I still fear the engineered collision for insurance scam purposes marginally more.
The single lane cloverleaf approach on the north side of one of our two major bridges (Princess Margaret) crossing the Saint John River used to have a Stop sign as you joined the former Trans Canada Highway, now just a local arterial road after the TCH was bypassed away from the city.
That intersection is part of my weekday 10 min commute to work and again home for lunch. Prior to that Stop sign being replaced by a traffic light I was rear-ended three times at that location by distracted drivers, always when in the #1 position awaiting a clear road to proceed onto the bridge. The last incident was by a woman who had followed me for about 7 KM all the way from work - on that drive I was observing her in my rear view mirror conducting numerous non driving tasks, so totally distracted, and it really came as no surprise when she sailed straight into my rear end when stationary at the Stop sign awaiting a break in traffic to proceed.
I was driving a 2005 Chrysler 300 AWD 3.5L purchased for just $2500 in 2013 so I accepted a $600 cash settlement (body shop estimate was $900) rather than getting insurance involved - I could live with a few minor scuffs on my rear bumper skin. Below is that lady's email to me - interesting. The other two occasions were similar, but I was driving an older 1992 Toyota Corolla 4WD wagon, where I had just replaced the rusted out bumper with a section of steel re-bar and I accepted a $350 cash settlement in lieu of an insurance claim.
On each occasion, rather than tie up traffic on the bridge the offending parties followed me over the bridge to the other side where we could safely pull over in a layby to discuss business. Another incident resulted in no settlement, but all were distracted drivers - the traffic light now in place is great and prevents that stop/start traffic flow patten, although on a couple of occasions vehicles already on the bridge have ignored their red stop light and narrowly missed traffic proceeding on the green light, with the right of way. After those incidents at the Stop sign, I tended to trat it as a Yield, which was safer preventing a reat=r end colloision, but liable for a police ticket if seen for not making a full stop. So with this sort of stuff going on, I always try to follow a defensive driving style.
Kids texting while driving are a major problem, sometimes stopped at a red traffic light they do not proceed on green for that reason, and you can see them constantly looking down at their laps, obviously texting - crazy, major fines for such infractions these days, if police can catch them - they can be sneaky these days, catching violators whilst observing as a passenger on a city bus and working as a tag team with a patrol car - the bus height allows the officer to see what is going on in traffic, and they are not distracted themselves.
"I also went to have a quick visual inspection of my vehicle, to ensure that I also did not miss anything. I have some minor damage, but nothing worth claiming.
I appreciate you agreeing to the cash settlement of $600. This is the first time I have had an accident and have only ever claimed a broken windshield!
I will place the cheque in the mail tomorrow. This has really bothered me & today I realized that I need to slow down my pace of life a little - more work/life balance.
Thanks again & I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you."
