Car Accident - Suspect that she will deny liability - advice please?

gwernybwch

I was involved in a car accident yesterday afternoon. It happened on a B road in a place on the road where if driven with care, two vehicles could pass.

I was hit by a 4x4 towing a horse box. There are skid marks on the road for about 30 yards from where the 4x4 started to brake. My vehicle was in the ditch from me trying to avoid them. The accident was 'witnessed' by a car following me, he didn't say much to me at the time as to what he thought or saw, apart from pointing out the length of the skid marks.

As far I concerned the other driver is clearly at fault and was driving too fast for the type of road and for the size of trailer that they were towing.

We exchanged phone numbers at the side of the road, but that was about it (since have the registration number and the insurers details). Couldn't phone anybody as there was no mobile signal.
I said to her at the time that I thought that she was at fault, but all she really said that was that it insuruers always said not to mention liability, although she did say "I'm sorry at one point".

There was something about her that says to me she is going to try it on "damp driving conditions, narrow country road, knock for knock blah, blah"

The damage is their front wing / bumper hitting my front wing and pushing along the drivers side door. Mine was drivable enough for me to limp home, but there was damage to the steering, window screen, engine light came on. There might even be chassis damage. Definetly not drivable otherwise. I didn't have any whiplash type injuries, but was in severe shock when I got home and the accident has set my IBS off big time.

Any advice what I should do now?

Would it be helpful if I report it to the Police now? Do I mention that it my opinion she wasn't driving with due care and attention? I'll guarantee that the brakes on the horse box weren't working correctly and maybe even the 4x4 wasn't in a roadworthy state (the 4x4 was 20 years old and the horse box about the same age). Do I mention that?

Anything that I need to do to help my case?

I need a car for work. I've phoned my insurer. I'm told that I don't have a hire care policy and a replacement car is only provided if they decide that it is repairable. If it is a write-off no replacement car. Either way, it means me hiring a car for a least a few days. I've got a £250 excess, but no legal advice policy. All in all, I'm going to be seriously out of pocket unless she admits liability.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

DUTR

All what you have written is based on your account of events, indeed the other party may have conflicting accounts.
In between there is what really happened and the probability of what may have happened.
A towing vehicle skidding such a distance without jack-knifing is less likely.
You haven't taken into account the underwriters may agree to split liability.

GothicStirling

You aren't actually giving very much information about what actually happened. Personally, I would be more concerned about whether there where any horses in the box. If there was, I'm sure that the other party will have called out a vet, and I promise you vets bills for horses aren't cheap, so expect a legal claim.

Vehicles towing a horse box can only travel between 40-50 miles an hour, and on a country road I doubt it was that. Doubt that they will accept responsibility, at best would be a 50/50.

gwernybwch

DUTR wrote: »

All what you have written is based on your account of events, indeed the other party may have conflicting accounts.
In between there is what really happened and the probability of what may have happened.

I don't know what to make of that comment!

Of course she may have a conflicting account. Of course the witness may have a different perspective. In the fullness of time I will find out what she believed to have happened.

What I'm looking for is advice on what I should be doing now in order to best protect myself should she claim that it was a no fault accident.

FutureGirl

I am guessing you were oncoming in relation to her vehicle?

It's important to remember that it really isn't about what actually happened - it is about what each person can prove happened.

In relation to her driving too fast - you won't be able to prove this, it is just your opinion. Similarly, even though there are skid marks on the road - how can you prove they came from her vehicle?

I assume that you are alleging that she braked, skidded, and has lost control causing some part of her vehicle to come into your lane, hence why you swerved to avoid?

If the witness doesn't want to cooperate and provide a written statement (which happens quite a lot) then liability will most likely settle on a split basis meaning you're both held at fault.

Similarly even if the witness does provide a statement, depending on what they say, it could still go against you. I have seen this happen a few times.

The only thing you can do is tell your insurer the truth, and the facts. No you thinks, and make no assumptions - that is all you can do. Unless you can find CCTV in that area, or have a dash cam. Your insurer will deal with it.

I would also avoid contacting the witness any further.

gwernybwch

Thanks. That's a really useful post.

FutureGirl wrote: »

I am guessing you were oncoming in relation to her vehicle?

It's important to remember that it really isn't about what actually happened - it is about what each person can prove happened.

In relation to her driving too fast - you won't be able to prove this, it is just your opinion. Similarly, even though there are skid marks on the road - how can you prove they came from her vehicle?

I assume that you are alleging that she braked, skidded, and has lost control causing some part of her vehicle to come into your lane, hence why you swerved to avoid?

I hadn't really thought of it from a "what I can actually prove happened" perspective. I took a photo and the skid marks that follow up to her vehicle, which might help. I agree that I won't be able to easily prove that she was driving too fast (for the road).

Yes, the brake, skidding, losing control is an accurate description. Ironically if she had stopped braking and tried to steer around me I think that she could have done it. Although I think that she would have hit the car behind me then!

FutureGirl wrote: »

If the witness doesn't want to cooperate and provide a written statement (which happens quite a lot) then liability will most likely settle on a split basis meaning you're both held at fault.

Similarly even if the witness does provide a statement, depending on what they say, it could still go against you. I have seen this happen a few times.

It was the witness that pointed out the skid marks to me and said "I've stepped them out. It is over 30 yards" and gave me one of those looks. Although I suspect that the witness won't want to get involved; it is a rural community "where everybody knows everybody".

So from what I'm hearing that if she isn't going to admit liability it is going to be hard proving it.

Any advice on how I can improve my case, gratefully accepted!

Norman_Castle

If possible take photographs of the skid marks with reference points for measurement. If they are 30 yards long that suggests excessive speed or faulty brakes on either the vehicle or trailer.

Insurers do state not to admit liability so she is following their advice. This doesn't mean she will be dishonest about what happened.

For future reference take the name and address of the driver and registered keeper if different and as take as many photographs as possible.

Hopefully the witness will be willing to make a statement. One did for me years ago which made a big difference.

unforeseen

You would struggle to argue successfully that a set of skidmarks that were photographed the day after an accident were from one of the vehicles involved especially as there is no reference such as the vehicle being in the picture or other definite independent evidence

DUTR

gwernybwch wrote: »

I don't know what to make of that comment!

Of course she may have a conflicting account. Of course the witness may have a different perspective. In the fullness of time I will find out what she believed to have happened.

What I'm looking for is advice on what I should be doing now in order to best protect myself should she claim that it was a no fault accident.

Perhaps you should write down an account of what you beleived happened (without the emotional drama bits included) , look at it another way, if the time it took you to halt meant you ended up off the carraigeway, then it could also be deemed you were travelling to fast for the unexpected. From what I understand horesboxes are quite high and are visible from some distance. Country lanes are more a place to expect the unexpected. I would imagine anyone towing (especially animals) would be acting more wary and not with impunity. Is this a section of road you use regularly?
As you can see there are lots of questions to be resolved and it's not an attack on your account.

force_ten

from your description i would say that where the accident happened the road was not wide enough for 2 vehicles to safely pass, and there is a good chance that it was a 60 mph area as well

There are many cases on narrow roads where the insurer just opts for Knock for Knock rather than trying to decide which party was at fault

gwernybwch

Norman_Castle wrote: »

If possible take photographs of the skid marks with reference points for measurement. If they are 30 yards long that suggests excessive speed or faulty brakes on either the vehicle or trailer.

Insurers do state not to admit liability so she is following their advice. This doesn't mean she will be dishonest about what happened.

For future reference take the name and address of the driver and registered keeper if different and as take as many photographs as possible.

I did a photo from the start of the skid marks showing my car in the background, so hopefully that will help.

I had heard about the 'don't accept liability thing' before, so that didn't particularly perturb me at the time. It was just how she acted after that gave me a bad feeling.

TBH: I've been driving for over 30 years and this is the first time that I've been in an accident, so didn't think about taking addresses etc at the time. Hopefully I won't be in the situation where I need to think about those things again!

DUTR wrote: »

Perhaps you should write down an account of what you beleived happened (without the emotional drama bits included) , look at it another way, if the time it took you to halt meant you ended up off the carraigeway, then it could also be deemed you were travelling to fast for the unexpected. From what I understand horesboxes are quite high and are visible from some distance. Country lanes are more a place to expect the unexpected. I would imagine anyone towing (especially animals) would be acting more wary and not with impunity. Is this a section of road you use regularly?
As you can see there are lots of questions to be resolved and it's not an attack on your account.

I hadn't even thought about writing everything down from my perspective! I'll do that shortly.
Again, good suggestion regarding the height of the horsebox.

Regarding anyone towing animals driving more wary, without giving too much information, I know where she was going and I know that she was already late, which all adds to me believing that she wasn't driving at an appropriate speed.