Car accident - was it my fault?

Retrogamer

Nasqueron wrote: »

If you re-read the OP's post (unless he changed his story) that's not 100% correct

OP states the exit he wanted is 2 lanes - he was exiting into the outside lane as per the blue line. The other car went all the way around essentially to do a u-turn, ignoring the left/straight ahead only sign, and hit the OP. Now if you think about it, even if we ignore the fact she ignored the lane markings, she was trying to go all the way around the roundabout in the outer lane and caught the OP who was leaving the roundabout correctly having never left his lane until he was turning. You cannot in any way argue the other driver is not at fault for trying to go all the way around in the left hand lane

Of course you can.

The OP already said by the time that she reached that part of the roundabout, they noticed the other driver was in the wrong lane.

Any sensible person would have held back a bit to check what the other driver was going to do before committing to leave the roundabout.

The OP for some reason thought they would exit that junction (despite them already missed the junction they should have taken for thier lane) and then drove into them whilst trying to leave the roundabout.

The third party was in the wrong lane, but that doesn't mean people can drive into the side of them and automatically blame them for everything.

Imagine you seen a car jumping a red light. You had time to react / stop but because your light was green you just drove on into them anyway. Both would be at fault as both caused the accident by being negligent. Same as the OP.

Only exit the roundabout if clear to do so. It was not clear to do so

Jamiesmum

You should have just continued to go around the roundabout again. I think regardless of what you thought her intentions were she was in clear view of you each time and seeing as she had already gone around the roundabout in the wrong lane I'd have either slowed down a bit or just drove round it twice.

She is at fault, but unfortunately it's all on you insurance wise. She may have done the wrong thing but she didn't hit you. You wasn't paying enough attention and hit her. You can't cut lanes across a roundabout unless the lane is clear. This is why we check our blind spots

This is actually something I hate about accidents on roundabouts, selfish people doing the wrong thing and causing an accident. I feel bad for you, but I do believe you will be at fault.

DoaM

Nasqueron wrote: »

The other car went all the way around essentially to do a u-turn, ignoring the left/straight ahead only sign, and hit the OP.

Not correct - OP hit the other car. Front-left of OP's car went into driver's side of the other car, as the other car was slightly ahead.

Whilst the other driver was a complete numpty, the OP was technically at fault for the collision.

arcon5

DoaM wrote: »

Not correct - OP hit the other car. Front-left of OP's car went into driver's side of the other car, as the other car was slightly ahead.

Whilst the other driver was a complete numpty, the OP was technically at fault for the collision.

Just because you are the one hitting another car doesn't mean you are at fault. If I pull out from a junction in front of you and you crash in to me your not at fault.

Ops not at fault here. Insurers may choose the easier route to settle but ops not caused the accident

Car_54

arcon5 wrote: »

Ops not at fault here. Insurers may choose the easier route to settle but ops not caused the accident

So ... it's OK to change lanes without checking? Or to act on assumption rather than observation?

Nasqueron

Retrogamer wrote: »

Of course you can.

The OP already said by the time that she reached that part of the roundabout, they noticed the other driver was in the wrong lane.

Any sensible person would have held back a bit to check what the other driver was going to do before committing to leave the roundabout.

So it's ok to break the law and ignore road signs saying left lane = left/ahead and then try and go all the way around the roundabout in the outside lane as per Rule 186 and she's not at fault?

Retrogamer wrote: »

The OP for some reason thought they would exit that junction (despite them already missed the junction they should have taken for thier lane) and then drove into them whilst trying to leave the roundabout.

Don't get this bit - the OP stated they were in the right hand lane, going into the right hand lane of a dual carriageway exit, how had they missed the junction

Retrogamer wrote: »

The third party was in the wrong lane, but that doesn't mean people can drive into the side of them and automatically blame them for everything.

Imagine you seen a car jumping a red light. You had time to react / stop but because your light was green you just drove on into them anyway. Both would be at fault as both caused the accident by being negligent. Same as the OP.

Only exit the roundabout if clear to do so. It was not clear to do so

OP is taking the correct exit, it would not be unreasonable to think the other driver, despite ignoring the road signs, was taking the third exit in the wrong lane. It is unreasonable to expect a driver to try and go all the way around the roundabout in the outside lane

Nasqueron

DoaM wrote: »

Not correct - OP hit the other car. Front-left of OP's car went into driver's side of the other car, as the other car was slightly ahead.

Whilst the other driver was a complete numpty, the OP was technically at fault for the collision.

OP was obeying the law, other driver illegally went around the roundabout in the wrong lane and cut in front of him giving him nowhere to go. If you are driving along and someone pulls in front of you, you might cause the crash but the other person is at fault. It's unreasonable to expect someone to slam on brakes (and possibly get rear ended) because they can't mind read some daft person doing something illegal before they could react

MobileSaver

Nasqueron wrote: »

So it's ok to break the law and ignore road signs saying left lane = left/ahead

No, it's not OK for the other driver to ignore road signs but neither is it OK for the OP to exit the roundabout without making sure the exit is clear. Two wrongs do not make a right; the best the OP can hope for is 50:50 insurance, in the worst case the insurers will hold the OP completely liable as the OP is the one who turned into the other driver without checking the way was clear.

Nasqueron wrote: »

It is unreasonable to expect a driver to try and go all the way around the roundabout in the outside lane

Nonsense! Once you are on a roundabout you can go around it as many times as you like unless road markings indicate otherwise. Anyone assuming anything else would be a surefire way of causing an accident... oh!

For the avoidance of doubt there are of course a lot of assumptions being made by posters and really we need a Google Streetview map which may change opinions once we can see the specific signs/markings/lanes at the location.

MobileSaver

Nasqueron wrote: »

If you are driving along and someone pulls in front of you,

The OP said the other car was already in front of them "ahead of me but only by a metre or 2"...

Unless the lane the other driver was in had road markings indicating left turn/exit only then the other driver had every right to continue around the outside lane of the roundabout.

Car_54

Nasqueron wrote: »

OP was obeying the law, other driver illegally went around the roundabout in the wrong lane and cut in front of him giving him nowhere to go.

Illegally? What law do you have in mind?

Also, it was the OP who changed lanes and cut in front of the other driver.