Whose fault was it?

MrsE_2

I think a lot boils down to whether she was moving (however slowly) when you hit her.
If she was moving then she pulled across in front of you.
If she wasn't moving, then she was waiting for the road to clear. In which case you could have been at a safe distance when she started the turn, but as she was turning in she realised their was some sort of blockage & she couldn't pull in.

How far away were you when she started her turn?
What speed were you doing? Was it a 30 zone?

anewman

I wouldn't attempt to turn into a road unless it was clear, out of courtesy to other road users if nothing else. Not sure if it's illegal, but you have to expect the unexpected when driving unfortunately.

MrsE_2

anewman wrote: »

I wouldn't attempt to turn into a road unless it was clear, out of courtesy to other road users if nothing else. Not sure if it's illegal, but you have to expect the unexpected when driving unfortunately.

Of course.
But sometimes you are driving down normal residential streets & lots of cars parked either side & you don't have that great an angle or view as you turn & as you turn in someone opens a car door in front of you or steps onto the road or didn't see you turing in & pulls out.

Sometimes if the corner is angled backwards (YKWIM) you can't see the road till you start turning into it.

Thing is if you've gotta stop suddenly & someone hits you, its their fault. Its up to you not to go into anyone & its up to anyone else not to drive into you.
One of the few times you would get away with that is if they turn suddenly in front of your path.

MrsE_2

BallandChain wrote: »

Jeannie, this is going to sound bad but I had things on my mind at the time and OH said he thought the woman would feel intimidated if he got out of the car too.

Thank you to all who have replied and I'll just chalk this down to experience.

How far away were you when she started her turn?

Conor_3

victorias_dad wrote: »

In my opinion the driver of the 4x4 was at fault she cut across your path and stopped something you could not have predicted if this had happened to me i would have demanded an ambulance and a solicitor LOL how any driver of any experiance could claim otherwise worries me

The OP stated that there was a car in front of the 4x4 so she was stationary.
The OP admits not seeing the 4x4 even though it was behind the stationary car, was bigger than that car and also protruding into the lane.
The OP says the vehicle had made the turn and stopped.
This means that the OP completely missed a, in her own words, large 4x4 turning in front of her which had enough time to make the turn and come to a halt before the OP hit it. This illustrates with no doubt that the OP was paying absolutely no attention to what was going on in front of her because if she had, she'd have seen the 4x4 turning then stop.

I'm a professional driver doing 2000 miles a week with over 1.7 million miles points and accident free despite driving something that takes a lot more stopping and coming across this situation quite a lot. Are you gonna tell me I don't have a clue?

victorias_dad

Conor i did say it was my opinion, as for your driving record it is indeed impressive but im no novice either ive been driving 35 years (must take a break) lol but i only did 1000 1500 miles a week but with no accidents no insurance claims and no points im no fool either,

Happychappy

How do you now get to the stage where you now say she suddenly stopped ?

How did you work that one out when you didnt even see her ? just like you wouldnt have seen a pedestrian, how's public transport in your area, might be a safer alternative ?

cyclonebri1

Well I for one think the OP is getting a hard time here. She has made it perfectly clear from the 1st post what happened. To suggest that hitting a stationary vehicle automatically puts you in the wrong is blatantly not true. If you are following then yes, but if a vehicle is completing the 2nd most dangerous manouver in the book, then they need to ensure they give enough time/space for other traffic to avoid them.
If this went to insurance the OP would claim the vehicle turned accross her and failed to complete the manouver. It strikes me that if she hit the rear wheel of the 4x4 there must have been an awfull lot of it sticking out of the junction, and you don't hit 1/2 a 4x4 given a chance to avoid it.

Just my 2 pence worth;)

Badger_Lady

I think I understand the situation here and can summarise it thus:

- 4x4 driver was officially wrong to block the lane, i.e. she would fail her driving test for doing so

- OP drove into the 4x4 because she wasn't paying attention to the road ahead - there's no reason why she couldn't have slowed down and stopped in time to avoid the accident.

Therefore you both made mistakes in driving, but the accident is OP's "fault".

bunking_off

To answer the OP on the practicality of what to do : if she can find a local garage that does SMART repairs, it probably won't need a new bumper...depending where you are in the country, think of £tens rather than £hundreds.