Am I at Fault or the Lorry Driver

[Housey]

I wouldn't have damaged my car if I had been driving the car because I would not have driven it like that. At the end of the day the car is damaged because the car driver didn't drive defensively. The rest is just who pays the bill frankly. Avoidable.

 

[mattyg]

Been there got the T shirt in court. Other driver who pulled out in front of me with my indicator flashing but I didn’t turn was apportioned 75% of the blame.

It’s the two insurance companies that matter, your insurance company would always act in your their best interest anyway.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Richie]

Irrespective on indicators on that particular roundabout, I would have held back. Even if the lorry did turn right, the chances that the rear forklift would swing out in front of me as he turned right would make me hang back.... The fact is the lorry went straight ahead and, although didnt use proper indicator technique on the roundabout, they did indicate to go left in plenty of time.

 

[danlightbulb]

I think it's OP's fault here. Driver may have been foreign. Don't some countries rules say you indicate right whilst on the roundabout until you reach your exit?

Also you were clearly looking to dive past him even before you got to the roundabout, and imo you should have seen there was no room to get past him on the exit. Slow reactions in backing out of the move I think.

Ps what car do you have?

 

[adolf hamster]

tbh, i tend to expect lorries to be taking odd lines at roundabouts, so its a case of hanging behind them till pulling off or blasting in front of them before entering the roundabout.

 

[Finglonga]

Seen this so many times. Car drivers through poor observation are not aware of what is happening on the road. You give lorries room as you are always going to lose with them. That was 100% avoidable if the op stayed in position just behind instead of trying to squeeze up the inside.

 

[Kenai]

What were you actually trying to achieve anyway? If the lorry was turning right as you apparently thought, it's not like you needed to blast past him to avoid being stuck behind at 50mph for 10 miles, he would have been out of the way anyway. If you were trying to get past in case he went straight on, then it was monumentally poor judgement thinking that was enough space to manage it.

 

[lude1962]

OP's fault, lorry was initially indicating right, but didn't follow through on the manoeuvre, OP should have spotted this, lorry driver then switched on LHS indicator.
And because OP was trying to overtake the lorry he was badly positioned to see the lorry cancel the RHS indicator, he should have been aware that this was a possibility and kept his distance.
It also looks like that at the initial approach to the roundabout OP was trying to get alongside the lorry, says to me OP was in a hurry.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Your fault, you were too impatient.

 

[muon]

I don't see how the lorry is at fault. Takes a very central position because of size. Yes there is a right signal, but people are allowed to change which exit they take (changed to left signal) as long as positioning is okay which it was as the lorry was taking all lanes.

I would always be careful of overtaking any vehicle on the left side on a roundabout when there are no lane markings. Especially when in a roundabout like that the second lane can take the second exit (although I know there was initially a right signal).

 

[Entai]

IMHO as has been said, there are no painted lines on the approaching road or around the roundabout, then in my eyes there are no separate LH & RH lanes approaching or on the roundabout.

So I'd treat it all as single lane, and stay well behind any vehicle that is in front of me until you know exactly where it is going.

 

[Haze]

That was 100% your fault, just takes a bit of common sense not to squeeze down the side of lorries when you know full well they have blind spots, and you can see him indicating left and you still tried to go down the side of him

 

[MooMoo444]

I would always be careful of overtaking any vehicle on the left side on a roundabout

To be honest it's a really bad idea in general to overtake on a roundabout. If everyone just takes it easy there's no way for an accident.

 

[DarkHorizon472]

When it comes to lorries on roundabouts unless it is a large roundabout with clear lanes just hang back until it is clear where they are going. Even then be careful, had a lorry get confused and suddenly cut right across an island recently. As I kept back no problems, had I tried to nip past anything could have happened.

 

[JBuk]

I always hang back for large vehicles and always wary of any vehicle along side, in fact I'll hang back just a little even if it's a car

Always expect the worst on roundabouts, a lot of drivers seem to get easily confused which lane to use and which one to exit on

 

[DereksDontRun]

Lorry's "fault" for indicating right approaching roundabout is debatable as he/she changed mind and indicated correctly left when on the roundabout. We all get lost at times and end up in the wrong lane, or realising we actually need the 2nd exit instead of 3rd... So, it's a little poor to miss the left indicating, but I know in that situation it could be easily done.

But, the lorry also exited from the inside lane on the roundabout without checking mirror - this is even more frustrating/wrong as they knew they were incorrectly indicating right prior to the roundabout, so they should have double-checked for anyone misinterpreting their erroneous signalling. He's technically changed lanes from inside to outside and then left the roundabout, all without looking. See it happening quite often when the exit from a roundabout is dual carriageway and someone on the inside lane just roars to exit, while someone on the outside lane is still wanting the next exit. Whoever is on the inside needs to check mirrors and give way to traffic on the outside, as they're doing a lane-change. I fully appreciate, with the size/visibility of a lorry, it's expected for them to take this line around such a roundabout, when going straight on - this still doesn't mean they shouldn't check when exiting tho...

I think the lorry technically did more "wrong" but experience would make a driver not to be on the outside of a lorry trailer around a roundabout and thus get into that situation. I could almost see myself doing it, especially if it's busy traffic and other cars were entering the roundabout from both lanes - if I saw him indicating right prior to the roundabout, I probably would have been beside him as he entered the roundabout. Depending on the tightness of the roundabout and whether i thought he needed to use both lanes to turn around the roundabout, I would have either gone with him or waited. But, I guess that if I had entered the roundabout at the same time, it would/should have made me a lot more visible to him, before he exited...

 

[danlightbulb]

But, the lorry also exited from the inside lane on the roundabout without checking mirror - this is even more frustrating/wrong as they knew they were incorrectly indicating right prior to the roundabout, so they should have double-checked for anyone misinterpreting their erroneous signalling. He's technically changed lanes from inside to outside and then left the roundabout, all without looking.

How do you know he didn't look in his left hand mirror?

Op was so fast to dive up the inside, and starting from just off the Lorry's rear left corner, the lorry driver probably wouldn't have seen him.

Even if he did see him, lorry is moving at speed and clearly the exit of the roundabout narrows from the left so the lorry was a) in front and b) had the straighter exit line.

 

[sityeuropa]

Defensive driving OP.

 

[Lunawolfy]

Having passed my test last year I was taught HGV's on roundabouts AVOID like the plague. If i'm on the outside to one at a roundabout I'll give him a few seconds first as he will likely need to straddle exit dependent.

Section 187. of the Highway Code advises that in ALL situations on round watch out and give plenty of room to:

• long vehicles (including those towing trailers). These might have to take a different course or straddle lanes either approaching or on the roundabout because of their length. Watch out for their signals.

If you always expect them to straddle and not indicate, you'll never be surprised. Just pray it goes 50/50 mate and move on with the life lesson, cars can always be fixed

 

[Uther]

I used to get lifts with the lorry drivers sometimes when visiting remote sites in a job (as an aside - way more comfy than the train, etc. modern lorry cabs are decently spacious with good ride) so I kind of picked up on some stuff like that - it was kind of intuitive to me from the first moment the lorry started manoeuvring - I'm not sure if I'd have picked up on it quite so well though before.

Yep, I knew immediately what that rigid was going to do, I would have gone nowhere near him on the roundabout.