[targa911man]

Rick--

Unless the witnesses can give factual evidence indicating negligent behavior, their opinions on whether she could stop in time are worthless and inadmissible in court. They would have to cite specific conduct on her part, speeding, fixing her make-up, looking the wrong way, etc. indicative of negligence. They have no idea what the stopping distance is for her car or how road conditions affected that. The other guy would basically have had to be sitting in front of her for some time while she was a great distance away to infer she was negligent without more evidence. If a guy's sitting still in an intersection you can't just say he's negligent so I guess I'll run into him, but it doesn't sound like that's what happened here. Md like Va may have table of stopping distances in the state code which shows the average stopping distance at certain speeds, but even that is arguable because as we 911 drivers know, some cars stop quicker than others. In theory, almost every accident could be avoided. That doesn't mean both parties negligently caused it. If she was driving lawfully, she has the right to presume other drivers will do likewise.
Her biggest problem, as you seem to understand, is that she had no collision coverage. I'm sure if she did her insurance company would brush off the claim of contrib and go after the other company. She might want to file her own claim in court. The other guy's insurance company might offer her some money just to get rid of her, because they'll have to pay their lawyers to fight it.