Staged Intentional car accident

Hi Everyone, Im sharing this with you for a few reasons. Firstly, so people are aware, and can be cautious. Secondly, to hopefully find people that can assist me with similar stories, knows of people who have been in a similar incident.

What happened was:

Was in the center turning lane (facing south) waiting to make a left hand turn (east). While I'm there, three cars pull up in to the right hand lane on the south east side of the road facing north. All three cars had their signals on to turn right, and all three cars were stopped. As I proceeded to make my turn, the first car aggressively turns right forcing me to remain partially through my turn. At this time, the second car (car behind him) accelerates from a stopped position right in to me. As it happened, I thought, it was intentional. Then I see the car behind him exchange words with the driver, and takes off. The passenger in the car that hit me claimed pain and went to the hospital. They hit me at a very low speed, basically as much as they could accelerate from a stopped position in to me. No airbags deployed. All three cars appeared to be occupied by people of the Indian decent. The driver that hit me claimed he didn't know the other two cars when I asked him "where did your buddies go?"

Tow truck seemed to arrive within seconds of this happening.

The tow truck that arrived on scene got very annoyed with me taking pictures of his truck, and license plate etc.

My tow truck driver was suspicious about the nature of the accident, as was the police officer in his mannerisms when I was describing what happened.

This happened in the Yonge and North York area.

If the guy hit you from the middle lane while you were stopped, I believe he would be at fault. However if he hit you in a through traffic lane, then you would be at fault (broken law: in virtually all cases, if an accident occurs while someone is making a left, they are automatically at fault).

If it is ruled that it is 50/50 and the damage is cosmetic, you may be willing to let bygones be bygones and live with it or repair your own damages. Even better if your insurance company hasn't found out yet...

That is why it happened as it did. The rules of the road are if you turn left you are at fault so someone trying to milk the insurance companies can sit there at an intersection at a stand still and wait to prey on someone turning. At any intersection that doesn't have advanced green they could ensure that either (a) nobody makes a left, or (b) someone becomes at fault for their traumatic injury. If the people who hit him are looking to milk the system as suspected there is no way he can "let bygones be bygones" or hope the insurance company doesn't find out because the goal of the other party is to let the insurance company know that you were at fault and must pay. If this was rampant then they might as well pass a no left turn without advanced green law to keep insurance rates down or go the way of some other cities which have no left turns at all.

Having had someone make a left turn in front of me (from the opposite direction) causing me to strike them I can say that I appreciate the law which places the fault on the driver making the turn. Any good driving school will tell you to not make a left turn (as it is one of the more dangerous situations on the road) until you are absolutely sure that the way is clear.

The rule isn't only restricted to left turns. In almost every situation that I can think of if you make a move that obstructs another vehicles forward progression I believe you will always be found at fault. Example, changing lanes. The same situation (set up accident) may arrise where one is merging into a spot between two vehicles which are working together and as you merge the front vehicle slows and the rear vehicle speeds up, hopefully, causing you to hit one of them. You must be sure at all times that your way is clear and that you are not impeding the way of another vehicle.

For this scenario though, I think you'd have to prove that the drivers were working together.

*** Edit ***

A couple things to work with if you believe that they were in cahoots
- is the right hand lane a turning only lane? If so the driver that hit you effectively made an illegal road maneurver.
- how many lanes are available on the road that you were turning on to? If only one is available than you are SOL as right turing vehicles always have the right of way. If more than one you may make a case that you had a clear path which was obstructed by the turning driver thus causing you to stop, and as such causing the accident.

I appreciate that those making left turns should have a reduced right of way but it is hard to see how it should apply when oncoming traffic is sitting there waiting for some action
Really if someone wanted to make you at fault for an accident it would be easy if you make a left turn when cars are seemingly parked or waiting indefinitely facing you. Really I don't see why you would even need a group to be in cahoots with you unless it is to stack the witness accounts of what happened. Stay stopped until someone turns then accelerate into the side of their car.

My question is WHY would anyone do something like this? You aren't going to get some big payout, Just the money to fix your car. You might not even get that, as they may just pay the shop directly. Not to mention your insurance can still go up even when not at fault.

See if you can obtain some security footage from near by businesses.

Here's a long article from the Globe about these staged accidents, it seems they are quite common.

I've known someone else who have had this happen to them. A car pulled out in front of them, slammed on the breaks, and out came 5 people holding their necks. Not only is this a big insuarance issue, I would think if someone hits you with a car on purpose (regardless of the rules of the road) that would constitute assault.

Some hope.

http://www.moneyville.ca/article/894120--daw-how-a-scratched-van-became-a-150-000-bill

Speak to your insurance provider and make sure they understand your concerns.

Were there no pedistrian witnesses? I had an incident a couple years back where I was driving east down St. Clair ave near Old Weston Rd. in the left lane. A cab driver that was stopped in the curb lane decided to start moving and pull right into my lane (when I was going 60km and he was going 5km) I slammed my brakes on but it was raining and I slid and hit him. Usually it is your fault if you rear end someone but pedistrian witnesses comfirmed my story to the police that the cabbie just switched lanes right in front of me doing 5km/h and he was found at fault for the accident.

To say the least, these scumbags are even dumber than you think. Won't get into the long story, but when I was doing deliveries a lady hit my car. Now, since I did deliveries my insurance was about $500 per month on a clean record, plus I dealt with idiocy on the roads on a daily basis. Because of all this, I was all set to go through my insurance, so that I could feel that the $$$ I spent was actually going somewhere. Anyways, as I went to a body shop for an estimate I cooled down a bit. The damage only appeared to be cosmetic and the shop confirmed this. It would only cost about $500 to fix, so I decided that she pay me $250 and we go our separate ways. Even with all that, I still felt a little guilty taking the money.

Point is, these scumbags could make a quick buck by offering "settlements" without letting the insurance companies know. At least this way the victim's record stays in tact, plus these bozos won't have to deal with the hassle of fighting with insurance companies to get their money. Not to mention it makes it harder to get caught...

But I suppose lack of intelligence is why many of these fuckers get into crime in the first place.

thanks for all your responses.

I just wanted to share a link with all of you on Redflagdeals where I posted my story as well, there is a hefty discussion on the matter including insurance investigators taking part in it.

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/warning-intentional-accident-staged-accident-964048/

I suggest you all read this as there is pertinent information in the thread discussing just how broken our system is, and how our increase in insurance premiums this year went to subsidize these fraudsters who's claims average $53000 per person in the vehicle.. so, 3 people in 1 car takes over 150K from insurance companies with false claims.