Roundabout accident, who's fault ?

prowla

If it was the 2nd exit, then the left lane would typically be for that one too, ie. marked left and straight.


If the left lane was marked for only the 1st exit then the OP changed lanes without being sure it was safe to do so.


If the left lane was marked left and the middle lane was marked left and straight, then the OP changed across 2 lanes to go straight.


Here's one where the middle lane is left and straight...


https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4008562,-0.74706,3a,75y,43.97h,78.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siSFjSbRKBbyv6i6kW4w4-A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DiSFjSbRKBbyv6i6kW4w4-A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D132.76842%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

matttye

AdrianC wrote: »

Your fault 100%.


Why he stopped is not relevant. You were clearly too close to react in time to him stopping.


In this case, though, it sounds as if his stopping was sensible - rather than gridlock the roundabout, he stopped in sufficient time to allow other traffic to continue to flow.

A couple of years ago I had a client who was interviewed by the police for driving without due care and attention after crashing into the back of someone who stopped in the middle of the road.

The complainant told police he thought he had seen an animal. My client got details of independent witnesses in the traffic queue behind her and provided them to police. They said they had seen nothing and the complainant appeared to have stopped for no reason whatsoever.

The police decided to take no further action because, even though my client was following too closely and should’ve left enough space to have had time to stop, the complainant appeared to be partly to blame for stopping randomly.

No idea if there was a civil claim and how that went but just thought I’d share!

stator

boliston wrote: »

I'm not really sure why a brake light would make any difference - surely people can see that a vehicle has stopped in front of them regardless of brake lights?

It takes a lot longer to react to a change in speed, it's not very noticable. A brake light is a lot easier to spot, that's why cars have them!

Car_54

The 3rd party was at fault for changing lanes without due care. In any case, when he saw a vehicle in the LH lane signalling right he should have held back since that driver’s actions were obviously unpredictable.

caprikid1

It all depends on how the lanes are lined / mapped out. The OP may have actually changed lanes by remaining on the inside lane as opposed to exiting the roundabout.


We certainly have roundabouts local to me where LH Lane is mapped out to go left, so continuing round would be a Lane change.

boliston

stator wrote: »

It takes a lot longer to react to a change in speed, it's not very noticable. A brake light is a lot easier to spot, that's why cars have them!

If a vehicle in front slows down you might not notice the change in speed but the fact that it is getting closer would surely be a dead give away.