I was rear ended about 30 seconds after turning onto a main street from a driveway where the traffic in the other two lanes was stopped for a light. I was moving about 10 mph. I was completely baffled when the trooper wrote me a ticket.
Well that's WA state for ya!
It would have seemed to me that 30 seconds would put you well into their sight lines, so any rear-ending would have been their fault. I probably would have challenged the ticket (maybe you did, too), though the resolution of the claim itself would have been up to the insurance companies. How they settle doesn't impact your legal standing of the infraction.
The issue is that the trooper cited you on hearsay evidence not taken under oath. Police can give tickets based on the physical evidence (though usually don't), but not solely on witness statements. In a rear-end accident the presumption of fault is on the rear-ender, barring other evidence, so I'd find it curious that the trooper would have cited you at all.
That's just me non-lawyerly non-insurance-agenty opinion.
It would have seemed to me that 30 seconds would put you well into their sight lines, so any rear-ending would have been their fault.
Well 30 seconds is an exaggeration. If I count it out it was probably actually closer to ten. That is still about four times the amount of time one would need to avoid rear ending someone - if I had pulled out in front of them. I am sure they switched lanes after I had started to pull out. I didn't bother to fight it since it seemed pointless when there was a witness claiming that I pulled out right in front of them, even though the circumstances didn't fit that assertion - I just didn't want to deal with it. The ticket wasn't very expensive and it has long since vanished from my record. A rear facing dash cam sure would have been a great asset.
Got mine within about a week and a half. I actually ordered three but I'm driving the work vehicle around with one of them mounted and filming. Near my place of business they have a well used side street blocked for construction, with a big ROAD CLOSED sign half-blocking the road several blocks from the construction site -- but a lot of businesses, including mine, are still open on the wrong side of that sign. I've seen several near head-on collisions as vehicles must go into the opposing traffic lane to get around the blasted sign. I'm convinced the damn thing is going to get someone killed before they finish the pumping station.
Meanwhile I've been mostly pretty fortunate in that the blame has been assigned correctly in the few accidents I've had.
They take 5-minute video files which are named with sequential numbers and when the SD card is full start deleting the oldest to make room for the new. With a 2-gig SD card you get about 30 minutes. Right now I'm riding with a 16 GB which cost more than the camera, but it will record an entire 150 mile trip. There are also options; you can vary the resolution (though I think the sensor is pretty low-rez), whether audio is recorded (I turned my audio off, and in some states you should for legal reasons), and you can browse and replay vids through the built in LCD screen. The instructions are also hilariously poorly translated Chinese.
Oh, they also have internal batteries and can be configured to continue filming for several minutes after the car stops, and on demand.
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So it seems that the $14 Dash Camera is worth buying if one is willing to hack it.
Well that's WA state for ya!
It would have seemed to me that 30 seconds would put you well into their sight lines, so any rear-ending would have been their fault. I probably would have challenged the ticket (maybe you did, too), though the resolution of the claim itself would have been up to the insurance companies. How they settle doesn't impact your legal standing of the infraction.
The issue is that the trooper cited you on hearsay evidence not taken under oath. Police can give tickets based on the physical evidence (though usually don't), but not solely on witness statements. In a rear-end accident the presumption of fault is on the rear-ender, barring other evidence, so I'd find it curious that the trooper would have cited you at all.
That's just me non-lawyerly non-insurance-agenty opinion.
Well 30 seconds is an exaggeration. If I count it out it was probably actually closer to ten. That is still about four times the amount of time one would need to avoid rear ending someone - if I had pulled out in front of them. I am sure they switched lanes after I had started to pull out. I didn't bother to fight it since it seemed pointless when there was a witness claiming that I pulled out right in front of them, even though the circumstances didn't fit that assertion - I just didn't want to deal with it. The ticket wasn't very expensive and it has long since vanished from my record. A rear facing dash cam sure would have been a great asset.
Meanwhile I've been mostly pretty fortunate in that the blame has been assigned correctly in the few accidents I've had.
Oh, they also have internal batteries and can be configured to continue filming for several minutes after the car stops, and on demand.