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On a similar note, my 2004 Camry was involved in a hit-and-run in the middle of the night (no witnesses) while my son had it for several months in Los Angeles. He had his own insurance policy, because my company wouldn't insure cars kept in California, even though we never transferred the title.
Long story short, his insurance company regarded the $4,000+ damage as a collision claim and wouldn't pay the $1,000 deductible. I thought it should have been covered as an uninsured motorist claim, but their defense is that because the perpetrator's identity was unknown ("ghost driver"), they don't know with 100% certainty that another driver was involved in the first place. :sick:
In this case, I think the coverage on the vehicle driven by the perpetrator should have covered the damages. If the owner was not driving, then it would be up to her and her insurance company to pursue damages from that individual independently of the restitution to the victim.
As for the phantom car causing the damage, that's what the Underinsured Motorist Property Damage clause covers. However, the deductible is when the at fault, hit & run, phantom vehicle is eventually identified, the UMPD collision drops down to $100 from $500.
UM Bodily Injury does NOT cover the vehicle.
That's true, but if it were required that all licensed drivers carry liability insurance, that would be a non-issue.
also i understand that a car that gets crunched while parked, with no witness and no driver identified, it will be covered under insurance *comprehensive* claim just the same as random vandalism, fire, theft. and the comprehensive deductible would apply.
caveat: i rarely have had to file insurance claims and it's been decades since i had to file one like that discussed here ( after my forensic analysis indicated that my 1985 Z28 was "nicked" or "kissed" by an MBTA bus, all the way down the drivers side. the bus had plastic side-panels but it was a big-$ bodywork/repaint. ) so my info could be way out of date and not apply to states other than MA, back when the MA insurance industry was state-controlled.
That's what happened to my car in Los Angeles, but the insurance company covered it as a collision claim, so I was out $1000, not the $500 it would have been for comprehensive. (As you can guess, insurance for my then-24-year-old unmarried son was very high in L.A., so the high deductibles were chosen to lower the overall cost).
However, if you hit a deer (as I did a number of years ago) or other animal, the damage is covered under comprehensive.
inconsiderate driver of the week , a leftlane gator, zigzaggers, "punish" the other driver type by intentionally cuting off - or drifting way into other person's lane.
pickup truck guy intentionally drifted into my lane, would have occupied my TDI's hood's space but was so tall that he didn't PIT maneuver himself across 2 lanes of 65 mph traffic.
it's amazing how aggressively those kind of aggressive drivers will act when I'm driving TDI compared to GTO, even when I drive exactly the same steady-state speed & with exact same consideration for other drivers. slightly different acceleration, of course.
Why must people follow so darn close to one another at highway speed? The best part of this... a few miles later a 4 or 5 car pile up happened behind us. All this for a day of Christmas shopping at the Lancaster outlets
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
Second is when I got on the the expressway and got in the left lane following someone going a bit slow. When they merged over and I went to pass they speed up, I guess I wasn't supposed to pass them.
Final one was on the way home. Driving down a secondary street near my house that opened up to two lanes in each direction for a couple of blocks when the right lane becomes a right turn only lane. I was in the left lane and there was a car in front of me in the right lane going to make a right turn. Well I noticed some clown in an SUV running in the right lane real fast. He got next to me (and a little in front) and tried to merge. Of course almost hitting me, the car making the right turn and the car in front of me (I was rather close simply because traffic was going about 20 MPH).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Back home in VA, I have Erie Insurance. Their premiums are low, and even if someone could beat them on price, I wouldn't switch because of the outstanding service I've received over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, Erie doesn't do business out west, only in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.
I used it everyday when I commuted from the south Jersey area to King of Prussia. It was horrible, probably the worst road in the Philly region (although the Roosevelt Blvd is no picnic either) I don't miss it at all.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
I saw no LLCs. Zero. Never had to pass on the right, not once. I had no problem cruising along on unlimited roads at 120+ mph, and on roads with limits, those who didn't want to speed simply kept right or moved over for speeders, then back in their lanes. No wannabe traffic deputies. The "keep right" ideal works, no way around it.
Also a huge difference regarding lane positioning and paying attention. Few stop signs - mainly yield signs or even unposted intersections, yet I only saw one fender bender in many days of driving.
I saw exactly two phone yappers. I saw more than that in my first 5 minutes back home.
I saw nobody eating while driving - which I also saw endless times within my first few minutes driving here.
I'm going to feel suicidal having to drive back in the land of the lowest common denominator :shades:
If I was going to be on the road I would have taken a road bike. Its rather fun chasing down cars on a bike. :shades:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I have only ridden a road bike once, but it was quite an experience. I never thought I could travel highway speeds (I was going ~50 for a short while) on a bicycle. On my bike, a pseudo-mountain bike, it was all I could do to push it up to about 35 unless I had a lot of help from gravity....
On the hybrid I can hit sprints of the low 30's and maintain around 14-15.
I do a training ride (that's about a mile long loop) that climbs a very steep paved bike trail then onto a side street that goes down the hill. Part of the training is to bike as fast as you can going down the hill just after the climb. Doing this I have actually passed cars. :shades:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091113/NEWS/911130323.
I agree with the law. On this stretch of highway however there are NO signs to indicate that there is this type of law. Yes, we should all be aware of emergency vehicles and work crews, etc, and common sense should play a part, but again a simple reminder is always helpful....
After being in a place with more developed infrastructure, it is also painful to drive here again, on the Beirut quality roads, with ridiculously unsynchronized traffic controls, and drivers who are too often either hilariously aggressive or sickeningly oblivious. I just didn't see much of that.
We have a "move over" law too in VA (most states now do), but I don't know if we have this rather draconian provision. I slow down, but I don't necessarily look at the speedo to see how much I've slowed.
In January 2010 the law will be extended to include road crews, tow trucks and litter crews.
This seems a little much too, especially if these guys aren't wearing bright-colored clothing. My general rule though, is to slow down and give anyone on the side of the road wide berth. Still if the shoulder is wide and the people are right on the edge along the grass, I won't necessarily slow down.
As for the "education" well, like others said definately a revenue exercise. Kinda like when the local police near my office stand out in the middle of the road at lunchtime and stop every car checking for seat belt use.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
Looks like we have more Enforcement than Education in this case! By the way, Engineering referred to the roads, not to the cars. It was believed cars were only as safe as their drivers could make them.
That is still true today even with all the airbags, crumple zones, stability control, lane departure warnings, brake assist.... whatever. It still has everything to do with guy behind the wheel!
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
Yep.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Personally i try to be considerate to underpowered air-cooled cars designed under [non-permissible content removed] regime - there are still a few on the road.
cheers...
That section was just put in over Labor Day and I guess the drivers heading to SF still go too fast. I thought it was tragic that the truck and driver crashed due to driving too fast.
I know I don't miss working the Bridge/Oakland freeways anymore. Sorry to hear about the tickets being given out without any notice. Not posting signs seems to me an unfair way but then I've been gone awhile now.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
I did notice that in many cases people follow closer there...of course, they are more alert than the average driver here and can likely do it safer.
You still have a couple of months to get "lucky" Fin.
Driving in Germany
The Germans were the first to use cameras to enforce traffic laws.. A grade school friend of mine & his family moved to Germany back in the 60s when his dad's employer transferred him there. Within a couple of months of their arrival, Dad received a summons for speeding in the mail. That was over 40 years ago.
It's not a complete Orwellian surveillance grid like the silly self destructive rotten island of Great Britain, at least not yet.
I like some of the ways to get a ticket, such as passing too slowly or "hindering" another vehicle. We need that here instead of the cherry-picking garbage we see currently.
Oh, and another thing...they've done a lot more to get their traffic lights sequenced than our esteemed and well-paid "traffic engineers" seem to be able to do.
Tell us it isn't true!
We need to believe that the autobahn is a driver's nirvana.
I did see a big BMW flash someone to get them out of the way.
I was on a 4 lane suburban road, posted at 30, I was probably going 30 on the nose, in the left lane. Came up behind a Honda Pilot going about 25 (I won't stereotype the driver, but I will say it was typical), and passed on the right. Surprise surprise, as I was passing, it sped up. I got up to about 40 by the time he gave up. What's with that? I was half tempted to brake check him and then end up owning his house.
Also almost got hit by a similar driver in a MDX who ran a stop sign. Leaving a Starbucks, naturally.
I believe that bus drivers have a difficult job at least in CA. Even when the school bus drivers put out their stop sign to tell following cars to wait for the kids to walk across the street to stop and let the kids cross, SOME drivers ignore them and try to go around the bus.
What I do see here in Ca where I live, is school crossing guards holding up their sign, standing in the middle of the street, as the kids cross, driver "sneaking" around and many times the guard has to dodge the car. Very unfortuate situation when drivers cannot be a bit more courteous.
And fintail, I understand the slow driver frustration as I still today in my car, get frustrated with the slow freeway driver plodding along at 40 in a 65 mph in the fast lane.
But then this is Disneyland, er CA.
Good luck to all and stay safe.
jensad
Bus drivers are human and sometimes make mistakes (hopefully few). Here in NY there are phone numbers on the back of all school buses that you can call for complaints of a serious nature. The supervisor will call the driver in for an explaination.
Unfortunately, every joker with a cell phone calls to make bogus complaints which dilutes the impact of the real ones. Once a call came in that a driver was driving down the road with "a knife, a gun and a bottle of booze". Another driver, a farmer who had an old injury on his hand was called in to explain the multiple complaints about him "giving the finger" to motorists who didn't like his broken knuckle.
You mention cars running stop signs. That is our number 1 problem. It's so bad that we have the kids stand on the bottom step and look right down the side of the bus before they get off in case someone is trying to run the reds on the shoulder.
The other day I was signaling for a left turn. the car coming the other way was also signaling for a left. She slowed down and I started to make my left also. Suddenly she turned off her directional and gunned it right at me. I barely got out her way in time.
When I finished my run she had called in to my supervisor and said I was speeding, driving recklessly and tried to run her off the road. She of course refused to leave her name. :confuse:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
40 in a 65, sounds like home :sick:
As long as the supervisor has a sense of reasonable and right and wrong, that's a great idea.
I was behind our local district's bus after dropping something off at school for my kid. I got behind the bus and it stopped to drop kid and no flashing lights on rear. The stop sign on left side of driver came out with flashing lights on it.
I knew the local school board office number since my wife used to work for them. They transferred me to the bus barn supervisor. Meanwhile the driver made another stop and lights didn't work either. Bus guy said the driver had to be activating the lights or the stop sign wouldn't have come out. He was going to call the driver to let him/her know.
I knew the local number. I saw the missing red lights flashing as a safety hazard. I also knew the bus was going to be running the rest of that route of dropoffs and go to an elementary after a few minutes and pick up another full bus of elementary kids. I suspect the bus got switched for one of the spares after completing the high school route using emergency flashers to flash brake lights on rear.
We have had many accidents in the area with people crashing into school buses during the last 3 years. Usually they have kids on board when it happens.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That's the kind of thing the phone # was ment for. I have to check 161 items every time I take the bus out. If something doesn't work I have to get it fixed. Still, a fuse can blow any time and make the bus unsafe. I for one would not mind a call like you made.
"...people crashing into school buses..."
We have that too. Usually they say they "didn't see" the 30 foot long bright yellow bus with all the lights flashing. :confuse: Most often the police find a cell-phone still turned on in their cars.
Once we had a bus going through a trailer park with speed bumps every 50 feet so you know the bus was going pretty slow. Some clown in a suped-up beater was showing off for his girlfriend who was on the bus. He hit one of the bumps so hard he launched his car into the air and jammed it all the way under the rear axle of the bus.
When the police arrived this joker claimed that the bus was doing 60 and had slammed on it's brakes. :sick:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
But I do remember other officers who mentioned citing school bus drivers for speed, and not following red light protocol when escorting children across the streets ect.
And if there was an school bus accident, the CHP investigated the t/c. But I am sure it is different in other states.
Good luck to all and have a wonderful week end.
jensad
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D