Recent Feedback
Today I rear ended a car at a stop light. It wasn’t a hard impact…no air bags, etc. Stuff didn’t even fly off my seat.I put my car in park and got out and stood just to the drivers side of the front of my car. I didn’t see damage to her car. I stood there and put out my arms as if to say, what shall we do? She didn’t open her window, or get out of the car or even gesture to me. So, I got back into my car and when the light turned green she put on her left hand blinker and pulled into a Michigan “turn around” lane. I pulled beside her and she didn’t really gesture to me or anything, so I kept driving. After getting out and not getting any response, and not seeing damage, I figured she didn’t want to do anything. It was raining, and I figured she didn’t want to get out. I was puzzled, but kept driving.When I got home I had a call from a policeman. She had gotten my license number and made a report. I told the policeman the same thing I have written above. He asked me three different times if my car or my bumper was gray, which I made very clear it was black. He said the other driver complained of a sore neck. He told me he was not issuing any tickets and I should be more careful.Even though he did not issue a ticket, I am now very nervous. Could I still be charged with leaving an accident? Obviously, if she makes claim to my insurance that has obligations for that. What should I know that I don’t seem to know? Thank you for your help.
Thank you for your question. I will do my best to assist you with your concerns. If you would like me to clarify my answer, I will be happy to do so. To answer your question, it does not appear that you are very likely to be charged with a hit-and-run. The reason is because you did stop, you did inspect, and upon reasonable confirmation AND a request to the other party to step out which did not take place did you finally drive away. A hit-and-run is only where you speed away without attempting to stop or deal with the issue. About the only suggestion remaining is to contact your own insurance carrier, inform them of the impact, tell them that there was no visible damage, and that the other party failed to get out of the vehicle and exchange information. This is just in case later the damage, injury, or other claims grow (unreasonably) against you by the other party. This is the best option remaining because you should have attempted to get the other person to come out of the vehicle, but the fact that you stopped, reasonably inspected, and only then continued should be sufficient.
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Experience: Run my own practice.