Accident - driver failed to stop.

Moderate_Danger

Right'o. My first post - better make it a good'un.

I had the day off work yesterday. Being a gallant, chivalrous man, I offered to drop my girlfriend off at work.

I was approaching a roundabout in the right-hand lane, heading for the 3rd exit, indicated right with plenty of time, slowed to 15MPH, roundabout was clear, so off I went. There was a lorry approaching in the left-hand lane, but there was plenty of room for it to carry on in its lane and frankly, if it had been doing anything less than 25, I would likely have cleared the roundabout before it caught up to me. Problem is, I assumed it would actually stay in its lane - instead, it barrelled in a straight line across the roundabout, took a chunk out of my wheel arch, and kept on going.

I had pulled into the road next to the roundabout, assuming any sane driver would stop after hitting another car, but the lorry just kept on going. I'd missed my chance to catch it & get its reg. no, and frankly I was a bit too shocked (only been driving 9 months, still not got my proper rage instincts yet). It was at this point my girlfriend mentioned it had a foreign license plate.

I've done my duty - reported it to the police & filled out a report. I'm a bit hopeful a bus caught it on CCTV, but as it had a foreign license plate & was just a plain white articulated lorry, I'm not exactly hopeful the police will be able to catch it.

The damage is entirely cosmetic, and being a new driver my excess is pretty hefty as is. No doubt it'd be cheaper for me to just take it to a body shop & get them to deal with it.

My insurance it due to automatically renew next month, and I'm worried if I tell my insurer, they're going to hike it up. Am I right in thinking I'm legally obliged to tell them, even if I don't make a claim? If so, what are the odds of me not getting shafted on the grounds that it wasn't my fault?

tasticz

Moderate_Danger wrote: »

Right'o. My first post - better make it a good'un.

I had the day off work yesterday. Being a gallant, chivalrous man, I offered to drop my girlfriend off at work.

I was approaching a roundabout in the right-hand lane, heading for the 3rd exit, indicated right with plenty of time, slowed to 15MPH, roundabout was clear, so off I went. There was a lorry approaching in the left-hand lane, but there was plenty of room for it to carry on in its lane and frankly, if it had been doing anything less than 25, I would likely have cleared the roundabout before it caught up to me. Problem is, I assumed it would actually stay in its lane - instead, it barrelled in a straight line across the roundabout, took a chunk out of my wheel arch, and kept on going.

I had pulled into the road next to the roundabout, assuming any sane driver would stop after hitting another car, but the lorry just kept on going. I'd missed my chance to catch it & get its reg. no, and frankly I was a bit too shocked (only been driving 9 months, still not got my proper rage instincts yet). It was at this point my girlfriend mentioned it had a foreign license plate.

I've done my duty - reported it to the police & filled out a report. I'm a bit hopeful a bus caught it on CCTV, but as it had a foreign license plate & was just a plain white articulated lorry, I'm not exactly hopeful the police will be able to catch it.

The damage is entirely cosmetic, and being a new driver my excess is pretty hefty as is. No doubt it'd be cheaper for me to just take it to a body shop & get them to deal with it.

My insurance it due to automatically renew next month, and I'm worried if I tell my insurer, they're going to hike it up. Am I right in thinking I'm legally obliged to tell them, even if I don't make a claim? If so, what are the odds of me not getting shafted on the grounds that it wasn't my fault?

If your insurance is due next month take the hit on the repairs. I think you should just let it go then at least you have 1 year no claims at the end of the year.

Strider590

Who got to the roundabout first?

You should always stay back if there's a lorry in the LH lane, they often need both lanes to cross. I was taught this in no uncertain terms by my driving instructor 15 years ago and it's saved me from getting squashed at least once a month ever since.

BertTheRaccoon

You are never going to get the identity of the foreign lorry or therefore be able to trace the insurer, so I would just chalk this one up.

Yes you do have an obligation to tell your insurer about this "incident" and yes they will probably use the opportunity to hike your premium. Maybe worth doing a couple of dummy quotes on a comparison site to see the difference with the incident delcared and not delcared to get an idea.

As plod are the only ones who know about this, i can't see how the info would ever get into the hands of an insurer if you did not delcare this "incident"

Moderate_Danger

Strider590 wrote: »

Who got to the roundabout first?

You should always stay back if there's a lorry in the LH lane, they often need both lanes to cross. I was taught this in no uncertain terms by my driving instructor 15 years ago and it's saved me from getting squashed at least once a month ever since.

I got there first, by a good second or two. The reason he caught up was because I slowed down sufficiently & he didn't (It's a 50MPH road, people often try and fail to take this particular roundabout at 70+).

It's also a very wide road - easily wide enough for 2 HGVs to go around the roundabout at the same time, provided they actually follow the curve & aren't anything too huge like a John Lewis lorry or a car transporter (is that what they're called?)

OddballJamie

Got a Google maps link?

Strider590

Moderate_Danger wrote: »

I got there first, by a good second or two. The reason he caught up was because I slowed down sufficiently & he didn't (It's a 50MPH road, people often try and fail to take this particular roundabout at 70+).

It's also a very wide road - easily wide enough for 2 HGVs to go around the roundabout at the same time, provided they actually follow the curve & aren't anything too huge like a John Lewis lorry or a car transporter (is that what they're called?)

So the driver straight lined the roundabout? (ish)
One pet hate of mine, you can almost forgive a HGV, but these days people even do it in small hatchbacks.
Unfortunately the driver probably didn't even realise there had been a collision.

Moderate_Danger

OddballJamie wrote: »

Got a Google maps link?

I can't post links, but if you search for DA2 6QA on Google maps, it's that roundabout.

Strider590 wrote: »

So the driver straight lined the roundabout? (ish)
One pet hate of mine, you can almost forgive a HGV, but these days people even do it in small hatchbacks.
Unfortunately the driver probably didn't even realise there had been a collision.

I routinely see people straight lining it in very expensive cars. The temptation to just slam into them & laugh as they have to cover the costs of repairs is almost too great.

Strider590

Moderate_Danger wrote: »

I can't post links, but if you search for DA2 6QA on Google maps, it's that roundabout.


I routinely see people straight lining it in very expensive cars. The temptation to just slam into them & laugh as they have to cover the costs of repairs is almost too great.

I wouldn't go trying that without a video camera in your car..... Insurance will always go 50/50 otherwise, at least whenever a roundabout is involved.

Moderate_Danger

Strider590 wrote: »

I wouldn't go trying that without a video camera in your car..... Insurance will always go 50/50 otherwise, at least whenever a roundabout is involved.

That's step 2 after getting my car repaired - rigging up cameras. Shouldn't cost too much to have 2 constantly recording to SD cards. Dump it to an external HDD once per week & presto - instant proof if needed in future.

OddballJamie

Moderate_Danger wrote: »

That's step 2 after getting my car repaired - rigging up cameras. Shouldn't cost too much to have 2 constantly recording to SD cards. Dump it to an external HDD once per week & presto - instant proof if needed in future.

You only need to have the recording looping unless you are planning on making a really long documentary.