Accident !

locteau

Hi Guys,

I need some advices. this is my story.

I was driving at normal speed on a road I know. There is a 90 degree turn, which I am used too. Yesterday, in this turn I saw about 7 people on the left inside of the turn looking at the opposite side where a car went straight into the field, in the action, in the time of 2/ 3seconds I realise that just after the 90 degree turn about 15m a car was parked there (nobody inside) and went into it.

Nobody was hurt, which is the great, I do know the "rule" if you in the back of someone you are responsable, but the law also says that you can not park in a corner, turn etc... especially when there is a white line. This can be consider as careless driving and me can be consider as dangerous driving from what I understood.

The car I went into was a young man in a small car/van who just passed his driving licence. we both insured etc...

This young man was basically a friend following the first car who went off the road and left his car just after this turn. There was no way I could have seen the car betwen the first accident and all those people.

Finally I hit the car and moved it off about 2m, and mine car stop 3m after this. So I was not speeding.

Any thought are welcome.

Big Wave

He shouldn't have been parked there, IMO - a blind corner on a narrow road. What did the Gardaí & your Insurance say?

I do know the "rule" if you in the back of someone you are responsable

Irrelevant here, as that only applies to keeping a safe distance - he was stationary, and blocking the road. That still doesn't make you blameless, but that particular rule doesn't apply in this case as it's not as if he was driving in front of you and braked, and you hit him.

locteau

Guards, did not want to discuss this, he said that it will be up to the insurance, there is no physical damage. But the second guard said that I could be charge for dangerous driving, which I think was a wee bit much because I was not speeding and the situation was particular, you don't find an empty car parked after a 90 degree bend everyday, but I suppose it was doing his job. Never had an accident in 10years in Ireland.

Guy:Incognito

locteau wrote: »

Guards, did not want to discuss this, he said that it will be up to the insurance, there is no physical damage. But the second guard said that I could be charge for dangerous driving, which I think was a wee bit much because I was not speeding and the situation was particular, you don't find an empty car parked after a 90 degree bend everyday, but I suppose it was doing his job. Never had an accident in 10years in Ireland.

Thing is though, you have to be able to stop in time. Theres lots of reasons there could be a stationary car around a blind bend, you have to be travelling at a speed to allow for that. The guy that carshed could have ended up in the middle of the road blocking it, whuch then backed traffic up to just before the bend on his side. That could happen at any stage.

peasant

You saw 7 people by the side of the road (even had enough time to count them) just at a dangerous corner, yet it never occured to you that something dangerous may be going on there?

Count yourself lucky that you only hit a stationary car round that bend and not an 8th or 9th pedestrian.

Yes, the parked car shouldn't have parked there and the insurance will probably attribute some blame for that ...still, count your blessings and learn from this.

LoveDucati2

peasant wrote: »

You saw 7 people by the side of the road (even had enough time to count them) just at a dangerous corner, yet it never occured to you that something dangerous may be going on there?

Count yourself lucky that you only hit a stationary car round that bend and not an 8th or 9th pedestrian.

Yes, the parked car shouldn't have parked there and the insurance will probably attribute some blame for that ...still, count your blessings and learn from this.

I agree with peasant on this.

If you see that many people on a 90 degree bend, STOP.

How fast could you have been going around the 90 degree bend.

MagicMarker

Are you saying that the people standing there distracted you?

Why do you need to involve insurance companies if there was no physical damage to the cars? What exactly is the problem?

BoardsRanger

peasant wrote: »

You saw 7 people by the side of the road (even had enough time to count them) just at a dangerous corner, yet it never occured to you that something dangerous may be going on there?

Count yourself lucky that you only hit a stationary car round that bend and not an 8th or 9th pedestrian.

Yes, the parked car shouldn't have parked there and the insurance will probably attribute some blame for that ...still, count your blessings and learn from this.

+1 on the above

From what it sounds like, it appears your rubbernecking caused your accident. If you went around a 90degree bend, IMO you should be going slow enough to see and avoid a car parked 15 meters after the bend.

Jeapy

If there were 7 people standing there looking, one of them should really have made hand signals to let you know you should slow down considerably or stop i would think. So were the cars damaged?

Jaysoose

BoardsRanger wrote: »

+1 on the above

From what it sounds like, it appears your rubbernecking caused your accident. If you went around a 90degree bend, IMO you should be going slow enough to see and avoid a car parked 15 meters after the bend.

+1000000000000000000

david

"When you encounter a blind bend/brow of hill where you cannot see what is ahead, you should travel at a suitable speed that allows you to control/stop your vehicle should you encounter an obstruction"

Rubbernecking would not help here. There are many country roads with 80km/h limits that have dangerous stretches.

locteau

Guys,

I off course did not count the people when I was driving I count them after the crash, from the pictures taken.

Off course when I came to the turn I slow down when I saw the other car, but when you have an accident and see people on your left, a car crashed on the right, and you drive at 50km/h maximum (this is an approximation I was not looking at my clock off course) it takes 1.08sec to brake 15m from the speed calculated on the day.

by No physical damaged I meant (human) the two cars are front and back damage.

I don't try to avoid anything, just want to know what people think, the value of the cars is not my concern, my concern is paying more insurance for it. Because I own more than one vehicule and could be a disaster for me.

By the way the reason for the first crash was that this corner was just redone with shipping stones and I know the guards complain there was no signage for it and that it was difficult to brake into the turn.

peasant

locteau wrote: »

... but when you have an accident and see people on your left, a car crashed on the right, and you drive at 50km/h ...

... then you're driving too fast, as you just found out.

locteau

Did you read what I said :

"this is an approximation I was not looking at my clock off course"

maybe I was at 20 or 30km/h I never was blaimed for the speed. The question here, is that is teh second car was allow to be stopped in a 15m zone of a corner like the RSA book says.

I do agree that I should have certainly be able to brake in time in normal conditions, and accept this.

guil

the other car shouldnt of bein there but as was already said, if ya see a lot people on a dangerous prepare for the worst

peasant

No ..the car wasn't supposed to be there and you weren't supposed to to hit it either ...but that's not the point.

The point is that you drove on a road that you know very well at the speed that you always drive it because by your experience this is a safe speed (because nothing has ever happened before) and while you're driving along as usual you notice something that normally isn't there, you know like people and a crahsed car and just like you're reading this now without a comma or a new paragraph you stuck you your same routine and "safe" speed without actually realising that
something extrodinary and dangerous was going on, normal rules are suspended and you had better

stop.

locteau

thanks that's more realistic and honest answer.

RLJ

locteau wrote: »

By the way the reason for the first crash was that this corner was just redone with shipping stones and I know the guards complain there was no signage for it and that it was difficult to brake into the turn.

you should drive at a speed where you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear. Al ot of people either do not know or ignoree that and they are tro be found tailgating in ice and other potential accidents to be. Not aimed at you OP, except the first sentence. Seems you were going too fast

locteau

Again, speed was not the issue, but I agree that you should always try to think ahead, which is what I would say in your position.

Stopping into the curve was not possible due teh shipping stone (RE: first accident).

My question is that this car was stop in a 15m zone of the bend and from the rules of the road says (I have the book in front of me) :

In yellow : "you must not park in any way which interferes with the normal flow of the traffic, or which obstructs or endangers other road users.

- you must never park at a corner, a bend, the brow of a hill or on a hump back bridge"

Also : "you must not stop or park :
- where there is a single or double continuous white line along the centre of the road"

I do agree with all of you, that to some extend, even in particular situatrion (accident, shipping stone not signed) I should have maybe more carefull, and accept this.

My question is about the second car which was not involved with teh first accident and should not have been parked and left in the 15m area of the bend.

guil

speed was obviously the issue if the road was only recently chipped

locteau

Not the road about 3/5m inside the corner.

You only see it when you came into the corner which was the problem for the first accident.

Anan1

OP - I do feel sorry for you, but at the end of the day you were going too fast to be able to stop in time. Just be thankful it was only a car and not a person you hit.

Deacon Blues

Don't mean to be picky but speed was most definately an issue. If you turned a blind corner and encountered an obstruction, and were unable to stop before hitting it, then you were going too fast. We all do it (otherwise any journey except on major roads and motorways would take forever), but 99,999 times out 100,000 we get away with it. You were the 100,000th. Another common mistake we all do is driving over your lights, by that I mean travelling fast enough at night so that your stopping distance is longer than the distance your headlights illuminate. We depend on the headlights of the oncoming car giving away their presence. Then we encounter the classic tractor pulling an unlit trailer heading in the same direction we're going.

Sorry, went off topic, but IMHO you were simply going to fast to stop in time. I'm not a judge, and it looks like there're lots if contributing factors, but you need to take some of the blame (IMO).

Any journey consists of a series of risk analyses, and how we survive it depends on how we use our skill, experience and knowledge to do the analysis. Plus a little luck. Take comfort in the fact that you've just given your experience a HUGE boost, with only a financial cost.

RLJ

locteau wrote: »

Again, speed was not the issue, .

you were unable to stop in the distance you could see to be clear so afraid it was speed. Hope you get sorted, not having a go at you but it was speed

RLJ

Deacon Blues wrote: »

. Another common mistake we all do is driving over your lights, by that I mean travelling fast enough at night so that your stopping distance is longer than the distance your headlights illuminate.

again not being able to stop in the distance we see to be clear. That would solve so many potentialaly dangerous situations and we can all get caught

locteau

ok guys, thanks for the discussion, it did clear up my mind a wee bit more.

I suppose I was thinking about fast speed, and like my partner says, it's not about been driving "mad fast" but drive in function of the situation.

And like you said guys, you should be able to stop as far as you can see.

Nobody was hurt, and again, paying teh repair for the other car was never the issue. You know the way something happen to you, and you see all those crazy drivers getting away with their dangerous driving, and you just crash for stupid things.

Thanks again, I needed to just clear up my mind.

RLJ

locteau wrote: »

ok guys, thanks for the discussion, it did clear up my mind a wee bit more.

I suppose I was thinking about fast speed, and like my partner says, it's not about been driving "mad fast" but drive in function of the situation.

And like you said guys, you should be able to stop as far as you can see.

Nobody was hurt, and again, paying teh repair for the other car was never the issue. You know the way something happen to you, and you see all those crazy drivers getting away with their dangerous driving, and you just crash for stupid things.

Thanks again, I needed to just clear up my mind.

Good luck , your attitude is very mature in accepting responsibility

locteau

well that's why it's good to ask advices. What we think does not mean we always right. And we all are lucky to be ok.

both cars where not too expensive (2k maybe !), I am just annoyed because I am usually drive carefully and drive about 70 000 miles a year in my job, first accident ever in 14 years, from France and other countries driving trucks, ambulances etc..., 10 years here never one scratch !

That's life I suppose.