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Car Accident & Fighting Fault

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On Aug 23, 2020, I was driving my 2016 Scion tC in Olympia, WA between 1-2am in the morning.  It was a Sunday, and I was on my last pickup for Uber Eats with the intentions of heading home afterwards.

I'd been doing Uber eats off and on since December of 2019.  It's helped me to obtain the extra money I needed, to make ends meet a little easier as I'm otherwise completely reliant on SSI.  It was one of the few jobs I could work as it allowed me to take time off if my disabilities were affecting my ability to function, and was something of a safety net.  It gave me some sense of normalcy in my life.

That morning, as I was getting on the I-5 north onramp, another driver raced passed me, and jumped in front of me so fast that his rear tire swerved over the double yellow line.  I honked and flashed my brights in response to his careless driving.  As soon as I did that, he slowed abruptly, but I was able to stop before coming into contact with him.  He took off, then I sped up again intending to get on I-5 North.  Shortly after, he hit his brakes again, and I was still accelerating which rapidly closed the gap between us.  I tried to stop when I had realized, but was unable to.

The man attempted to approach my vehicle, but I refused to talk to him as I was unsure of his intentions after how he was driving, and what he had done.  It was only after I reviewed the video from my dashcam that I realized the second time, he had come to a completes stop in front of me causing the accident.

Following the accident, and the drive home, I felt awful.  I went to the local ER, and was diagnosed with whiplash which, now more than two weeks later, I'm still dealing with. 



I'm now facing not only damages to my car which I can't drive until they're repaired and proof is sent to Uber to show as much, but a Negligent Driving 2nd Degree charge which, without a lawyer, I may not have even been able to fight.  Even after submitting video to the State Trooper, they didn't make any adjustments to what I was being charged with.  According to my lawyer, the courts had put it on a 'Stay' when I sent it in to contest it.  Which brings me to another thing - I had to hire a lawyer.

My personal insurance was completely on my side about what transpired.  I explained things in detail, showed them the dash cam, and sent along any other information they needed to make a determination.  However, as I was driving for Uber Eats, I had to go through AllState for the claim to try and get my car repaired. 

I found out later that the other party had blatantly lied about what had transpired according to my personal insurance who have been helping me try to sort through all of this mess and help AllState figure out how much fault should be assigned where.  However today I received an email from AllState stating that I was found 100% at fault despite everything.  Even with video evidence supporting my side of things.



I've never been in an accident before.  Been driving 20 yrs and never had to deal with any of this.  I can't work, and if I'm getting no compensation from his insurance, I also can't repair my car.  I've been fighting a lot of emotional turmoil as a result of this, waking myself up yelling and screaming, having to call an ambulance because of severe panic attacks among an assortment of other hardships.  Paying bills, and getting things I need has been impossible with everything going on. 

I was suppose to move on the 1st.  If I can't work, I can't move.  I'm not sure what more I can do here besides ask for help.  I'd wanted to wait and see what the insurance company said before I made a gofundme.  This is my last resort for this whole situation.



I don't know the cost of repairs yet.  I'm going to see if I can get a free estimate from a local shop.  I don't know how long this whiplash will take to recover from.  One day I'll feel better, the next it's almost crippling how much pain I'm in.  I've learned not to push my luck with it.



5k is a rough estimate.  Lawyer fees, food, bills, and getting the car fixed are all included in that estimate.  I will post up a repair estimate once I get one. 

Every contribution, no matter how small, helps in some way.  Thank you so much for taking the time to consider helping.  It will immediately go towards car repairs and bills right now.

Organizer

Cassandra Forland
Organizer
Lakewood, WA

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