My car not involved in the accident - Could it be my fault?

SharkDude

Hi guys,

I was in Bristol over the weekend at a roundabout and was not too sure which exit to take so was going a bit slow, until the guy behind me decided to change the lane while still in the roundabout and he was hit on the side by a car coming from behind. I am not sure if this happened due to the guy changing lanes because I was going slow or he just decided to go another way, I did not stop as I was still moving in the roundabout and wasnt directly involved in the accident.

Can the guy who was behind me who changed lanes drag me to court? Or in short am I responsible for the accident in any way?

Inputs much appreciated!
Thanks

interstellaflyer

I'd say that the other drivers impatience caused the accident, not you, you didn't force him to overtake you, he made that dessision himself.

princeofpounds

He can drag you to court if he likes, anyone can if they pay a fee, but it might be dismissed immediately!

You can have liability for an accident you weren't physically involved in if you were behaving negligently and were the cause of it.

It depends exactly how you were driving, but on the face of it you were not being negligent in your driving. Unless you seriously underplayed what you were doing.

The driver who got hit made an active decision to alter their course and were not forced to do so by you.

Tilt

If you wern't involved in the collision but someone believed you caused it, they have 2 choices;

Report you to the police for them to investigate. (BUT they would have to accuse you of committing an offence which would be hard to prove unless there were witnesses or CCTV evidence)

Report it to their insurers indicating that you caused the collision.

In both cases they would needed to of captured your FULL VRM.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

Strider590

In future, remember if you don't know where your going, just stick to the RH lane and go round again. This way your not causing any problems.....

Antimoron

LOL

Serves him the fork right.

Not your fault as you've described it.

If he had paid attention, he would have noticed the vehicle behind him. I hate a-holes like that.

Cycrow

too many impatient drivers on the road

Prothet_of_Doom

My blind grandfather, never had a single accident in his 72 year motoring career, but had he been able to see beyond the curb, he could have seen plenty in his rear view mirror, had he actually ever used it.

Oh I'm sure that you could be liable without sustaining damage, but if someone chooses to be impatient, and undertake or overtake someone else on a roundabout, then it's not like they've been taking care. The sensible thing to do would be to slow down to make sure the other person doesn't do anything stupid.

Strider590

Antimoron wrote: »

LOL

Serves him the fork right.

Not your fault as you've described it.

If he had paid attention, he would have noticed the vehicle behind him. I hate a-holes like that.

Cycrow wrote: »

too many impatient drivers on the road

Hmmmm.....

About 3 weeks ago, I was at a roundabout, the car a few cars in front managed to stall in the RH lane (car A) and roll to a stop half way around the roundabout, the car behind (car slowed down, the car behind him (car C) leant on the horn, car B then pulled out to go around car A and nearly got wiped out by car D (who was speeding in the LH lane).

Car B was simply reacting to the impatience of car C, but would have been held at fault.

These things are not always so simple, it's the reason why insurance companies hate dealing with roundabout claims.

Captain_Flack.

SharkDude wrote: »

Hi guys,

I was in Bristol over the weekend at a roundabout and was not too sure which exit to take so was going a bit slow, until the guy behind me decided to change the lane while still in the roundabout and he was hit on the side by a car coming from behind. I am not sure if this happened due to the guy changing lanes because I was going slow or he just decided to go another way, I did not stop as I was still moving in the roundabout and wasnt directly involved in the accident.

Can the guy who was behind me who changed lanes drag me to court? Or in short am I responsible for the accident in any way?

Inputs much appreciated!
Thanks

By definition you were involved but I doubt the could prove liability.

mcja

Bristols a nightmare to drive around, loads of impatient drivers. Sounds like nothing you did to come back to you.