First of all, I am not trying to get out of a legitimate citation or take advantage of the system in any way. I am questioning if the law was correctly enforced, here in North Carolina, by the state highway patrol officer.
Here's the situation...
My wife was sitting behind several cars at a traffic light on a two-lane road (one lane in each direction) for a few seconds before a car hit her from the rear (estimated to have been traveling around 5 mph). As a result, she hit the car in front of her. The cop gave the driver of the car behind my wife a citation for failure to reduce speed. The officer gave her a citation for "following to close" saying that she was too close to the car in front of her. I suspect that the police officer thought that my wife's car was still approaching the car in front of her (which was not correct). My wife told me that she had a hard time understanding the cop (heavy southern accent, and my wife is fairly new to the country). My guess, since I was not there, was that there was a communication problem.
I also noticed errors on the police report (it indicated that my wife was traveling at 2 mph at the time of impact and the car behind her was traveling at 3 mph. Since there is $1400 damage to her car, the rear bumper was raised so that the tailgate is unable to open, and my wife suffered from minor whiplash, clearly the car behind my wife hit our car faster than 1 mph even if she was moving at the time (which she was not).
The report also stated that my wife's car did not move any distance following the impact. This is clearly a mistake since she hit the car in front of her.
I should note that the insurance company from the car behind my wife took full liability for the entire accident (all three cars).
How should my wife proceed? Is there a way to correct a police report or have the citation dropped before going to court?
Many thanks for your time and attention!
Caleb
Here's the situation...
My wife was sitting behind several cars at a traffic light on a two-lane road (one lane in each direction) for a few seconds before a car hit her from the rear (estimated to have been traveling around 5 mph). As a result, she hit the car in front of her. The cop gave the driver of the car behind my wife a citation for failure to reduce speed. The officer gave her a citation for "following to close" saying that she was too close to the car in front of her. I suspect that the police officer thought that my wife's car was still approaching the car in front of her (which was not correct). My wife told me that she had a hard time understanding the cop (heavy southern accent, and my wife is fairly new to the country). My guess, since I was not there, was that there was a communication problem.
I also noticed errors on the police report (it indicated that my wife was traveling at 2 mph at the time of impact and the car behind her was traveling at 3 mph. Since there is $1400 damage to her car, the rear bumper was raised so that the tailgate is unable to open, and my wife suffered from minor whiplash, clearly the car behind my wife hit our car faster than 1 mph even if she was moving at the time (which she was not).
The report also stated that my wife's car did not move any distance following the impact. This is clearly a mistake since she hit the car in front of her.
I should note that the insurance company from the car behind my wife took full liability for the entire accident (all three cars).
How should my wife proceed? Is there a way to correct a police report or have the citation dropped before going to court?
Many thanks for your time and attention!
Caleb
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