Oh boy. I leave work and all of a sudden there are dozens of replies to my post? I'll try to do the best I can.
First off, as
iowajes and others have pointed out, I shouldn't have said "extenuating circumstances". That makes it sound rare, when what I meant was that it's very frequent (or appears that way to me) to see a driver determined to be "not-at-fault" when in fact they could have prevented the accident. I'm not saying that no-way-could-I-have-prevented-that accidents don't happen. Goodness no, that happened to my car with my kids in it last week. But a driver with a string of accidents and somehow none of them were her fault? Smells off to me.
To everyone who has been in accidents where you weren't at fault, I understand. Your experience tells you this happens all the time. If you've been in 3 accidents in your life and 2 were in no way preventable, it's a perfectly logical conclusion to say that most accidents are in no way preventable by the not-at-fault person. My experience in looking at MVRs and auto claims tells me something different, and I think the extra data helps.
I think that's pretty cut and dry. Now, if you have gotten hit several times while being stopped at a red light, maybe there's some underlying issue? I think that's what they were trying to get at, not insinuating that your accident was in any way your fault.
eyePod, that's exactly what I meant.
Yeah, both those cases are definitely cases of no-fault. What I think the other person meant is that while the other party has a significant blame, statistically it likely is the case that people that are in multiple no-fault accidents might have been able to prevent them. I hate the fact but it is likely true.
MgoSam, thanks for getting me. Not to be super pedantic and insurancy, but "no-fault" is a very commonly misunderstood term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-fault_insurance. I'm sorry, I'm done being an insurance nerd now.
Good drivers avoid accidents... lol, fuck that. If you "avoid" an accident and have your own accident then who is at fault?
I avoided an accident and got accused of causing the accident by the police. I don't ever avoid that shit anymore.
I used to have a commute that had a merge situation where every doucebag thought they'd save hours of their day by being one car ahead so there was constantly close calls. I stopped avoiding them.
HairyUpperLip, you're welcome to do this, but personally, I'd rather be alive than right any day.
mlejw6, thank you. That's a great driving lesson.
mm1970 and
dragoncar, thanks for more examples of the importance of aware driving and I'm glad everyone is OK.
MrMoogle,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-fault_insurance. (I'm sorry. I know I promised no more insurance nerdery.)
When you're in an accident that has been determined to be someone else's fault, it's a little perverse to blame the victim. Saying that you could have avoided the accident is no different than blaming a rape victim for clothing worn. Some people may be better at avoiding accidents that weren't their fault. Some people are better at not getting raped. Fuck blaming the victim. If someone's following the rules of the road and is hit by another's screw up, let's not second guess what extra things that the person who was hit should have done. That's bullshit.
Comparing a car accident to rape is completely uncalled for. Rape is not an accident. It's an intentional act of violence against a victim. Car crashes that are intentional are similar acts of violence, but that's not what we're talking about. (Which I wrote before reading
NoraLenderbee put it better than I could.)