Last night while out on a driving lesson I came across an accident on a roundabout. Nothing serious, rear end shunt with a bit of broken glass and a bumper hanging off, both female drivers standing unaided and apparantly unhurt. Neither of them or their passengers made any attempt to move the vehicles, leaving queues to build up on all five directions from the roundabout while they stood arguing over the cause of the collision. A further five minutes passed with surrounding roads now gridlocked before the reason for there leaving the vehicles in the middle of the road. One of them had called the police!
Within minutes plod had moved the vehicles and got everybody mobile in their usual efficient way. Being a nosey sod, I directed my pupil round the town and arrived back at the scene ten minutes later. NOTHING! They had all gone, police, both drivers and there mildly dented cars, not a sign that anything had happened. The number of times I have seen similar over the past few years, minor scrape, no injuries, but out come the mobiles and and police and god knows who else wasting valuable time racing to what some hysterical caller has described as a serious pile up.
These people should be charged with causing an obstruction and wasting police time if they cannot sort out a minor injury free bump without causing chaos and distracting the emergency services from more vital duties. I will bet every backroomer has witnessed similar to the above countless times, especially since the advent of mobile phones. The cost per year must be incalculable.
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Broadly speaking you are right but you don't know the full circumstances. I recall being a passenger in someone else's car when it was struck by another car coming out of a sideroad without stopping. The first words spoken were "Don't call the police, she hasn't got a driving licence!". Nor insurance as it turned out. No one hurt but maybe you can understand why sometimes the police do need to be called and leaving the vehicles where they are may be relevant to subsequent accusations and argument.
Mind you, I have hung around at the roadside for an hour (cars moved) because the driver of a car I t-boned because of an overheated sticking brake caliper insisted on waiting for the police. Luckily for me he laid into the traffic cops who eventually turned up with such bad manners and grumbling about their tardiness that they decided it was simply an insurance job and I heard nothing more from them about the incident.
David
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having being rear ended several times by little old dears i really think that actually plod should come out more often
these people should be prosecuted and taken off the roads
and it would be better use of police time than standing around doing people for being 5 mph over the limit
best use of police manpower is always a tough call, but practical day to day reality shows it isnt used where its most needed
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rearended?
Last night I was frontended!
A friend's elderly mother got into her car at same time as friend & I got into mine.
I was 2-3 yards behind her on her driveway.
As my friend was saying "you had better watch out . . . "
She SHOT back. BANG!!
"Oh, I thought you had gone,and I couldn't see out the (misted-up) back window!!!"
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I sort of agree. Of course, if you suspect the other driver had acted in a dangerous manner, or had been drinking, it may be different.
About 20 years ago, at 2-00 AM on Boxing Day morning, I was rear-ended by a van with a company name on the side. Lots of damage to my car, a tiny dent in the van's grille. The driver had no ID, insurance or anything.
The short story is that the driver gave me a false address and the company reported the van as stolen, but magically parked back in the yard at the end of the Christmas holiday!
If the same thing happened again, I would definitely call the police.
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