Hey guys i was just wondering if i could pick your brains.

 

I was involved in a pretty bad car crash on Saturday night with another car and im adamant it was not my fault but theres always 2 sides to any story so what do you think?

 

I was coming down a 60mph dual carageway in the outside lane doing no more than the speed limit as the roads were wet. Infront of me there was a Toyota Yaris, she must have been going really slowly as i was catching her up pretty quickly, either way...

 

I see her right hand indicator flash twice and then she pulls over into the inside lane, so naturally i assume she flicked the indicator the wrong way but moved over to let me overtake, so i went to overtake, the next thing i know she cuts accross into my lane without warning so all i can do is slam on, and i went straight into the back of her at atleast 50mph. Both cars are total write offs and really messed up, both airbags deployed etc.

 

Where she cut accross me there is a tiny gap in the central reservation and i can only assume she was going to turn into there. There are no road markings or sign posts though. But to go into the inside lane then cut accross the outside lane without checking her mirrors or signaling? Surely she should have checked her mirrors before attempting to cross from the inside lane to the outside lane.

 

We all went to hospital, both ladies have head injuries but they are ok now and i have a broken wrist and my friend broke his nose.

 

There are indipendant witnesses who will give statements but from what i have said who do you think is at fault?

 

I am only 19 and was in my mums micra at the time and this lady must have been in her 60's. The first thing the police did was breathalise me but i dont think they tested the lady.

 

What do people think?

 

Many Thanks

 

Daniel

The important thing is not to admit liability. Because she moved without consideration for other road users and because you didn't slow when she indicated the insurance companies will view this as a joint liability case which means you are both at fault! You naturally have the disadvantage because you are a young punk who dared to overtake an old dear.

Your insurance will probably pay out without too much of a fuss but her insurance will create a fuss and try to blame you regardless.

You need to get as many witness statements as possible and press the fact she moved into your cars path even though it was blatantly obvious she would hit you. Take a few pics of the scene too.

When dealing with the witnesses just be polite and do not try to sway their opinion otherwise you will piss them off and regardless of what actually happened they will side with Thora!

You might also want to point out to your insurance about not witnessing them breathalysing her. While her insurance will be trying to blame you for everything thats bad in the world, you can bet your ass your insurance will be doing the same to her and anything you can give them to help will do wonders.

Whatever happens, DO NOT admit liability and do not try and sway your witnesses.

Good luck (From someone who has crashed loads!)

l ol

 

I have not admitted liability at all and the policeman said it could possibly be a joint claim too. I have pictures on my phone of both cars showing the damage and the angles etc.

 

Also the lady said she was really sorry to my passenger so does that count for anything???

 

She also could not thank me enough for helping her out as her door was jammed shut we got her out of the car and made sure she was ok etc, she seemed pleasent on the phone but she was also careful about what she said.

 

I phoned the witness up before and he said he was willing to give a statement and we left it at that, and another witness turns out to be a friend of a friends sister who i have never met or spoken to before and she seemed very nice so.

Reminds me of the accident I had TBH.

I got charged with Dangerous Driving but they dropped it in the end.

See here:

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=66200&highlight=accident+police

 

Witnesses told me one thing at the scene then gave a different story to the police so you can never tell until it's all finalised months later.

 

Good luck!

I think if you drive into the back of someone you're to blame.

 

She may have changed lanes before hand for whatever reason but I think if the front of your car goes into the back of another it's regarded as your fault.

 

The insurance company will try and make it a 50/50 fault accident so they can take everyone's excess and NCB.

I would blame the women. Yea you went in the back of her, but what were you suppose to do?!?!?

Its not like she warned you or gave you time.

Prob will go 50/50 though at a guess.

Fight it all the way though....

yep in 99% of cases if you go in to the arse of someone else then you get the blam.

now you asked what we think and heres what i think.. no offence intended this is just what i'm reading.

 

yes i think she screwed up with the indicating but i dont for one minute beleive youre telling the truth about how quick you were going, when you start to describe the accident its the almost the first thing out of your mouth as though you trying to impress on us straight away that you werent speending. Maybe its just the way you say it but because youre saying it so soon leads me to think its a lie. She may well have been going slowly down the dual carriage way 40 mph maybe? if youre doing 60 that gives an impact speed of 20 mph. You've already said you slammed on so lets say you really didnt get much time to brake and that knocked another 5mph off it giving an impact speed of 15mph.

So at 15 mph you managed to write both cars off and get the door jammed shut?? i dont think so. Maybe you were doing 60 and she was doing 1 then maybe, but sorry i just dont buy it.

At least you didint blame diesel on the road!!!

 

Sorry, just the way i read it.

Hope you get it all sorted anyway, mines still on going from APRIL!!!!!! fekkers!

I would have thought the fact she entered your lane without cheacking it was clear (Mirror, signal, manover) would mean its her fault, if she had cheacked propeprly she would have known you were there. I'd say its a graiter case against her for driving without due care than there is one against you.

 

Thats my take on it anyway.

 

Sounds no different than if say I was going up a sliproad to join a motorway at 30mph and just shot right accross all three lanes without looking and into the path of someone doing 70 and they hit me in the rear. Im quite sure it would be my fault every day of the week. Same manover was done by this woman here from the sounds of it, all being only one lane but that makes no odds at all.

She is in the wrong, she should have checked her path was clear before

entering the outside lane, she is responsable for the accedent, you need to

get your legal team to do all the negotiation for you, the insurance will

appoint one if you have the cover on your insurance for leagal costs,

use it and you wont go far wrong

I think she is in the wrong but difficult to prove so follow Gruntpa's advice and stick to your guns and get your legal team to negotiate on your behalf.

 

Years ago now though... but happend to a mate when he was young. He was approaching a roundabout but fortunatly he was able to swerve right and mount the central verge and aviod a collision. The offending car didn't even stop, which proved they wern't even looking and driving without due care, but fortunatly witnesses stopped and the police found against them for the damage to my mates undercarriage!

 

Scoops...Very Negative and judgemental comments?!! If the poor lad hadn't mentioned that he was doing under the limit first off, i think you might have pre-judged him for speeding because he says he's 19!! As far as the doors jamming, which is what you base YOUR judgement on....he didn't state that they then came to a slow, straight standstill after impact! I personally would assume that the slight impact shunted the front car one way or the other causing further damage!!

 

Difficult to prove (I assume your test was negative?) but the police will have filled out a RTC report so thier comments and statements from all present witnesses will have most bearing. Did you hit her car full on to the rear or Rear offside/Rear nearside as this will also have a bearing on any outcome....

I can guarentee you i was not speeding as i was in my mums brand new 56 nissan micra convertable and not my 330bhp Pulsar! I do trackdays and know to save my speed for there! I was booked in for Donnington this sunday but thats not happening anymore. She was going really really slow which would explain the high impact colision. It was the ladies offside rear and my nearside front which took the majority of the impact so i would have thought that was proof enough of her cutting me up.

 

And yes my breathalizer test came up 0, i hadnt had a drink in 5days.

 

I know the majority of people will probably say because im a young lad i was speeding which is complete *****cks, i know speed kills and i save it for the track! And i have never had a bump before and will have been driving 3 years this coming February. But people including myself constantly moan about old ladies not being able to drive and in my opinion that was the case for this incident.

Whichever way you look at it i really appreciate all your advice and if it comes to it i will get a legal team involved.

 

Thanks again.

If she said sorry to your mate then she admitted quilt and liability.

 

A friend had a simlar accident where a car turned right from stationary without indicating and he hit it when going to overtake.

 

The car he hit flipped and he asked the driver if he was alright when helping him out the car. When it went to court this was mentioned and they said it proved his guilt.

 

got convicted of dangerous driving!

Even though the woman just said the exact words `im sorry` to my passenger has she admitted liability?

yup

Hi Dan. She has admitted liability by apologising which will count in your favour. But like ChrisC mentioned, witnesses say one thing at the time and another thing when the insurance company asks them.

 

I remember one time, I had just bought a Primera eGT. I was young and it was the first 'go faster' car I had ever owned. I picked it up at 3pm, dropped the Ex off at her work at 5 (She wasn't the Ex then!) then popped into the local supermarket for my tea. I drove into the car park and some old tw4t pulled out of a junction and drove into the side of me. He got out and said he was very sorry. There were quite a few witnesses who all pointed out he had pulled out into the side of me. A few weeks later I received a letter from his insurance company claiming I had driven above the 5mph speed limit the wrong way down a one way street and their client had not seen or anticipated my presence and they had witnesses who would testify this! The *******s! I had to take pictures, get a letter from Tesco and get my own witnesses (2 of whom were dismissed by the court as they had given conflicting accounts to each insurance company!) before they paid out. Insurance companies are the lowest of the low.

she admitted guilt by saying that, guilty = responsiblity and liability.

 

If she though it was your fault she would not have appologised

 

plus it was your right of way

 

in the uk we give way to traffic coming from the right

 

if you were in the inside lane and she outside then you had right of way

Fair enough, thanks for the advice guys!

Sounds to me like your in the clear if it's corner to corner, so stick to your guns! She's also admitted liability...But, as the guys have said people say one thing in shock and another days later after talking to insurance sharks!

 

My other post was a pop at scoops for pre-judging you without any of the facts :smash: Now you've posted a few more it seems far more clear!

Scoops...Very Negative and judgemental comments?!! If the poor lad hadn't mentioned that he was doing under the limit first off, i think you might have pre-judged him for speeding because he says he's 19!! As far as the doors jamming, which is what you base YOUR judgement on....he didn't state that they then came to a slow, straight standstill after impact! I personally would assume that the slight impact shunted the front car one way or the other causing further damage!!

 

 

FFS, he asked for an opinion, i gave one, based on what was written. what wrong with that?

prejudged him cos he's 19? so i assume hes speeding? LMAO .. whats his age got to do with it, im 31 and speed regularly, age has nothing to do with it.

What if you'd read a thread from the other person on knittingcorner.com and it said... was driving along a dual carriage way minding my own business when a car came hurtling up behind me, i moved over to get out of its way as i thought it was going to hit me only he swerved across to and hit me up the arse.

 

You'd be like.. ohh poor you mavis.. i fully sympathise with you... people today just dont know how to drive....

 

Like dan said, 2 sides to every story.

 

I'm not saying that its not like how dan has described, i just doubt he wasnt speeding. whats wrong with that?

whenever someone has a crash its never their own fault, afterall no one ever admits to being a crap driver ( dan i'm not having a go at you here, i'm just generalizing), its always the other person, or its diesel on the road, UFO's.. anything but theirs.

Ring your insurance company and tell them you want the legal department to

deal with it, dont get youself involved with the 3rd partys insurance or you

will regret it, let the legal department do it all for you thats why you have

the protection.

The insurance companys will run you ragged if you dont, My hire car bill is

over 4k now it is very worrying whan sums are that high.

You are better not dealing with her insurance company on your own

 

Allan

My other post was a pop at scoops for pre-judging you without any of the facts :smash: Now you've posted a few more it seems far more clear!

 

 

:rofl: and your assuming innocent without any facts... pot kettle :tongue:

I can guarentee you i was not speeding as i was in my mums brand new 56 nissan micra convertable and not my 330bhp Pulsar! .

 

Fair enough... however its not me you have to prove you werent speeding to.. although i think id ratehr admit that than to driving a convertable micra LOL :smash: :rofl: :rofl: :p ;)

I understand completely where you coming from scoops and i know your not taking shots at me so no offense taken at all. I did ask for peoples opinions and i got them fair doos.

 

Also the micra! its big pimping mate! All i can say is im glad i was in the micra and not the pulsar as it could have been a lot worse! Its made out of paper n doesnt have any airbags! lol

 

And gruntpa64 my insurance is dealing with hers, thats all i know but if things do go tits up i have access to a very good solicitor. Is this what you mean? If not can you explain a bit more for me please?

 

Cheers

yep in 99% of cases if you go in to the arse of someone else then you get the blam.

now you asked what we think and heres what i think.. no offence intended this is just what i'm reading.

 

yes i think she screwed up with the indicating but i dont for one minute beleive youre telling the truth about how quick you were going, when you start to describe the accident its the almost the first thing out of your mouth as though you trying to impress on us straight away that you werent speending. Maybe its just the way you say it but because youre saying it so soon leads me to think its a lie. She may well have been going slowly down the dual carriage way 40 mph maybe? if youre doing 60 that gives an impact speed of 20 mph. You've already said you slammed on so lets say you really didnt get much time to brake and that knocked another 5mph off it giving an impact speed of 15mph.

So at 15 mph you managed to write both cars off and get the door jammed shut?? i dont think so. Maybe you were doing 60 and she was doing 1 then maybe, but sorry i just dont buy it.

At least you didint blame diesel on the road!!!

 

Sorry, just the way i read it.

Hope you get it all sorted anyway, mines still on going from APRIL!!!!!! fekkers!

Scoops I've had a door jammed shut when my car was stationry and someone hit it doing less then 10miles per hour it just depends at what point on the door it was hit so he could easily be telling the truth. Also those cars ain't that strong and crumple at the slightest knock. Also you don't know the lad so don't even imply he's lieing, unless you know him.

 

I'm not saying that its not like how dan has described, i just doubt he wasnt speeding. whats wrong with that?

whenever someone has a crash its never their own fault, afterall no one ever admits to being a crap driver ( dan i'm not having a go at you here, i'm just generalizing), its always the other person, or its diesel on the road, UFO's.. anything but theirs.

 

Scoops i'm not deliberatly trying to have a pop at you but i did request more info and detail and reserved my judgement until i saw a bit more. Even if he was speeding, what has that really got to do with the cause...it only determines the severity of effect!!! :smash:

 

I'm 32 now but it still gets my goat how people generalise by jumping on the 'speed' bandwagon and young drivers tend to bear the brunt of these generalisations, as i did at 17-21!! Even if he was speeding would it still be his fault? I won't admit to my driving habits on an open forum, but hopefully owning a Z predicts some dictation of drivng ability :p

 

In my opinion It's just bad driving that causes accidents not speed. Speed kills in urban and built up areas where pedestrian impacts become fatal, but again speeding in such areas is careless driving anyway. Granted the outcome is severly speed dependant, and if this had happend on a motorway with a 70mph and 60mph rear impact then things might have been a lot worse, but it's still someones bad driving that caused the accident in the first place!

 

As an example, If the guy had said he was doing 70mph in a 50 limit then i would still have asked questions before saying ahhh well then you were speeding it must be your fault...It might have been a temporary limit on the dual carriageway, lets say, to account for roadworker safety during working hours for arguments sake, (which the M4 seems to be strewn with these days!)..If the accident had occurred at 11pm at night though, when no workers were about, and the cones are off the road, and the road conditions dictate that it's safe to drive more than the posted temporary limit then people would still apportion blame on 'speeding', when it is not necessarily the case...

 

I'm just saying a little more thought is required before anyone passes judgement, especially when it comes to speed. Granted, If we all drove around at 20mph there would be far fewer accidents, but i'd be bankrupt in a week!! Again without wanting to post my driving habits i don't tend to agree with certain imposed limits on the roads and feel that half the newly imposed limits are to account for bad driving. :tongue:

 

Not sure of the stats in Germany, but the standard of driving is alot better and is presumably why Autobhans are very unrestricted?