Just a heads up to anyone who might be as stupid as me (not liking but possible..lol)

I live in sydney so have the CTP and also got extra insurance which i stupidly assumed was fully comp (i dont why or how i assumed but i did!!!)

Anyway unfortunatly today i was on motorway when the person in front braked so harshly that there was no way i could stop, i slamed my brakes on but slammed into the car at about 70kms, my airbags failed to work!!!! and i smacked my chest on wheel, my aunt (who i picked up from airport yesterday) and my 4 year old in back in her car seat.

We hit it at such force, the whole front caved in, by the time we looked up the other car had sped off!!!!!???

All abit bruised but lucky no further damage, very upset to discover my insurance was only 3rd party....which i didnt want as already have the CTP, so wanted insurance to protect me, but my own fault i suppose, just dont want anyone else to make same mistake.

Hope you are ok......

Have you had yourself checked out properly? Chest slamming into steering wheel from that speed sounds horrendous and a huge possibility of whip lash coming on in a day or two.

By the sounds of it, the airbag was not the only thing to fail. Seatbelts on most cars usually lock tight when brakes are applied and your body moves forward.

Sounds like she's well rid of the car. Doesn't bear thinking about to be honest

Unfortunately the other SOAB gets away scot-free (no pun intended) and the OP has to either pay for their repairs or a new car.

Just so you know....the CTP that you get with your rego is third party person. The 3rd party that you purchased would be 3rd party property.

It's late.. and i'm not thinking too straight and somebody correct me if this is wrong, but I'm pretty sure that running up the back of another car is automatically 'your fault' over here. Driving without due care and attention - too close. Please don't take this the wrong way, any accident sucks and I'm glad you and the kids are okay. I've been in and 'caused' accidents.

However, the ^SOAB^ is more likely to lose their excess and perhaps NCB as they can't ID the car at fault in this case..

I hate insurance

Unfortunately this would be seen as your fault accident because in the eyes of the law you did not leave sufficient stopping distance from the car infront.

Did,nt she say the other car "sped off", probably stolen car , the driver did not want to talk to the police.............mm

i slamed my brakes on but slammed into the car at about 70kms, my airbags failed to work!!!!





The probable reason (depending on the make of your car) that the airbags didn't deploy is that you never hit the vehicle at a sufficient speed. If you had impacted at 70kms somebody would now be arranging your funeral. You state that you hit the brakes so you were probably doing quite a low speed at the point of impact.

I think the whole insurance industry needs a massive overhaul in this country, compulsory insurance should just be the start.

John

Oh it was no doubt my fault, no denying that, just wanted to make sure people get the right insurance.

I was on the motorway 4, just coming past olympic park signs, so traffic all moving at 80k, i looked away for not even a second and when i looked back out of nowhere the car infront had break lights on..then i realised he was completly stopped, so slammed my brakes on and screamed..lol

definately hit him very hard and fast, there is no front of the car left and the road was covered in debris, the car infront then swerved through cars and sped off???!!! didnt get out and look or get out to go mad at me (which is what i would have expected) it was a new looking car and must of been badly damaged.

Just glad everyone is ok, luckily my daughter (4) isnt upset or bothered in the slightest about what happened.

Hmm.... "Only a fool breaks the two second rule" :-)

Glad your daughter is ok.

You are "bang on" though (pardon the pun). It's very important to understand your insurance cover, we often forget we're in a foreign country and just because they drive on the same side of the road here, it doesn't mean "it's the same".

You can't (as you have discovered to some extent) afford not to be properly insured. The consequences of that may have been far worse had anyone have been seriously injured, particularly here where apart from
Compulsory third party, you aren't legally required to have any other insurance....

Well dodgy.. did the car you ran into, hit anybody in front of them ??
If so.. and if it was due to the (dodgy) car being shunted by you into them - then you may be responsible for their insurance losses too.

How many cars invovled, was any of this reported to the police (do you have to in NSW)?





and for the lurkers.. Aust. child seats or UK/EU?