Defense, Jan 6, 2000

Overview

I would like to start with an overview of what I plan to show. I was cited for failure to give right of way in the Route 2 rotary, after an accident on May 31, 1999. I plan to show that the reason the accident occurred is that the driver of the other car deliberately cut me off to cause the accident, for the purposes of insurance fraud. The reason I was cited was that the occupants of the other car were accompanied by another car with two other individuals who stopped and presented themselves as witnesses. These witnesses falsely testified about the location of the accident, making it appear to be my fault.

I realized that insurance fraud was occurring almost immediately, but while I was extremely puzzled and dismayed by the witnesses, I didn't realize that they knew the occupants of the other car until everyone drove away together. Within a couple of days, I wrote up a detailed account of the events and dictated and faxed it to my insurance agent to try to stop the insurance fraud. I returned to the intersection with my stopwatch at night and took some measurements to enable me to complete the accident report and determine the speeds and locations involved. I will include these numbers in my description of the accident.

The Accident

On May 31, 1999 at about 11:20 I was traveling east on Route 2A in Concord, approaching the Route 2 Rotary. I had two stopped cars in front of me as I reached the rotary, so I had to wait and enter the rotary from a full stop. When I did, the other car, assuming an average speed of 30 MPH, would have been about 125 feet away.

I accelerated from zero to my normal speed in this rotary of about 25 MPH, and had just about reached that speed at the driveway of the Exxon station, about 80 feet from my entry point, when a car caught me from behind on the left, and cut right in front of me, causing a collision. The cars came to rest very near the Route 2 exit, about 110 feet from my entry point. If the accident did occur at this location, then the cause of the accident could not have been my failure to yield the right of way on entering the rotary, and so the ticket should be nullified.

There were many indications that something odd was happening in this accident, but I will mention four:

It is of course possible that I made up my whole story, and it didn't happen that way. I can only point out that I have not had an accident in the last 30 years, so I am a pretty cautious driver. Also, I have put a lot more time and effort into this matter than would be warranted to save $35 plus $100 or so on my insurance. If I did it, I would have just paid it, but I believe that it is important to combat insurance fraud whenever we can.

The State Police Accident Report

The two individuals in the other vehicle were from South Boston, which I considered kind of unusual for the Concord Rotary. I was eagerly awaiting the police report, expecting to see that the witnesses were also from the vicinity of South Boston. I called the RMV monthly after the accident, the last time in mid September, and was told each time that there was no report filed. Then I got a summons in October to the hearing in November.

I immediately ordered a copy of the police report, and it was a big disappointment. There were no witnesses listed at all! I don't know why the police report took so long to be filed, but without the witnesses I don't feel that it supports the citation, and hence I ask that the ticket be voided.