had a accident this morning :(

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2003
Posts
2,691
Location
London
Unfortunately on the drive to work this morning I have been involved in an accident, with a motorcyclist. I am most likely to be held at fault.
I was turning onto the main road from a side road. A lorry stopped and flashed me to go on, as I pulled out slowly and and stopped I could not see any bikes etc coming along, then suddenly a motorbike doing about 40mph.. came hurtling along riding on the wrong side of the road and hit my front bummer, the motorcyclist tried to break but could not stop in time. He left a long skidmark on the road and slide his bike sidewards into the bottom of my front bummer, he scraped the tarmac off the road .
Fortunately both myself and the motorcyclist were ok- not hurt (unless his changes his story later on). The motorcyclist after exchanging details rode off.
The part of the road were the accident happened had white diagonal stripes painted on the road so surely the motorcyclist is not allowed to ride on the wrong side of the road there (highway code 130)??

The lorry driver fortunately pulled over and checked both parties were ok. A very nice guy, not many people these days stop and help.
I only managed to take 2 pictures of the accident scene towards the end, I must say I was quite shocked. But the lorry driver took a lot of pics on his phone. I got his details and hopefully will get the pics off him sometime.


scene.jpg


acc1.jpg


acc2.jpg


acc3.jpg
 
i did look both ways.. looked right and saw nothing then looked left, the traffic ongoing slowed down to let me in...

Hey ho.. thats life i guess.. even though i have a comp insurance if the accident fault goes against me my excess is £325 :(
I may wait to hear which way the liability goes before repairing my car. It is still drivable. I was stationary when the accident happened
 
i sent the pictures i posted to my insurer as well.. so i just have to wait and see what happens..
I just wished i had the sense of mind to take more pictures earlier before the biker moved his bike and a few more pictures of the scene.. the accident was holding up traffic (busy rush hour) and i felt under pressure to move my car
 
mikeh501 said:
is this where it happened?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Wentworth+St,+London+E1,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&ll=51.516953,-0.073158&spn=0.000647,0.001711&sll=51.521883,-0.073242&sspn=0.165555,0.43808&t=f&z=20&ecpose=51.51694177,-0.07315837,109.19,0,0.762,0

im confused by your picture. i assumed you coming out of wentworth street into commercial street and turning right? If so, how did he hit your front bumper, if he was coming from your left? Your picture shows him hitting the rear of your car?
Click to expand...

he was coming from the right, in the wrong lane and he hit my front bumper
 
i guess i will find out in about a years time.. when this accident gets resolved and what the verdict will be
 
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lookS like i am being held to fault.. got an email from my insurers

"We have reviewed the circumstances of the incident and feel that the driver of your vehicle will be held responsible. We will therefore deal with any third party claim we receive as quickly and effectively as we can, in order to limit the costs involved.

Unfortunately, this means that your No Claims Bonus will be reduced (subject to the terms of any Bonus Protection cover you may have)."
 
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I will give the insurance company a ring tomorrow, hopefully that will give them time to review the pictures i sent and contact the witness.
 
Dogbreath said:
I am a little surprised they are not apportioning any blame to the biker, overtaking on the zig-zags approaching a pedestrian crossing with junctions either side is a) daft, b) not looked upon very favourably by the police.

However pulling out blind into a road is also bad news; if you have to do this then creep out very, very slowly until you can see it's clear.
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I was stationary when the bike hit my car, i pulled out a little bit to make sure the path was clear as evident from my picture and the position of my car
 
update: I phoned the insurance company today.. the third party insurer is willing to do a 50/50 liability on this.. I think I will wait longer and see if i can get a better outcome than this.
 
my witness is not getting in touch with me or my insurance company... i phoned his work number (he gave me this number) and left a message for him to contact me so I could get the pictures he took with his phone.. quite frustrating...
 
Another update:

This evening when I got home, I opened my mail to find a letter from the Met Police Traffic Criminal Justice OPU, stating that my accident is the subject of police enquiries. They sent a collision information form for me to fill in (like an insurance accident form). I will phone my insurance company and the police to ask what this is for… as the police were not called when the accident occurred, both myself and the 3rd party stopped and exchanged details. Neither of us were hurt (as far as I know). It seems quite strange to me why the police have become involved now.. nearly 2 months after the date of the accident :confused:
 
Jokester said:
Might be the biker trying to worm his way out of things?
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how or in what way?..

how and why would the police become involved.. they did not come to the scene of the accident.. this is what is puzzling me.. but i will phone my insurance company said and see what they say. And if need be will also call the police on the number given on the letter too.
 
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Apparently the police attended after I had left the scene of the accident. And got a statememt from the motorcyclist, as far i was aware he drove off on his bike after i left :confused:
He stated he was fine when we talked and exchanged details. Grrrrr looks like it is gonig to be another long drawn out process
 
Well i completed the incident report form and returned it. Today i received a letter from the met police stating:

"on the evidence available to us, we believe that you may have committed an offence contrary to Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1998 by:

Driving without due care and attention

or:

Without reasonable consideration for other road users

If proceeding were to be brought, it would be a matter for the Magistrates's Court to decide whether or not you have broken the law"
Click to expand...

I have been offered a Driver Alertness Course which if I attend I would not have to attend court but would have to pay for (£182.60 in London).

What do you guys think, which option would you go with.. take the course or go to court?

P.S I will phone the police and ask whether they contacted the witness or not and what evidence they checked.. I stated that I took pics (which are posted in this thread) in my incident form.. and will ask if they would like me to send these to them so they can re-evaluate the case if possible.
 
MrLOL said:
Unfortunately the photos dont prove who left the skid mark

They do not prove where in the road the bike collided with you, and they do not prove he was on the wrong side of the road when the accident happened.

The only thing that would prove this is an independent witness statement from somebody who saw it.

Did the lorry driver not give one ?
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I gave the witness's details (his name and work phone number in the incident form). The witness did not reply to 3 messages I left at his workplace.. whether the police contacted him or not I do not know.

Another lesson for me to learn... take more pics and make sure i am the last person to leave the scene of the accident in any future incidents. As i was not at the scene of the accident when the police arrived.
Out of interest if I am liable/at fault for the accident in the eyes of the police, why is the biker's insurance company offering to go for a 50-50 split???
 
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