Car Accident Fail - Thank god not in the new car !

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 14:49

So, bit of an odd one, and after reading various bits online I genuinely don't know if I am at fault.

At the front of a group of 4/5 cars driving down a 30mph main road. Going past the Rugby Club theres obviously a game on as there is a solid circa 100meters worth of parked cars on my side of the road. As I get to the beginning of the set of parked cars I look to the end and its totally clear. I indicate, move out and I'm probably 1/3rd of my car on the opposing side of the road, bum probably in line with the white line.

This line of parked cars was solidly parked, with no where to pull in even if I wanted to.

About half way down the set of cars a car on the other side of the road appears further down the road (not far from the end of this road is a cross roads where people cut down this road, assume this is where she came from).

Long story short, I'm coming to the end of the line of cars and the other car decides she doesn't want to wait for us all to complete getting past the obstruction and comes barrelling down. I hit the brakes and move as far left as I can, but its not far enough. She ends up hitting my wing mirror, Popping off the cover, cracking the glass, and breaking the mount that holds the glass in. I *THINK* I was stationary when she hit me, but in honesty, I was in such shock that she just kept on coming without slowing that I would be lying if I said I was DEFINITELY stationary. The cars behind me all had to bail to the left to try and get out of her way.

I move forward and park up. After nearly knocking off a cyclist doing a turn in the road she comes racing back up shouting the odds. I tried to explain to her what on earth was she doing and where the hell did she expect us to all go.

Frustratingly no witnesses stopped, so its just my word and that of my other half who was a front seat passenger against hers.

I thought I had priority as we were already going past a long obstruction before she got anywhere near the start of it (Genuinely WAS NOT in sight when I began the manouver)....

Luckily I've took a load of pictures (she just drove off) so I'm hoping that will help.

Am I wrong here?

PhillyDee · 11 Sep 2011 at 14:51

So she just drove off from the scene of an accident

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 14:53

Ah sorry, I've not been clear there. she got out of the car shouting the odds, we exchanged insurance details and I started taking pictures whilst she drove off.

Apologies !

hurfdurf · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:00

I'm sure someone was there to witness it, someone you have no obvious conection to who parked up and came back to vouch for you after she had left and will act as a witness

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:02

.... _Probably_ prefer not to commit insurance fraud.... probably.

In seriousness I'd love to know if I was actually at fault here. I'm hoping my pictures will prove to be helpful, but its just bloody annoying timing really.

Irish_Tom · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:11

If the only damage was a wing mirror it's not worth going through the insurance anyway.

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:15

Panzerbjorn - I totally agree with you, but she was insistant on wanting my insurance details as shes blaming me for the accident. I don't want anything doing to the Focus if I'm honest as one way or another its going on Tuesday. I guess the only reason I'll contact my insurance is to ensure she doesnt try and stiff me somehow.

CaptainRAVE · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:37

Yeah, not worth going through insurance. Sounds like some impatient person who thinks she owns the road. Doesn't sound like you were at fault, but not sure if it matters too much?

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 16:26

surely it matters greatly if she goes through her insurance.

I think this is my point, I need to report the accident, but I think I'll say 'I'm telling you about this, but I don't want anything done unless you are contacted by her insurers'

I have no intention of having my car fixed, I just don't want her insurance company to pitch up saying 'you didn't report this, your at fault' in 1-3-6-9-12-24 months time.

Edit - I guess the issue is she was adament I was at fault, and I don't really know what I need to do here.

wez130 · 11 Sep 2011 at 17:06

/might be an idea to tell your insurance company i'd say, she sounded like she was in the wrong, like you say, you had nowhere to go! Also, inform the insurance of her behaviour after. Good one on taking pics too, it all stacks in your favour, but then again, we are talking about insurace companies here

. Good luck.

DB_SamX · 11 Sep 2011 at 17:28

Was there any debris on the raod, which would indicate were the collision took place i.e. you were well on your way overtaking the parked cars?

Locky · 11 Sep 2011 at 17:41

If you was over taking the parked cars before she was coming down her side of the road then you had right of way and she shouldn't of barged her way through.

Amoeba · 11 Sep 2011 at 19:33

Can't offer any advice for you, but this exact same thing happened to me (minus the collision luckily). I was driving down a narrow road with parked cars pretty much taking up all of one side of the road. Get half way down and some middle age to oldish woman turns on to the road and decides it would be a great idea to try and force past me rather than just sit and wait at the end of the row of cars. She even had the nerve to honk her horn at me as she went past with about 1 inch of space spare (without slowing down!), being very careful not to make eye contact. I had to come to a complete stop and snuggle up close to the parked cars to avoid her :mad:

I wonder what goes through these peoples heads :rolleyes:

Nodiggidy123 · 11 Sep 2011 at 20:26

Locky said:
If you was over taking the parked cars before she was coming down her side of the road then you had right of way and she shouldn't of barged her way through.

this.

if u were navigating past parked cars before she did then i would have thought u as you were already there then you have right of way.

tbh tho without witnesses the best i think you should hope for is 50/50

Conanius · 11 Sep 2011 at 22:14

DB_SamX said:
Was there any debris on the raod, which would indicate were the collision took place i.e. you were well on your way overtaking the parked cars?

Literally the only damage was the wing mirrors bending back and the mirror glass cracking, there was no broken glass on the road or anything like that. The impact took place at the end of the 100 meters of parked cars. That sounds like OMG 100 METERS LAWLS but that felt like the actual distance.

Nodiggidy123 said:
tbh tho without witnesses the best i think you should hope for is 50/50

what will 50/50 mean when I don't want any repair work done to the car?

rG-tom · 12 Sep 2011 at 01:24

Conanius said:
Literally the only damage was the wing mirrors bending back and the mirror glass cracking, there was no broken glass on the road or anything like that. The impact took place at the end of the 100 meters of parked cars. That sounds like OMG 100 METERS LAWLS but that felt like the actual distance.

what will 50/50 mean when I don't want any repair work done to the car?

your insurance company will pay for half of her repairs, and half of her excess.
You lose your NCB in the same way as if it was a fully fault accident, and on insurance renewals, they dont differentiate between 50/50 and full fault accidents either.

Unfortunately i know from personal experience, again i had no work carried out on my car.