letter to court

[j_downey50]

all right, as some of you may know, i had an accident last tuesday. well, there are three options when you get the ticket: accept responsibility, accept responsibility with an explanation, or deny responsibility and fight the ticket. well, i am legally at fault for the accident and it makes no sense to deny responsibility so i figured i would try my best to explain myself. here's what i've got written:

EXPLANATION

On Tuesday, July 6th at a little after 6pm, I was involved in a traffic accident. I know that legally I am the driver at fault; however, I feel that responsibility should not lie entirely in my hands. This is what happened to my best recollection:

My girlfriend and I had gone to Wal-Mart that evening and we were just on our way home. Going down Main St. in Adrian, there was not a single car behind me when I last checked (that being when I was in front of the mall). However, the other driver involved in the accident (driving the Ford van) had pulled out in front of me and cut me off. He chose to hurry up and cut me off instead of waiting another moment, since there was no traffic behind me. When he cut me off, I had to slam on the brakes. This, however, was not enough. As he pulled out in front of me, a man in a white Lincoln began to turn, causing the man in the Ford van to hit his brakes. The speed limit in said area is 40 MPH. I was traveling at 38-39 MPH and when he pulled out in front of me, he was going far below the speed limit. Upon merging onto the road and into my lane, he had hit the brakes to let the white Lincoln turn. It was impossible for me to bring my vehicle to a stop from 38-39 MPH when he had just cut me off going far less than that and not allowing me enough room to take any sort of action. I hit the brakes as hard as I could, held on, and tried my best to protect myself, my girlfriend, and the driver of the van in front of me. After the accident occured, I pulled my car immediately into a nearby parking lot to avoid putting other traffic in danger. The driver of the van did the same. After making sure he and his vehicle were not injured, I made sure that my girlfriend and I were safe as well. I then called the police to report the accident.

Seeing as to how I tried to my best ability to protect everyone involved and that the accident was virtually unavoidable, I ask that the fine be lowered. No one was injured, and the vehicle that I struck did not have any damage. My vehicle, however, has approximately $4,000 damage. I love my car. It is my first car and I baby it. I always drive carefully, I have never had any run-ins with the law, and I am a good person in general. I also took responsibility to call the police to report the accident. I believe that the $4,000 in damage to my beloved car is punishment enough. It is, of course, the ruling of the court as to what my punishments will be. I only ask that you consider this. Thank you.


Joshua ******, driver


Nicole *****, passenger and witness


^^that's what i've got right now. i talked to my girlfriend's dad, a cop, and he said that the magistrate(sp) just throws away 90% of the explanations without even reading them but i figured i might as well give it a shot. does this sound good or do you think i should add anything/take anything out? thanks.

[95Batmobile]

Looks good...
Probably won't help you any though, your girlfriend's dad is right [img]tongue.gif[/img]

BTW, it is kind of redundant to have the name j_downey yet block out your full name in the letter [img]smile.gif[/img]

[j_downey50]

Originally posted by 95Batmobile:
BTW, it is kind of redundant to have the name j_downey yet block out your full name in the letter [img]smile.gif[/img]

yeah i know. i didn't notice i did that until you said something. i'm an idiot. but i was blocking out my girlfriend's because i don't know if she would appreciate me putting her name up on the internet or not. i was typing really quick and wasn't really paying much attention. [img]graemlins/twak.gif[/img]

[Niky]

Sounds good, Josh. Anything is worth a try! Good luck!

[token sebring]

Hey there - I've edited your letter a bit - hope it works out for you ;)

EXPLANATION

On Tuesday, July 6th, shortly after 6pm, I was one of 3 cars involved in a traffic accident. I understand that I am technically the driver at fault; however, I feel that responsibility should not rest entirely in my hands. To the best of my recollection, the incident occurred as follows:

My girlfriend and I were returning home from Wal-Mart. We were traveling down Main St. in Adrian, and there was not a single car behind me while we were located at the front of the mall. However, the driver of the Ford van also involved in the accident had impatiently pulled out in front of me and cut me off instead of waiting another moment, even though there was no traffic behind me. When he cut me off, I was forced to slam on the brakes. As the driver of the Ford pulled out in front of me, a man in a white Lincoln began turning across our lane, causing the man in the Ford van to hit his brakes. The speed limit in the above-mentioned area is 40 MPH. I was traveling at 38-39 MPH and when he pulled out in front of me, he was going far below the speed limit. Upon merging onto the road and into my lane, he had to hit the brakes to let the white Lincoln turn. It was impossible for me to bring my vehicle to a stop from 38-39 MPH when he had just cut me off going far less than that and not allowing me enough room to take any sort of action. I hit the brakes as hard as I could, held on, and tried my best to protect myself, my girlfriend, and the driver of the van in front of me. After the accident occured, I pulled my car immediately into a nearby parking lot to avoid putting other traffic in danger. The driver of the van did the same. After making sure he and his vehicle were not injured, I made sure that my girlfriend and I were also uninjured. I then called the police to report the accident.

At the time, and in hindsight, this accident was seemingly unavoidable. I don't believe that the accident was due to any questionable driving decisions that I made, and I feel that I attempted to protect everyone involved in the accident to the best of my abilities. I am requesting that the court consider either withdrawing or lowering my fine.

No one involved in this incident was injured, and the vehicle that I struck was undamaged. Sadly, I cannot say the same for my vehicle, which was caused approximately $4,000 in damage. This is my first car and I have always taken great care of it. I always choose to drive carefully and have a clean record. I took responsibility to call the police and report the accident.

I understand that according to state law, I am technically responsible for this accident; however I don't feel that I was the actual cause of the accident. I believe that a fine in addition to the $4,000 in damage to my beloved car would be disproportionate to the actual events. I respectfully request your consideration prior to your ruling on this case.

Sincerely,


Joshua ******, driver


Nicole *****, passenger and witness

[ReodDai]

You forgot the line that mentions the bribe he will find at a park bench down the road.

[ABH]

The magistrate won't care how much damage you did to your car. And more than likely he will not care a wit about what you think is punishment enough.

It is not a criminal case, so I don't believe that throwing in your character will do you any good.

I don't think your girlfriend would really be a credible witness. Not because she has reason to lie, but she was in the same car. Just my opinion.

From what I gather, it was the Lincoln's action that caused the van to hit the brakes. If the Lincoln did not turn, it is quite possible you would of not hit anything.

Is it on the record that the van driver pulled out in front of you? From an outside witness? Or did he admit it?

There is no technically about it though, you did hit the van. The only thing in your favor is no one got hurt.

When my 94 was wrecked, the fool ran a redlight. There were 20 people that saw it. One of them even called the police for me.

When they showed up, you know how many of those people gave statements? None. They all scattered.
So I could not prove who ran the light.

You may pull it off though. Good luck.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

That's stupid, sounds like you shouldn't be at fault. I've been in 2 wrecks:

1. This girl 4 cars up was being stupid talking to her friend and not watching the road... the van 5 cars up was slowing down... the girl was not. So here the van is going like 20 and the girl is going 45... as well as all 3 cars behind her.

I'm following 3 car length behind going speed limit (45)... plenty of room that a normal driver would give. She SLAMS on her breaks to avoid hitting the van instead of just changing lanes... by the time I got my foot on the break I'm 1.5 car lengths and I DON'T have ABS on this POC car.

I slide right into him... front of my olds Explodes all over the pavement... his trunk has a big dent in it. "Not too bad" I think... "At least everyone's alright." So here this girl is all concerned about everyone coming around telling us she's sorry and I'm thinking "If you're sorry pay my bill and stay off the roads." All I wanted to do right then was see how many one-armed pushups I could do with my adrenaline. Not really appropriate though so I didn't.

So basically I was the last car... 2000 bucks for his stupid trunk, no money for me, not my fault at all but still "my fault" and my whole front fascia, headlights, and radiator are broken. That was a miserable day.

2. I'm driving on ice... This goofball in his little toyota in front of me is driving like 10 miles an hour and STILL fishtailing all over the place. His tires must have been bald. He peaks the hill, I'm cruising real slow behind him, and he randomely skids sideways and I just skid into him (ABS how I need you). Just so happens, I EXACTLY hit his tire. Didn't even dent the area around it. "Perfect Wreck". He is all figgety and mumbled "don't worry about it" and I look at my car and all I've got is a busted turn signal light "Good enough for me" I think. All he wanted to do was get out of there. So he drives off fishtailing like before... probably with his alignment off lol... I bet he had pot in the car and didn't want the cops getting called up there or having his parents find out.

Now THAT was a good day.

[j_downey50]

thanks, token. that looks pretty good. except the lincoln wasn't exactly involved in the accident, he just turned out in front of the guy like a goon and took off.

and i figure if the magistrate sees my girlfriend's name, she might also consider the fact that she's good friends with my girlfriend's dad. i know it won't work in an accident situation, but i'm not just gonna forget it and give up. i'm gonna try with everything i've got.