Who is at fault?

murtle1981

My other half had a prang in the car this evening but I want to know who is at fault here as the other driver was getting quite aggravated at the scene. He was adamant it was the other halfs fault as he hit him BUT the other driver was turning where he shouldn't have been turning...ill explain.
So the other half has pulled up to a junction, with a stop sign, behind another vehicle. The junction is a very bad junction where you always have to continue to look right as its a 40mph road and also the brow of a hill.
The other driver has pulled out and turned left.
My other half was also turning left.
When it was the other halfs turn to go, the road to the right was clear.
So hes pulled out and hit the other car almost instantly who had been in front of him. Other half was still in first gear doing approx 5mph - 10mph if that.
The other car was stationary almost diagonally across the left hand lane and the middle filter lane (when I say middle filter lane, it is for drivers coming from the left (back down the hill)and for right turns only into the road my other half had just pulled out of).
The guy had literally pulled left out of the junction and tried to turn right immediately across 3 lanes to turn right to get into a pub car park! ) He had to stop because of oncoming traffic from the left. He had no indicators on either. There are hazard lines seperating all 3 lanes.
The usual rule of this road is to go up to the mini rounsabout at the top and go all way round it and back on yourself and turn left into the pub. But hes tried cutting across
Had the oncoming traffic been in the filter lane, he would have got hit from the front and back! Or they woukd have had to swerve to avoud him. He gave my other half no time at all to brake in time.
Its really hard to explain to please excuse me. Be a lot easier to draw a diagram!

Tiexen

If you run into the back of the vehicle in front its your fault.
He could have stopped for any reason, but like at roundabouts you need to take that last look before moving forward.

paddedjohn

He hit a stationary vehicle so it's his fault.

Car_54

paddedjohn wrote: »

He hit a stationary vehicle so it's his fault.

I agree with the above.

BTW the “usual rule of the road” is that you do NOT do u-turns at mini-roundabouts.

The_Fat_Controller

Agree with all the above, he ran into the back of the other vehicle because he wasn't paying attention, entirely his fault.

JamoLew

Always check both ways before pulling out of a junction.

It might have been a car overtaking coming towards him that he hit rather than a stationary vehicle.

The "usual rule of this road" has no legal standing or requirement. It's just something locals do as its safer. Anyone navigating that junction for the first time wouldn't be expected to know this.

100% your OHs fault

Arklight

So he was looking right while turning left and therefore hit something he didn't see?

As it goes a guy I used to work with years and years ago fought a long protracted battle against his own insurance company, and a second driver, for something similar. He was turning left while looking right and went smack into an oncoming driver who had decided to drive on the wrong side of the road. Both cars were written off and he was fairly severely injured. He also carried injuries that effected his ability to work and left him in constant pain.

The insurers wanted to put it as his fault, then 50:50. He eventually found something in the Highway Code of the time (in the 90s) saying that you should look right when turning left. Apparently they then gave it to him, perhaps as he'd already made a royal pain of himself.

He claimed that the wording changed after that and he would no longer have won if it had happened again. In any case I don't think OP's other half is anything other than to blame.

TL: DR - The other car was there to see so your husband should have seen it and stopped.

Jonesya

Can understand your other half sat at the turning looking right to spot a gap in the traffic, but once he sees a gap surely he moves his head round to look out the windscreen as he moves off, to see what's in front of him?

In this case it was a car but equally it could be someone crossing the road, a vehicle from the other direction turning across the road, anything.

Sounds like they made a simple mistake, a lapse in their observation when moving off.

neilmcl

I'd have to agree with everyone here, 100% your OH's fault.

It happened to me many years back, at a busy junction turning right, car in front went, I was concentrating on the oncoming traffic from my left and pulled out assuming the driver in front had gone, he had a change of mind and I hit him. Totally my fault and luckily the only damage was to my own car. Your OH should take it on the chin and I bet he won't make the same mistake again.