A reckless driver stopped short in front of me, i hit him, who's fault is it.?

Question

I was driving in traffic yesterday when a car passed me in the right lane (illegal in PA) We came to the next stop light and waited for it to turn green. As we went through the intersection there was heave traffic and he proceeded to accelerate hard and stop hard through traffic. As if he was trying to rush the person in front of him. When he realized he accelerated to hard he stopped suddenly. This caused me to brake hard and not having Anti-lock brakes, hit him in the rear. The damage was very minimal to his car, literally two scratches in the surface from my licensee plate on my bumper. Had this not been there no damage would have occurred.

What I'm trying to figure out is, could he possibly be at blame for stopping so suddenly and recklessly driving?

Answer 1

Nope. In every state, it is the following driver (you) who is responsible for keeping a safe distance between you and the car in front of you. It's your fault, sorry!

Answer 2

6 months ago I had my first accident after 37 yrs of driving with no tickets either. At a yield sign driver stopped and then started into traffic, after she started into traffic I looked into traffic and proceeded to merge, she stopped all of a sudden for no reason, I hit her. According to the police report I hit her in the rear, I am at fault. My insurance company is being sued by her insurance company for the amount of my coverage. It is being handled by the lawyers for each. Considering there was no damage that was extensive and no one was taken to the hospital, the insurance companies will battle this out. I wish it was the other drivers fault, but in NY you get hit in the back even if you are a totally reckless driver, you skate free, doesn't seem fair does it?

Answer 3

You are at fault, sorry.

Answer 4

you have to allow enough space between you and the car in front to allow you to stop safely.  Your failure to do so makes you at fault, no matter what the idiot in front of you did.  Only if he cut in front and forced you to stop would you have a case.

Basically, you have to have extraordinary circumstances for the fact that you hit the car in front of you to be anything but your fault.  Jackrabbit driving in front of you is not extraordinary, and in fact should have made you leave even more space than otherwise, just to avoid precisely what occurred.

Answer 5

your fault, hit from behind, not enought assured distance

Answer 6

If I am following someone who is driving "recklessly", I stay back and out of his/her way.

If you know this person is acting in an unpredictable way then I would suggest you just let them go and be very aware of his/her actions when in the vicinity of this vehicle.

If there are other witnesses to this driver's behaviour, you might be relieved of some responsibility, but when a vehicle hits another vehicle from the rear, the driver of the vehicle which is rear-ending the one in front of him/her is usually found to be "at fault".

Life is full of lessons...............live and learn...........

Answer 7

Unfortunately the rear-ending car is the one at fault. They feel it is your obligation to be able to brake in time. Regardless if the car ahead of you is an idiot.

That being said, if you can prove a reason they should not be on the road..no drivers license, expired registration, or they were drunk...you will get out of it because technically they weren't supposed to be there.

Answer 8

passing on the right, illegal thats hes fault just make sure u call the 911 bcause he chould have done damge to u even if you feel great

Answer 9

You hit him from behind. You are at fault because you didn't leave enough room between you and him. It sucks, I know.

Answer 10

doent matter what he does its what you do... he can stop any where at any time and if you hit him your the one at fault... how he was driving as nothing to do with how you stop... sorry but thats how it is

Answer 11

You did the hitting. You are at fault.

Answer 12

passing on the right, illegal, so thats one against him.

weaving in and out and accelerating hard and stopping fast, reckless.

my conclusion, other drivers fault, unles you were tailgating him, if someone could vouch for you and say they saw it tha would be great.

Answer 13

you are at fault for not leaving a sure following distance to the car in front of you.just for this reason.you didn't leave enough room from the front of your car to the car in front this is why you hit this car.and yes you do have to pay to have his car fixed( the two scratches ).just to let you know that a good defensive driver is always looking out for the reckless driver,you should be more aware of your surroundings so it doesn't cost you so much headache and money in the future.when you have two offensive drivers in the same spot at the same time this is what you get.remember defensive is what you have to be today to keep out of trouble...

Answer 14

You are at fault!    Sorry.

In spite of the fact you could see he was a brain dead jackass,  you failed to allow enough following distance to give you enough time to stop.

Following too closely is defined as not allowing yourself adequate space to respond to whatever occurs in front of you.

Answer 15

You are at fault.  No matter what he was doing, you were still following too closely.

Sorry.

Good Luck...

Answer 16

Rick is right; plus, did you ever wonder why driving that causes wrecks is called, reckless?