frank theriault wrote: > On Nov 29, 2007 2:37 PM, Christian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > the US they'd call it an "accident" and the driver would go untouched >> (criminally). check out Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Bicycling. horrific >> story about bike/car accidents. > > The problem is that there were no witnesses. At least none that stuck > around. There was a vehicle behind her that would have presumably > seen the whole thing, but he didn't stick around. So, by the time the > cop got there, it was my word against hers. > > I said she blew the stop sign, she told the cop I blew the stop sign. > It was my word against hers, so there was not enough evidence for the > cop to lay a charge. The only physical evidence was where my bike > marked her car (right side of the front bumper) and where my bike was > bent (right seat-stay). The cop said that those marks would be > consistent with both our stories, so it didn't help him much. > > Everyone who says she should be charged is right, insofar as were > there independant witnesses to back up my story, she would have been > charged. However, without such evidence, it's not a chargeable event. > > I'm more or less out of luck... > > cheers, > frank >
The lead story within the Bicycling article was about a guy that got hit from behind at 50mph while he was on the shoulder. The woman that hit him just drifted onto the shoulder and hit him and didn't even realize it happened until she saw the guy hit her windshield and fly over her car. A driver in the car behind her saw everything. The cops said because there was no criminal intent or negligence on her part he couldn't charge her with reckless driving or anything else for that matter. The "guess" by the investigators is that she was leaning over trying to get something out of a bag and drifted over to the shoulder. But because there was no proof of what happened there was no legal action to be taken. The parents of the poor kid who was hit decided not to go after the woman in civil court because she had no assets and therefore wasn't worth anything. Meanwhile the kid was in acoma for months and a "vegetative" state for months before gaining some alertness. Very sad, very scary. -- Christian http://photography.skofteland.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
