PaulandNic

That's how i'm led to believe it works, both here and in the UK. Prob the same for most countries.

BUT! ... you just never know! ...

Basically my daughter has hit someone from behind and has asked me to post here as someone might know.



She was driving behind another car and they were both heading from East to West, and both going left. As the lady in front of her got to the X mark, she slammed on her brakes because another car was heading from North to South on the main road.

Now the way I see it, the car coming has it's own lane with a solid white line to the left, so couldn't enter her lane anyway, and the car in question has her own lane with solid white line obv to the right, so couldn't enter oncoming cars lane either.

She should've kept her right of way, gained speed to merge, and merge on the broken white line a tad futher down the road.



Either way i've as good as told her she's liable for simply not leaving enough room, but in a case like this, any kind of a leg to stand on anyone? ...

Cheers.

DeadVim

Unless the car in front has faulty brake lights she's at fault I'd say.

renth

Yeah, you're always supposed to keep a safe distance behind, even if the car in front slams on its brakes for no good reason.

NedKelly

There is an outside chance. If you can show that the "lady" has had many similar accidents in the past you may be able to show she is a liability and shouldn't be on the road.

Cheetah7

I have heard of this blanket rule however, one of my managers was in the traffic lights waiting for the green with cars in front, reasonable distance ahead etc, and he saw in his rear window a car coming up behind him at speed and he knew she was going to hit him, the silly tart was on her mobile, he had nowhere to go and she hit him with force, sending him into the cars in front - very quickly closing the gap that he had left.

He was not held responsible and her company paid up.

I was advised that if you are in an accident and providing you are not hurt, take photos, ignore the tears and please of the other driver, take photos, take witness statements and take what you can to back your case up.

There is only so much space you can leave in front of you without some cockhead barging in in front of you and at the end of the day, you can leave as much space as you like in front of you but if the twits behind you decide on a full and fast tail gating session, they are still going to bum you into the next car.

I hope she is OK Paul, you must be so shaken up.

Edit: just had a good look at the photo - I don't think its looking too hopeful Paul, what insurance company is she with?

Alfresco

No leg to stand on I'm afraid.

I'm doing my instructors (Motorcycle) and it will be deemed to be her fault, as there were no extraneous factors.

Failure of observance is the 'crime' and hence not maintaining a safe following distance.

The driver in front is a big numpty too, for not realising the dedicated lane and solid white line and then 'braking for no reason'.

dave99

Sorry to say she is at fault for hitting the other car from behind. The law says you have to maintain a distance that will allow you to stop safely if the car in front has to suddenly brake. Regardless of the reason for the sudden stop.

PaulandNic

Yeah as I thought / knew, we all do!

Thanks for confirmation. Gotta take call from the insurance co tomorrow where they'll be looking for the $1900 excess!

Expensive mistake, but she'll hopefully learn from it.

Oh and PP she's fine, was actually more annoyed at 1) the lady for stopping, and 2) herself for not leaving the space, but as she said, she was looking right herself to check () and then when she went 'eyes front' it was too late! ...

Live and learn!

Cheetah7

Bet you were bloody shaken up when she told you - the main thing is she is OK, as the copper said to Mr PP, its only a pile of metal at the end of the day.

That road looks like a bit of a bugger from the photo.

PaulandNic

Yeah was to be honest, but worse was I had my phone on silent and missed the calls WHEN it happened, I first spoke half hour after.

Exactly tho as you say, no one was injured, the car in fully comp so gonna get both done and she'll just have to wear the excess and whatever it goes up next year!

Bang goes my max NCB! ...

Cheetah7

Ill never ever forget 'that call', is her car a write off?

PaulandNic

Other car (Honda Civic) - bumper and boot. Hers - (VE Commodore), number plate and bonnet, replace number plate and all good, bonnet isn't bad at all, but as a claim against her, she might as well get it done.

steen1976

Pretty much cut and dried in the UK anyway. Claims handlers wouldn't bother with much more than a cursory glance over the circumstances. Not worth their time and effort.

BadgeIsBack

This situation is helped by the fact he was stationary and probably a reasonable distance from the car infront.

In some of those domino cases I think some companies pass on the liability to others/amongst others.

EvannTel

I had a similar incident a few years ago in the UK. I was the driver behind. I reduced the claim to 50:50 by successfully arguing (with police assistance) the actions of the driver in front were not reasonable and they drove without due consideration for other road users. If it were me I'd argue this line very strongly. At the end of the day your insurer should try and recover the costs if they can.