Anonymous wrote:If the teen feels threatened, I'd advise them to stay in their car and call the police. If they feel they can talk the person, all they need to provide is their insurance information. They don't have to say anything else. If you rear-ended someone you probably are at fault, just FYI.

The teen can also call their insurance company and talk with them about they should do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's say the teen rear-ended someone (this is a hypothetical). They pull over. And the person rear-ended starts yelling at the kid, trying to force into giving information, admitting fault, etc.

What do you advise your child, if you are not with them at the time, in that situation?

I hadn't given a ton of thought to this situation until reading the other thread. (And also recently an adult opened his door into my kid's car while kid was still in it. Adult saw her and didn't stop or acknowledge what he had done. Kid was too scared to say anything and the adult knew this. I doubt he would have just kept going if it were another adult.)

Thoughts? Advice? To the extent the state laws make a difference, we are in VA.

Not sure this applies entirely but I heard some helpful advice by driver ed teacher recently for teens experiencing road rage due to their inexperience contributing to making error on road.

I would double check with drivers Ed school in Va in case laws slightly different.

1. Pull over if it is safe to do so, wind up windows and lock doors.

2. Put on emergency blinkers as cars are required to treat parked cars with emergency lights on the same as emergency vehicles in Md

3. Do not engage with driver if they are aggressive and irate.

4. If an accident, call your insurance and police (if damage likely to be more than $1k) and wait for their advice. By staying at scene of accident you they are showing good faith.

5. If road rage, put up windows, don’t engage, put on emergency lights and drive slowly away. Call non emergency police number to report aggressive driving - they will need location, car, license plate if you have it and direction traveling.

6. For accident - Write down as much relevant info as possible for insurance and police

What happened to cause accident / note any extenuating circumstances such being rear ended due to stopping for emergency vehicle or school bus or whatever
Time
Roads and nearest cross roads location
Car model, color and license plate
Get other car mode, color and license plate

Also regarding car doors - I am teaching our DC to park carefully to avoid car doors being opened onto our car - where possible. Encourage your teen to park in middle of parking spaces and not too close to edges.
Also the car bumper guard rails you can pay to place on doors/ car body are worth the extra cost to minimize dints.

Anonymous wrote:Let's say the teen rear-ended someone (this is a hypothetical). They pull over. And the person rear-ended starts yelling at the kid, trying to force into giving information, admitting fault, etc.

What do you advise your child, if you are not with them at the time, in that situation?

I hadn't given a ton of thought to this situation until reading the other thread. (And also recently an adult opened his door into my kid's car while kid was still in it. Adult saw her and didn't stop or acknowledge what he had done. Kid was too scared to say anything and the adult knew this. I doubt he would have just kept going if it were another adult.)

Thoughts? Advice? To the extent the state laws make a difference, we are in VA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(1) In a rear-ending incident, fault is beside the point because according to the law, the rear driver is always at fault. You don't have to warn your teen about not admitting fault because it doesn't matter. You should train them to ask if the other driver or their passengers are okay, and to call 911 immediately if anyone is injured.

(2) Make sure they know how to pull over and be safe (only getting out on the curb side, setting a flare if there is no shoulder, etc.).

(3) Make sure they know how to exchange info with another driver. With cell phones this is very easy. The other driver is not "demanding their info." They are getting the insurance info they need to report the accident. This is appropriate. Makes sure your teen knows where the insurance info is and what documents they need from the other driver as well.

(4) If the other driver is aggressive or behaving in an unpredictable way, tell your teen to call the cops and then get in their vehicle with the doors lock and wait until the cops arrive. After they call the cops, they should call you.

Wow what horrible advice. First in a rear end it is not always your fault (most of time it is) and you should never admit fault. You should never ask if other driver is injured.

Last accident I literally handed lady the paper copy of my insurance card (just a copy) and left. Very very little conversation.

Later she “claimed” neck hurt when she called my insurance. I truthfully could say no mention of this at scene. And it was a rear end but she swerved into my rear end. She shifted lanes quickly as something in road her left rear tailight broke my front right headlight as she crossed over.

My insurance said it was she said he said so we each pay. She had no collisions coverage. As such I paid out if pocked and since she did not report her insurance no accident on my record.

Her car a piece of crap, a junkyard bumper and tailight all she needed

This is psychotic. Asking if people are okay is just basic human decency and I can't imagine hitting another vehicle and not checking to make sure if anyone was hurt. What if the driver has a concussion and there are injured kids in the backseat that the driver is not cognitively able to help? You're just going to say nothing, hand over your insurance card, and drive away?

People like you are why that other thread about people losing it exists.

Anonymous wrote:Oh and one more thing, since this has come up for me:

Do not tell your teen to try and get the other driver to not report the incident to insurance.

I don't know if there are a lot of parents out there who apparently think they can make an end run around rising insurance rates by doing this, but it's a sure fire way to piss off the other driver. To me if someone asks to deal with an accident where they were clearly at fault (rear-ending) without insurance, it's a big fat red flag that either they've done this before or may try to screw me (or their parent may try to screw me). Don't do this. Insurance was designed for this specific situation, and asking a driver you just hit to handle it without insurance is NOT okay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(1) In a rear-ending incident, fault is beside the point because according to the law, the rear driver is always at fault. You don't have to warn your teen about not admitting fault because it doesn't matter. You should train them to ask if the other driver or their passengers are okay, and to call 911 immediately if anyone is injured.

(2) Make sure they know how to pull over and be safe (only getting out on the curb side, setting a flare if there is no shoulder, etc.).

(3) Make sure they know how to exchange info with another driver. With cell phones this is very easy. The other driver is not "demanding their info." They are getting the insurance info they need to report the accident. This is appropriate. Makes sure your teen knows where the insurance info is and what documents they need from the other driver as well.

(4) If the other driver is aggressive or behaving in an unpredictable way, tell your teen to call the cops and then get in their vehicle with the doors lock and wait until the cops arrive. After they call the cops, they should call you.

Wow what horrible advice. First in a rear end it is not always your fault (most of time it is) and you should never admit fault. You should never ask if other driver is injured.

Last accident I literally handed lady the paper copy of my insurance card (just a copy) and left. Very very little conversation.

Later she “claimed” neck hurt when she called my insurance. I truthfully could say no mention of this at scene. And it was a rear end but she swerved into my rear end. She shifted lanes quickly as something in road her left rear tailight broke my front right headlight as she crossed over.

My insurance said it was she said he said so we each pay. She had no collisions coverage. As such I paid out if pocked and since she did not report her insurance no accident on my record.

Her car a piece of crap, a junkyard bumper and tailight all she needed

Anonymous wrote:(1) In a rear-ending incident, fault is beside the point because according to the law, the rear driver is always at fault. You don't have to warn your teen about not admitting fault because it doesn't matter. You should train them to ask if the other driver or their passengers are okay, and to call 911 immediately if anyone is injured.

(2) Make sure they know how to pull over and be safe (only getting out on the curb side, setting a flare if there is no shoulder, etc.).

(3) Make sure they know how to exchange info with another driver. With cell phones this is very easy. The other driver is not "demanding their info." They are getting the insurance info they need to report the accident. This is appropriate. Makes sure your teen knows where the insurance info is and what documents they need from the other driver as well.

(4) If the other driver is aggressive or behaving in an unpredictable way, tell your teen to call the cops and then get in their vehicle with the doors lock and wait until the cops arrive. After they call the cops, they should call you.