BMW Crash...

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So two days ago I get hit by a Ford Ka on the A40.

Details:

Collision 28/10/2013

Light: Good
Visibility: Good
Road Conditions: Good, clear of debris, dry
Traffic: 2 cars moving 60mph inside lane, other lanes contained only myself and the car that collided with me.

Witness: 1

Travelling westbound in the nearside lane of the A40, passing Hillingdon junction. Speed was at 70mph, maintained by cruise control, was approaching slow moving traffic in the nearside lane 300 yards in front at an estimated speed differential of 10mph this gave me 1 minute to either slow down and match their speed or overtake..
Checked Mirror, just caught glimpse of car moving into my blind spot and shoulder checked to see black Ka. Also saw that the outside lane was clear and no traffic was moving to overtake in that lane. Indicated right and rechecked blind spot to see Ka beginning to move into outside lane. The witness who was in a car behind corroborates that the Ka had left lane two and then swerved back for an unknown reason.
I Looked ahead to see traffic was now 150 yards away and began moving into the middle lane.
I was now fully in lane two, when the other driver re-entered the middle lane, colliding with the side of my vehicle, pushing me towards the nearside traffic and causing anti-clockwise motion through the wheel. I corrected to push away and keep from colliding with that traffic and the cars were side by side touching for a fraction of a second moving at the same speed. It is my belief that the driver panicked and swerved back into lane two because she had not fully checked the outside lane three before joining it. The other driver then drastically over-corrected, partially caused by, and I quote “Foot slipping from the brake pedal onto the accelerator”, and partially caused by a punctured offside tyre from the initial collision sending her car hurtling at speed towards the central barrier and causing all damage to the drivers-side of her vehicle. She then swerved across the motorway in front of me coming to rest next to the Hillingdon on-ramp.
I proceed to brake, and pull over just behind where her car had stopped.

When travelling in the middle lane overtaking traffic, you should be aware that, when traffic in lane one is approaching slower moving traffic, they will want to move over to lane two for an overtake. This clearly was not in the other drivers mind leaving her very little time to react to the situation. In my opinion this shows poor observational skills on the part of the other driver, poor hazard perception, poor road awareness, poor lane discipline and she was possibly distracted at the time of the maneuver.

Photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/1099...s/5917534435284416433?authkey=COfBnNb3qaHDuAE

Problem is she's now claiming that I "shoved" her into the central barrier, which is a fabrication, and claiming for injury costs... I hate my life :(
 
Sounds like it will go 50/50 - the photos can't seem to show whose version of events is true.

Was the small dent in the rear of the Ka from prior to this accident? When I am driving I make a point of staying well away from cars with dents on them :p
 
I am confused by:

The witness who was in a car behind corroborates that the Ka had left lane two and then swerved back for an unknown reason.

I Looked ahead to see traffic was now 150 yards away and began moving into the middle lane.
I was now fully in lane two, when the other driver re-entered the middle lane,

So the Ka driver got fully into lane 3, you moved into an empty lane 2 and the Ka driver then swerved back into the side of you?

What you have written reads more like you were in lane 1, wanting to overtake, saw a Ka in lane 2, put on your indicators (??). Ka driver reacted badly thinking you were just going to pull out and started moving right. You assumed they would go all the way into lane 3, but she didn't and you hit her.

You may get away with it if the witness statement clearly backs up your side of the story.

But to me it reads like she never actually got fully into lane 3, meaning lane 2 was never empty and never safe for you to move into. Poor diving on both accounts imo.
 
As long as you've got your witness backing up your story then the insurers probably will side with you .... give your insurer all the details & photos, let them sort out the claim. Under no circumstances should you return correspondence about injury claims, they should be sent straightaway to your insurer.
 
Problem is she's now claiming that I "shoved" her into the central barrier, which is a fabrication, and claiming for injury costs... I hate my life :(

Does she have any independent witnesses to this!?! Do you for you side of events!? (I gather you do as you mentioned them above!)
 
Sounds like it will go 50/50 - the photos can't seem to show whose version of events is true.

Was the small dent in the rear of the Ka from prior to this accident? When I am driving I make a point of staying well away from cars with dents on them :p

Surely the fact that it was a KA would have been enough indication? :p
 
Is there no CCTV covering that section or at least some of it? Those photos don't really say much other than there was an incident sadly.
 
No offense but you did (and I assume still do?) have a brake pedal. I often find it's better to let indecisive tailgaters/blind spot hogs go and worry about the 2 seconds I lost later.
 
picture 23, she does not look happy with you.

love how shes clenching her neck too.

:rolleyes:

the big key mark down the side of her car shows that she really looks after her vehicle to a high standard and probably drives really carefully too...
 
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the big key mark down the side of her car shows that she really looks after her vehicle to a high standard and probably drives really carefully too...

True, but its a 10 year old Ford Ka ... paying to fix the keyed panels would be more than it was worth.

She doesn't look to have whiplash in the pics 8 and 9 :)
 
Your best hope is the independent witness statement saying that she had fully joined lane 3 then came back into lane 2 hitting you. The photos only show the resulting damage to the cars, not the course of events.
 
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