quick question about a minor accident

spookywillow · 13 Nov 2013 at 22:19

Driving down an unlit road tonight and another car comes towards me pretty much hogging the road as there's not much in the way of lines on the road to seperate lanes and it's not all that wide.

I swerve a bit to miss him and hit the kerb and blew out a tyre and mashed up my alloy, He never stopped and I had to get a recovery truck out to get the car back home.

Is it worth reporting to the police? I don't know if theres any other damage till it goes to the garage tomorrow but the guy who got my car said it looks fine apart from the tyre and that I should get the alloy checked for cracks or buckles.

scratch · 13 Nov 2013 at 22:25

As annoying as this kind of thing is, there's very little point reporting it as it would be your word against theirs.

spookywillow · 13 Nov 2013 at 22:27

I thought as much, I didn't even get a plate number as I was too busy worrying about myself

Tomcat825 · 13 Nov 2013 at 22:45

That sucks

spookywillow · 13 Nov 2013 at 23:03

Not kidding, I only just had the wishbones replaced a few weeks back so I'm really hoping it hasn't damaged anything other than the tyre

miniyazz · 13 Nov 2013 at 23:35

You lost at chicken

Haggisman · 14 Nov 2013 at 08:34

Basically, in these situations it's better to drive into the other person, rather than avoid the accident.

spookywillow · 14 Nov 2013 at 14:46

miniyazz said:
You lost at chicken

As others have said, I wish I never avoided him now. New tyre has been put on and had a quick drive up the street to see if theres any noises and it's pulling to the left.

I'm guessing tracking has been knocked way out or the arm itself is damaged

Spartacus · 15 Nov 2013 at 01:58

Haggisman said:
Basically, in these situations it's better to drive into the other person, rather than avoid the accident.

Quite.

Threepwood · 15 Nov 2013 at 03:23

Spartacus said:
Quite.

Or, you know, come to a full stop.

Meridian · 15 Nov 2013 at 06:58

Haggisman said:
Basically, in these situations it's better to drive into the other person, rather than avoid the accident.

Except that you still don't have a witness (so it will go 50:50), and now the damage is so bad that the insurance company has to get involved. How exactly does this help?

ci_newman · 15 Nov 2013 at 10:38

spookywillow said:
As others have said, I wish I never avoided him now. New tyre has been put on and had a quick drive up the street to see if theres any noises and it's pulling to the left.

I'm guessing tracking has been knocked way out or the arm itself is damaged

Tracking doesn't get knocked out, if it's pulling them something is bent. It's possible that the tracking can be adjusted to account for this but certainly something has been damaged

Haggisman · 15 Nov 2013 at 11:06

Meridian said:
Except that you still don't have a witness (so it will go 50:50), and now the damage is so bad that the insurance company has to get involved. How exactly does this help?

Because it also screws over the person who caused the accident in the first place

spookywillow · 15 Nov 2013 at 12:26

ci_newman said:
Tracking doesn't get knocked out, if it's pulling them something is bent. It's possible that the tracking can be adjusted to account for this but certainly something has been damaged

It's down the garage in an hour so I will find out then, Hope it's not too expensive to sort out, There's no vibration at all when driving but the steering wheel is a little off center and it pulls to the left

daz · 15 Nov 2013 at 12:42

The best thing to do here is to stop your car in the road, as left as possible.

Haggisman · 15 Nov 2013 at 12:44

daz said:
The best thing to do here is to stop your car in the road, as left as possible.

Although even then, if they hit you it's still entirely likely to go 50/50

robj20 · 15 Nov 2013 at 12:45

daz said:
The best thing to do here is to stop your car in the road, as left as possible.

This, let them do the passing.

daz · 15 Nov 2013 at 12:57

Haggisman said:
Although even then, if they hit you it's still entirely likely to go 50/50

Very rarely will they actually hit you if you're stationary -there always seems to be more room when you slow down.

Glanza · 15 Nov 2013 at 13:06

I get this most nights now it's dark going home from work as I have to go on country lanes, the amount of times I've puckered up due to some very close calls is unreal.

Some people can't seem to stay on their side of the road once the dark nights are here and have to come steaming down the middle of the road and not care for other drivers on the road.