Should I take responsibility for this ?

picasso2

I was in an accident May 09

Very simply I was turning right at a traffic light controlled junction . The lights at all the other points turn to red here allowing only traffic leaving this side road to move. As i crossed the junction a car came from my left through the red lights and hit me in my rear passenger door.

There was a lot of traffic but nobody stopped to be a witness and the other driver denied travelling through a red light. The police did not want to come out and said it was a matter for the insurance.

I have had little contact from my solicitors who say this is due to the slow responses of the third party. However I have had a letter today saying that I should accept 100% responsibility as the third party are denying liability and that if it goes to court a judge will say that as I was the one turning right it will be judged to be my fault.

I don't get it really how someone can hit you like this and insist you take hit, not just the insurance but my passenger is making a claim for whiplash.

I don't know whether I should let it go and move on , or fight this.

Your opinions will be valuable to me - I have to go to work now but I will read when I get home.
Thank you

lesalanos

please excuse my ignorance, but how do you know that all other lights had turned to red?

harveybobbles

Contact the highways and/or Local Council and see if they will let you have a copy of the traffic light sequence for that time of the day. Also ask if there are any cameras around there. Just general cctv ones or ones in shops near by etc that may have got it on tape.

picasso2

lesalanos wrote: »

please excuse my ignorance, but how do you know that all other lights had turned to red?

Because the traffic had stopped (it was a duel carriage way and the car to her right had stopped she was a little way up the road as i set off and i had no reason to think she would not stop) , my lights turned to green . I know this junction well as I use it from many directions during the course of my working day.

I also stood with the third party and we watched together how the traffic flowed through this junction and there were no apparant faults.

Really must go, thank you

picasso2

harveybobbles wrote: »

Just general cctv ones or ones in shops near by etc that may have got it on tape.

There were cctv cameras from an office block car park , the building was vacant but my insurance company said they would contact the company that owned the building to get the tapes. I found out just before december that they had not done this. The new owner of the building said it would have been there had they asked for it but it has now been deleted.

cyclonebri1

picasso2 wrote: »

I was in an accident May 09

Very simply I was turning right at a traffic light controlled junction . The lights at all the other points turn to red here allowing only traffic leaving this side road to move. As i crossed the junction a car came from my left through the red lights and hit me in my rear passenger door.

There was a lot of traffic but nobody stopped to be a witness and the other driver denied travelling through a red light. The police did not want to come out and said it was a matter for the insurance.

I have had little contact from my solicitors who say this is due to the slow responses of the third party. However I have had a letter today saying that I should accept 100% responsibility as the third party are denying liability and that if it goes to court a judge will say that as I was the one turning right it will be judged to be my fault.

I don't get it really how someone can hit you like this and insist you take hit, not just the insurance but my passenger is making a claim for whiplash.

I don't know whether I should let it go and move on , or fight this.

Your opinions will be valuable to me - I have to go to work now but I will read when I get home.
Thank you

I have mixed views on this.

You seem genuine, but I/we only have your story.

If it was me I would not have moved off that junction untill the police DID attend.

You actually (as has already been pointed out), no idea if the other lights had changed to whatever cover.

Give up if in any doubt, go for it if genuine, that's what I would do, ;)
Good luck.

skiddlydiddly

I don't see why you should accept responsibility for this, especially considering they have the nerve to bump it up with a claim for whiplash.I certainly would fight this and remind you insurance company that they haven't followed up where they should have.If you communicated this via phonecall it should have been recorded, if by mail then I presume you have a copy?

I use a similar crossroads most days and have had a few near misses where the oncoming car sees me turning right(my light is green) and goes straight through their red light thinking they have right of way.

To the poster above, I don't see what benefit you would gain from not moving off. If its a minor incident all they will want to do is refer you to your insurers and get the road cleared asap as its dangerous leaving cars abandoned in the middle of the road.If the police had to attend every bump they wouldn't get much else done, hence them not coming in the 1st place.

Hammyman

To the OP...

You are not supposed to cross the stop line on a green light unless your exit is clear. Were you able to turn right without any hinderance or did you cross the stop line then have to wait for any other traffic before you could proceed up the road you were turning into?

Sarsie

Your insurers haven't even asked for the CCTV footage yet and it was from December. Your solicitor is slow on getting back to you and then sends you something which indicates he doesn't apear to be listening to what you're saying and representing you. While there is always the chance he's totally acting in your best interests, I don't get the sense you have faith in that.

In your shoes I'd have trouble having confidence that I was getting the right advice and I think I might look for a specialist motoring solicitor (instead of the usual insurance-appointed one). There are lots of firms out there who specialise in motoring law with regard to insurance claims and can take over from your current solicitor without there neccesarily being any fee to you or any extra bother to you. I would be looking into it in your shoes I think. Specialists might have a bad name (I've heard people lump them in with the personal injury ambulance chasers), but they often have high success rates for their client.

If you do look into it remember to confirm about the presence or absence of fees and them doing the all the paperwork for the switching if those things are important to you. It goes without saying but not all companies are the same.

cyclonebri1

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

I don't see why you should accept responsibility for this, especially considering they have the nerve to bump it up with a claim for whiplash.I certainly would fight this and remind you insurance company that they haven't followed up where they should have.If you communicated this via phonecall it should have been recorded, if by mail then I presume you have a copy?

I use a similar crossroads most days and have had a few near misses where the oncoming car sees me turning right(my light is green) and goes straight through their red light thinking they have right of way.

To the poster above, I don't see what benefit you would gain from not moving off. If its a minor incident all they will want to do is refer you to your insurers and get the road cleared asap as its dangerous leaving cars abandoned in the middle of the road.If the police had to attend every bump they wouldn't get much else done, hence them not coming in the 1st place.

Which must be me, The police don't want to get involved in these cases, but if you are totally convinced you are in the right, force their arm by creating a scene/issue. If the road is blocked and traffic doesn't move they will attennd, and will come down in favour of one party. But as said, only if you are in the right. ;)

Paradigm

Hammyman wrote: »

To the OP...

You are not supposed to cross the stop line on a green light unless your exit is clear. Were you able to turn right without any hinderance or did you cross the stop line then have to wait for any other traffic before you could proceed up the road you were turning into?

Really? Where did you get this from?