I was on my way upto my fathers in birmingham with my wife and two young boys in the car.

We pulled of the m5 at junction 4 to continue up the a38 into brum.

I noticed a subaru forester pull off the mway at the same time and swap lanes about 3 times untill he chose the lane i was in , so let him pull infront of me to go round the island.

halfway round the island there is a set of lights to stop you to allow traffic coming south on the m5 to get onto the island.

at these lights there are 3 choices ,left, middle or right lane

left to go up the a38 towards brum, middle goes up a38 or right towards bromsgrove, right goes bromsgrove or back onto m5.

the subaru pulls into left lane and i pull into middle lane as im going up a38 but dont want to get stuck behind the old boy in the forester.

anyway lights go green and i follow my lane onto a38 and BANG !! im like wtf .

this subaru has just drove into the passenger side of my motor

so i pullover and check my wife and kids are ok (4.5 year old is crying and the wife is saying her leg is hurting!!)and i get out and the chap has got out his car and said its all my fault as i pulled into him ??

i asked him where he was going and he said bromsgrove and i said he was in wrong lane etc and he wasnt having ny of it.!!!!

where do you think this will go with the insurers then as i know im in the right and the old boy was to interested in his tom tom to look where he was going.

luckily my boys and wife are ok now even though the wifes legs is giving her some grief nd my boy is saying his bones ache!!

lots of dents all on the passenger wing door and rear door too.

how do i do screen grab from google earth to show you the island in question??

cheers

steve

if the lanes were marked then it's clear cut IMO.

Glad you're ok, i do that junction every day on my commute and hate to say it but he was in the correct lane

houns how was he in the correct lane??

If he drove out of his lane and into you then it's pretty much his problem. If you drifted over and hit him then it would be yours, i am sure a crash/insurance assessor will be able to tell from the nature of the damage.

Hope your family are ok btw.

Arrows painted on the road, iirc the left hand lane points straight on and left (left for A38 and straight on for Bromsgrove)

here is the part of the island in question .

i was in middle lane and he was in top lane.

i wanted to pull off and he wanted to continue round the island??

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.378966,-2.046129&spn=0.000645,0.001717&t=k&z=20

Two lanes for the A38?

Hmm looking at Google maps i maybe wrong! Though i could swear that they do as i mention above..Otherwise i wouldn't go in that lane… I hope i am wrong for you, will double check on Tues when i go back to work

this one? seems pretty clear!!

left hand lane is for going left up the A38. Did you walk back and show him the arrows???

Houns, priorities have changed since the island refit i think,left hand lane and middle are for A38 towards Rubery, middle and outside for B'grove, i could walk up and have a look but it's dark

so was he in the wrong according to that map cp??

No wonder i'm always getting beeped at ;0)

Seriously though i know the priorities have changed, since that picture above

yep the arrows are like this now

left lane = arrow points straight on
middle lane = arrow is straight on and right
right lane = arrow points right

wife has resigned herself to the fact it will probably go knock for knock!!

Doesn't matter what lane he was in – you are supposed to check your nearside before leaving the roundabout and give way to anything in the inside of you… he was wrong, but I think in insurance terms you may be, or 50/50 at best. You have the option of carrying on around, he doesn't so you cut into him in effect.

Hence why in motorbike training you have the lifesaver on preparing to exit a roundabout drummed into you.

Based on the markings on Google Earth the roundabout is a crash waiting to happen. The markings could be read as left being for both A38 exits. Hope everyone is ok.

The markings could be read as left being for both A38 exits.

How do you figure that out?

Left lane says A38(N) and middle says A38(N) A38(S)

So it does. Not very clearly though. And I **** if I know what way is north and south by looking at that pic.

Either way I would have chosen to stay behind someone who was driving like that

RobS has it here. Probably a bit of arguing about the location of damage to your car then end up settling 50/50. PITA

Surely though Renton was not leaving the roundabout? Just selecting the correct lane on the roundabout as a junction was passed. And mr forrester was the one who actively changed lanes? Either way, I suspect the 50/50 thing is the most likely outcome.

>Surely though Renton was not leaving the roundabout?

He left the roundabout just here:-

>anyway lights go green and i follow my lane onto a38 and BANG !! im like wtf .

The old fella was in the wrong but insurance will no doubt settle it 50/50. This is what wing mirrors were invented for 😉

this thread is useless without pics…. wait, that was a bit insensitive, glad your all ok.

Who do we know that drives a Subaru Forester?http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rivington-pike-conditions

surely though as he has tried to carry on round the island he would have seen my big blue focus cmax filling his windscreen and had time to stop!!

i did check my mirror and because of the angle he hit me at i couldnt see him??

My tip is to not get infront of or beside people that are driving erratically. Other option for me on an empty rbt would be to go for the inside lane and boot it the **** out of there.

goan – thought you were meant to be the worlds best driver tho!!

Yes, but only a fool would think they could drive a car they weren't in.

Were you indicating as you turned off?

*use of the word 'pulled' now removed to avoid too many double entendres….

Arnica for the aches and pains.

Or were you just concentrating solely on pulling yourself off?

yep i was indicating!

Surely that helps your case then if, as stated, his lane says he has to go left, your lane gives you the option of going left, and you were indicating, and ahead of him, at the time????

im uploading a couple of piccys to show the road layout !!

wait one…….

here are a few piccys….

first one looking back at part of island im on about …….

i was in middle lane and he was in lane my left

this one shows marking on floor as you come up to the lights……………

as does this one……….

hope this helps!!

Did you aim at the right hand lane on the A38 or did you move across onto him in the left?

Spiral Roundabout – he's ****. As long as you're sure you didnt change lanes.'

Renton was correct in his actions and probably couldn't have avoided the accident.
The other guy was clearly wrong and caused the accident.
On a 3 lane roundabout, where it is a Dual carriageway exit, the left game lane is ALWAYS LEFT TURN ONLY. The middle lane is either or. This is intentional to avoid the above mentioned incident.
Exactly the Same thing happened to me about 8 years ago in north wales somewhere. I was driving a company car at the time, however both the insurance companys decided the other guy was at fault.

cheers all, i was in middle land at lights and pulled off island into outside lane of a38 dual carriageway thus staying in lane.

he wanted to carry on round the island to the next set of lights you can see in second picture.

TFM – that is not strictly correct. As evidence I present you the disaster area that is Calder Junction in Edinburgh.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=maps%20calder%20junction&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl