That’s not entirely true. I was in an accident last January or February and it was determined I was at fault (clearly wasn’t, but that’s an entirely different story). I just got a two letters in the mail from the other party’s insurance company stating that I had caused $3000 worth of damages to her shit PT Cruiser (broken DS window and side view mirror) and they would like to collect. The second letter said that if they didn’t hear back from me in 15 days they would be contacting their legal department. I’m hoping that it was just a computer generated form and they don’t pursue it, but I have no intention of paying. I can’t help that she was tired from her long day driving back from Napa. Yea, I bet that’s not in the police report.[/quote]
Right. Sending two letters is not the same as “bothering to collect”. They threatened to contact the legal department because actually contacting the legal department would cost more than the repairs to her PT cruiser. Insurance companies will say all kinds of awesome stuff like, “this is totally your fault and you owe us $5k” or some shit. It’s important to realize that their fantasy doesn’t reflect reality. You’re not liable unless they win a judgment and they aren’t going to pursue a judgment.
[quote=spacetime]This is your bike, right? I see no brakes. I really hope you never ever get hit by a car, but if that ever does happen, I hope you realize it is because you are irresponsible enough to ride a bike without brakes.
I saw it happen, his chain came off the chainring and he literally had no control but to go into the intersection. My friend easily could have died, and you’re giving me a “life lesson.”
I will reiterate, this thread is not about placing blame or aguing or saying “get a brake.” So far, no one has tried to contact him and the police told me that in situations like this that they’ve dealt with, the drivers insurance takes car of damages to the car. Jacques, try to be somewhat personal and keep the negative comments to yourself for once.[/quote]
That’s one of my bikes. Let me just say that I ride my bike more in a week than your friend probably has his entire life. I’ve worked as a professional bicycle courier for over four years and started riding a fixed gear before it became a fad. It took me about a year before I felt confident in my skills to safely and responsibly ride a bike sans brakes. This means more than 20 000km and hundreds of hours.
I’m usually pretty modest, but let me say that I’m fuckin’ good at this shit and would never ride my bikes if I thought I might cause injury to other people. I have never been at fault in an accident but have been injured several times by other people’s recklessness/stupidity. That being said, I don’t really ride my track bike anymore cuz I think it’s dangerous.
i just caught that bolded part…what a fucking little shit thing to do. most of the time you shouldn’t talk to the cops, and if you do don’t be snitching on your friends. even if you think he might have done something dumb, you take that shit up with him, man to man, not telling the cops about it. i’m glad i’ve never had you at my back while doing things of dubious legality.
maybe i’m misunderstanding what went down, but i thought this was unwritten law, don’t snitch.
There’s so very much wrong with that mentality. Why should anyone help the people they care about be less accountable for their actions?[/quote]
i don’t think it’s helping them be less accountable for their actions if you deal with them personally about it. i might think a friend has done something fucked up and talk to them about it, try to make them see what’s wrong because as a friend i want them to learn from it and not do it again, but i still wouldn’t go to an “authority figure” to have them “teach a lesson”. definitely not arguing to stand by your friends, wrong or right, but rather just don’t go to aforementioned authorities about it.
still, i’d probably have kept mum on whether or not i thought he was to blame, slapped him upside the head after and told him to get a fucking brake and quit being an idiot.
That seems reasonable in these circumstances. I just have a problem with “the code” in the ghetto where people are encouraged to keep their mouths shut about any kind of criminal activity going on around them. This isn’t really criminal activity though, it’s a matter of tort law. I personally would never get involved with a civil action unless I was forced to or stood to benefit from it.
In this case, it’s totally the dude’s fault, but don’t fucking tell the cops that. You only talk to them if they ask you. And then you only answer their questions with facts. You explain what you saw happen and NOT your impressions of the situation or who you think is at fault. Let them draw their own conclusions from the facts. If they fuck it up, you can argue about the facts later. If you make some assumption based on your own personal view of the situation and realize later that you were wrong, you’re fucked.
That seems reasonable in these circumstances. I just have a problem with “the code” in the ghetto where people are encouraged to keep their mouths shut about any kind of criminal activity going on around them. This isn’t really criminal activity though, it’s a matter of tort law. I personally would never get involved with a civil action unless I was forced to or stood to benefit from it.[/quote]
That seems reasonable in these circumstances. I just have a problem with “the code” in the ghetto where people are encouraged to keep their mouths shut about any kind of criminal activity going on around them. This isn’t really criminal activity though, it’s a matter of tort law. I personally would never get involved with a civil action unless I was forced to or stood to benefit from it.[/quote]
yeah, just keeping your mouth shut about everything isn’t always a good idea. in my experience, that code in the ghetto, though, is because people don’t feel protected by law enforcement and feel that if they go to the cops they stand to lose as well, which sometimes leads to dealing with it personally like i’m talking about, but more often than not to just letting everything keep happening.
