it happens to everyone, right?!

Ok, so let's say you're coming up to a red light and you think you've stopped but you're still rolling and you touch the bumper of the guy in front of you...or you're parallel parking and bump into the bumper of the car right behind you...or you see a friend in front of you and, as a joke, you bump their bumper to get their attention and then you laugh and wave. It's happened to all of us, right? That's what the bumper is there for--to absorb those little "taps" that happen occasionally! It's nothing to get worked up about...and it's NOTHING to call the freaking police about, right?! well, if you were the yahoo i bumped yesterday, that would be WRONG! Lets call the cops and get an accident report...and get you a ticket, Missy! UGH!

Here's the story: I was at an intersection in Lafayette and we were stopped for a red light. I saw the cars start to move on the side of me and in front of us so i started to apply the gas when I realized that the car directly in front of me wasn't moving yet. I immediately hit my breaks but i don't break before TOUCHING his back bumper. It was so light, i didn't even think he'd get out of the car...but he did so i did. There was absolutely NO damage! not even paint transfer! I think he got the lovebugs that were on the front of my car and that's it! And then he's talking about how he's ok--not hurt or anything--but he's shaken up! (GIVE ME A BREAK! It was LESS than a tap!) But it's his wife's car so he needs to call her to see what she wants him to do. He then tells her he was REAR-ENDED (a LITTLE harsh for what really happened) but there was no damage and wants to know what he should do. So she--having not seen anything and going solely on his overblown description of what happened--says he should call the cops and get an accident report done so that, if they ever want to sell the car, there's an accident file on record saying what happened if there's any damage to the vehicle! (Are you following that screwed up logic?! So now there WILL be a mark on the carfax for the car...idiots!)

So then he doesn't want to move the vehicles and we're causing traffic to back up during the lunch hour...so after about 10 minutes, he calls his wife again and asks if its ok to move the cars out of the road and she tells him yes, so we move the cars! (Are you picking up on one of my big issues with this fella?!) So then we wait 45 freakin' minutes for a cop to arrive! When he does, it is THE cutest cop that I've ever seen in Lafayette! He's really nice but i think he was secretly rolling his eyes at the accident he was having to report. He has us both fill out our descriptions of what happened and proceeds to type it all up. He gives the guy his insurance stuff back and then he gives me mine along with a ticket and tells me that we really didn't need to call the police if there's no damage! I agreed and said that it was the other guy's decision! He was really sweet and told me to call my insurance and just let them know how minor it was. I think he felt silly for giving me the ticket, but once they're on the scene, they have to file the report and give the ticket. On the ticket where it asks about the amount of damage, he wrote in "none!" I love that! There wasn't even an option for that and he had to write it by hand!

It was SO completely ridiculous! It was a tap! You're supposed to get out of your car, check for damage, and then just wave and say "No worries!" This is what normal people do, anyway! I hit the one panzi who couldn't think for himself and had to have his wife tell him what to do! UGH!!! Anyone have any advice on who I could talk with to get the charges reduced to a non-moving violation?! I mean, seriously!