Crash on roundabout

jase1

Fairly clear in my view that the OP takes at least some of the blame here.

You impeded the progress of a vehicle which had right of way, and they hit you on the side.

Five miles an hour indeed ... still, there will be some on here that take the view that the slower driver travels around with a halo over his head and can do no wrong -- let's hope you have one of those reviewing your case at the insurers.

alastairq

Five miles an hour indeed ... still, there will be some on here that take the view that the slower driver travels around with a halo over his head and can do no wrong -

On the contrary.

However, the slower driver will have more time, to cope with the actions of others.

However.....if ...instead of the OP's Audi [or whatever], the OP had been driving a tractor, or other, slow-moving vehicle?

What then?

What if the OP had been a novice driver, and had come close to stalling in the excitement of entering the roundabout?

What then?

There is still an onus placed on every driver [including those in vans entering the roundabout to the right of the OP].....to exercise due care...and not to presume they have an absolute 'right-of-way' over everybody who is, or was, to their left!

Nobody within ten yards of where I'm sitting considers a slower driver to be somehow Mr or Mrs goody-two-shoes.

But equally, neither should any sort of driver be vilified simply because they do not drive in the manner others want them to.

The slower driver may well be the good driver....or may not.

No amount of so-called 'advanced training' makes for a good driver. How good a driver any of us are, is ultimately down to how we respond, on the day, at the hour.

In the end, all advanced driver training does, is to hopefully make the student far more aware of the environment they drive in, and therefore better able to cope comfortably with what other road users do, or don't do!

It isn't what others do that matters..it's how well, and comfortably, we , as individuals, cope with what they do.

The van driver failed to cope, a collision occurred. What should be looked at [aside from the OP's actions] are, what the van driver did not do, when entering a roundabout junction, that resulted in the collision?

jase1

alastairq, you seem to take the attitude that whenever someone assigns blame to one party, they are automatically saying that this absolves the other party.

Yes, the van does take some of the blame in this case. However the driver of any vehicle which (by choice or not) enters a lane more slowly than would normally be expected, has a special duty to ensure that his actions are not going to impact others.

I have a hard time believing that a fairly small car could pull out in front of a van, such that it is hit by the van, without the decision to pull out being seriously questionable.

That does not mean that the van doesn't share the blame, but in the case where the vehicle being hit not having right of way as well, to try to put all the blame on the other party, regardless of how they were driving is illogical.

almillar

When you're doing what the OP was doing, aren't you meant to judge distance (as discussed) AND speed?
No point thinking 'well he's speeding so I'll pull out anyway', you're still increasing the risk of an accident.
If I understand it correctly, OP had JUST pulled out, reaching an almighty 5mph when he was hit, across at least 1 lane of the roundabout.
Going by this, either the OP did pull out very late, or that is one VERY fast van, or VERY small roundabout.

OddballJamie

Ops view just before pulling out.
http://goo.gl/maps/olhHP

jase1

Interesting -- I know this roundabout.

Visibility generally is good -- I cannot fathom how the OP could have missed a van barrelling down the road.

OddballJamie

jase1 wrote: »

Interesting -- I know this roundabout.

Visibility generally is good -- I cannot fathom how the OP could have missed a van barrelling down the road.

Especially with the driver flashing the vans lights and blasting its horn.

jase1

OddballJamie wrote: »

Especially with the driver flashing the vans lights and blasting its horn.

TBH it's sounding increasingly like a case of the OP expecting the van to stop for them. Not ideal.

wba31

Im sorry OP I think you may be liable in this instance. You give way to the right, therefore van driver has right of way. His speed is irrelevant unless provable, which you need maybe raise with the insurance companies, however my personal thoughts when at a junction is that if someone appears to be driving quickly, im much less likely to pull out on them than someone driving slowly... 5 MPH is damn slow, I drive a Civic so have a digital display of my speed, and in trying to keep to the requested 5MPH on a campsite last week, i realised that it's much much slower than i imagined it to be.

sunflower_2

i hate this roundabout!!

noone seems to care who has right of way - they just bully their way on (usually white vans).