Yay or Nay - Submitting the Dashcam video to the Insurance company

A friend was in an accident this morning.  He came to a stop, then crept up beyond the stop line to see past a building in order to pull out.  After creeping up, he came to a full stop, and another driver hit him while he was stopped. (Edit - after seeing the video he said he came to a stop after the stop line.)  The officer said that he would be at fault because he was technically in the intersection.

Here's the dash cam video of the accident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHuFDThAfWg

Here's the position of his car in the intersection:

Here's a Google Earth of the intersection:

http://photoberkit.com/copper/displayimage.php?pid=1604&fullsize=1

I know we have a bunch of insurance folks on here, would submitting this to the insurance company help or hurt his case?  The other vehicle didn't have damage to the driver's side wheel or tire, but did have damage from hitting his car all along the side of the vehicle.

I'll be watching this thread to see if my faith in the concept of insurance can be driven deeper below ground by your friend being faulted even though it's very clearly the other driver's fault for slowly cruising into, and even more slowly grinding the entire length of his car across, the front of your friend's stopped car.

That guy has the eyesight of a mole and the reactions of a tree sloth.

From a purely legal and technical point of view, I think your friend is still at fault: he did not come to a stop before the line, and was in the intersection without the right of way. 

From a common sense perspective, that other driver needs their license taken from them and a lesson on spacial relations. 

I am not in insurance or law enforcement. 

Definitely look like the other drier is at fault, but he was also well past the stop line. I dont see the stop and creep forward....

Stopped after the line, so technically ran the stop sign, blocked a crosswalk and intersection.  Your buddy is at fault.

Time to admit fault, fix the damage of the other car, and change his driving habits.

BTW- tell him to fix the date on the dashcam, may be relevant in future incidents.

I agree with others that state your friend ran the stop sign and entered the intersection violating the right of way.  That said, the other driver is terrible.  Their garbage driving does not change the fact that your friend was occupying space he was not entitled to be in. 

Wow that is some really bad driving... even if you buddy is a bit forward.  That white car needs their license revoked.    

I'm usually in fear of being hit like this even if I'm sitting far behind the line.  People in my area commonly cut the corner coming on My side of the double yellow line.  It just reminds me to sit back further and remember that a lot of people have very little driving ability.    

I think I would go to where the accident took place and take pictures from behind the line for the stop sign.  That will show if there is a line of sight issue at that corner.  If there is LOS issues then submit the pictures and the video to his insurance company.  Something I learned last year was that the Ins companies do not necessarily go along with the findings of law enforcement so even if your friend is "at fault" in the eyes of the law his insurance company may take a different stand on it.

That is some impressively poor driving. I didn't really get a sense of a stop and creep forward - seemed more like a stop in the crosswalk. That being said, perhaps there's a case for contact being made in your buddy's lane - that was some major corner cutting. Any traffic tickets issues?

The police report will be the final decision.

Being in an intersection or blocking a crosswalk does not make you at fault when someone else runs into you like that.  He may have been in the wrong, but with respect to that collision... that was the other driver's fault for sure.

Wow that is crazy - how can the white car driver just keep barreling along?  I mean, your buddy did not stop where he should have, but why didn't the other driver just swing a little wide?   

SEADave said: but why didn't the other driver just swing a little wide?   

Either wants a new car or wants to pocket the cash on the "damage". There are people out there that do this for a living doing this BS. 

Even if I car is parked sideways in the wrong side of the road I don't see how it's perfectly okay to just run into it? How did the other driver not receive a citation? 

If there is a line of sight issue that would give reason to move forward beyond the stop sign to see I would fight that but your buddy did not come to a stop at the sign before moving beyond it, so then the video is out. Appears though that the driver turning in cut that corner, did not turn in square so they were not in their lane.

E36 M3, that could happen any day at the bottom of my street, although no crosswalk. One corner has a pole, a wall and shrubbery that make seeing oncoming traffic difficult. You need to pull ahead just to see out and traffic barrels through although a 35 mph zone. A lot of drivers turning on my street cut that corner instead of turning in square, it's gonna happen one day. 

I bet he will be found at fault, but I would absolutely submit the video to every possible person involved, along with a little statement like, "Imagine if that would have been a kid in a crosswalk instead of my bumper?"  It would be interesting to do a little math on just how far he was into the crosswalk.  Our angle of view obscures the lines, but I doubt he was past the far crosswalk line.

The SUV driver needs a retest on the old drivers licence.

Definitely did not stop and then creep up. I suspect he will be found at fault.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

If there had been a kid in the cross walk where his bumper was:

a) The kid would would have had the right of way over the white car, as opposed to the white car having right of way over the car that didn't stop before the stop line and entered the area of the intersection/crosswalk that the white car was (IMHO) 'technically' entitled to use.

b) The car that didn't stop before the crosswalk would have just hit that kid.

...So probably not the best argument to bring up.

In reply to Driven5 :

True, but I was coming at it from the driver of the SUV not likely being capable of missing a human being.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Things like this make me think more and more about getting a dashcam.

But while I can see how they could find him at fault, you really have to wonder about that other driver. Not only did they hit a stationary vehicle, but they just kept on going too

After seeing the video, he said that he agreed that he came to a stop past the stop line.  There was a brick building to his immediate right that would have completely blocked his line of sight to the right (that's where the traffic comes from as the street in front of him is a one way) had he stopped at the stop line.  He has a picture of that that I'll try to share tomorrow to give better context. 

In the video, you can freeze the frame where he comes to a full stop, and the vehicle is still a significant distance away from the point where she made contact (and kept going).

According to the officer at the scene, my friend was 100% at fault because he was in the intersection.  I would think anyone watching the video would assign the other driver at the least partial responsibility.

Thanks for the feedback!

In reply to dj06482 :

I don't know how it is where you are but in New York most of the time the police officer that respondeds just collects information and rarely determines how much fault a party carries unless there's a fatality or life threatening injury where Highway Patrol shows up and does a thorough investigation.  It's usually the insurance companies coming to an agreement over fault so I'd hand over the recording since once people are found to have little to no fault they tend to develop debilitating and expensive back injuries.

There's no benefit for him sharing that video. His car is like 8ft past that stop sign. If he stopped at the line, there would be no accident. So how do you pin that on the other guy?

In reply to lnlogauge :

I think you need your eyes checked.  8ft would be close to a full car length past the stop line. Even if you were exaggerating, dash cams don't show where the front of the car actually is, and they hide a lot of space infront of the car.