Drunk Driving

[Amaris]

Well, another ode to the late night drunk driver. Someone slammed into my dad's car, where it was parked on the side of the road, about an hour ago. I'm pretty certain it totaled the car. We don't even know if they have car insurance. We don't even know who the second "they" is. The police arrested the first guy, but they think the woman driving it got away, and they're still looking for her. The passenger was drunk and they believe the driver was drunk.

I took a video of Dad's car. It was a silver 1988 Ford Thunderbird, and while it may not seem like much to some, this car was my Dad's baby. He took great care of it, it was in good condition, and he wanted to keep this car forever.

So here's the video I took:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQCpCE3PpQ[/yt]

Here are a few pictures:

I'm hoping they find the driver, and I'm really hoping they have insurance, because we only had liability on the Thunderbird. This couldn't have happened at a worse time.

 

[Yoda]

Well, as far as I know my idiot drunk driving brother was still in MN at the time... so that should narrow it down a little.

 

[Amaris]

Well, as far as I know my idiot drunk driving brother was still in MN at the time... so that should narrow it down a little.

Right now they have no idea where the lady is. A witness said she ran off from the scene, and the paramedics believe she could be very wounded, and might die if they can't find her, because the car they were driving was totaled, everything from the engine compartment forward was gone. There was blood trailing from the driver side door and across the pavement into the grass.

They nearly hit the house adjacent to the intersection, missing their front bedroom by about 5 feet.

 

[Yoda]

Hmm, normally I'd say "LET THEM DIE!!!", but I suppose if the bitch bleeds out she can hardly pay.

 

[Amaris]

Hmm, normally I'd say "LET THEM DIE!!!", but I suppose if the bitch bleeds out she can hardly pay.

While I have compassion for the woman and definitely don't want her to die, right now the biggest concern is the insurance issue. If she has none, we are screwed. That was his work car.

 

[Yoda]

Sorry, hope it works out for you guys. It sucks but sometimes life'll just kick people when they're down.

 

[Amaris]

Sorry, hope it works out for you guys. It sucks but sometimes life'll just kick people when they're down.

I just wish it wouldn't wear cleats when it does it.

 

[Captain Ice]

^Or steel toes....

Sounds like the other car is still there...any idea if the lady driving was actually the registered owner of the car that hit the Tbird?

I don't know how things work in Ohio, but over here the cops can find out through the ADOT computers if the car is insured from it's registration or VIN.

 

[Amaris]

^Or steel toes....

Sounds like the other car is still there...any idea if the lady driving was actually the registered owner of the car that hit the Tbird?

I don't know how things work in Ohio, but over here the cops can find out through the ADOT computers if the car is insured from it's registration or VIN.

No idea. We'll have more details in the morning. As of right now, they still haven't found her and we've got torrential rains currently going on so that makes it more difficult.

 

[tau136]

Back where I lived once you learnt pretty soon after moving in to keep your car off the road. Dark + narrow + twisty + cut-through from pubs to main road = lots of crashes.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Wow, I hope they find her. Idiot or not, it would be terrible if she bled to death alone in the rain.

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad's car. Hopefully, he can get what it's worth. If the other car was the guy's work car, perhaps his employer has insurance.

 

[Amaris]

Back where I lived once you learnt pretty soon after moving in to keep your car off the road. Dark + narrow + twisty + cut-through from pubs to main road = lots of crashes.

True, but in this case, cars are legally allowed to park on the side of the road because it's a residential area. Plus, we had no other place to park the car anyway.

Wow, I hope they find her. Idiot or not, it would be terrible if she bled to death alone in the rain.

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad's car. Hopefully, he can get what it's worth. If the other car was the guy's work car, perhaps his employer has insurance.

I agree, I want them to find her to attend to whatever medical needs she has, not just to apprehend her because of the accident.

As for Dad's car, I tried to look it up via Kelly Blue Book online, but it only goes back to 1990.

 

[cultcross]

I hope they manage to ID the driver - most people don't plan to crash, so the car tends to be registered in the driver's name, which helps. Rock up to their house and wait for them to decide living in a ditch isn't for them and try to slip home unnoticed.
They won't prove drink-driving, unfortunately, the continuity of evidence is broken because she has left the scene and can claim she 'had a drink to steady her nerves', and it can't be proven otherwise. Does the US have an offence of leaving the scene of an accident?
I'm assuming also there is no equivalent to the Motor Insurers Bureau to cover people who are hit by uninsured/unidentified drivers? Or, should the driver be found and uninsured, can you make a civil claim for the damage?

 

[Roger Wilco]

That sucks. Especially since with cars that are this old you get nowhere near the real value in damages back. I mean, what this car worth on the market, a couple thousand dollars at best? But if your father wanted to buy a replacemant that's in just as good condition (not to mention sentimental value) he probably just couldn't get one for the price.

 

[Amaris]

I hope they manage to ID the driver - most people don't plan to crash, so the car tends to be registered in the driver's name, which helps. Rock up to their house and wait for them to decide living in a ditch isn't for them and try to slip home unnoticed.
They won't prove drink-driving, unfortunately, the continuity of evidence is broken because she has left the scene and can claim she 'had a drink to steady her nerves', and it can't be proven otherwise. Does the US have an offence of leaving the scene of an accident?
I'm assuming also there is no equivalent to the Motor Insurers Bureau to cover people who are hit by uninsured/unidentified drivers? Or, should the driver be found and uninsured, can you make a civil claim for the damage?

The U.S. does have a law against leaving the scene of an accident, so she'll get hit with that. We don't have a Motor Insurer's Bureau of any kind, so if she doesn't have insurance we will have to take her to court.

So far, she'll likely get charged with:

* Driving with an open container (there were open beer bottles in the car and the passenger was drunk)

* Leaving the scene of an accident

* Reckless Endangerment

* Resisting arrest

* Failure to yield

* Destruction of private property (she drove into a neighbor's yard and damaged their driveway/sidewalk)


Possibly more, but off the top of my head, that's what I remember from the laundry list the police officer was counting off when we were there.

That sucks. Especially since with cars that are this old you get nowhere near the real value in damages back. I mean, what this car worth on the market, a couple thousand dollars at best? But if your father wanted to buy a replacemant that's in just as good condition (not to mention sentimental value) he probably just couldn't get one for the price.

Exactly. He didn't care about the value of the car, the car itself had sentimental value to him. He wanted to keep the car because of what it meant to him. As for blue book value, I have no idea, since the book doesn't go back that far (at least online).

 

[Trekker4747]

I watched the video before reading much of the post and when I saw it was that vintage of Thunderbird my heart sank for the owner. Those were nice-looking cars!

I'm glad no one was hurt (no one, that is, aside from assholes) and I agree that it sucks the car is totaled and you won't get it's "real" value for it from insurance. I say sue the bitch, but that's me.

Anyway, glad no one in your family was hurt and hope the police find (have found) the woman and she's alive if only so that you can send a team of lawyers marching up her ass.

 

[Deckerd]

It was a silver 1988 Ford Thunderbird, and while it may not seem like much to some, this car was my Dad's baby. He took great care of it, it was in good condition, and he wanted to keep this car forever.

Don't gimme no Buick
Son you must take my word
If there's a God in heaven
He's got a Silver Thunderbird
You can keep your Eldorados
And the foreign car's absurd
Me I wanna go down
In a Silver Thunderbird

 

[Amaris]

I watched the video before reading much of the post and when I saw it was that vintage of Thunderbird my heart sank for the owner. Those were nice-looking cars!

I'm glad no one was hurt (no one, that is, aside from assholes) and I agree that it sucks the car is totaled and you won't get it's "real" value for it from insurance. I say sue the bitch, but that's me.

Anyway, glad no one in your family was hurt and hope the police find (have found) the woman and she's alive if only so that you can send a team of lawyers marching up her ass.

Oh yeah, I fell in love with that body style, too. That car was powerful, and a beautiful machine. Everything inside was factory, and in great condition. As for the driver of the other car, I don't know if we'll be suing her. I mean, yes, if she has no insurance, but I don't know what Dad will do. I do know it broke his heart. He just stood there staring at the car all the way up until the tow truck showed up to take it away. I do hope the woman is found very soon. If she has severe injuries, by now she could be at risk of dying, and I certainly don't want that to happen. Let her pay for her mistakes financially, not with her life.

Oh, I found the pic where you can see the other car:

It's all the way back in the back, you can see it in the neighbor's yard. It missed their bedroom wall by about 5 feet.

Don't gimme no Buick
Son you must take my word
If there's a God in heaven
He's got a Silver Thunderbird
You can keep your Eldorados
And the foreign car's absurd
Me I wanna go down
In a Silver Thunderbird

That's how Dad felt about it, that's for sure.

 

[Kestra]

Really sorry to hear about this. I'm glad you and your family are okay, and I hope you figure out the insurance.

We were out partying late in the city a few years back and I took a cab to my sister's condo and my two friends were picked up by the brother of one of the girls, totally sober. He's driving them back to his place when a drunk driver completely runs the red and t-bones them. The brother called me because he didn't know what to do and didn't communicate the seriousness of the situation to me at first. It wasn't until I heard sirens I realized it was a real accident, not a fender bender.

Dan and I were still pretty drunk but we sobered up as much as possible, Dan went to the scene of the accident and I went to meet the girls at the hospital (all by way of cabs, of course).

Luckily the worst of it were things like broken noses, but there was blood everywhere and they were just hysterical. There's nothing like seeing your friends covered in blood to make you freak out internally. By the time Dan showed up with the brother, I almost cried I was so happy to see him safe and in one piece. He's like a little brother to me, too.

Sorry, I know that's a long side-tangent, but it makes you realize how much can change in the blink of an eye, both for someone who thinks they're fine driving after a few, or for someone just on their way home.

 

[TheBrew]

I hope that everyone comes out of this fine and that your dad gets a nice settlement out of this.