Involved in a similar accident a couple of years ago, was worried that the truck driver that pulled across the road might claim that we had been speeding (we hadn't been) - police involved said if the truck driver didn't see us & pulled across infront of us how could he then say we were speeding?
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RTA - Who's at fault?
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Posted 12 months ago #
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allthepies, I read druids post. Fact is as a damage only accident the police will not be interested and like steve says the speed factor won't be accepted by the insurance
Posted 12 months ago # -
Molgrips - while your argument has some merit it bothers me somewhat that you can't tell the difference between a car coming towards you at 30mph and one coming towards you at 60mph. Should you really be driving on public roads ??
Of course you can tell if you stand there and watch an approaching car. However if you are not concentrating fully, and glance a car a long way off you might not immediately clock that it's speeding as by definition, you have to look at it for a period of time to gauge it's speed.
Over the years I've got good at this of course as I've gained experience, and it's also why you are supposed to check mirrors twice. I learned my less on on the A30 driving a minibus. A fairly curvy bit of DC, I overtook a lorry with just me and the lorry in the visible bit of road. Looked in my mirror to pull back IN (something that I suspect many people don't do) and started to move when a car that was NOT there first time I checked the mirror undertook me doing about 120mph.
It's a good reason to keep your own speed down - the faster you go the more OTHER people have to be on the ball, and relying on that is a fool's game I reckon.
Posted 12 months ago # -
Was she coming out of a driveway or out of the road with the large white house on the corner?
If it's the road junction, it appears to be quite open with a good view.
Posted 12 months ago # -
She pulled out on an oncoming car...her fault. Next topic.
Posted 12 months ago # -
When she pulled out the road was empty
Did the other car look like this?
Posted 12 months ago # -
You're a funny guy, Drac. I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last.
Posted 12 months ago # -
The way i read the situation is the young chap flashed her
Sexual harassment then.Posted 12 months ago # -
lol Euro.
Posted 12 months ago # -
<sigh>
Posted 12 months ago # -
Slightly ish off topic but always wondered how skid marks are measured if a car has abs? Do they still leave blatant black lines or is it just measured from the first big dab on the brakes when the wheels try to stop and the abs kicks in. There must be a good 50% of cars with abs on the roads nowadays.
Posted 12 months ago # -
They leave broken black lines afaik.
Posted 12 months ago # -
"if you are not concentrating fully" then you shouldn't be in charge of a two ton metal death machine.
Thats up there with moaning that you keep getting speeding tickets cos you can't read the speedo without your glasses on !!
The lassie pulled out without looking properly she needs to learn her lesson, be thankful she didn't kill somebody and go back to driving school.
Posted 12 months ago # -
wrightyson - Member
Slightly ish off topic but always wondered how skid marks are measured if a car has abs? Do they still leave blatant black lines or is it just measured from the first big dab on the brakes when the wheels try to stop and the abs kicks in. There must be a good 50% of cars with abs on the roads nowadays.Even with ABS, vehicles will leave a skid mark.
They measure the skid mark and after a few sums, the vehicles speed is calculated.
A skid test is performed on the tarmac at the RTC location. The skid test is purely to determine how 'grippy' the tarmac is.
They don't compare the length of skid marks between the Police car and the other vehicle to calculate the speed.
Posted 12 months ago # -
aracer - Member
To be fair, the HC stopping distance (excluding thinking time) is 45ft from 30mph. You'd have to pull 1g to stop in 30ft - not something I think a standard car will manage even on a dry road.
The speed of the other driver does make a difference, but only if he was doing well in excess of the limit
Epic physics fail and no one has picked up on it. I experience an acceleration of 1G when I'm just sitting on the toilet...thank god!
Posted 12 months ago # -
It's not upto either driver to apportion blame or admit that it was their fault. That's the job of the insurance companies and the police. It is incredibly difficult to say who was to blame in this crash, but seeing as both were breaking the law then I'd be going for 50:50.
Posted 12 months ago # -
It is not the job of the police to apportion blame in normal rtc
Posted 12 months ago # -
I experience an acceleration of 1G when I'm just sitting on the toilet
Not in a horizontal direction you don't. Epic <whoosh>Posted 12 months ago # -
seeing as both were breaking the law
How do you know that?Posted 12 months ago # -
hels - Member
"if you are not concentrating fully" then you shouldn't be in charge of a two ton metal death machine.Thats up there with moaning that you keep getting speeding tickets cos you can't read the speedo without your glasses on !!
The
lassie pulled out without looking properlyboy was speedingshe needs to learn hiserlesson, be thankfulshe didn't kill somebody and go back to driving schoolJust as valid?
aracer - Member
I experience an acceleration of 1G when I'm just sitting on the toiletNot in a horizontal direction you don't. Epic <whoosh>
Not even in a vertical one *double-whoosh*
Posted 12 months ago # -
Do you honestly think the cops are gonna be interested in coming to measure skid marks on a road where there has been a minor bump ?
Posted 12 months ago # -
I won't speak as to who's to blame, but I would suggest you remind your relative that in an RTA where someone has been injured (the lad's whiplash claim) the Police must be involved.
So get them involved, and get the insurance companies involved, and I'll bet the other party's bullying tactics stop and it gets sorted fairly.
Posted 12 months ago # -
It's a fairly poor visibility spot, so if the guy was doing >30 it might have been hard for the driver to spot, to be fair - the bends at either end of the straight would prevent speed assessment earlier. That said, if he was driving round there he'd struggle to get much more than about 50 without fairly good car control and some hefty risks (or driving on the absolute limit without a clue) and I'd expect her to still be looking as she pulled out and see him coming.
However
She had no idea what was going on and the crash was a total surprise.
worries me more. If it was a complete surprise she's not exactly observant. For them to hit her rear after skidding for 40ft (wet or damp road, or dry?) and her not know anything about it suggests she was distracted in the car and not taking enough notice of the road. So who's to say which is the truth.Skidding 40ft isn't hard on damp roads from 30(ish), I've done it and ended up in a ditch because of it. Remember 40ft is only about 2.5ish car lengths..
I suspect it'll go in his favour. Bear in mind that from his point of view this could be "I was driving along the road at 30 and some silly sod pulled out of their drive without looking, I slammed on but there was just no chance of me stopping in time, now she's blaming me and telling me I was speeding!".
Just because he's young and inexperienced doesn't mean he's automatically at fault, an idiot or deserving of this - be fair.
Posted 12 months ago # -
She'll be found at fault and will be liable. If you can prove he was speeding you might get a reduced settlement but you can't conclusively do this. Leave the insurance companies to sort it out.
Posted 12 months ago # -
The way i read the situation is the young chap flashed her to pull out
And that still wouldn't help her. Flashing doesn't actually mean 'come on' it means 'I'm here' so she'd still be at fault.
110
Flashing headlights. Only flash your headlights to let other road users know that you are there. Do not flash your headlights to convey any other message or intimidate other road users.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070289
Posted 12 months ago # -
Margin Walker - Member
<sigh>Not the first motoring thread where you've done this. Can you expand on <sigh> at all?
Posted 12 months ago # -
Unmarked junction! Long shot but nothing to loose.
Posted 12 months ago # -
I experience an acceleration of 1G when I'm just sitting on the toilet
Not in a horizontal direction you don't. Epic <whoosh>
Unless it's a toilet on a train.....or possibly in a plane on a conveyer belt.
Posted 12 months ago # -
Insurance companies are most interested in saving cash. Fighting claims can cost too much to entertain, particularly in odds such as these. Regardless of any allegation of speeding, if it costs less to take the simple view that she emerged into his path and is to blame, they will pay for his damage and bump up her premium.
The police won't measure skid marks and undertake calculations unless someone dies or is seriously injured. Too many bumps, too few crash investigators for that.
Posted 12 months ago # -
the allegations of speeding are largely worthless. Trying to argue that they were braking the law and so they should expect to be pulled out on is just nonsense.
Its like arguing that an illegally parked car shouldn't have been there when you crashed into it.
You drive according to the actual conditions, not what should be expected. ]
Sorry for what happened regardless, as its not a nice situation to be in.Posted 12 months ago # -
bigyinn - Member
Trying to argue that they were braking the law and so they should expect to be pulled out on is just nonsense.No one is arguing that though are they? It's being argued that the speeding driver might have avoided crashing if he'd not been speeding, i.e.
drive according to the actual conditions
Posted 12 months ago # -
It's being argued that the speeding driver might have avoided crashing if he'd not been speeding, i.e.
What speeding driver?
As for righting a car off, the only accident I've had happened at about 5 mph and the car I hit was written off because I hit the wheels. The fact that the car was written off in this case in no way supports the case of the other driver speeding.
Posted 12 months ago # -
The "speeding" driver the OP's sister didn't see?!
Posted 12 months ago #
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