Collision on roundabout

com1

I would like to hear some opinions on a collision I had on a roundabout. The roundabout in question has 3 lanes - left lane for the first exit, middle lane for straight ahead and right lane for 3rd exit. The traffic for straight ahead was stopped in the middle lane as the exit was congested. I proceeded in the right lane which was clear as I was taking the 3rd exit from the roundabout. I was on the roundabout when a car from the middle lane cut into the right lane and stopped right in front of me as they were going straight and the exit was congested. Of course I hit the brakes and tried to avoid them but as I had no where to go my left headlight mashed their rear bumper on the right... The question is who is at fault?

One amazing thing about it though was of all the traffic there not one person witnessed anything, even the driver of the car behind the one which pulled out in front of me.

JCDUB

As the old saying goes, if you run into the back of him, you're at fault.I would have thought that's how this will go.

However he did move into your lane while you were approaching and break fairly suddenly, so you'd be hard done by if you're at fault.

The flip side of the argument would be that you were driving too fast to react to the manoeuvres of another driver (however stupid they are.) It is your duty to be able to stop in time if a car in front of you stops suddenly.

I dunno, hard one to call, but if I were you I'd fight it if you're blamed..

Heroditas

Tough one.
By applying the letter of the law, you drove into the back of them so that puts you at fault. The lack of witnesses strengthens their case.
There should always be enough space for you to stop safely but as we all know, that's not always easy to maintain.

Regarding the lack of witnesses, it can easily happen on a roundabout when everyone is concentrating on when a gap might appear.
It's easy to be oblivious of other cars immediately around you.

This evening I was at a roundabout waiting to navigate it and was concentrating for ages watching the incoming traffic. When I finally got a gap and put the foot down, I got an awful scare when I saw a car right beside me on my left taking the second exit. We weren't even close to hitting each other but he point is that I was so zoned in on watching for the gap, I was oblivious to traffic on my left and behind me!

Bandara

you hit the back of him, your going to be hard pushed to avoid the blame. Also (from the way your wrote your explanation) the fact that he had enough time to pull out and pull completely in front of you and then stop would lead to believe that their was a gap there for him to do so, if it was a tight gap he'd have pulled across you and you'd have hit the front wing of his car.

trad

You must be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear. If the lane in front of you was clear and the collision was as a restult of the other motorist changing lanes it may well be the other motorists fault. When changing lanes you must yield to the traffic in the laane into which you intend to join.

Roundabouts are always messy and accidents are rarely clearcut.

Berty

Did the drive who pulled in front of you actually complete their manouveur or where they straddling both lanes?

If the driver failed to check their mirrors and pulled in front of you then it should be "driving without care and attention".

Tough one!

colm_mcm

It may not be as clear cut as that. It depends on how close he was to you when he stopped.
Why didn't you both call the guards?

com1

Thanks for the replies. By the way this happened a while ago and has been settled (as most suggested the driver behind is generally blamed). To answer some of the questions. The car got completely into the lane in front of me then hit the brakes (well they were still slightly diagonal but fully in the lane), in fairness I was fairly amazed at how quickly they got there as I could'nt have been more than a car and a half behind them (doing about 15-20 KPH) when they started the manoeuvre and yes I did react but obviously not quickly enough. Called the guards and they did'nt seem to want to be drawn on who was to blame, they just took statements and made sure nobody was injured. In the end of the day (and it was all settled by the end of that day) after the insurance companies got involved my insurance company paid for the other drivers bumper and did'nt hit my NCB as I did'nt claim for the damage to my car (€70 for a new headlight lens and a quick dab of touchup paint).

I learned a couple of things from my first accident in over 20 years of driving -
Its probably my fault (well according to the insurance company anyway)
You never forget swear words...

Cheers

The-Game

Glad to hear it got resolved without major inconvenience, did the driver who pulled in front of you put the blame solely on you when it happened or did he get out and accept some blame??

squod

If you had not used the breaks at all, would he have hit you do you think?

daveharnett

My sympathies OP. Roundabouts descend into such horrible chaos when they are overloaded, that it's really awfully difficult to determine fault after the fact.

And Limerick county council in their wisdom has started putting zebra crossings right at the exits!

BrianD3

If you had a forward facing camera in the car perhaps the insurance outcome would have been different. For such a small crash to be held fully liable for someone else's mistake is annoying - but it would be much worse if it had been a serious crash involving serious injury/death.

com1

Thanks for the replies. As was said it could have been alot worse. I reckon that if I had not reacted I probably would have hit them in the rear quarter panel but instinct took over to avoid the other car when I saw what they were doing. The other driver accepted no liability did'nt even acknowlege that they cut in front of me but did say that this sort of thing 'always' happens to them (they did'nt say that to the guards though). I suggested that the reason for that may be closer to home than they think... but I was'nt getting into a row over a small accident (after having rear-ended another car with no witnesses). Anyway its a lesson learned to always expect the unexpected from everybody else on the road