I hit a vehicle and i got a citation. Failure to control speed. The people a few cars ahead stopped suddenly and i was unfortunate enough to hit them. any advice for when i go to court? i know they say your responsible if you rear end someone, but people stop all of a sudden to get insurance money and this could or could not be the case.

 

how fast were you going?

 

I don't know about your jurisdiction, but in Ontario you're required to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you such that at your speed and the given road conditions, you could stop safely. Most drivers don't provide nearly enough distance.

In addition, even if you're fully stopped, you should always leave a car length between you and the vehicle in front of you to avoid being pushed into them if you yourself get rear-ended.

There's two issues you'll be fighting here: the first is the charge laid by the police (usually something like following too closely). The second is the fault laid by the insurance company, and the two have nothing to do with one another. In other words, even if you get off the charge by the cops, the insurance can still find you completely at fault (they have their own set of rules on who gets apportioned what amount of blame in an accident).

 

its your fault. Been there and done that in my old car. Best bet is to just accept its your fault and get the fines and **** over with.

 

20-30 miles and hour i think before i slammed on the brakes and slowed down by possibly 5.

 

Even if it was someone trying to get insurance money, that would have been up front. Not at the back where you were. You were following too closely.

 

In CO and TX, there is a 2 second interval rule since different speeds require different braking distances (when the car in front passes a stationary object such as a sign, count 1 mississippi, 2, mississippi so on and you should not pass that sign until you start 3 mississippi). We all know very few people follow this. If you were doing 20-30, paying attention, and were following this rule you would have had more than enough time to stop especially with the 8's braking abilities. If your insurance company is involved and are convinced someone else would be responsible then they will more than likely fight it.