My Car Accident, Friday, Dec. 22nd, Part 2 - The Damage

This post, the second following Part 1, will show the damage to my car, the location of my car right after impact, and how the other driver's claim that my Metro hit the Pathfinder is physically impossible. If you have not read Part 1, do so before reading this post.

This first photo shows the location of my car immediately after impact. The force of the impact pushed me onto the curb. As you can see, I am past the crosswalk. (The white line in the upper right of the photo.) My vehicle had completed the right turn and was in the crosswalk heading straight.















(With all images click on image to enlarge, then right click and "save as" to download.)

These two photos clearly show the directional damage. The smudgey stuff that you see on my bumper is tire residue. If you enlarge the picture you will see that the smudges start on the left side (car's left) of the bumper, and move in a rightward direction, to the front. Had I hit the Pathfinder and turned away, the direction of the smudges would be in the opposite direction.
















Also, note that curved line on the bottom of smudge, that was caused by the Pathfinder's lug nut cover. I know this because I found another Nissan Pathfinder, same model, and measured it with a tape measure.
















The next three photos were taken of my car the next day in daylight. You can clearly see the force direction of the damage. The damage travels from the left side to the front right. Had I hit the Pathfinder, I would have a nice dent in my bumper as well as damage breaking off, on the left side, going in the direction towards the back of the car - in accordance with Newton's Third Law of Motion, "The Law of Reciprocal Actions", which dictates that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Also, had I hit him, it would have been human nature to turn away from the other vehicle, which would again cause damage going in the direction of front to back on the left side.

However, this is not what the pictures clearly show.















(If you enlarge the above photo, you can really see the directional nature of the tire smudges.)















In the above two photos, as with the ones taken the night before, notice that the headlight is pushed towards the right of the car. Had I hit the Pathfinder, as the driver alleges,it would have been pushed back and to the left (car's left). Again, it would be an "equal and opposite reaction."















The dent and scrape above the bumper were caused by the right back-SIDE bumper, and wheel-well's edge of the Pathfinder. You can see that on the pictures below of the Pathfinder.

These photos show the damage to the Pathfinder and the height difference between the Pathfinder and the Metro.














On this photo, notice the missing lug nut cover on the tire and the scuffing on the back SIDE bumper. That is where his vehicle hit my Metro. The night of the accident, I picked up the lug nut cover and handed it to the other driver. If he denies this in Claims Court, under oath, he will be lying. Also, The driver will probably claim that I caused the noticeable dent you can see above. However, as you can see from the next photo, it is physically impossible for my Metro to reach that high, nor does the Metro have anything "pointy" enough on it to do that kind of damage. So that dent has to be from a prior incident.

Furthermore, in a rear impact accident between a Metro and a Pathfinder, I would end up under the bumper due to the height and mass differences.

















If you enlarge this picture and zoom in on his back SIDE bumper, near the tire, you can seen the scuffing that the Pathfinder endured. As you can see, there isn't barely any damage. While true, in any accident between two vehicles in which one has 2.5 times as much mass as the other the smaller vehicle is going to take on a vastly greater amount of damage, the direction of the damage also indicates the direction of the accident. If I had really hit him, as the other driver alleges, there would be some directional damage on his vehicle, as per physics. But as we can clearly see there is not white paint or plastic residue, from my Metro, on his car.

Now, the police report from the night is vague as to who hit who and does not place any fault. Perhaps this is because New Jersey is a "No Fault" State. Furthermore, what the police officer wrote down that I said versus what I did actually say to him are quite different. My girlfriend was standing right next to me when I explained myself and will testify, under oath, that what I said and what is written below are two different things. On the report, I am listed as Driver 1 and the Pathfinder is Driver 2. The report writes:

"Driver #1 stated while negotiating a right turn onto Paterson Plank Road when he collided with Veh(sic)#2. Driver #2 stated while negotiating a left turn onto Paterson Plank Road when he was suddenly struck by veh(sic)#1."

I was "negotiating a right turn"?!!! You have to be kidding me!! I told the officer that I had completed it, which can be plainly seen by the pictures in this post and the last. I never stated that I "collided with" the other vehicle. I vehemently stated, repeatedly I might add, that the Pathfinder hit me. Furthermore, I reminded the police officer of Traffic Law THAT THE DRIVER MAKING THE RIGHT TURN HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!

And as you can see from the last post, the other driver wasn't "suddenly struck" by me. He had me in view for most of the turn. So it should have come as NO BIG SURPRISE that he would hit me as he tried to cut me off!

BOTTOM LINE: By law, he should have never entered the intersection until he had clearance from all the cars coming from South Wing Viaduct, myself and all those behind behind me included.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and the last. I will gladly testify all this under oath in a court of law as well as present these photos along with the physics formulas to prove the nature of the accident.

This is what you get when the son of a police officer, who fastidiously read his father's law books, who also happens to have a degree in mathematics gets into an accident. It further helps that my mentoring professor's area of focus was the breaking points of metal and plastics as it applies to accidents and the strength of vehicles and airplanes.