Minor RTC on lane merging to left

Tok3d

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Hey guys, I was involved in my first collision since getting my license 5yrs ago and was hoping to get some advice from some more of the seasoned car drivers.

I was coming back from the cinema with my girlfriend and her nephew, I was coming up to traffic lights and as usual it's always red, but when I got closer to the lights at around 10-15mph it turned amber so I stopped breaking and got my speed back upto 30 mph. I passed the stationary driver on the right hand merge lane but near the end of the merge he had sped up and was parallel with my drivers door, myself and my girlfriend said what the hell is he doing, I thought he was trying to intimidate me so I just continued on at roughly 30mph in my lane. The next thing I know he has come into my lane and collided with the drivers side door, perhaps he misjudged how much space there was. I don't believe that to be the case though.

It wasn't safe to stop on that road so I continue on for about 400metres or so into the first turning I could, luckily he did the same and we had a chat and he said he has right of way and that he didn't see me. I said to him you must of saw me pass you as you were stationary when i passed you and then collided with me a few yards down the road, he remained silent when I said that.

The damage to my car is what i'd called minor, majority of the scratches will buff out by the looks of it, some paint damage and a dent. His was similar. We exchanged contact details and took pictures of each others car and asked what's going to happen. I said well i'll have to get incotact with my insurance company, so I suggest you do too. He said he would prefer to keep this out of the insurance and deal with it separately but didn't mention that he would pay for mine too.

Sorry for the extremely long post, I just want to be as through as possible for the best possible advice on how I should proceed and who was at blame from my side of what happened. [/FONT]

forgotmyname

Unless you can prove it was entirely his fault you maybe better just letting the insurance sort it otr pay your own repairs and forget about it.

Tok3d

forgotmyname wrote: »

Unless you can prove it was entirely his fault you maybe better just letting the insurance sort it otr pay your own repairs and forget about it.

I have a witness passenger, and the marks on my car indicate he hit me and then slowed down mid collision and did not safely merge into my lane. If I caused the damage and then slowed down as he did he would of smashed into the back of me.

notanewuser

Your girlfriend isn't an independent witness.

When you say the lights "turned Amber" do you mean were about to turn red or red and Amber, so about to turn green?

Tok3d

notanewuser wrote: »

Your girlfriend isn't an independent witness.

When you say the lights "turned Amber" do you mean were about to turn red or red and Amber, so about to turn green?

They were red already, the guy that collided into me was stationary at the lights.

sh0597

It would go 50/50

marlot

I would say 50/50. Sounds like either of you could have avoided this collision if you weren't so fixated on your 'rights' or being first in the queue to the next traffic lights.

bod1467

Can you link to a Google map of the location? (post it without the http part, just start it as /maps.google.co.uk/.... etc.) ... I'm struggling to picture how the right hand lane is a merge lane. Is it sort of like a dual carriageway becoming single carriageway?

But I agree with others above - it'll be 50:50 ... You are not blameless as you passed on the left.

heartbreak_star

You sped up at an amber light?

HBS x

notanewuser

heartbreak_star wrote: »

You sped up at an amber light?

HBS x

I *think* (but the OP isn't clear) that he slowed down as he expected them to be red, but they were actually red and amber (on their way to green) so he sped up.

arcon5

The way I'm interpreting this is your lane was going faster and you passed left just as he was merging in which he hit you.
You may get him on 100% liability depending on his stat ement. But I more than suspect it'll be settled as a 50/50 incident.

It may turn out to be an expensive thing your pride. All 'coz you didn't wanna be intimidated.