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Old 12-27-2010, 08:37 AM
 
23 posts, read 79,650 times
Reputation: 15

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Hi,

While driving, there was a vehicle in front of me which was trying to take a right to merge onto the frontage road of US-183. She stopped suddenly and I bumped into her car which caused some very very minor scratches on her rear bumper. She called the cops and I was given a citation for being too close to the car in front.
The cops gave me 3 options
1. Pay the fine
2. Contest in Court
3. Take Defensive driving course.

1st option is out of question for me.
I was thinking of contesting in the court. Do you think its a good idea? If I win the case do I have to pay court fees? If not what are the court fees?
Also, with defensive driving, apart from the $25-$30 fee for the course, do I have to pay some other fee to the court?

Please suggest me what should I do?

Thanks
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Old 12-27-2010, 08:43 AM
 
117 posts, read 346,895 times
Reputation: 99
In general, if you hit someone from behind, it's your fault, no matter what the circumstances. You are unlikely to win in court, and it will wind up costing you more than just paying the fine if you should lose.

The role of the defensive driving course is mostly to not get the points on your license. I don't know how much your ticket is, but my welcome to Texas was a speeding citation for doing 72 in a 65 (right after it stepped down from 70 on 183A, which I didn't notice because traffic was heavy and I was being tailgated). That was about a $200 ticket (thanks for not giving me a break wiht a warning, officer Friendly), and after I paid for the course and the fees to the court, I think I only saved about $60.
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Old 12-27-2010, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park/NW Austin
1,306 posts, read 3,113,437 times
Reputation: 879
Since you rear-ended them, it is automatically your fault. You hit someone that was apparently trying to turn right from a parking lot or street onto a busy road. If you were paying attention and giving them enough space, you wouldn't have hit them. I've been rear-ended twice by people when trying to turn right from a road with a stop sign onto the frontage road; in both cases, they were watching the traffic and not the person in front of them (me).

It sucks that she couldn't just work it out with you and your insurance, but everyone is different about these things. Take the lumps and do defensive driving.
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Old 12-27-2010, 09:00 AM
 
23 posts, read 79,650 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by calel View Post
Since you rear-ended them, it is automatically your fault. You hit someone that was apparently trying to turn right from a parking lot or street onto a busy road. If you were paying attention and giving them enough space, you wouldn't have hit them. I've been rear-ended twice by people when trying to turn right from a road with a stop sign onto the frontage road; in both cases, they were watching the traffic and not the person in front of them (me).

It sucks that she couldn't just work it out with you and your insurance, but everyone is different about these things. Take the lumps and do defensive driving.
We were at a traffic light. It seemed that she was moving at a decent speed. So I looked to my left to see if there was any oncoming traffic so that I could merge on to the frontage road. And before I could turn my head to look in front she had stopped and I had bumped into her car.
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Old 12-27-2010, 10:30 AM
 
1,148 posts, read 2,774,158 times
Reputation: 639
Quote:
Originally Posted by riteshbafna View Post
We were at a traffic light. It seemed that she was moving at a decent speed. So I looked to my left to see if there was any oncoming traffic so that I could merge on to the frontage road. And before I could turn my head to look in front she had stopped and I had bumped into her car.
What are you looking for? For the second time if you rear end someone its your fault. The moral here is 1. You should have apologized to the woman and admitted fault and told her your insurance would take care of everything hoping she wouldnt call the cops. 2. You should never take your eyes off the traffic in front of you and assume they're going to do something.

There is no way you're going to get off the ticket so you need to arrange a way to pay for it.
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Old 12-27-2010, 10:40 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,260 posts, read 35,537,960 times
Reputation: 8598
There are certain cases where the driver to the rear is not responsible, but they are difficult to prove and your case does not sound like one of them. They are more related to people stopping for no reason in the middle of a free-flowing interstate, etc.

In general, paying the ticket usually costs a little more (not much) than taking defensive driving, I think. They used to (I have not has a ticket in a long time - knock on wood) charge you a 'court' fee of some sort to take DD, and another small fee for administrative or something, and the end result was they made their money and you did not get a ding on your record.
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Old 12-27-2010, 10:44 AM
 
1,148 posts, read 2,774,158 times
Reputation: 639
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trainwreck20 View Post
There are certain cases where the driver to the rear is not responsible, but they are difficult to prove and your case does not sound like one of them. They are more related to people stopping for no reason in the middle of a free-flowing interstate, etc.

In general, paying the ticket usually costs a little more (not much) than taking defensive driving, I think. They used to (I have not has a ticket in a long time - knock on wood) charge you a 'court' fee of some sort to take DD, and another small fee for administrative or something, and the end result was they made their money and you did not get a ding on your record.
Even then they could lie and say an animal ran across the road or and they braked to avoid it. Or they could say they believed their wheel was falling off and they were braking and pulling off the road but then realized everything was fine.
If you can prove they were drunk or high and did something crazy that caused you to rear end them then you probably would get off but thats about it.

Like every rule theres an exception but its a moon shot to get off rear ending someone.
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Old 12-27-2010, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park/NW Austin
1,306 posts, read 3,113,437 times
Reputation: 879
This is a case where there's no disputing who the person at fault is. The person in front was yielding to oncoming traffic (which has right of way if they had the green) and stopped. The OP was watching the traffic instead of the person in front.

I know of one person who was judged not at fault for a "rear ending" but that was because he was in a parking lot and the other person flew out of their space and backed right into his front bumper.
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Old 12-27-2010, 12:12 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,952,327 times
Reputation: 9478
I agree with the others that there is not much point in contesting the ticket unless you have good evidence and witnesses that the other driver behaved in a very unpredictable manner.

The ticket you were given should explain what your options are in regard to defensive driving and what the fine would be if you take the class. As I recall you still have to pay a small fine even if you take defensive driving, which when added to the cost of the class + fine is almost as much as paying the complete ticket. I did not think it was worth it and wasn't worried about the points on my license so I paid the fine.
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Old 12-27-2010, 12:21 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,260 posts, read 35,537,960 times
Reputation: 8598
Quote:
I did not think it was worth it and wasn't worried about the points on my license so I paid the fine.
I have done this, as well, long ago. I would definitely talk to your insurance agent, but the company I was with at the time looked at the information and agreed to not raise the rates due to the single ticket. If you are with a reasonable company, are relatively old (say, 30+), and have a pretty much spotless record, this might be the way to go.
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