Watch for people causing accidents to cash in on insurance
Unfortunately, when the economy takes a downturn and we all have lots to worry about, some people create even more problems. A popular scam from bygone days may be making a comeback. It involves a person trying to cause you to rear-end their car, so they can cash in on insurance or sue you. A few friends have recently reported strange driving behavior that made them think people in front of them were trying to do this, and yesterday, I had an experience that made me think of this: I was behind someone, pulling out of a parking lot onto a street. He pulled out a little, then stopped (sitting across a lane of traffic, mind you), then pulled out some more and stopped, then some more and stopped. Maybe he was just crazy (the road was clear both ways), but I really wondered if he wasn’t gambling that I’d be too busy checking the lanes to see if they were clear to double-check that he was actually no longer in front of me before I pulled out.
The reason the scam works is that in most states, rear-ending is automatically the fault of the person who rear ends. There’s actually good reason for this: if you pay attention and drive at safe speeds, then even when something really unexpected happens, you can react in time to avoid hitting the car in front of you. Even when these scam artists do their thing, the victims have to be drivers who aren’t being as cautious as they could. This is good, because it means you can avoid being their victim by simply driving carefully.
But since even careful drivers can make mistakes, here are a few additional tips to help you notice and avoid the rear-ending scam:
- Sometimes they have their brake lights set up so they can disconnect them, thereby coming to a stop without the brake lights coming on. While a safe driver shouldn’t be fooled by this, I’ve been behind someone without brake lights before and can tell you it is a little disorienting, and makes your job of driving safely that much harder (since the person in front of you isn’t the only thing you need to be watching).
- They drive erratically, stopping unexpectedly (see my example above).
- The clever ones do their sudden stopping at places where you’ve got a lot of other stuff to watch. Like the parking lot in my example, or at a green light, or at a turn-off, or beside the merging lane you’re in as you’re busy checking the positions of several cars to make sure there’s a spot for you to merge into.
- I’ve heard of them stopping in the first lane of a highway on moonless nights around a curve – from a distance, it looks like they’re pulled off on the shoulder, and it’s not until you’re fairly close to them that you realize they’re actually in the lane and you need to switch lanes to get around them.
Read us in your 
For even more great stuff, follow us on 
Or get a daily digest by email:
