This incident ticked me off to the fullest. This occurred recently. I was on the way to the Acura dealer to get a fuse for my TL I was in my 5. Its a 2 lane road. Its ALWAYS busy because it has multiple shops/dealerships/restaurants all around it.

Traffic is stop and go and I am in the right lane. I always keep distance when I am behind someone. I see this honda minivan coming up behind me and the lady is looking down and texting. I haul ass and went into the left lane.

The traffic has now stopped and of course this lady has not realized and she rear ends the car in front of her which causes a domino effect for about 4 cars. At first I am relived because I would have been rear ended if I had not noticed her texting.

Funny enough 3 cars ahead a NYST (New York State Trooper) is present and comes to the scene. He blocks traffic. The lady in the van gets out and blames the person she rear ended because of his tinted tails.

So I stopped and told officer I saw her texting and the people with me also stated she was texting and officer goes "You were not involved so stay out of it".

He starts allowing one lane of traffic to go and I turn on my signal to turn because thats where Acura is and this douchebag goes ""where's your front plate?". I said I was in a small accident and ordered a new plate holder...so what does he do? He gives me a no front plate ticket. And he ticketed the guy in the civic for having smoked lights and being at fault for accident.

So I have to pay $90 and the guy in the civic got a ticket for no reason....the best part? The lady got nothing at all. She should have gotten 2 tickets. Texting and causing accident.

The bitch was your typical minivan driver. Small bitchy mom wearing sunglasses whens its downpouring.

 

That's ducked up.

 

should have requested the cops badge numbers and station and filed a complaint.

 

Wow, thats messed up. If I was you I'd contact the guy in civic and be his witness so that he doesn't get shafted by the stupid women in minivan. Texting doesn't mix well with driving.

Reason why tail light tint sucks. Hope the guy in civic learned his lesson.

 

Isn't a front plate ticket a fix it ticket? As far as the story, that is nuuutz! Did you say something to the officer to piss him off? Maybe you offended his intellegence with your front plate bracket lie As for the officer, he pretty much sucks. The next time you witness a fatal accident and you can offer the police information just leave because after all, "you were not involved".

 

please, i got rear ended and when the cop came, the girl who rear ended me started crying, and no one got a ticket.

 

This.

Wouldn't have been a bad idea to have recorded it as well... if this is legal in your state.

It does suck.

 

Since he received a ticket, he should have the name and badge number. So, yes, file a complaint. Nothing will likely come out of it, but if there's eventually enough information on the guy's questionable decision making, he'll at least get spoken to. Also, if the Civic guy wants to fight it in court, he could volunteer to be a witness.

 

OP: you'll find the officer's name and badge number on the fix-it ticket.
I'd file a written complaint and send it in, with a copy to the officer and the station commander.

 

People really need to start standing up to bad public servants and hold their actions accountable.

 

Tinted Tails = Illegal
Driving with no front plate = Illegal
Texting while driving = Illegal

So now that we got that out of the way, Yes she was wrong for texting and driving. You and everyone else telling the cop that she was texting is irrelevant because HE did not witness it. He cannot cite her for texting based on what others tell him, it wouldnt hold up in court.

Second, it sucks that you got a ticket but law is the law and your car should not be on the road with no front plate (Legally Speaking). You also insulted his intellegnce by making up the same story that EVERYONE ELSE tells him with no front plate "I had an accident etc..." This pissed him off but no reason to be a dick to you.

Third, Tinted tails are illegal. So Since the cop didn't witness any texting he decided to cite the civic. Either way the civic is in the worng for the tails.

Only thing you have a leg to stand on as far as a "complaint" is that the cop didn't talk to you nicely. Don't think its worth it and won't go anywhere, but thats up to you.

(Someone has to play devils advocate )

 

Actually, LEO in CA include witness descriptions of likely causes of the accident in the written report as well as their own analysis as to causation if using the standard California Highway Patrol form. Officers thus often conclude that a driver violated certain statutes in causing an accident without citing that driver for those statute violations.

 

Not 100% sure if it is the same in NY or not.

But for arguments sake, lets say it was. The Trooper has discretion as to while laws he/she chooses to enforce. So he may have decided to NOT cite the lady for texting and only cite or tinted tails and no plate. Thats ultimately his decision and 100% legal citations. They will not get thrown out no matter what.

Also, since the OP has not seen a copy of the accident report (nor will he ever since he wasn't involved) it could very will be likely that her texting was noted in the official report. Not sure how the OP came to the conclusion that "she got nothing at all"? How does he know what was written on the report if he is not privy to that info?

The troopers attitude is a whole other story, but since it is not illegal for a trooper to have an attitude the there is nothing that can be done aside from a command discipline from his superiors. (which in reality isn't happening unless this was a highly visible incident). As long as the Trooper follows the law (which it seems he did) then there is little to nothing that can be done.

Lessons learned all around IMO.

 

you two wills responding to each other is really confusing

 

Boy are you 100% on the money with this. I could not agree more.

 

If the trooper is ignoring eyewitnesses to an incident and omits such information from the report, the trooper's superiors will also have grounds for discipline-- more so than for mere discourtesy.
https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/who-do-you-get-confused-819464/

 

Regardless of whether he could or couldn't rely on the reported texting, she should've gotten a failure to maintain an assured clear distance ticket. I've never heard of anyone who rear-ended someone else not being at fault.

 

I'm not sure why you think a witnesses testimony will not hold up in court.. usually that's the make or break it when it comes to a dispute over fault of an accident.

tinted tails or not, the incident itself can still be her fault. the rear end collision was just a lucky coincidence for the minivan.

 

the fact that people still put dumb shit like 10% tint on their rear taillights makes me a sad panda.

Granted, the vapid whore was completely at fault and does deserve 100% of the fault, but blacking out your fucking taillights is painfully retarded as well

 

I still dont think it should have been a good enough excuse for the minivan driver to get away. I dont know how dark those civics taillights were, but I've seen dark ones and I can still see the brake lights. Although it is more dim, its still visible. And they're in stop and go traffic. If you cant tell a car is slowing down or stopped in stop and go traffic then you should not be allowed to drive.

There's also the fact that the minivan had enough time to see from the distance she was behinds OPs car, OPs cars length, plus the distance between OP's car and the civic before he changed lanes.

There really is no excuse for her hitting the civic. She should have gotten the ticket

 

The minivan driver should have received all of the blame. Tinted tails or not (yes, they're illegal), she should have used due dilligence and not followed so close behind the car she rear-ended.

 

Can you get with the guy in the Civic and see the police report? If so, you can have the guy tell his insurance company the texting bit, and the fact he told the cop. The insurance company might pursue this, as they have the most to lose in this.

 

Just as a PS.

i hate when people blame rear end collisions on tinted tail lights... (i dont like them personally)

but saying you hit a car b/c you couldnt see their brake lights is like saying you cant tell if a parked car is moving or not..

if you cant tell wether or not a 3,000 lb car is in motion or not without the assistance of tail lights in broad daylight, you shouldnt be driving...