car crash

naf123

Hi,

Please give your opinions

Car A was on a junction waiting to turn left into the main road. Claims to have his indicator on but driver of Car B says there was no indicator.

Car B was also wanting to turn left into the main road. Car B Undercut Car A (enough space in the road for both even thou its a one lane road for each direction)

Car A crashed into car B as he didn't see car B

However, car A was talking on a mobile phone.

Who's fault

Please give your opinion of who is liable if

1. If he was NOT on a mobile phone

2. If he was ON a mobile phone

and why?

was it wrong of car B to undercut? or was it wrong for car A to be on a mobile phone?

scheming_gypsy

Car B.

There is no law that says you have to use your indicators. Although the driver of car A was on a mobile phone that would be a criminal offence rather than an excuse to transfer blame. If the police were called and they could check that they were on the phone then maybe it could be used by driver B. If there's no proof of the call then it doesn't exist for insurance purposes.

That's my take on it.

krlyr

Was car B where s/he should have been or not? If the crash was caused by car B being somewhere they shouldn't have been, and car A not paying enough attention, I imagine it will possibly go 50:50. The phone thing might go in B's favour if it can be proved.

colino

Doesn't really matter about the mobile (sounds like a blame shifter) in this instance, for whatever reason he was distracted or plain didn't look, A drove into B.

scheming_gypsy

the problem with getting it proved is that it'd have to go to the police to request phone data, which will be more of a criminal investigation. That costs money etc, so it's highly unlikely for a minor road accident which could count the mobile phone issue as irrelevant


** usual in my opinion, disclaimer.

Hintza

Sounds like B was being impatient, but if both were turning left why had A left a gap on his left. If I am turning left I will be as far over to the left as is reasonable.

Lovelyjoolz

Hintza wrote: »

... but if both were turning left why had A left a gap on his left....

Because some people are rubbish drivers who have no regard for proper road positioning or consideration for other road users.

Unfortunately, although I can understand why car B would be tempted to undercut car A for sheer principle because of car A's appalling road positioning, when it comes to an insurance claim, I suspect car B would be found to be at fault.

Makes you want to slap people around the face with a Highway Code when you see inconsiderate driving doesn't it?

NBLondon

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

Unfortunately, although I can understand why car B would be tempted to undercut car A for sheer principle because of car A's appalling road positioning, when it comes to an insurance claim, I suspect car B would be found to be at fault?

If B claims to not have seen an indicator, they may have assumed from road positioning that A was turning right. If the road is wide enough for two abreast, that's sort of understandable. If A was looking right then turned left without a quick check for cyclists, pedestrians or indeed a car stopped in the main road then are partly to blame (and being on the phone could be a cause of that).

If it was a tight squeeze on the left and B was being impatient then they are more to blame.

60:40 is my guess.

scheming_gypsy

The problem would be proving that though.

Driver A will say that they were indicating and checked their mirror before pulling out, driver B was behind them but pulled out and tried to sneak through as driver A turned.
Driver B will say that driver A didn't indicate and was on the phone, they looked like they were going straight on or right and drove into the side of me (driver .
Driver A will say driver B is talking bollocks because they caused the crash.

Badger_Lady

Car A. There's never an excuse for "driving into something because you didn't see it".

There's no evidence in the OP that Car B had any way of knowing which way Car A was planning to turn. If they weren't positioned to the left and no indicators were visible (whether that's due to being switched off, a blown bulb or whatever), Car B was perfectly within its right to approach the junction alongside.

Car A really should have been attentive enough to notice another vehicle coming up from behind, driving alongside them and then pulling out into their path.

marlot

The moving car is at fault. Car A.

At least its just a lump of metal damaged. A human could have moved into the space. As a driver you have a responsibility to look before you move. If A was also on the phone I'd say that they could be done for driving without due care and attention. It would be pretty harsh though.