Friday the 13th got me

[CharlestonJoe]

Driving home Friday and as I was sitting at a red light and looking down at my #*+"^! phone, out of my peripheral vision I noticed cars zipping by, I assumed the light had turned green, I eased up off the brake petal and by the time my eyes went from looking down at the phone to looking forward there was a bam! My first thought and it felt like somebody ran into the back of me and pushed me into the car in front of me. Then I noticed the car in front me taking off like he is leaving the scene, then he decides to pull down the side street and is driving erratically then decides to pull into a hotel parking lot. The whole time I'm thinking what is with this guy??? I follow him, couple cars are following me but they turn around in the parking lot and leave. I get out and check my back bumper, nothing, I ask the erratic guy what happened??? He says I don't know?? Because of looking at my phone I automatically have "its my fault" guilty feeling. But things just didn't make sense, all I did was lift my foot off the brake, but the guys car is pretty messed up and my front end has a pretty good dent. I apologize, as I'm thinking its my fault, he just kind of acts like no big deal... after the cop has written everything up and I'm getting ready to leave I notice the guys car is stick shift, it clicked, the s.o.b. had it in the wrong gear, he had it in reverse and had slammed into me!!! I had taken the fall for the whole thing because I wasn't freaking paying attention! How in the world can I prove it?? I called the police department to talk to the officer but he had already clocked out, his shift was over.

Now that I have given you the back story.

Moving on to what I'm really posting about....

I have the WT package,black out edition, I'm thinking since I have to replace the bumper I might as well add fog lights or do some kind of upgrade.

Do I get the bumper with the cut outs for fogs?

Or

Do I put fogs maybe where 4x4 trucks have the tow hooks?

Other question

How do I connect the fogs into the headlight switch?

I haven't decided whether to have them come on separately or come on with the headlights or what.

I'm a couple weeks away from being able to do anything so I'm looking for ideas, input/ advice.

Sorry for the long post and my drama.

I appreciate any advice

[CharlestonJoe]

Here is a before picture

[diyer2]

Sorry but my 2 cents.

Was the phone call/text worth it? Be glad it wasn't more serious.

I would have liked to see you learned from this.

 

I don't understand the need for instant communication today. If it's not an emergency and I mean medical related where a life is in danger , it can wait IMO.

[KARNUT]

I see more often at stop lights people are in such a hurry to check their phone they stop short leaving half a car length or more space in front of them. More often than not making it impossible to get in the turn lane. Then the light turns green and nobody moves. Pretty soon I expect phones to go into delay mode when they are moving, can't wait.

[RyanbabZ71]

Won't help now but get a dash cam

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Horacio]

I think that will be pretty hard to prove even if that's how you reported the accident, regardless it's water under the bridge now.

[amxguy1970]

So you start moving forward because you were looking at your phone and hit a guy (you do realize your truck moves when you take your foot off the brake and accelerates right?). Then you notice he has a stick and want to assume it was his fault and he backed in to you? He wasn't the sob you were for trying to assign blame. You messed up, just admit it and move on, no need to point fingers at an innocent party.

 

As far as your question I would order one with tow hook cutouts and fog light cut outs. Have it painted black then add the tow hooks and your own fog lights. Doesn't have to be factory, you can add cube lights in there, they have kits that install in those fog light cutouts. Sometimes an unfortunate situation can benefit the vehicle. I have done that before, making paint changes or part changes after an incident, helps brighten up an unfortunate scenario.

 

Tyler

[CharlestonJoe]

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

In my defense since nobody on here knows me, I'm not a mash the gas kind of guy. I have checked several times since Friday's incident and when I lift my foot off the brake pedal and just like I thought it barely creeps along. I would have needed a whole car length and then some to gain enough momentum to do anything close to the damage that occurred. I am a business owner and spend an enormous amount of time using my phone. However, I normally only look at my phone while sitting at a red light or if there is plenty of space around me allowing myself reaction time. I could never forgive myself if I wrecked and injured or killed someone because of a stupid phone.

I haven't made it back to that intersection to check but if there are cameras at that intersection,I will be looking at the footage to see what really happened. If there are no cameras...then I will leave it be, since yes, I was a dumb butt for not paying 100% attention, I can't even defend myself.

Dash cam is a great idea especially this day and age. I've heard all cars have them in Europe or maybe it's Russia?

 

I'm going to take another picture or two. If you look at the before picture there was "cut outs" in the steel bumper for tow hooks? It was just covered over with plastic. In the "after" picture its all crushed and it looks like all steel.

[CharlestonJoe]

 

 

I cleaned it up and popped out the pushed in plastic section

 

So I'm leaning towards replacing the metal portion of the bumper and cutting out out the plastic portion where tow hooks would go and putting fog lights there.

I have the fog light emblem at the headlight switch, what do I need to do there? Purchase a different switch that is made for fog lights and it will turn to the fog light mark? Then run appropriate wiring. Next question would be who carries it?

[diyer2]

Try blue tooth maybe?

[15BlueSilverado]

Not saying it was his fault or your fault, BUT, he could've had it in neutral and just rolled back into you. Doesn't need to be in a wrong gear to do that. I speak from experience when I drove a stick shift, I used to roll back all the time, purposely so people wouldn't get up on my ass at a light.

I too hate when people are stuck on their phones at a light and just sit there when it turns green, completely unaware of their surroundings, drives me freakin insane! THIS would be the reason one of my next purchases is going to be a train horn. Just to make sure they can hear me.

[Dnt]

Dang man, messed that bumper up pretty good. He probably saw you looking at your phone and it made him "go insane" and he backed into you on purpose knowing that you would never figure it out...that is my theory and I am sticking to it. Since you own a business and write off ALL your truck expenses you should just go buy a new truck that has all the fog lights etc that you want instead of messing with this old wrecked truck.

[Donstar]

Imagine this thread if your cell phone was tucked away and your eyes were focused on your surroundings at the time of this accident! With bluetoorh in our vehicles there is no need for a cell phone to be in sight of the driver. I believe using your cell phone while operating a motor-vehicle puts you at fault. If a camera can show the driver ahead of you backed into you and there is no way you could have avoided impact then maybe there is some shared responsibility. The positive here is that nobody was hurt and no permanent damage. Hopefully this thread will also benefit those that see no problem at using cell phones while at a traffic light.

[CharlestonJoe]

Alright,alright,alright, of course I agree texting, emailing, video chatting is all wrong to do while driving. Yes, technically I was driving as I was behind the wheel, in traffic, I was looking for a little mercy since I was at a complete stop at a red light. I was actually looking at a grocery list I was supposed to pick up on the way home as my wife was sick in bed. Whether the list is on the phone or on a piece of paper doesn't matter either way one needs to pay freaking attention to his surroundings when one is behind the wheel.

I do use the blue tooth connection all the time.

 

Yes, my truck is a write off, I just use the mileage deduction though, which anyone who uses their vehicle for work can use. Yes, I use loopholes to keep from overpaying in taxes, just like anyone would use loopholes to get as much of a tax refund as you can.