Hi guys and dals

Jsut got released from hospital this morning.A car traveling in front of me decided at the last minute to pull into the midle of the road and swerve into his drive.  He never slowed down nor indicated however I hit the side of him.

In my oppinion it is his fault as a) he should have slowed down b) he should have indicated and c) he should not have crossed onto the right hand lane and swerve into his drive

His mother even got out of the car and said that was your fault (to her son)  He then went into the car and put his indicator on went it the house and phoned an ambulance and police then came out and said it was my fault as he had his indicators on!!!!

Came home after having treatment for concusion and insured shoulder and knee.  Phoned my insurance and they said I am to blame as I should have been able to stop.  I explained I would have stopped however he did not brake or indicat andd the time I seen him pull into the right hand lane I couldnt have time to stop before he then crossed back over the left hand lane and I hit him on the side.

I feel its distgusting that he is to blame however it is my fault.  Plus I am only third party fire and theft and have over 3000 damages al least to my car

Fed up :-(

I carry out accident investigations and I am afraid that however badly the "other" driver was behaving the fact is that it is your responsibility to leave sufficient space between you and the car in front in order to be able to stop in time.  This will vary according to speed and road conditions etc.  If you are shunted from the rear by another car it is extremely rare for the "shunter" NOT to be at fault.

99.9% of all accidents are avoidable; this is a fact not just my opinion.  When driving it is wise to remember anticipation, observation, planning and restraint will ensure that you are virtually always in a position to avoid hitting someone else.

The first thing one feels after an accident, after pain, is foolish and it is human nature to want to blame something or someone else rather than admit we were at fault. (That is why a lot of us live with another child; it is called nobody) :D

The choice of whether you go for fully comprehensive or third party fire and theft again are entirely yours.

At the end of the day think yourself lucky, you are still here to complain about it, a lot of people are not!

Were there no witnesses Eddie?  It's not up to him to say it wasn't his fault.  Once the insurance companies have both sides of the stories then it's up to them to decide who is to blame.  I think it's very unfair of the police to comment as they obviously didn't see what happened.  If I were you I'd speak to a lawyer and see what they say.  You should also be able to sue him for your injuries.

Hope you feel better soon and get this resolved.  Keep us posted.

Thanks.  I was indeed at a safe distance behind the car in front but when he pulled into the middle of the road I anticipated him going into the right turn not almost do a hand brake turn and into a left turn, I doubt even the best police trained driver would have missed him!!!! the insurance are all the same though you try to explain something to them and they cant picture what your trying to explain so just put down what they think!  If they had been there they would have understood he was to blame!  And its always the same they put you down and speak to you like your rubbish so you feel worse then what you did before you phone them!

Thanks Earl I will contact my lawer today and see what she says.

What makes it worse is I was supozed to be going for a meeting today regaurding my franchise so if I cant get my mum to give me a lift I am going to loose that too :-(

So we have established that you were at a safe distance and you have now admitted that you assumed he was going to carry out a particular maneouvre and instead of waiting to confirm what he did you moved in too soon!  The same thing is always happening at roundabouts/junctions where people generally signal at totally the wrong time and people emerge onto the roundabout/junction before KNOWING what the approaching driver is going to do!

Sorry to rain on your parade. 

Did you draw a diagram including signs, road and weather conditions, speed limits, lighting conditions etc, take photographs, witness statements? 

Certainly do not see a case for compensation here!  Send in your paperwork with all this information however if I was investigating this accident as you have described I would class it as "avoidable" because it was!

Eddie I am so glad you are okay - poor you x

Blimey Tohme you having a bad day today :)

Gina

Why do you think I am having a bad day:   I am having a fantastic one at the moment :D

Sorry guys but i have to agree with tohme.
I dont think you will get compensation for that one Eddie.
Samx

Oh dear :(  Do you have any witnesses?  could they co-oberate your side of things, would be helpful if you have. i hope you are not in too much pain and I hope the insuance companies can sort it out, thats ther job after all so try not to worry about it too much and concentrate on getting yourself better :) Sarah

you say he crossed into the right hand lane. Was you on a two lane road? ( ie two lanes on either side) if so he could be to blame as well for not checking his blind spot.

hi

No it was just a single road, however he pulled into the middle of the road...me thinking he was going to take the right turn and not indicate then he pulled right into the middle of the right hand lane then turned sharp left to pull into his parking space (still at approx 30 mph) slammed his bakes on stopping to a hault as he was going to attempt to get up the curb

Sorry to say, but if you run into the person in front of you it is your fault, does not matter how they were driving they were in front and you should have had enough space between you to avoid the collision no matter how strange the behaviour of the driver in front. Your insurance will still deal with the matter but you will loose your no claim.

I agree with Tohme too. If he was carrying out a strange manouvre without any indication then that in itself should have made you slow down. AS has been said before you're still here so think yourself lucky.

Jesse

Hi Eddie glad youre okay after your fright. Milk the surgical collar/sling for all its worth at home so your OH has an opportunity to cosset and pamper you.

Hi Eddie,

Sorry to hear of your accident. I hope you are okay.
It's obviously going to cost you a lot if the insurance agree
with Tohme, unfortunately I think they will, as he says if a driver runs into the back of another car
irrelevant of indication they always blame the car behind.
Where were you when it happened, were you in Bishop??

I'm just pleased you're not too badly injured, physically.
It may be hard but money and materials can be replaced.

I emailed you the other day did you receive it??

Hope to speak to you when you feel a little better.

Hi Dawn and welcome back

Been having problems with my email however have recieved it this morning.  Will email you in two secs

Eddie, I can only assume that the single road you were on was at least 75 feet wide from the point this driver started to turn left, as this is the required stopping distance at 30mph; and you have stated he managed to stop before pulling up onto his drive! Further, you state you anticipated he would turn right but that he did not give any indication of his intention to do so. It is apparent you did not consider whether there were any defects present with the indicators on the said vehicle prior to committing to your manoeuvre. You also failed to excercise appropriate caution in circumstances of uncertainty and this resulted in damage to both vehicles, and injury to yourself. As an accident investigator I find your account to be some what exaggerated and frankly I would hope that rather than try and apportion excessive blame on the other party that you learn from your experience and become a safer driver. PS. A police advanced driver WOULD NOT have made this basic error! Believe me!

The post above was from my OH and not from me.  He's a serving police traffic officer.
Lara x

When we were driveing taxi's my husband had just pulled away for the kerb and pulled out after an old fiesta, one of the lads mate's shouted as he had left him behind, the young lad slamed on his brakes and reserved without looking and went straight into my husbands car. It was my husband that got done on the insurance as he was the car at the back, although the other car was reversing, they said my husband should have seen his reverseing lights, as the lads mam said that he had hit something the week before the age of his fiesta had one reverseing light, we later went and saw the car and it had no reversing light, but we had to pay still

Just to add to that my son took my husband up to Huddesfield to pick a new, car up as my daughter had drove a metro into the side of my car(my pride & joy) and I need another urgently. on the way back my son ran into the back of it!!

I tend to agree with Lara's OH, Tohme and the rest, but i am glad you are OK and here to tell the tale, Eddie :) I do hope your injured shoulder and knee get better soon.

I have been involved in several accidents, none of them my fault (for example, someone jumping red lights was one; someone changing his tape and ramming into the back of us as we sat in the correct position to turn right another). They do shake you up.

Lindsay
X

Eddie sorry about your accident I hope you get better soon & it all works out well for you

Jean

Lara,
Which force is your OH based in? I'm part of Essex

Sam x

Not near you Sam - Durham :)
Lara x