Woman says driver of black car left the scene of accident in Riverview Wednesday night

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BY ALAN COCHRANE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

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A Moncton woman who says she was the victim of a hit-and-run on Henderson Avenue in Riverview Wednesday night is pleading for the public's help in tracking down the driver of the black car that struck her from behind.

Claudette Hyman, 43, says she was just leaving a friend's house when a black car smashed into her car from behind. Dazed and confused by the accident, she was shocked to watch as the other driver took off, leaving her with a sore head, broken glasses, about $4,000 in damage to her car and the bill for a tow truck.

It couldn't have happened at a worse time because she hasn't worked since she suffered a stroke 15 months ago.

Codiac Regional RCMP spokeswoman Chantal Farrah confirmed that police are investigating the accident and asked that anyone with information call the RCMP at 857-2400. Leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident are offences under the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act.

Hyman, who moved to Moncton from Jamaica 10 years ago, had just left a friend's house around 9 p.m. Wednesday when she looked in her mirror and saw a black car coming up fast. Henderson Avenue is a residential street in west Riverview.

"He slammed into me, and then he backed up and drove away."

Her friends gave chase, but the driver kept going west along Whitepine Road and then south on Pine Glen Road toward the Niagara Road. She described the car as a black Subaru Outback with silver trim.

Hyman says her car, a 2004 silver Dodge Intrepid, sustained about $4,000 damage and is now undriveable. She says the impact was so severe that her face was driven into the steering wheel, smashing her glasses.

Yesterday, the RCMP could not provide statistics on the number of hit and run accidents in Metro Moncton, but Brian Hamilton of Hamilton's Auto Body in Dieppe said the company regularly hears from customers whose cars have been damaged by other drivers who took off without reporting it. He said damages add up quickly. A scratch can cost about $150 to fix and the cost escalates as lights, fenders, bumpers and other parts need to be replaced. It doesn't take much for a repair bill to add up to several thousand dollars.

He said car owners who don't have the proper insurance are usually left paying the bill themselves, and those who take the claim through insurance can have a mark against them.

Pete Karageorgos, a spokesman for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said the most common type of hit and runs are fender-benders against unoccupied cars in parking lots. He said that drivers who don't have collision or no-fault coverage on their cars can't claim damage done by other drivers.

He said cases like this serve as a reminder for car owners to talk with their insurance agent and make sure their policy covers them in case they are a victim.

Sections 125 through 139 of the New Brunswick Motor Vehicle Act spell out the requirements for drivers to stop at the scene of an accident. Basically, anyone involved in an accident is required to stop and exchange information (driver's licence and insurance policy number) with the other party. If anyone is injured or killed, or the total damage appears to be over $1,000, the accident must be reported to police as soon as possible.