By Me - 11/11/2012 00:29 - United States

Today, while at a stop light, I was rear-ended by a car behind me. The guy got angry at me, because according to him, I should've known that his car has poor braking distance, and so I should've moved forward a few more feet to compensate. FML
I agree, your life sucks 31 283
You deserved it 1 664

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Well most insurance companies will find him at fault, so it should be covered. Still sucks to be you though.

flockz 19

don't worry, i'm sure the insurance companies won't cut him a brake.

Comments

oj101 33

Breathtaking stupidity and arrogance. Does he happen to be Darp Harp?

Lindahhxd 7

Punch him in the face and tell him he should've known better his face was attracted to your fist.

How is this a FYL? Lie about whiplash and get money from him. More like, jealous'

jesscarrr 10

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway
Lindahhxd 7

21, the guy who rear ended him had an entire street and should've braked at a safer distance. OP was just at a light, he isn't a driving God and knows when someone is going to rear end him.

bredahl 26

@21- The OP was already stopped at a light, and when coming to a stop, you don't need to look behind you to see if where/when it is safe to stop. Looking BEHIND doesn't determine if there's a safe distance for you to stop between the car in FRONT of you. You choose a landmark on the road, like a sign or a bench, to estimate how much time you have left to brake and how fast you need to apply the brakes. If you're having brake problems, apply the brakes at a longer distance away from where you usually apply the brakes, so you won't rear-end the car in front of you.

jesscarrr 10

31 & 28. It's called 'reckless driving' if you brake suddenly when you have enough time to pass through an intersection before the light turns red and if someone rear ends you it's your fault. Well at least in Australia it is. That's all my point was, that sometimes when you get rear-ended its not necessarily that persons fault.

jesscarrr 10

What I mean is that we don't know how well OP was driving either. It just says 'today while at a stop light' it doesn't say how long he was stationary for. If he HAD braked suddenly at the light with someone behind him then he's at fault.

Well, 36, ima assume that OP figured he couldnt cross the intersection on time and started his brakes at a reasonable distance. Theres no way OP could have figured out the driver behind him had bad brakes. Also if said person knew he had bad brakes, he should have had more distance between OP and him

36-What kind of screwed up driving school did you go to?

jesscarrr 10

38, I just re-read the fml because I didn't get what you meant by the 'guy had bad breaks' I so didn't even realise it said that. Sorry guys been at a photoshoot for six hours straight today and still going. probably shouldn't be putting my opinions on an fml that I didn't even apparently read properly! The hair spray fumes are affecting my brain

36-- your 16 what do you know about driving

isableha 9

36- My brother was involved in a 'three car pile up' situation because someone used their brake suddenly at an intersection. He rear ended them because he didn't have time to stop. Guess what? It's his fault. The rule is 'You should always be in control of your vehicle'. It doesn't matter if OP was at the light for 5 seconds or 5 minutes, the fault goes to the person who hit him/her.

49- you're right, here in Canada if you are the rear-ender you are at fault. You didn't leave enough space between you and the guy in front, no matter what the reason for braking suddenly, simple as that. 47- I'm glad you saw that too. Why would you want to float a goat???

21, it's the responsibility of every driver to leave adequate space between you and the car in front of you to be able to stop in Any circumstance. If your brakes are bad and it take you 3 cars lengths to come to a full stop, then you stay at Least 3 cars lengths back. That's why tailgating is illegal, too.

48- Wow. Judging people by age? The DMV says that by 16 you could obtain a junior's license. That means you have enough knowledge to be driving even if you have some restrictions. Even if 36 was just wrong on what she said, not all teenagers know nothing about driving.

Hiimhaileypotter 52

58- I think the point that 48 was trying to make was not that teenagers know NOTHING about driving, but that they aren't generally experienced enough at first to really know the rules of the road 100%, especially not better than someone who has been driving for years.

36 - Actually who ever is rear ending the person in front is at fault. Because whatever the circumstances are they're the ones responsible for breaking. And even if the person in front slammed on their breaks, if you kept the recommended distance between yourself and the car in front of you like the law states, you would STILL have enough room to stop without hitting them. So I don't know how things work in Australia, but in the States that's our law. Besides to say that the poor guy sitting at the light should've looked back? Are you dumb? That would have no affect on anything. It's not his responsibility to compensate for someone else's stupidity.

I have to disagree with the people saying 16 year olds know less about the "rules of the road" than more experienced drivers. I honestly knew more of the actual driving laws at 16 when I had just gone through driver's Ed than I do now. I'm a better driver now, but have forgotten a lot of the rules.

bredahl 26

When the OP said "while at a stop light", it's safe to assume that the person was already stopped at the light before the person behind them approached the intersection. If the person in front of you brakes suddenly and you rear-end them, then they are at fault. If you are well enough away from the person in front of you and they are already stopped and you end up rear-ending them, then you're at fault.

Edo369 8

Jesscarr just shut your snatch, you aren't making any sense.

I don't know how your state laws go, but here in PA-- if you hit someone's rear, your automatically at fault for not having control of your vehicle. It's your responsibility as a driver to operate your vehicle maintaining state laws, and the safety of yourself and others. As for the ignorance of the man who hit you... I hope you grabbed insurance info, OP! If someone freaked out on me for damaging my car I don't know how I'd handle that. This past June I was rear ended by a state police officer, and my car was totaled. This being a result of a prick ass officer tailgating me for miles @ 5:30am. On a country highway that deer are know to jump out on, my luck a group leap from a bush, and not having any place to turn (deer in other lane, guardrail and cliff on other side) I had to hit my brakes. A 60mph impact from the rear is NOT fun. Progressive insurance told me I had to deal with it myself bc of federal immunity. Make sure you get insurance info OP, and hopefully your car isn't too smashed up.

#36, in America, if you rear end somebody, it is your fault. Unless of course the other car is going in reverse, but that's not what happened here. This is so much the case here that some assholes will break check you if they feel you are following too closely. In Ohio, they excuse this behavior by shouting, "What are you, drunk? How could you not see that giant deer?" at you as you accuse you of break checking you. On a related note, Mom is a sucky driver and my next door neighbor the cop is an ass.

Age is irrelevant. The law holds a 16 year old driver to the same standard as a 60 year old driver.

or if you know your brakes are bad..get new ones..how hard is that to figure out

Well most insurance companies will find him at fault, so it should be covered. Still sucks to be you though.

Most pretty sure all will, op is not 1% at fault here that's why your suppose so keep a safe braking distance In case the person In front has to slam the brakes.

No. Not most. All. If you are rear ended its not your fault. Plain and simple.

At least over where I live, getting rear-ended is always the other person's fault unless you cut across into the land next to you and suddenly brake. Then it's your fault (legally at least).

That man is pretty much admitting to tailgating.

61 it doesn't exactly work that way, for instance if I cut In front of you and immediately hit the brakes and you rear ended me is it your fault? Yes in this case it isn't op fault one bit but it isn't always plain and simple.

well put. If your insurace company even tried to put you at fault its time to find a new company

Well, there's your problem. A lot of people try to cut corners by opting out of the ESP navigation system, but it's only going to cost you more down the road.

They're being sarcastic about op not knowing about his brakes.

QueenPersephone 9

Now I see the need for the (/sarcasm) tag. Really, guys?

some people are so stuck in their own little worlds

JOcoco 14

Yea 57! Because yours is so amazing no one can even see it. :D (end sarcasm) But no really was that comment necessary? -_-

It was, because now everyone knows he's a douche.

Well at least you get a new bumper! But since he got mad at you for it, it's possible he doesn't have insurance, good luck OP!

flockz 19

don't worry, i'm sure the insurance companies won't cut him a brake.

Hopefully this steers him in the right direction.

zingline89 18

They could try to wheel and deal with his insurance company. Sure this accident may bumper insurance rates up, but it'll work out in the end. Hopefully they file their insurance claim online cuz it can really trunkate the process.

flockz 19

once the insurance companies get in on the intertraction and he sees the bill, i'm sure there are going to be some fresh skidmarks on his underwear.

You are oh so witty...please stop. That was just embarrassing.

I found it pretty funny, not embarrassing at all.

SHAMUS_the_WITTY 18

80, your comments tend to drive me up the wall. They're very tireing.

How dare you. Not wanting to be responsible for other people's problems, how do you sleep at night?

Are you stupid?! Look at his/her fml again and read it CAREFULLY!! Freaking retard

@slick5880: How DARE you expect AerBear115 to have basic sarcasm detection skills. You should be ashamed of yourself for not pandering to stupid people and putting a disclaimer at the end of your comment. Do you see what you've done, now? The world is going to END.

Sh*t gets real when the FML team comments ;)

Sinkhole 26
Schizomaniac 24

Glad you specified it was by a car behind you. Might have been confusing if we didn't know where the car that rear ended you came from.

Rear-ended means... Rear-ended? Where else could it have happened?

#43 Schizomaniac was mocking the redundency of OP.

KiddNYC1O 20

Lmao. I was going to say. Given by your down votes it seems like they don't have to be behind you....

Punch him in the nuts. "You should've known I was going to do that!"

"My arm has a twitch! You should have known that!"

Should have slapped the person and got mad at them in return. "Should've known I like to swing my hand randomly in the air."

Chiikitty6464 2

Famous quote from Forest Gump: "Shit Happens."

That quote doesn't apply here. What's ironic is that your username would be a better comment for this FML than your actual comment. (That it was ironic that according to the guy, OP should have known that his car had a poor breaking system)

thrAsHeRr9081 16

Let's ask Alanis Morrisette. She clearly knows what irony is :P

C'mon guys #18 was just trying to be cr3ative

30: The irony of Alanis' song is that none of the things are ironic. I'm pretty sure she did that on purpose.

I'm pretty sure she was a product of the Canadian education system. So probably not so deliberate.

It's funny because my username had nothing to do with my comment.