Car Accident Behavior

[Steve]

I got in a car accident on the way to a wedding yesterday (Sunday to me). I was rear ended. I'm not hurt (I don't think, reason I say is it felt someone punched me in the back of the head when I was hit). Anyway, the guy came out yelling and screaming....er...you hit me sir!

 

The guy was one of those types who felt it necessary to tell you he is from a rough neighborhood and he was 2 inches from my face saying gang oriented things. "Where ya from cuz?" and "I'm from Watts cuz" (cuz is slang for crips)Maybe because I was in a suit and he felt he could intimidate me. He was driving a '94 Caddilac Fleetwood with rims which is favored by a lot of gangs.

 

I wasn't worried for a couple reasons. First, he was in his mid 40s not some street kid. Those days are long past him if he was involved in gangs. Second this was in Santa Monica in a busy intersection with loads of people around. Locals on the way to the beach as well as tourists. Third, if he was going to do something he'd have done it already. From my experience, guys who are going to hit you rarely telecast it by yelling and screaming ahead of time to give you time to be on your guard.

 

I'm no hard man. Not a thug at all, never was, never will be. Chocolat Steve is a lover not a fighter...lol..but he will fight. I told him to f**k off out of my face. He starts with it more and I dropped my car keys and he picked them up and when I asked for them back he wouldn't give it.

 

A huge crowd had gathered. I told him I wasn't going to jail over his sorry ass so I called the cops on my cell phone. His car hits me in the back and thinks its my fault. Of all the nerve!

 

The cops come and take statements and he settled down after dropping an F bomb or two to the cops and they told him he was on his way to jail. side note: Santa Monica cops are bored, they will take you to jail for anything just to have something to do.

 

Good thing was a witness came and gave me her number and said she saw the whole thing. Its open and shut anyway, just the antics of the guy was bewildering.

 

Part of his rant when I said something to him he said 'You're not even from California!'(I have an east coast accent and its pronounced when angry) as if only tough guys are from that state...lol...I know a section of Philly where I once called home that would make him think twice about that statement...lol

 

If this was some side street in south central. I'd have called 911 immediately and stayed in the car with the windows up and doors locked. So, I don't want to sound like I'm this tough guy who stands up to potential gangbangers.

 

I imagine people screaming, etc. after accidents is the world over.

[Old Hippie]

My personal experience is *some* people are just never wrong. Some people are so used to being told they are ALWAYS the victim, that it just drifts into their everyday life, in ALL other matters. I know, cause I had that attitude for far too long.

 

Some people also figure they can yell and scream and that makes them right. Others are just trying to get you to confess blame out of fear.

 

As for his age...he could possibly be an "O.G," Rolling around, once in the game, always in the game...that's why I roll heavy in certain spots and times.

[Bangkoktraveler]

I had a situation recently that when we went to court, the other party said I was innocent, etc. but never once admitted they did anything wrong.

[Tiger Moth]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Your statement about feeling like you were punched in the back of the head suggests to me that you may have suffered whiplash and possible serious injury. Here is an experience I had followed by a recommendation that you carefully consider that you may have been injured more seriously than you think.

 

I was once in an accident on a Saturday morning. The accident was clearly the fault of the other driver and I could have made some insurance claims. However, the driver was a teenager who was not experienced and he was driving his younger brother to a Boy Scouts meeting. So, relating to being a young, inexperienced driver and thinking he was a nice guy to be driving his brother to Boy Scouts - I didn't make any personal injury insurance claims.

 

After the accident, a police officer arrived, noticed I seemed a bit strange (in hindsight, I think I was actually in shock) and sent me to a hosital (a very short walk from where the accident took place). I went to a hospital and had a cursory checkout. I was leaving for a one week trip the next day and thought I was OK and didn't want to spend a lot of time at the hospital.

 

When I returned from the trip, I went to the place where my car had been taken "for repair". When I arrived, I saw the car and was shocked. The entire front end of the car was twisted at about a 35 degree angle and the passenger door (fortunately, no passengers at the time of the accident) was completely crushed.

 

Anyway, even though I thought I was OK at the time, I have arthritis in my neck which I suspect was caused by the accident.

 

Hope my story hasn't been too boring but, the real point is, I suggest you get a thorough checkup and maybe a followup in 6 months. As I mentioned, I thought I was OK after the accident but now believe I suffered injury that causes me discomfort to this day (and always will).

 

Other than being an obnoxious fool, did this guy say anything to suggest the accident was your fault?

[Steve]

As for his age...he could possibly be an "O.G," Rolling around, once in the game, always in the game...that's why I roll heavy in certain spots and times.

 

Dang, I left my gat at home as well! hehehe...I actually thought he may have something in the car or trunk but too many witnesses. As I said, if it was somewhere else, in the 'hood maybe, I'd have shut up and called 5-0 (slang for cops for the ill informed) immediately.

 

I used to see the seemingly stoic Japanese exchange verbal tirades once or twice when I was in Tokyo after an accident. Especially the taxis.

[Steve]

TM, to be honest, my neck has a creak in it and I have a bit of a headache but I'm not sure if its pscyhosomatic or I actually was injured. I'll get myself checked out. I was hit and run by a guy in south central several years ago and my left shoulder still urts if I lift too much at the gym. If I didn't have a seat belt on I'd have been in the window. Felt like I got punched in the back of the head.

 

No, he never said he was innocent but he stopped his tirade and I think realized he was wrong. The address on the police incident report is Watts. Means nada to me though. The ones that talk the most do the least.

[Tiger Moth]

I used to see the seemingly stoic Japanese exchange verbal tirades once or twice when I was in Tokyo after an accident. Especially the taxis.

 

I don't understand when Asians, who are so concerned about face, go into tirades.

 

One time, I was on line to pay to go into Nana Disco, and when it was my turn to pay, after patiently waiting in line, this Asian guy who hadn't been in line at all, stepped in front of me. I didn't overreact but did say, hey bozo, what's with the cutting in line? (or something to that affect). So, this guy, who is clearly in the wrong gets in my face and in some language that I couldn't identify, went into a tirade. I ignored him. But, later inside, he comes up to me and starts in all over again, He was a quite small, skinny guy and I felt, even an old guy like me could kick his ass. But, I have made it a policy to never get into anything here in Thailand because being a foreigner, I am concerned about the treatment I would receive from Thai police.

 

After he finished his 2nd tirade, I was pleased that a Thai girl came up to me, indicated the other guy had behaved poorly and I shouldn't be concerned and pointed out, "he isn't Thai!".

 

Still, I wonder, what's with people so concerned about face, acting out?

[USVirgin]

Steve,

 

I was a passenger in an accident when I was about 17. Took almost a year for lower back pain to develop (I'm pretty sure it was from the accident because nothing else traumatic happened that year), but I didn't file an insurance claim - probably should have. We hit a tree going east on Sunset at Rockingham at about 60mph. I was sitting in the back right passenger seat which was the point of impact. That mag wheel below me was splintered all over the road after the accident. A chick in the car behind us said the car was doing airborne spins after we hit the tree. When the cops showed up, we were sitting on the curb smoking cigarettes while gasoline flowed in the gutter. I'll never forget one of the cops. He looked like a junior Malloy from the tv show Adam 12. He surveyed the situation and said, "I've seen it before, a fast car, a hot corner, and a guy who thinks he can make it."

 

I thought for a moment that I was in a B movie. We all busted up laughing, but I digress...

 

VERY strange that you'd bump into THAT guy in Santa Monica (or I should say he bumped into you). Much more likely it would be a geek from Google, Yahoo, or MTV. I'm staying in Santa Monica now and I've noticed the changes after being away for a loooong time.

 

How times have changed around here! I had an opposite accident experience when I got in an accident in my first crappy old car (a dodge wagon that I sarcastically named "the fuckmobile"). Late one night I was driving down 7th street hill (which turns into Entrada as you go to the beach). I couldn't see too well because the radiator was overheating sending rust all over the windshield. Near the bottom of the hill, I t-boned a car that three black guys were trying to ROPE TOW into a three point turn!

 

They were perhaps rightly pissed off, until my bigoted white friend (who was the other passenger in the aforementioned accident who actually did file a claim for a bunch of stitches to the face) got out of the car first and confronted the guys, saying "So what are you boys doing in this part of town?" Then they backed off and we all went on our merry way (at least our group did). They might have been more intimidated by the prospect of the police showing up than us.

 

To give you an idea of what a bigot my friend was, he had nicknames for our town and those nearby, like Pacific Palestine, Malijew, Brentstein, Santa Hanukkah, Bar Mitzvah (Mar Vista), Bagelly Hills, Vulgar City (Culver City), Bel Arab, and so forth.

 

I spoke with that fellow the other day and he said that my Irish dad always referred to him as "the capitalist" when we were kids. He would get on well with RY, I think, unless RY is a Jew.

 

 

 

 

 

[cavanami]

I have seen knock down, drag out fights with the drivers in Taiwan, Chinese.

It is all about $$$ and face.

 

At the time, my customer rear ended another car but my customer was innocent as the other car, in front of him, "stopped too fast".

 

Of course my customer was rich and could get away with this!

[Tiger Moth]

The ones that talk the most do the least.

 

I once was involved in a striking example of this. I was out at some club with a friend. We were the last 2 from a party to celebrate my friends promotion to a position at Mobil's Corp HQ. My friend is about 6'3" and I am barely 5'10". Anyway we encountered 2 guys who were the same and the bigger of these 2 guys was a loudmouth, agressive guy looking for trouble. So, we ended up going out to the parking lot. The loudmouth got in my friends face and started selling woof tickets, "I'll rip off your head and shove it up your ass......". My friend let him go on for a bit and then said very calmly, "well, we could talk all night..". The expression on the face of the loudmouth was "priceless". His demeanor immediately changed and given that my friend was not looking for a fight, we just parted ways.

 

But, I will never forget the dramatic change in loudmouth when my friend bought his woof tickets.

 

You may not be familiar with the expression, "woof tickets". I am now about to turn 62 and this was an expression used when I was a teenager. Many years later, not having heard this expression for a long, long time, I began to wonder if there was such an expression, if I had mis-remembered or imagined it. Then, I saw a Richard Pryor special on TV and he used "woof tickets" during his performance.

 

I had another experience similar to the one I had with "woof tickets". There was a famous street basketball player in the NY area in the late 1960s, he was famous for his jumping ability. He was, if I recall 6'4" and challenged Wilt Chamberlain to a contest. A silver dollar was placed on the top of a backboard and the challenge was to see who could jump up and grab the silver dollar. It was a draw as they both succeeded. But, years later, I began to wonder if the guy actually existed or it was just my imagination. Then I read a Kareem Jabbar biography and Kareem mentioned this guy and his incredible jumping ability. So, I wasn't crazy afterall.