal as if your trying to break it off , don't stomp on it just press it fricken hard . Theres a lot of stopping power people never use because the abs ecu never sees max demand .

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Bummer. No one wins in an accident, even fender benders some times. Take comfort in that there were no serious injuries. That whole scenario could have ended much worse!

I needed to run some errands this afternoon & I swear I should have stayed home. I decided to ride my motorcycle instead of the truck. Not sure what was up, but it seems like many drivers were not paying attention or were in a crazy hurry. Really, in the bustling metropolis of Vernon? You big city boys are dealing with a whole different ball game. Anyhow, I did manage to make it home in one piece.

I've been cut off over the years like anyone else (I've been known to mess up & cut off other drivers too), but this afternoon I got cut off 4 times! First was a lady making a right turn on a red light, she didn't even stop or look! From what I recall a right turn on red is legal in every province except Quebec, but you do need to stop and only proceed when it's safe to do so. I had been waiting for the opposing traffic left turn advance green and once I finally got the green, proceeded across the intersection. Fortunately I reacted quickly enough & hit the brakes. The pickup behind me gave her the horn big time & when she realized what she had done, hit the brakes & moved over to the curb. I had no time to hit the horn, just the brakes to save my butt. When you ride a motorcycle for as long as I have, you almost get a 6th sense to survive.... either that, or you become a statistic pretty quick. On a motorbike you tend to be invisible to many drivers, but this lady didn't even look my way when she made that turn without stopping.

Next 3 close calls were all folks making a left turn in front of me when I had the right of way. Right of way is well & good, but means little when you're on a bike & end up t-boning an impatient car or truck driver that cuts in front of you. No air bags or seat belt for me, I'll just go flying & hit the pavement. All this happened within a space of less than an hour.

Hey, but I'm still here & so are you, posting & ranting away on a fish forum about poor driving habits.

Glad to hear that you and your rides are alright I always show extra respect to the motor cyclist while on the road and always make sure there's enough space between him/her and me (and they seems to cooperate more than drivers). It is just sad when idiotic motorists cause the problems for which you have to pay, with life at worst.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

The lot probably won't just let you forfeit your car for free, they will charge (probably overcharge) to tow it away for you on top of the lot fees but it never hurts to ask. If it comes to that, a number of charities will tow your car for free and give you a tax receipt of a few hundred dollars but I would call around to a few scrap yards first to see what they would give you for the car and then decide what is most cost effective. The insurance company can't force you to keep your car at the lot since they are not paying you for it so it won't become their property nor will they be paying the fees. I would email the insurance company, so you have written confirmation, that you intend to move the vehicle immediately due to ongoing costs and they can contact you for the vehicles final whereabouts.

Exactly my thought. I don't know the adjuster's email so I left the voicemail that I want to take care of it. I have planned to go tomorrow to the lot to settle it and give the vehicle to any scrap company; there's no point waiting for the adjuster to look at my vehicle since they are not going to do anything about it anyways. I will not cancel the registration until I get to talk with the adjuster about it but at least getting the car away from the lot is fair for my pocket.I hope I won't "violate" any rule.

Originally Posted by toytech

Edmonton roads are bad but everytime im in Calgary im glad I live here . Its brutal driving there . Word of note on new cars with abs press the brake pedal as if your trying to break it off , don't stomp on it just press it fricken hard . Theres a lot of stopping power people never use because the abs ecu never sees max demand .

Haha. Yah people in edmoton drive very carefully. I even saw people overtaking car while still under speed limit. And yah, abs always interferes with the braking mechanism while you stomp on the brake. It was my first experience and my foot worked spontaneously before I could even take a decision. The experience was quite daunting for me.

[kien]

Originally Posted by sphelps

FYI safe/proper distance is 1 car length per 10mph or 16kph so for 80kph you need 5 car lengths not 2. Not that anybody really does it but that's what it is if you were curious. Sorry about your loss, I remember you were pretty proud of that car when you got it.

I do this.. there really isn't a reason to drive so close to someone in front of you. Drive defensively. Always assume that the guy in front of you can come to a dead stop at any moment for any reason.

At any rate, glad to hear you're safe! It could have been much worse.

[Ulmo]

I was in a collision in about 2001. The rear left wheel of an oncoming '79 Ford truck came off its axle. The wheel bounced off the road once and landed square into the grill of my newish '99 GMC Sonoma. Since this was at highway speed with a closure rate of at least 180 kph, it destroyed the front end, and almost killed me.

Be happy things were not worse.

[Scythanith]

Originally Posted by kien

I do this.. there really isn't a reason to drive so close to someone in front of you. Drive defensively. Always assume that the guy in front of you can come to a dead stop at any moment for any reason.

At any rate, glad to hear you're safe! It could have been much worse.

Haahaa it just gets frustrating when someone pulls into the space in front of you. You're driving safe, then they close the space on you.

[sphelps]

Yeah I think realistically, especially here in Calgary, if you left 5 car lengths in front you would literally never move. The secret is to get a car with low weight and big brakes