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, Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:00:47
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Yes, it's PA, and there are a lot worse driving habits in the Philadelphia area. One of the reason for the high rates in Philadelphia proper, although from all of my years in Philly (moved out 3 years ago, but worked in center city) I'd have to say at least 1/2 the people involved in accidents were not Philadelphians. not only the out of state plates, but for a while in Philly you had to have a yellow sticker in your rear windshield to avoid theft of the license validation sticker (which only served to readily identify Philly cars).
As for the left turns--there is unfortunately a converse. The insurance people don't agree with that. 10 years ago someone waiting at a light in traffic on Broad Street in a left turn lane saw the TWO lanes facing him stopped, but due to the large vehicles including a school bus and a truck could not see the third lane--the parking lane that is open for transit in rush hour. My wife was coming down that lane, and she could not see to that left turn lane, and kept going. The car there elected to make a "run" for it since the lanes were stopped. My wife almost pulled up but did broadside him. Our car was a total because he dragged across and cracked the frame on both sides, even though the damage did not get past the radiator (and because of the braking nose dive, the bags did not open, although next month we got a recall from Mazda to fix a problem causing the bags to go off prematurely!) He was totaled. And astonished to have the cop on the scene tell him that he was at fault, since he was already waiting and should not have gone. Insurance made it 90% his fault (and our adjuster apologized for not getting 100%), and we made out like bandits. Personally, I think mty wife was going too fast for the conditions.
As for my accident, in spite of what cop said, the adjuster from my company just told me that it looks like pmore my fault since there are no witnesses to show her speeding or distracted. I just came back on a bike ride and went by there again. I missed something in describing the street. The street has a bike lane on both sides, so that when I was hit in what was effectively within the parking lane, this was also on the other side of the bike lane, which she had to be in. I think this point may change the assessment, since had she held straight in the lane we'd have never hit. There's a nice skid mark for my rear tires to show the car rotating without forward travel. I also had a bit of a restricted view ahead because of the little dip coming my way, but from her direction it's really unimpeded, so I suspect a phone was involved.
BTW--let me add one of my favorite annoyances. As a NY-er, you are undoubtedly familiar with the people who have to pull out and blow by you to then immediately turn right or otherwise exit a highway in front of you. When we were last in NY, someone did this to my kid on the Gowanus just in from the Verrazano, I don't know how my kid (a new driver) avoided the accident. Anyway--I bike close to 4,000 miles yearly now. How about the cars that do this move while I am biking? Now that's scary!
posted by 68.44.23...
, Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:00:47, Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:33:11, Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:16:19
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