Hipothetical situation - crash with stationary car.

CiniO

As far as I heard, if someone crashes into stationary car, he/she will always be the one to blame.

I had a situation today which luckily ended without harm, but was very close.

I was travelling on narrow country road without any roadmarkings. The road is of a width where two vehicles travelling opposite directions can pass each other with a little bit of spare space. It's kinda busy road, and usually drivers would do about 60km/h passing each other with no problems and without a need for slowing down.
While I was approaching, another car came in from the left side from little side road. Obviously I had a right of way, but the other driver probably thought that I was far enough and turned right into the main road to go towards me.

In the first moment I thought that it's a bit close, and considering there's very little traffic, he could have waited until I pass. But anyway - there was enough of space for him to emerge into main road.
What surprised me then, was that this driver instead of getting into left side of the road to pass with me, emerged into the middle of the road, and when he saw me approaching, he slammed on the brakes and stopped. All above from the moment he started emerging from secondary road into main road until the moment he stopped lasted maybe 5 seconds.
It made me in the position, where I was coming at some speed towards a car stopped in the middle of the road. It was too late for me to stop, so I had to get on the grass and almost hitting the rocks on the left pass him leaving an inch or maybe less space between our vehicles.

Question is - If I have tipped him while passing - would it be my fault?

Below a diagram how it looked like:

corktina

well in MY version, he would still have been moving if I hit him...

Henry Ford III

Hypothetically it would have been their fault.

p.s. I think you are confusing a stationary vehicle with a parked one.

OldmanMondeo

I would say the car moving would always be at fault, since that car is not moving, it can not crash into anything, where as a car approaching it could. This of course would leave your car parked in a dangerous & stupid position, on a blind bend, the outside lane of the M50 etc...

Seasoft

You were not at fault. Other driver was not parked, as said by Henry Ford III. Imagine if all accidents were judged by who stopped first...

It's amazing how many drivers are unable to judge the distance from the car to the roadside, poor spatial skills.

stevenmu

Definitely not your fault. In this case the car moved into your path causing the (hypothetical) crash and wouldn't count as being stationary, even though it was stationary when you both (hypothetically) collided.

OldmanMondeo

Now that I read your post, he was at fault.

-Chris-

Did you adjust your driving at all during the 5 seconds between him leaving the side road and you having to take to the grass verge to avoid him?

Legally he's nearly definitely in the wrong, but do you have a responsibility to try and avoid the incident?

mullingar

OP had possession of the road, other driver came into it. Other driver at fault.

However, you may have a partial blame if the roads did not suit the speed at which you were driving!!

CiniO

-Chris- wrote: »

Did you adjust your driving at all during the 5 seconds between him leaving the side road and you having to take to the grass verge to avoid him?

Legally he's nearly definitely in the wrong, but do you have a responsibility to try and avoid the incident?

To be honest, in first moment when he started moving off from secondary road I thought it was a bit close, so I released accelerator and maybe braked a little bit (I can't remember).
But whenever I saw he made a quick acceleration and already was on the main road heading the other direction I was travelling (towards me) I put my leg on accelerator again, as I couldn't imagine he will end up in the middle of the road stopped in next 2 seconds.
Then when he did it, I didn't have time anymore for braking, because I had to concentrate to avoid my vehicle from falling into the ditch while passing him partly on the grass.

I didn't reveal one fact (which might be important) but I didn't want anyone to be suggested by it before I got some answers from you - I was driving 50 seater coach, which is 2.5m wide.
I think that was the reason why the other driver stopped, as he get afraid there was not enough space to pass (even there was as road was wide enough). If he stopped on the left side of the road - not in the middle - there would be absolutely no problem.

Esel

I'm not an insurance / liability expert, and so my opinion is effectively worthless, but I always thought that a stationary vehicle is not at fault. That's probably a very simplistic opinion, though....

Say you stalled in the middle of an intersection, and subsequently get T-boned. Who is at fault there?