Car #3 in a 5 car pileup - got hit with careless driving.

Hi everybody, this is my first time posting here and also my first violation EVER. Sorry for the wall of text in advance, as this is a very frightening situation for me.

I got a ticket on January 26th for careless driving, despite being the 3rd car in a 5 car pileup/collision. To provide my demographic, I am a 22 year old driver with a G2 license, so I know there is already a huge bias towards me.

7:15am driving in rainy conditions - this is what happened:

I was driving normally, when I saw the SUV in front of me suddenly brake. Seeing this, I start braking as well, when the car behind me smashes into me from behind causing me to skid into the SUV in front. This apparently causes the SUV in front of me to skip bumper to bumper against another SUV in front of him. The fifth car ends up hitting bumper of the guy directly behind me. In short, Car #4 hits car #3(me) who then hits car#2.

The driver of the SUV immediately in front of me turns out to be a detective, and then calls other officers and even forensics to the scene. After around an hour of waiting, the officers arrived on scene and went to me and asked me what had happened. Being in shock from all of the impacts, I stupidly(in hindsight) said that my car skidded into the one in front of me. Afterwards they asked me nothing else. The fifth car in the pile up was let off by the police officers, and she was able to drive off. The first and second cars were also able to go after they had discussions with the officers. The forensics officer only took pictures of the damage to the cars, but refrained from taking any pictures of the SUV directly in front of me - There was no visible damage and she and the detective both used their hands and brushed off dirt and some marks from his back bumper.

There were no injuries reported on scene - everybody had asked one another if they were fine and they all agreed they were uninjured.

One of the officers then gave me the the contact information of car #1, and car #4, and also a ticket for careless driving, I believe the driver who crashed into me also got a ticket for careless driving. I am completely lost and frazzled by this turn of events and I was just wondering if you guys could offer some advice and or possible next steps on what I need to do - the consequences of careless driving are significant enough such that I can lose my license and also potentially be deemed un-insurable by insurance companies.

I've attached pictures of the entire scene :

http://imgur.com/a/SyEyW

As you describe it cars 3, 4 and 5 are in the wrong. Car 1 was in front so he's not in the wrong and car 2 was stopped so he's not in the wrong. Looks like car #5 got off lucky perhaps because it didn't cause car #4 to hit you but it doesn't matter as it doesn't effect your culpability. So therefore you being one of the responsible parties got charged. If you had managed to come to a complete stop before car #4 hit you causing you to hit car #2, then you would be just another innocent victim.

Careless is serious both for your drivers license and your ability to be insured (22 with a G2 it can get really ugly), but is usually easy enough to plea down to following too closely. I wouldn't plead guilty to anything until you have reviewed disclosure and consulted with a good paralegal.

Why is car 3 in the wrong? Car 4 hit them causing them to hit car 2.

Anyways you should plead NOT GUILTY and request a trial with the officer present. Once you get the Notice of Trial, then you can request disclosure from the prosecutors office (request notes of all officers involved, witness statements, will-say statements and any video if it exists). Once you get all that, post it back here so we can comment further.

Multi Car Pile Up: Who is at Fault?

Who is at fault in a multi car pile up? This instance is one of the hardest for the insurance companies to decide. There are general rules of thumb that can help determine who was at fault.

Always, if you rear end someone, you are at fault. It doesn't matter how slow they were going, or why they slammed on their brakes, you must always be in control of your car, and must maintain a safe following distance. The one exception to this is in multi car pile ups.

"If you are pushed into the lead car, by someone rear ending you, you would not be liable for the accident, and the person who rear ended you would be liable."

However, if he only rear ends you after you rear end the lead car, you could be fully or at least partially liable. It is all in how the accident occurred. Did you hit the lead car first, or did you hit the lead car only after you were pushed into him, by being rear ended. The lead car holds the key to answering this question.

Pile ups are tricky, but if you rear end someone you will most likely be found at least partially liable for the accident.

justadude wrote:

Hi everybody, this is my first time posting here and also my first violation EVER. Sorry for the wall of text in advance, as this is a very frightening situation for me.

I got a ticket on January 26th for careless driving, despite being the 3rd car in a 5 car pileup/collision. To provide my demographic, I am a 22 year old driver with a G2 license, so I know there is already a huge bias towards me.

7:15am driving in rainy conditions - this is what happened:

http://imgur.com/a/SyEyW

you said you skidded into the car, maybe you should have said, "I was pushed into the car by the car behind me I even had my brakes on (I assume)"

OR, sorry officer, I've just been in a serious accident, I need medical assistance, my name is, my address is my DOB is, my insurance is........ keep mouth SHUT

or I'm sorry I really don't know it happen so fast, the car hit me from behind and pushed me forward

I need a doctor my neck/head hurts

BUY some time, but LEO's know this and try and get you to talk and hence incriminating themselves,

Interesting if this was just a MOP, would forensics been on the scene, ahh, the perks of the job

I hit the car in front of me only after i was also hit by behind, but the car in front of me says that he felt three different impacts behind him. the way he described it to his fellow officers was that I "f**king smashed into him" and all the subsequent impacts pushed him forward. the end result was that I still ended up rear-ending him so I suppose either way insurance will hold me partially liable.

The odd part was that afterwards when the police officer was handing me out everybody's information ( insurance, license plate, phone number) he didn't provide me with the information of the car I had rear-ended. Would this affect it in any way? but I suppose they'd also believe the word of a detective more than mine wouldn't it....

Yeah, they called forensics at the scene and she used a right angle ruler to get estimations of the measurements at scene. I've never heard of them doing that for anything but serious collisions so that was an interesting experience I guess? pro: I got to see a real-life forensics officer. Con: don't know how that will go for me.

It's really the same had you hit a cop car, whoes word are other LEO's going to accept.

Get a GOOD paralegal,

your not debating you hit the car, but HOW you hit it, otherwords, you where pushed,

sitting on the fence "people drive far too close and do not keep enough stopping/braking distance or PUSHING distance"

not saying this was the case, but just saying