I rear ended someone NJ

[Alex1973]

Last week I rear ended a 2021 Toyota supra and hopefully someone that has gone through this before or experts can answer my question if I'm still at fault or not.
We were both waiting for a red light to change and once we started moving and gaining speed, the Supra all of a sudden stopped hard and I hit my brakes hard and slammed right into him, there were no cars in front of him. When I spoke to the driver he said he didn't know what happened for his car to brake hard and on it's own. I know most of the time i would be at fault but reading through some NJ lawyers websites it states that there would be exceptions for not being at fault. One is if the driver intentionally braked for no reason and the other is if it was a chain reaction. We both decided to call the police just to notify the incident but not make a report on it thinking we can take care of it out of pocket but looking at my car, I won't be able to do that and deciding if I should make the police report and report it to my insurance company. Can anyone from experience tell me if these exceptions are true? My insurance is Geico

 

[fed up]

Report it to your carrier and let them handle it

 

[goillini52]

Last week I got rear ended.

Ouch. Sounds like a job for.....

 

[adjusterjack]

Can anyone from experience tell me if these exceptions are true?

Probably not in your case. On another site you wrote that your dash cam revealed that you were a car length behind the other car yet you couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting it. Well, a car length is 16 to 18 feet which means that you were following too close, going too fast for conditions, and failed to control your vehicle. That's fault. You would have avoided the collision if you had waited a few seconds before accelerating from a stop.

 

[Alex1973]

Probably not in your case. On another site you wrote that your dash cam revealed that you were a car length behind the other car yet you couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting it. Well, a car length is 16 to 18 feet which means that you were following too close, going too fast for conditions, and failed to control your vehicle. That's fault. You would have avoided the collision if you had waited a few seconds before accelerating from a stop.

I'm looking for someone who's been in this type of situation and want to know what happened in their experience. I don't need people assuming things when there's a lot of factors involved here. I'm ready to take the blame. I don't need to lie online where it's not going to get me any where. When your accelerating just like the guy in front of you after waiting for the light to turn green, remember I'm still accelerating to go with the flow and he braked out of no where then until my reaction kicked in and I hit the brakes and slid right into him. No need for you to assume anything like the other guy in the other forum assuming I must of been on the cell phone. I asked you on the other forum if you were an adjuster in NJ and never got the answer. If you tell me that you're an investigator then yes I'll believe you 100% and no offense but you're just an adjuster where you don't have the whole outcome of an accident. Remember every state is different with different laws and exceptions but most likely it's going to be the same outcome as every other state. Assumptions aren't needed.

 

[Alex1973]

Probably not in your case. On another site you wrote that your dash cam revealed that you were a car length behind the other car yet you couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting it. Well, a car length is 16 to 18 feet which means that you were following too close, going too fast for conditions, and failed to control your vehicle. That's fault. You would have avoided the collision if you had waited a few seconds before accelerating from a stop.

This is coming from a NJ lawyer's website... Look at the screen shot

 

[adjusterjack]

Assumptions aren't needed.

I'm not making any assumptions. I'm telling you basic negligence law. Like the lawyer says in the item you posted, you have to keep sufficient distance from the car in front of you to avoid hitting the car in front of you when something unexpected happens. You hit the car which is prima facie evidence that you failed to keep sufficient distance.

Prima facie means "sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved or rebutted."

The burden is on you to prove, with evidence, not sayso, that the other driver was somehow at fault.

You make much of that lawyer's exception for a driver intentionally slamming on his brakes. Of course it was intentional. How else does the foot know to move from the gas to the brake? The brain tells it to. That's intent.

I think the lawyer is implying that a driver might slam on his brakes for some nefarious purpose. How would you prove it? I'll leave you to think about that. Even if you could prove it, you'd still have the majority of fault because you should have held back a second or two instead of rushing forward.

As for me, I spent 35 years in the insurance industry, the last 9 as a claims adjuster. My territory was up and down the east coast so I am familiar with NJ negligence law.

You could spend thousands of dollars trying to prove some amount of fault. GEICO certainly isn't going to spend that kind of money on a small claim. It's up to you whether you want to.

 

[fed up]

I hit someone just as you did 20 years ago. The light changed and his van started forward and I followed. He stopped for whatever reason and U hit him. I saw damage, he did not but I gave him my information and he said he probably would not call because he saw no damage. 8 months later I received a call from my carrier asking why I had not reported hitting someone. I met with an adjuster who looked over my vehicle and could see a crease on my license plate holder. I knew I had punched a hole in his bumper cover from the plate screw. My carrier went to bat for me and paid a total of $250 to the guy who was claiming additional damage and frame straightening. Call your carrier and let them handle it. You hit the other driver. You did not leave enough room and it does not matter that the other car hit the brakes. You are at fault. Let your carrier decide if the other driver contributed to the accident and stay out of attorney ads on google.

 

[cador]

I'm looking for someone who's been in this type of situation and want to know what happened in their experience. I don't need people assuming things when there's a lot of factors involved here. I'm ready to take the blame. I don't need to lie online where it's not going to get me any where. When your accelerating just like the guy in front of you after waiting for the light to turn green, remember I'm still accelerating to go with the flow and he braked out of no where then until my reaction kicked in and I hit the brakes and slid right into him. No need for you to assume anything like the other guy in the other forum assuming I must of been on the cell phone. I asked you on the other forum if you were an adjuster in NJ and never got the answer. If you tell me that you're an investigator then yes I'll believe you 100% and no offense but you're just an adjuster where you don't have the whole outcome of an accident. Remember every state is different with different laws and exceptions but most likely it's going to be the same outcome as every other state. Assumptions aren't needed.

I'd want an adjusters opinion who has been in it for a while WAY before someone who has been through one claim before (as it's impossible to find someone who had same exact claim), jmo.

I hit someone just as you did 20 years ago. The light changed and his van started forward and I followed. He stopped for whatever reason and U hit him. I saw damage, he did not but I gave him my information and he said he probably would not call because he saw no damage. 8 months later I received a call from my carrier asking why I had not reported hitting someone. I met with an adjuster who looked over my vehicle and could see a crease on my license plate holder. I knew I had punched a hole in his bumper cover from the plate screw. My carrier went to bat for me and paid a total of $250 to the guy who was claiming additional damage and frame straightening. Call your carrier and let them handle it. You hit the other driver. You did not leave enough room and it does not matter that the other car hit the brakes. You are at fault. Let your carrier decide if the other driver contributed to the accident and stay out of attorney ads on google.

I've done it to, about as long ago, but at a stop sign pulling out on a main highway. A lady in front stopped and turned right, I stopped, looked left a second or two, and nudged right, for some reason she stopped in her turn and I hit her lightly. She got out and was holding her neck (lol, I was going maybe 2 mph) and said her necks hurt, and she wants an ambulance. I said it barely even bumped you (no marks on either car), she said "I work for an atty", I said I'm an ins agent, this is going to get interesting, let me get my camera, and as I walked back to my car to get the camera she cruised on .
Was my fault, I know that. Just that NO WAY was there an injury.