I caused a fender bender and can't find the other driver

[Anonymous]

I need advice on what to do here. This morning, I was at fault in a fender bender.

I misinterpreted the signage and I thought I was in a "straight" lane but was actually in a left turn lane. The SUV to my right was in a "straight or turn" lane, so when I went straight and they went left, they hit my right rear bumper and probably their left front fender. This was a large and busy intersection off a freeway exit so I pulled into the nearest business and waited for like 10 minutes and took photos of my car and the intersection, but didn't have a practical way to know where the other car may have gone. I imagine they have some scrapes at least on their vehicle and I feel so bad that I probably ruined their morning and cost them money. I am a careful driver and this was such a dumb mistake.

What is the right thing to do? Do I call the police and make a report in case the other driver calls? I want to do my due diligence and not "leave the scene of an accident."


Unrelated to my question, the worst part is, my 20 month old was in her car seat in the right rear and after the collision, she was saying "ow" and "uh-oh." She seemed okay when we stopped and I went to her - was talking about wanting to play and have snacks. But I feel so guilty that I put her in harm's way.

[Anonymous]

Oh no! I hope the other driver doesn't believe this was a hit and run situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh no! I hope the other driver doesn't believe this was a hit and run situation.

OP here - I agree. What do I do?

[Anonymous]

I would call the police and file an accident report right away. I would not state you were at fault, just the facts and that you pulled over and the other driver did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need advice on what to do here. This morning, I was at fault in a fender bender.

I misinterpreted the signage and I thought I was in a "straight" lane but was actually in a left turn lane. The SUV to my right was in a "straight or turn" lane, so when I went straight and they went left, they hit my right rear bumper and probably their left front fender. This was a large and busy intersection off a freeway exit so I pulled into the nearest business and waited for like 10 minutes and took photos of my car and the intersection, but didn't have a practical way to know where the other car may have gone. I imagine they have some scrapes at least on their vehicle and I feel so bad that I probably ruined their morning and cost them money. I am a careful driver and this was such a dumb mistake.

What is the right thing to do? Do I call the police and make a report in case the other driver calls? I want to do my due diligence and not "leave the scene of an accident."


Unrelated to my question, the worst part is, my 20 month old was in her car seat in the right rear and after the collision, she was saying "ow" and "uh-oh." She seemed okay when we stopped and I went to her - was talking about wanting to play and have snacks. But I feel so guilty that I put her in harm's way.

I hope everybody’s OK. The good thing is you took pictures and those have timestamps so everybody knows it was not a hit and run. Get your child checked out just in case. File a report with a police to cya.

[Anonymous]

I would just wait. Most likely you won’t hear from anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just wait. Most likely you won’t hear from anyone.

Do not listen to this poster. This is bad advice. You need a police report to protect yourself. A lot of people have dashcams. Don't mess around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I need advice on what to do here. This morning, I was at fault in a fender bender.

I misinterpreted the signage and I thought I was in a "straight" lane but was actually in a left turn lane. The SUV to my right was in a "straight or turn" lane, so when I went straight and they went left, they hit my right rear bumper and probably their left front fender. This was a large and busy intersection off a freeway exit so I pulled into the nearest business and waited for like 10 minutes and took photos of my car and the intersection, but didn't have a practical way to know where the other car may have gone. I imagine they have some scrapes at least on their vehicle and I feel so bad that I probably ruined their morning and cost them money. I am a careful driver and this was such a dumb mistake.

What is the right thing to do? Do I call the police and make a report in case the other driver calls? I want to do my due diligence and not "leave the scene of an accident."


Unrelated to my question, the worst part is, my 20 month old was in her car seat in the right rear and after the collision, she was saying "ow" and "uh-oh." She seemed okay when we stopped and I went to her - was talking about wanting to play and have snacks. But I feel so guilty that I put her in harm's way.

I hope everybody’s OK. The good thing is you took pictures and those have timestamps so everybody knows it was not a hit and run. Get your child checked out just in case. File a report with a police to cya.

OP here, when I call the police non-emergency number, how do I describe the type of report I want to file? The online reporting system does not have an appropriate option - the only vehicle collision option is to "report a hit and run where the responsible party failed to stop."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just wait. Most likely you won’t hear from anyone.

Do not listen to this poster. This is bad advice. You need a police report to protect yourself. A lot of people have dashcams. Don't mess around.

I definitely want to do the right thing! I just don't know the process. Do I call police and say I want to file an accident report?

[Anonymous]

I would call your insurance and ask what to do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would call your insurance and ask what to do

OP here, I'm not sure about this because I am on the fence about whether our damage is worth filing with insurance. It's an older car and we may either pay for the body work out of pocket or just live with it. If I call insurance, we risk our rates going up. My main concern is doing right by the other driver.

[Anonymous]

Where are you located? Just call 911 probably and they will dispatch police to make a report non-emergently.

[Anonymous]

I would file a police report too, but don't beat yourself up about this. You pulled over and waited. There's only so much you could have done in the situation. The police report will protect you if they come back and accuse you of leaving the scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would file a police report too, but don't beat yourself up about this. You pulled over and waited. There's only so much you could have done in the situation. The police report will protect you if they come back and accuse you of leaving the scene.

Thanks for the kind words, I just called 311. They took my contact info and said an officer would call me.

[Anonymous]

I think giving a heads up to your insurance would be good as well. Especially with the prevalence of dashcams in this area.

It may be that this person thinks they were at fault and didn't want to involve the police for other reasons. Or even if they know you are at fault, they don't want the police involved.

My friend rear-ended someone and the car never stopped. My friend followed when they finally stopped, the person asked for it to be "dropped" and the cars fixed on their own. They didn't want the police called because they said they had an open warrant for FTA from parking tickets. They also didn't want to go through insurance to avoid price increases.