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Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 07:31 AM

So I came to work this morning, and as I'm getting out my car this car slows down and the lady proceeds to tell me that I almost hit her when I got off the interstate, and that she took my number and is going to 'turn me in.'

What exactly would that entail, and what could that possibly mean will happen?

SSharon · Mar 1, 2006, 07:49 AM

Almost doesn't count for crap. I wouldn't be too worried, just drive safely. If you are pulled over for reckless driving in the near future and her report is documented then they might be less likely to just let you go. More likely though the police will nod their heads at her until she stops bothering them.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 07:55 AM

Well, I have a pretty decent driving record. I figure the only way this counts for something is if she's married to a Statie.

Kevin · Mar 1, 2006, 07:57 AM

What you have here is a woman that is high-strung and afraid of driving. She should never been allowed to drive.

Road rage sucks.

turtle777 · Mar 1, 2006, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar

What exactly would that entail, and what could that possibly mean will happen?

Shew wants to get laid and doesn't know how to ask for it. Hit it.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 08:00 AM

Well, I feel a little guilty because my first thought was rather sexist as well.

Edit: That was in refernece to Kevin's post.

rickey939 · Mar 1, 2006, 08:15 AM

Out of curiosity, did you almost hit her?

dav · Mar 1, 2006, 08:17 AM

i wouldn't be concerned. just continue to drive safe. some people are wacky.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by rickey939

Out of curiosity, did you almost hit her?

I don't know. I thought I checked for traffic when I was coming off the interstate, didn't see any and merged.

I saw absolutely NO cars on the highway. So either I had a brain fart or she just happened to be in a blind spot.

I do recall seeing her way, way behind me in my rearview mirror once I was about 1/2 mile down the road from the off-ramp though... she was gunning it to pass a car I had passed to follow me, apparently.

Edit: seeing as there are two lanes and I saw no traffic it really throws me off as she would have to have been traveling in the left lane for me to almost hit her, which would make no make sense unless she was planning on getting onto the interstate. Suffice it to say something doesn't add up here.

Millennium · Mar 1, 2006, 08:36 AM

Nothing is likely to come of this. Even if she decided to take you to court, she spent her time chasing you down instead of gathering witnesses, so it would be your word against hers. No proof, therefore no conviction. IANAL, of course, but this is a fairly straightforward case of reasonable doubt.

There is a chance that she might be trying to scam you. I've seen this sort of thing before. If so, the next step will probably be to threaten you with a lawsuit but offer to forgo that in exchange for a big cash settlement. This technique basically amounts to playing chicken with the law: she can't win if it goes to court, but she's hoping you'll back down before it gets that far. Remember that she doesn't want it to go to court, so even if you can't afford to go to court it is probably safe to stick to your guns.

SSharon · Mar 1, 2006, 09:41 AM

Millennium has a good point. Watch out for scams. I was speaking with a family friend last week and he told me an interesting story. He was about to back out of a spot at the post office and noticed a woman standing behind his car who wouldn't move. He kept the car in park and when she continued to block him he got out of the car went inside and called the police. Sure enough when they arrived he had already gathered 4 witnesses saying he didn't move and inch and she claimed that he hit her. Her lawyer sent him a letter not too much later and he responded saying something along the lines of go to hell because I have a police report with 4 people saying the car was in park the whole time.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 09:44 AM

I don't think it's a scam, (the woman didn't give me time to blubber or anything, if I had been so inclined, she was just bitchy and uppity). But I appreciate the heads up.

The only thing I'm looking out for is a Statie showing up at my door and somehow managing to get me to incriminate myself, if that's possible.

Doofy · Mar 1, 2006, 09:45 AM

Bear in mind that some people out there think that your being half a mile away is "almost hitting them". I've known incidents where folks have moaned about "someone pulling out on them" about a hundred yards away - I guess some folks just don't have very good depth perception.

(Disclaimer: This is all just a guess. Obviously since I have no Internet links to this information it's not real and doesn't actually exist.)

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 09:49 AM

Well like I said, worse case scenario was I didn't see her because she was in a blind spot. Not something to flip out about. I might add I don't recall hearing a horn honk, which would be my immediate reaction if someone cut me off.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 09:53 AM

Oh, I might add I think part of the reason she followed me is because I look like I'm 20.

Paco500 · Mar 1, 2006, 10:45 AM

The basic response of Police in this situation (this is based on my experience, YMMV) is to take a report and tell her there is nothing they can do. It is possible that if someone else reports you or you get pulled over it might come up, but it's highly unlikely. Unless there is a policeman to witness it- even if there is 3rd party confirmation, if there was no contact or damage, they will not do anything.

Were I a betting man, the woman will most likely cool down and not do anything about it. I would be shocked if she did- probably just trying to scare you because she was pissed.

Dakar · Mar 1, 2006, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Paco500

The basic response of Police in this situation (this is based on my experience, YMMV) is to take a report and tell her there is nothing they can do. It is possible that if someone else reports you or you get pulled over it might come up, but it's highly unlikely. Unless there is a policeman to witness it- even if there is 3rd party confirmation, if there was no contact or damage, they will not do anything.

Ok, cool.

Originally Posted by Paco500

Were I a betting man, the woman will most likely cool down and not do anything about it. I would be shocked if she did- probably just trying to scare you because she was pissed.

Nah, she's gonna do it, just because she thinks she's teaching me some kind of lesson. Her tone was fantastically uppity when she was yelling at me.

Thanks to everyone who responded, I have little more piece of mind regarding the entire situation.

ghporter · Mar 1, 2006, 01:55 PM

The police cannot cite you for something they didn't witness themselves. If an accident is involved, they usually ticket BOTH parties and let the judge sort it out-it happened to me, and the evidence of the accident (our SIDE bashed by his FRONT) was pretty clear.

Atomic Rooster · Mar 1, 2006, 02:59 PM

It's the U.S. remember. You're lucky she didn't pull out a Glock.

wdlove · Mar 1, 2006, 07:49 PM

I wish you all the best Dakar. Hopefully she will cool down and changer her mind. I wish you all the best with this incident.

Kevin · Mar 1, 2006, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar

Well, I feel a little guilty because my first thought was rather sexist as well.

Edit: That was in refernece to Kevin's post.

Nothing sexist about it. I've met men like this too.

TheHobbyMan151 · Mar 1, 2006, 08:24 PM

yeah. Sheis a real bitch that woman...

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 1, 2006, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Shew wants to get laid and doesn't know how to ask for it. Hit it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhahahahaha. I have a love affair with random posts inappropriately advising sex as a course of action.

greg

OldManMac · Mar 1, 2006, 08:51 PM

If in fact there was no accident, or contact with her vehicle, the police will write up a report to please her, and then throw it away when she leaves. They have better things to do than worry about accidents that almost happened.

dampeoples · Mar 1, 2006, 09:16 PM

Dude, you should have totally ignored her, or told her exactly what I would have been thinking

There's not a thing the police can do unless there was an accident, or if they saw it.

macaddict0001 · Mar 2, 2006, 12:39 AM

They don't even come out if no one is hurt and the damages are really low, why would they give a **** that someone is an asshole.

JoshuaZ · Mar 2, 2006, 04:28 AM

I think these kinds of situations are where you start cursing her out in a foreign language. It usually fixes things. At least, thats how I go about things when someone tries to run over me while I'm on my bike....

Dakar · Mar 2, 2006, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

I think these kinds of situations are where you start cursing her out in a foreign language. It usually fixes things. At least, thats how I go about things when someone tries to run over me while I'm on my bike....

Hehe, well she gave her prepared speech and bolted, and honestly I was just dumbfounded.

rparke1 · Mar 2, 2006, 01:31 PM

^ good defense there Dakar. If she does carry this through than you can tell the cops that it all sounded like shes done this before or that she had the speech prepared and maybe theyll check to see if shes made anyother faulty claims in the past simular, and fine her for waisting cop time

Dakar · Mar 2, 2006, 01:38 PM

Well, I think she just practiced what she wanted to say in her mind while she was following me.

Funny thing is I parked, and I saw her slow down and roll down the window, so I grabbed my stuff, and went to talk to her when I got out of car, thinking she had a question about directions or something.

That's partly why I was so floored.

rparke1 · Mar 2, 2006, 03:59 PM

atleast you were going to be a nice person, and see if you could help her out. rare these days. we are a dieing breed in this day an age unfortunatly. dont let it bother you very much though, i'm sure she was just having a bad day and needed to let off some tension. everything will work out

Dakar · Mar 3, 2006, 07:28 AM

I wasn't trying to be a nice person I just didn't fathom what else she could have possibly wanted (if it was night that one of my lights was broken MAYBE).

11011001 · Mar 3, 2006, 08:07 AM

Sigh, my mom does this to people. She gets cut a little too close or something, and she just freaks out. She has this kleenex box full of license plate numbers. On more than one occasion she as stopped and told someone that they were going to be reported (in front of me).

Truth is, she's never actually reported any of them. It's totally harmless, just ignore the insanity.

Dakar · Mar 3, 2006, 08:21 AM

That's pretty bad. And what's the point of taking down the plates if she doesn't actually plan on reporting them?

Kevin · Mar 3, 2006, 08:36 AM

I had some guy once makea big scene about taking down my plates when he though I was parking in HIS parking spot. Even though I was parked in a public street where it was public parking, and no one had any reserved spot.

He did call the police about it I heard, and they told him as much.

If he would have came to me and asked me if I would move I would have.

11011001 · Mar 3, 2006, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar

That's pretty bad. And what's the point of taking down the plates if she doesn't actually plan on reporting them?

I guess she feels like it's her way of getting back at them. I still think it's insane, but it's a lot better than flipping out and having an incident of road rage.

Anyways, (as far as my mother is concerned) it's harmless.

Dakar · Mar 3, 2006, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by Kevin

I had some guy once makea big scene about taking down my plates when he though I was parking in HIS parking spot. Even though I was parked in a public street where it was public parking, and no one had any reserved spot.

He did call the police about it I heard, and they told him as much.

If he would have came to me and asked me if I would move I would have.

THat's terrible.

Reminds me of my old place. There was parking on one side of the street (four spots so long as no parked like a jackass) but on my side there was a small alcove that fit two cars, which was usually occupied by the people whose house it was in front of. So occasionally, I'd park in one of those spots because all the regular spots were taken and I didn't want to risk getting a ticket parking illegally in a nearby lot.

Everytime I did they'd leave a note on my car claiming it was their spot (it was public parking like the ones across from my house) - 3 in fact written to look like a child, begging not to park in 'mommy's' spot. This coming from people who had no problem parking in the four spots across from my house should some random college kid take theirs.

The week I moved I started parking in their spot even if there were open spots across the street. Perhaps not mature, but their arrogance infuriated me.