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Last night around 9pm, I was driving down a dark road. It has been rainy here and the roads were wet. I was driving behind two motorcycles. They were behind a few cars (at least three other cars). The speed limit was 30mph and there was a flashing light and sign in the road that said to use caution because the road ahead was very flooded. There were no streetlights on the road. There were two lanes, one going each direction, and a yellow line separating them.
The puddle was worse in the left lane. The driver going the opposite direction of me, the motorcycles, and other cars yielded to the first few cars. When the other cars were gone, the person in the other lane decided to drive down the center lane. He had his high beams on. The motorcycles and I were still in the road. They were next to each other and I was behind them. The next thing I knew, water was being splashed all over my windshield, my car was being hit from the back driver’s side, I was hydroplaning, and I felt my car hit something from the front. The whole time, I couldn’t see anything but blurry lights through the water on my windshield.
For clarity purposes, I’ll label the cars and the motorcycles. I’ll call the car driving the other way Car #1, and the motorcycles Motorcycle #1 and Motorcycle #2.
I pulled over on the side of the right lane. I hit Motorcycle #1 from the back and he managed to swerve into the left lane and pull over on the side of it. Motorcycle #2 avoided the accident by swerving to the side of the right lane and then when it was over, he crossed the street and parked next to his friend on the side of the left lane. Car #1 left the scene.
Motorcycle #2 got off his bike and ran over to where I was and started screaming at me and telling me that I could have killed his friend. I was crying and I told him that I couldn’t see, slipped, and was very sorry. I told him that my best friend was killed last September ten days before his twenty-first birthday on his motorcycle and told him that this accident is scary for me too and makes me think of my friend. He calmed down a little and Motorcycle #1 came over and told Motorcycle #2 to calm down and stop yelling at me because the accident wasn’t my fault.
Motorcycle #1 said that Car #1 came down the center of the road and splashed water everywhere and he couldn’t see and slowed down. He said that’s when I knocked him from behind. He said he believed me when I told him I couldn’t see because he couldn’t either and kept saying not to be sorry because it wasn’t my fault. Motorcycle #2 apologized for yelling at me and told me he shouldn’t have gotten angry with me.
I asked if they were ok and they both said they were and that I could go. I asked them if their bikes were ok and Motorcycle #2 said that his was fine, and Motorcycle #1 wasn’t sure. He examined his bike and said that I just got his tire, but that it was still drivable. I saw that the tire had a dark spot on the back (I’m not sure what that means). I told them I wanted them to have my information just in case and Motorcycle #2 used his phone to take a picture of my license and registration. Motorcycle #1 offered us both cigarettes and I smoked a cigarette with them and we talked about how we were shocked. Motorcycle #1 said he was mad at Car #1. I apologized for them being drenched and said I wished I had towels for them. Motorcycle #1 said that he’d only file something with the insurance company if there is damage to his car, but that after looking at it, he doesn’t think there will be a problem. He said he wouldn’t call if there wasn’t damage because he doesn’t want my insurance to go up.
After that, we all went on our ways. I didn’t get their information, but I don’t think I’ll need it. I didn’t look at my damage at the scene because my head was spinning so fast I didn’t think of it. My boyfriend thought of checking it out when I got home, and I do have damage just behind my back driver’s door. It’s scratches and a dent, but my car is crappy anyway and I really don’t think it’s worth fixing it. I think Car #1 might have slipped and hit me, and I don’t want to get anything out of him (he left the accident anyway), but if Motorcycle #1 finds a problem with his bike and contacts the insurance company, is this whole accident going to be blamed on me? Is Car #1 not going to be considered responsible because they won’t be able to contact him and we didn’t file hit and run charges with the police?
