Hey,
Just had a close call and am wondering.
Going along a wide, straight NSL road at about 55-60 (suitable speed for conditions despite the slight damp), when it came to the long sweeping S bend which in the wet is still do-able at 50, so slowed to that speed.
I was behind at a safe distance for the speed, keeping pace with a focus ahead.
After the second corner of the S, there is a 30limit about 100yds up the hill.
Anyway the guy put his brakes on gently slowed to 40, fair enough since I thought he must just be slowing for the imminent 30, so I followed suit and still left a gap, albeit possibly not an ideal one (Nowhere near tailgating, a good 10-15m away).
Then he slowed at a "full brake" decelleration, and with no indication pulled into a driveway, but left his back half sticking out onto the road still.
I reacted fairly quickly(I was pretty shocked how fast I did so), but as luck would have it there was a triple grating on the inside of the road precisely where tyres go when in the middle of the lane, so without ABS, my right front wheel locked, which pulled me over to the left towards him.
Now I had slowed just enough to be able to swerve out the way and narrowly miss him by about a metre tops.
As I looked, he was picking up a mobile phone, and then did a full lock turn in the driveway to face back onto the road.
If I had hit him, would fact I did not leave quite enough gap between us be outweighed by his unpredictable behaviour, using the phone while the engine was on(he must have taken it out of his pocket just before swerving, as it was at his ear as soon as I looked sideways) and turning without indicating, or would it still be my fault?
Luckily it didn't come to this, but I'm just wondering where I would stand.
Thanks
Just had a close call and am wondering.
Going along a wide, straight NSL road at about 55-60 (suitable speed for conditions despite the slight damp), when it came to the long sweeping S bend which in the wet is still do-able at 50, so slowed to that speed.
I was behind at a safe distance for the speed, keeping pace with a focus ahead.
After the second corner of the S, there is a 30limit about 100yds up the hill.
Anyway the guy put his brakes on gently slowed to 40, fair enough since I thought he must just be slowing for the imminent 30, so I followed suit and still left a gap, albeit possibly not an ideal one (Nowhere near tailgating, a good 10-15m away).
Then he slowed at a "full brake" decelleration, and with no indication pulled into a driveway, but left his back half sticking out onto the road still.
I reacted fairly quickly(I was pretty shocked how fast I did so), but as luck would have it there was a triple grating on the inside of the road precisely where tyres go when in the middle of the lane, so without ABS, my right front wheel locked, which pulled me over to the left towards him.
Now I had slowed just enough to be able to swerve out the way and narrowly miss him by about a metre tops.
As I looked, he was picking up a mobile phone, and then did a full lock turn in the driveway to face back onto the road.
If I had hit him, would fact I did not leave quite enough gap between us be outweighed by his unpredictable behaviour, using the phone while the engine was on(he must have taken it out of his pocket just before swerving, as it was at his ear as soon as I looked sideways) and turning without indicating, or would it still be my fault?
Luckily it didn't come to this, but I'm just wondering where I would stand.
Thanks
.
