Road accident witnesses sought

he then began to pursue me, forcing me to speeds of 100kmp/h within 60kmp/h zones

It takes two to tango and if you were in front, then it could be equally said that *you* were speeding to trying to evade him. Even if you didn’t want to stop on Hindmarsh Drive (and given there is plenty of room I can’t see why not) then if you *did* feel threatened by the other driver then Woden Police Station is just around the corner.

The mental state of your passengers (how old were they btw?) is no excuse for not meeting your obligation under the law to stop and exchange details with the other party.

I hope you have insurance!

“i was tired” “I was frightened” “the other girls in the car were distracting me” “i can’t remember what happened” are the sort of excuses a teenager might use with their parents.

They won’t work with the police or insurance, who will just ask why you didn’t report the accident, or stop at the scene.

Good luck to both parties in sorting this one out.

Mr Evil said :

Sounds to me like someone and his passengers were either a bit pissed, or maybe off their tree on something else?

I know that if someone was acting in a threatening manner towards me I would be off to the Police Station straight away.

Now go back to your book of excuses.

I haven’t had to deal with police, but I guess given your assumption of ‘bit pissed or off their tree on something else’ you would probably have quite a lot of familiarity with the locations of Canberra’s police stations. I don’t drive under the influence of alcohol, and I don’t know what else you do, but I can tell you now I’m not into that sorta thing either!

All I can say to you is that you are an absolute fool.
You put the lives of all four of us in danger due to your completely aggressive approach.
I would suggest some anger management classes, sir before you find yourself getting arrested for such an act in the future, hoping that you are not hurt or worse.
I have no interest in playing your games after the horrific way you treated the three of us. 100km per hour in a 60 zone is an absolutely appalling display of behaviour from someone who was ‘remarkably’ calm!
To be honest, I really wouldn’t like to see you in an ‘ok’ mood!

Stop your bullshit.
I’ve gone through enough, and I’m busy trying to look after one of the girls you traumatised to the point of hyperventilation for ten solid minutes!!!
I don’t have time to sort out a vindictive and apparently partially blind individual in his attempt to wring money out of me (good bloody luck!!) through an act of blatant perjury!

Get a goddamn life. Mine’s full enough, sorry. You don’t fit.

These things are often confusing, and it’s rare that either side tells the complete truth, but:

Telling the entire internet you were driving tired, have no idea if a crash was your fault, that you deliberately fled the scene, that you repeatedly sped in suburban areas, that you had still failed to contact police a week later, and that all of this is the fault of hysterical girls, a shared house, not having 40c for the phone and “family problems” = the single dumbest thing I’m likely to see today.

“Okay, so ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking, yeah?” – ZB

Sounds to me like someone and his passengers were either a bit pissed, or maybe off their tree on something else?

I know that if someone was acting in a threatening manner towards me I would be off to the Police Station straight away.

Now go back to your book of excuses.

This seems to me to have been blown waaaaaay out of proportion. If someone ran into me and then didn’t immediately pull over, I would simply drive to the nearest police station, report the incident (including the fact that it was a hit and run and you have the vehicle rego), and then contact my insurance company and let them deal with the culprit. I suspect that having an insurance company after such a person would be much worse than having the cops ask a few questions.

I sounds like both parties did wrong here. Not pulling over immediately is, frankly, inexcusable. If there are injuries you call an ambulance. Following the other person is also dodgy, especially given the fact that the rego was known.

Not having credit on your phone seems like a piss poor excuse to me. Didn’t any of your passengers have a phone? If not what is wrong with a pay phone?

You have had what 5 days to contact the police and you didn’t bother!

I agree with Granny your post seems like a poor attempt at an excuse. It seems to me that both you and your passengers over reacted. Your whole post seems to read as over reaction. It was a minor fender bender yet your passengers were ‘panicking’, I’d hate see what they would be like in a major collision. If someone had hit me in traffic and made no discernable attempt to pull over I would follow them too.

Either way it’s now up to the relevant insurance companies to sort it out.

Okay Contrast – firstly thanks for coming forward and admitting to being involved in the accident. Your account validates my request for witnesses.

“On that note, the reason I left the scene, instead of pulling over to exchange details, as is required of those members involved in an incident, is that I had two extremely panicked young women in my vehicle who were verging on hysterics due to the impact of a ute making a blind merge into my vehicle”

Contrast – I was in the centre lane – I had been in the centre lane through 2 sets of lights. There is no merge lane. You entered Hindmarsh and then drove into me. Clearly being tired affected your judgment.

“some way down Hindmarsh Drive long after I had turned off of the Tuggeranong Parkway, and had almost reached speed, perfectly centred in the centre lane of the three lane road.”

Perfected centred = pulling into the lane without looking? I can see which way your statement will read and therefore hope I do find some witnesses.

“not having the disregard for the safety of all the other drivers on the road that Fred clearly had, I did not swerve over to the side of the road as he did. I was planning to pull over on the next street, where I was turning, as there was likely to be less traffic flow. “Fred” got out of his car whilst we were waiting at a red light (he was idling behind me) and aggresively asked if I was going to pull over any time soon. I replied that I was, calmly and rationally.”

I moved over to the side of the road at the first safe apportunity while you moved into the outside lane and carried on. If you wished to pull over you had the entire length of road between The Parkway and the lights by Woden to do so. I do not believe that was your intention. I did not chase you and got out the car and I thought remarkably calmly asked if you intended to pull over. When you said you would I followed waiting for you to do so. It became clear that you had no intention of stopping. You drove out the other side of Mawson, following what can only be described as an interesting route through small roads in an attempt to lose me. I then overtook you in a safe location on a wide road, sounding my horn to ask you to stop and pulled over. At this point you decided to do a u-turn. As I had you number by now I decided that rather than continuing to follow you and escalate the situation I would instead report it to the police and leave it to them and insurance.

“Sorry also to all of you who have been reading the progress of this posting.
It was a very badly handled situation, however this post itself has escalated said situation far beyond a realistic level.”

We will now leave it to insurance. I do not believe for one moment that you intended to pull over. You had ample opportunity to do so and did not. I do not regret making this post as I think without it you would not have gone to the police or reported the incident. Unfortunately it appears that your tiredness has seriously affected your judgement.

You don’t need credit to call 000

I tend to believe Contrast’s version of events.

Granny said :

What, you don’t have a phone? I’m sorry, but what you basically did was hit somebody and run without even contacting the police. It is a very unfortunate situation, and I have no further comment to make.

Begging your pardon, you clearly aren’t going to budge from your firm belief that the first account of events you hear is the honest and true story of the victim! As a matter of fact, no, I don’t have a phone. My home is shared, and due to agreement we do not have a landline to remove the complication of splitting bills, and I am unfortunately not made of money, and as a result of this I did not have credit available on my mobile phone at the time. I could not physically make a call, and as I have attempted to explain, I was slightly preoccupied with two traumatised young women, whilst trying to control my own symptoms of anxiety.

You seem to have already sat your own trial as judge, jury and prosecutor in regards to this issue, as you are firm in the belief that the story told to you by our Mr “Fred” is correct and true. That’s your prerogative. However, it does show a lack of open-mindedness, which is sad to see of someone calling themselves “Granny”. I would have believed you to be of more patience and have the communication skills to hear me out without maintaining your convictions that I am a menace who has “hit and run” some poor man who needs support!

He may, at that. I’m not without sympathy for the fact that he was involved in the collision himself. And I’m deeply sorry that he had to go through that, probably on his way to work in the morning.

I find it very concerning to look at this thread and know that there was only one person who might have had the broadness of mind to realise that perhaps “Fred” isn’t the worldly saint he might wish you to believe he is. Which is shown clearly in his abusive manner of reference to me in the initial post, as well as his gloating that my car, being newer would cost more to be repaired!

My vehicle has caused damage to his. I will accept that responsibility.
His vehicle has caused damage to mine. I wish to make it clear that I was of perfectly sound mind on the morning in question, and driving safely and carefully as per normal. I had already turned off of the Tuggeranong Parkway, was already in the centre lane of Hindmarsh Drive, was already at least 100m up said road, travelling at approximately 70km per hour, speeding up to the 80km per hour limit. This is when, out of my blind spot an old Holden ute appeared, surprising the hell out of me, I’m sure you can imagine.

My wing mirror was splintered before I knew what was happening, and the cars scraped each other’s sides. It is my belief that “Fred” had me in his blind spot, also, given where he came from in respect to my vision. And as “Fred” said, my car is newer and would indeed cost more to repair, after he had just made a blind merge into another moving vehicle on a main road.

It is my belief that he is seeking sympathy in order to refuke responsibility for dangerous and careless driving on a main road, risking the lives of several people at the same time. I refuse to be held accountable for his mistake, until I have spoken to the police and they can provide me with a more accurate version of his account of events that proves to me that I am mistaken.

I am more than willing to accept responsibility for the accident and the costs that result, but only after the above has occurred. Perhaps you should attempt a willingness to be broad minded and open to new information, because it may just turn out that you are all supporting a boy crying wolf.

What, you don’t have a phone? I’m sorry, but what you basically did was hit somebody and run without even contacting the police. It is a very unfortunate situation, and I have no further comment to make.

Granny, I do not mean any disrespect, but I was indeed in a fit state to drive.
I said in my posting that I was tired. This is true. However, I believe that I yawned once or twice after I had gotten my passengers to safety. I am a very responsible driver, who (as I mentioned before) has not previously had a single incident. I am often commended by passengers whom I am giving a lift home from work, being told that I am an amazing driver. I was merely being cordial, and as I said, I MAY have been at fault. I am not one to be so pigheaded as to assume complete correctness in anything I say, and always accept the potential for error. Accidents do happen. However, there are many factors that have convinced me since the incident that we had distanced ourselves substantially from the parkway turnoff before our collision.

There are a lot of things that I read in “Fred”‘s account of events that do not match up with certain facts as I know them. You may choose to believe either of us, obviously, however I am merely writing on this thread to assure all readers of my good intentions towards two innocent women, my apologies for leaving the scene of an accident, and then reporting the incident a few days later than might have been expected of me by a few of you.

I am not sure how many chase situations you have been in, Granny, nor the strength of your reserve. I must admit that I was absolutely terrified when I arrived at a safe location, and required a lot of calming down as I was having quite some difficulty breathing, and was experiencing anxiety attacks which I suffer infrequently.

reverting to the topic of “Fred”‘s less than tight story of events, I would like to mention that my car is not black. having chased me so intently, and in fact recording my registration details (which are now posted online, which I find completely unnacceptable! Regardless of “Fred”‘s willingness to help the general public, which I fear he was not so concerned with on the morning in question, My registration details should have been given to the authorities and insurance companies by all means, but most certainly not posted on a website with no restricted authoritarian access! It is disrespectful and utterly rude, and I would expect better from such a humanitarian!) you would think that “Fred” might have realised in the bright morning sunlight, that my car was a mid – dark green.

It is your decision whether or not to believe me, Granny, of course!
However, I have suffered extreme shock and some heavy anxiety episodes over this event due to “Fred”‘s completely unnacceptable, dangerous and emotionally damaging (not only to me, but to the two girls who he had absolutely mortified) behaviours. As a driver complaining that my driving is inadequate and causing risk to all those around me, you might think that he would show some more self control, take my registration in the safest way possible, and alert the authorities.

I myself as I said will be attending a station this morning. I have not yet, as I said for family reasons which I have been out of town for. I will not explain these issues to you as they are extremely private, but let me assure you, they come above reporting two damaged wing-mirrors and a couple of dents.

As I have said, I am prepared to take full responsibility for any actions concluded to be illegal, unnacceptable etc. on my own part. I merely wish to bring to the readers’ attention that I am not a drunk, a stoner or a moron, as I was so kindly named in the postings prior to my own. I wished to enlighten you all as to the effects, actions and reactions on my behalf so that you might realise this was merely a mistake blown out of proportion by “Fred”‘s aggressive reaction to the incident.

Both the girls and myself have talked to family and friends who offered us support at the time, and I’m sorry, but as you weren’t there like you said, you have no right to make a call as to whether or not medical treatment was required. All we really needed was to be consoled after being terrified by someone who is apparently so diplomatic. And, coming from a direct family inclusive of a fair number of retired ambulance officer, a registered nurse, an enrolled nurse, and an extended family of many of the same, I had a good idea of the state of the girls and who/what to seek for them.

I am sorry!
I’m getting quite upset, and I don’t mean to babble on with all this. I am assuming that you want to hear my side of this event, given that you responded to my post. However, I’m getting slightly worked up due to the fact that I have been in an accident, chased down by an angry, speeding and relatively unpredictable man, and then once I had managed to get the girls to people they trusted and requested the company of, I return home to discover my flatmate pointing me in the direction of this site because I am being bagged by people who wouldn’t have the faintest clue about me!

I merely wish to say that I don’t appreciate the manner in which I am being treated, and that I will be going to a police station to sort this out with the proper authorities, so I would appreciate it if you could perhaps reserve your hasty judgements of me until you have a bit more information in regards to the issue.

It is not my business to judge you, Contrast, but if you are interested in my opinion I can tell you that your post seems a little like the Todd Carney apology.

I can understand a person being intimidated by a display of road rage, but if I had been in the position of being terrorised by another driver then I think I would have called the police as soon as it was safe to do so.

Also, it sounds like your passengers were in shock, and should have received immediate and appropriate first aid from a qualified professional, and possibly some form of post-trauma counseling.

I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t make sense to me that you have not contacted the police if you are innocent; and given that you were not in a fit state to drive it is possible that you nearly killed several people including FredJ.

If I were FredJ I would be pretty ticked off too.

I also find it odd that FredJ would be seeking witnesses if he thought they would testify to a road rage incident on his part.

The fact that I was not a witness means I can’t possibly know what really occurred. Hopefully the witnesses that FredJ is seeking will come forward and the truth will be revealed.

As I said before, I am glad that nobody was hurt and that the damage was fairly minor. I am also glad that you are now seeking to make amends for any wrongdoing on your part. I am sure that this incident has prompted some sober reflection, and you will be careful to avoid certain errors of judgment in the future.

DJ said :

Who says they haven’t? After all FredJ did give them good details. Speculation isn’t going to help the cause here.

Surely? Knowing something happened and proving it before the Courts are different things altogether (note: I have no reason to not believe FredJ and his account of what happened).

You’re not wrong there.
I apologise for leaving the scene of a road accident, I truly do.
However, I believe you will find my reasons for doing so perfectly justified.

The incident was not caused by me to start with. Not as far as I can recall.
I was tired, having worked all night, and therefore may be mistaken. I would hate to incorrectly call Fred a liar. After all, he is clearly a perfectly rational person! psh!

On that note, the reason I left the scene, instead of pulling over to exchange details, as is required of those members involved in an incident, is that I had two extremely panicked young women in my vehicle who were verging on hysterics due to the impact of a ute making a blind merge into my vehicle some way down Hindmarsh Drive long after I had turned off of the Tuggeranong Parkway, and had almost reached speed, perfectly centred in the centre lane of the three lane road.

not having the disregard for the safety of all the other drivers on the road that Fred clearly had, I did not swerve over to the side of the road as he did. I was planning to pull over on the next street, where I was turning, as there was likely to be less traffic flow. “Fred” got out of his car whilst we were waiting at a red light (he was idling behind me) and aggresively asked if I was going to pull over any time soon. I replied that I was, calmly and rationally.

Once “Fred” had gotten out of earshot, the girls started panicking again, as they believed he was going to be potentially violent. I made the decision not to put them through any more torment, and I must admit, I was very concerned by the manner in which “Fred” approached me at the traffic lights, and was not intending to stop for such an aggressive individual. I was more than willing to go to a police station after the event and have it sorted out that way, as I believed he would do (and apparently has).

I therefore did not pull over for fear of my own safety, and that of my passengers.

As a demonstration of “Fred”‘s lack of approachability or rationality, he then began to pursue me, forcing me to speeds of 100kmp/h within 60kmp/h zones! the two young ladies in my vehicle were hysterical at this point, screaming “he’s gonna get us!!” etc.
“Fred” then decided to speed to an even higher extent, crossing double unbroken lines on a two way, and often busy, street to pass me and pull over.

At this point, there was absolutely no way I was stopping for such a madman.
I turned around, and went the other way, as traffic flowed the other way (I believe blocking “Fred” from turning around and continuing to pursue us as though he were the authorities himself!).

I intend to give a full statement to an officer at a police station tomorrow morning as soon as one opens (I have so far been unable to do so, as I was dealing with the shock of being aggressively chased by a man of enough years to know better, and then having a family emergency out of town that has kept me away until now). I was appalled to find that such a disgraceful excuse for a man was given your sympathy when he is the very reason for his own complaint.

“Fred”, you as a grown man need to learn how to interact in a public situation, regardless of a minor road accident. I apologise if it was in fact my fault. I can’t actually remember, as I was driving just as normal. However, I have never had a road accident, least of all in such a situation as a “T” intersection. Your needs would have been met if you had curbed your anger. I am sorry to have put you through the stress I have, and I will ask permission to view your expenses, and your account, and help in any way that I am required to financially.

Sorry also to all of you who have been reading the progress of this posting.
It was a very badly handled situation, however this post itself has escalated said situation far beyond a realistic level.

I hope I have gotten accross that I am perfectly willing to accept fault for any wrong-doing on my part, and that I will take up the expenses linked.

FredJ said :

Can anyone recommend a good panel beater/sprayer?

Precision Panel – Fyshwick.

FredJ: Craig Hall (Phillip) on the southside, Bars (Mitchell) on the northside.

Why wouldn’t Shannons find them? If you provided the registration details of the other vehicle to the Police it will be part of your accident report you should have filled in at a station…

Shannons will get a copy of this (after you give them the job reference number) and hey presto…

Thanks for the sympathy everyone. I’m now on to the getting quotes stage. Can anyone recommend a good panel beater/sprayer? My damage is fairly minor. A dint, scrape and broken mirror. Didn’t really get to inspect his but sure it’ll be worse on a new car. His wing mirror was totally wrecked and hanging off.

BTW – Shannons are confident they’ll track him down. Hope they do or I’m stuck paying the excess.

Who says they haven’t? After all FredJ did give them good details. Speculation isn’t going to help the cause here.

Surely? Knowing something happened and proving it before the Courts are different things altogether (note: I have no reason to not believe FredJ and his account of what happened).

I’m glad you weren’t hurt, FredJ.

You would think the police would want to talk to them – preferably before they kill somebody. Surely they should at least be charged for leaving the scene of an accident.

Aurelius said :

Correct me if I am wrong, but can’t you go to the Motor Reg in Dickson, pay $21 and get their details, based on their rego info?

I don’t think you can any more – privacy BS and all that.

Old metal car versus new plastic car… how much damage to your car?

Aurelius said :

Correct me if I am wrong, but can’t you go to the Motor Reg in Dickson, pay $21 and get their details, based on their rego info?

Not sure – I’ll leave that to insurance. If I have no joy there then maybe I’ll look at other options.

Please let us know how this progresses Fred – that really sucks!

He might have been pissed or stoned by the description of his driving style. Good luck with your search Fred.

Correct me if I am wrong, but can’t you go to the Motor Reg in Dickson, pay $21 and get their details, based on their rego info?

Mr Evil said :

What’s a bet he’s unlicensed and uninsured?

I’m betting he’s not. The cops didn’t seem interested but I think they’ll have better things to do – his rego is XXXXXX, so keep out of the morons way if you see him!

That’s what you pay insurance for. Inform your insurance company, give them the details and let them sort it.

What’s a bet he’s unlicensed and uninsured?

Same thing nearly happened to me about 2 weeks ago on the Gold Coast. I was driving by myself and a car very nearly slammed into me when they were changing lanes not seeing me. And I was thinking even if they did hit me how could I prove it was their fault cause it was two of them in the car verses just me. Only way would have been with police forensics.