In article . com>, wrote:
> I was driving along the freeway with the speed limit at 70 mph, and I
> was going about that fast. The lady in front of me slammed on her
> brakes HARD. It was so hard that by the time I hit her car I couldn't
> see it because of all the smoke from her tires. I was maintaining a
> safe following distance (3 seconds), but it was still not enough time
> for me to stop my car. The officer claimed it was my fault because I
> didn't give her enough room. I don't think I should have to pay for the
> extensive damage on my car. Any thoughts from anyone?

She could have cut you off while going 30mph slower than you, with a 1
foot gap and then slammed on the brakes and the cops would have still
faulted you and insurance would still fault you.

Least that's my experience.....

Needless to say, you were directly behind her and couldn't stop so... yes
it's your fault. It's pretty clear that if you did maintain distance you
didn't react quickly enough or there is fault in your vehicle's breaking
system. Or you drive one of those giant SUVs that's equiped with brakes I
would consider insuffient on a civic.

Especially telling is the cloud of blue smoke. This means she locked them
up and was sliding. In turn, that means she wasn't stopping as quickly as
possible.

The only way I can see this being her fault is if she did it for no
reason but to cause a collision or she hit something in front of her,
which brought her to a very sudden stop.