Another crash advice

Involved in a small tip this morning,
My car came out the worst of it.
I will put my hands up right now and say i crashed into the back of someone so my fault.
my self and the car in front over taking a truck on 3 lane road.
Car in front goes to move into the outside lane BUT has not seen a car coming up in that lane (possibly no lights on).
He cops the car and jams on stopping dead between lanes.
I feel I hit the breaks as hard as I could but he couldn't be avoided.
have I any case at all ?

Toyotafanboi

If he couldn't see the road ahead well enough to overtake then you definitely couldn't. Unfortunate though but I think you're snookered here.

frozenfrozen

my first reaction is you have no case, you should have had enough distance from the car in front to react to the unexpected

did the car in front actually make it into the other lane and then change back into the lane you were in or did he just straddle both lanes? If he completely left the lane you were in and then moved back in front of you there could be some sort of split for fault I suppose?

I was the N7 so 3 lanes.
He aborted his maneuver and stopped dead on the road.

seamus

You might have a case given that he came to a dead stop as opposed to slowing down or just moving back in.

If I have the facts right, you and the other vehicle were behind a truck, thinking about overtaking. As the car in front of you began his overtake, another vehicle came up, overtaking both of you. The car in front of you jammed on and came to a dead stop, and you hit the back of him.

Is that correct?

I would certainly report it to the Gardai. His behaviour is careless if nothing else.

Yes, you should have left more distance between the two vehicles, but coming to a complete stop unnecessarily is a scenario where I've heard of people successfully appealing the usual "guy at the back is at fault" rule.

Could it have been an insurance scam? If the 3rd car came from behind you, then it could be a set-up to force you to crash into the car in front.

Coming to a dead stop on the N7 is beyond ridiculous either way which should result in a prosecution. Unless of course it was slow-moving traffic.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Sounds as if you are liable from your description. Report it to your insurer and leave it to them. Direct the 3rd party to your insurer and don't get in to any discussion on the accident

I cant edit the dash cam footage from work but looks like a ton of things happened all at once that resulted in me hitting him.
I'll post it later.

if nothing we can have a roundabout debate

chris445

Very hard to guess what has happened here but I read the following:

You were both travelling in centre lane overtaking a truck in the left lane.
The car in front attempted to move into the right lane but noticed a car coming already in that lane (in the same direction) and stopped dead between lanes.
Did the car in the right lane squeeze past or did they have to stop too?
Was there any cars behind you at the time?

Sounds to me like it could have caused a huge pile up if the road was busy.

Very hard to guess what has happened here but I read the following:

You were both travelling in centre lane overtaking a truck in the left lane.

yes

The car in front attempted to move into the right lane but noticed a car coming

yes

already in that lane (in the same direction) and stopped dead between lanes.

yes

Did the car in the right lane squeeze past or did they have to stop too?

cant say but i think he continued

Was there any cars behind you at the time?

I think there was

Sounds to me like it could have caused a huge pile up if the road was busy.

for sure.

Your going to have to see the dash cam on this one but looks like i dont have a case anyways.not the end of the world or anything

gonko

BrownFinger wrote: »

Involved in a small tip this morning,
My car came out the worst of it.
I will put my hands up right now and say i crashed into the back of someone so my fault.
my self and the car in front over taking a truck on 3 lane road.
Car in front goes to move into the outside lane BUT has not seen a car coming up in that lane (possibly no lights on).
He cops the car and jams on stopping dead between lanes.
I feel I hit the breaks as hard as I could but he couldn't be avoided.
have I any case at all ?

Lights has nothing to do with it. Idiots on the M50 chop and change lanes as soon as they activate the indicator. There are no checks, just reactions.

He took evasive action for his poor move and avoided a collision. You unfortunately didn't manage to rescue your poor move. Trailing a car in an overtaking move is about the stupidest thing you can do......but I do see it too regularly.

You have no case at all. You rear ended him and were clearly too eager and close to him.

Brush yourself down and take it on the chin and learn from it.

gonko

seamus wrote: »

You might have a case given that he came to a dead stop as opposed to slowing down or just moving back in.

If I have the facts right, you and the other vehicle were behind a truck, thinking about overtaking. As the car in front of you began his overtake, another vehicle came up, overtaking both of you. The car in front of you jammed on and came to a dead stop, and you hit the back of him.

Is that correct?

I would certainly report it to the Gardai. His behaviour is careless if nothing else.

.

His behavior was stupid (similar to 60% of M50 clowns in rush hour), but he managed to avoid a collision. The OP was clearly driving too close and too eagerly and went into the back of him, and could have caused a pile up.

Trailing another car overtaking, the lead car managed to spot the hazard, but OP didn't, clearly turned off the brain and only focused on the lead car he was trying to overtake with.... and bang.

Lets not try dress it up. Stuff like this happens. Learn from it.

gonko

gonko wrote: »

You unfortunately didn't manage to rescue your poor move. Trailing a car in an overtaking move is about the stupidest thing you can do......but I do see it too regularly.

You have no case at all. You rear ended him and were clearly too eager and close to him.

9 whole posts before a keyboard worrier showed up.
must be a new record for boards.ie

I was about to post the dashcam footage but couldn't be ringed now.

seagull

Put it up. That way the rest of us can decide based on the evidence presented.

colm_mcm

Unfortunately, the last bit of gonko has posted is what it comes down to. You didn’t anticipate what was about to happen for whatever reason. Stopping distance at 100kmph is around 50 to 70 metres. The distances most drivers leave on dual carriageways isn’t nearly enough to allow for the car in front having better brakes, driver not reacting in time to brake lights etc. I’m not being preachy but your priority is to not hit the car in front no matter what happens the car in front, and this is how the insurance company will see it.

gonko

BrownFinger wrote: »

9 whole posts before a keyboard worrier showed up.
must be a new record for boards.ie

I was about to post the dashcam footage but couldn't be ringed now.

You can call me a keyboard warrior all you want.
Yeah because its going to show you driving like a rag too close and tail overtaking with no idea of what is going on around you.

You wont learn from this, your already in denial that you messed up.
Tell yourself any excuses you want. You didn't anticipate and clearly didn't spot the car in the right lane, so you messed up twice.

I'm just glad you didn't cause a pile up .
Some more patience shown and this would have been avoided. The other lad is a fool too, he clearly failed to spot the car till the last minute. You didn't spot it at all!!!!

tossy

gonko wrote: »

your already in denial that you messed up.

BrownFinger wrote: »

I will put my hands up right now and say i crashed into the back of someone so my fault.

:rolleyes:

Jog on.

cml387

Never mind the "experts" on here op, put up the footage.
It does seem from your description that you may have a case.

gonko

I don't mean to be a Ar$e about it. Put up the footage. Who know's...maybe I am wrong. Sure I've had a few like this myself. Not claiming to be a master driver.

Sorry for causing offence

lawred2

BrownFinger wrote: »

Involved in a small tip this morning,
My car came out the worst of it.
I will put my hands up right now and say i crashed into the back of someone so my fault.
my self and the car in front over taking a truck on 3 lane road.
Car in front goes to move into the outside lane BUT has not seen a car coming up in that lane (possibly no lights on).
He cops the car and jams on stopping dead between lanes.
I feel I hit the breaks as hard as I could but he couldn't be avoided.
have I any case at all ?

what sort of driving is that?

lawred2

gonko wrote: »

His behavior was stupid (similar to 60% of M50 clowns in rush hour), but he managed to avoid a collision. The OP was clearly driving too close and too eagerly and went into the back of him, and could have caused a pile up.

Trailing another car overtaking, the lead car managed to spot the hazard, but OP didn't, clearly turned off the brain and only focused on the lead car he was trying to overtake with.... and bang.

Lets not try dress it up. Stuff like this happens. Learn from it.

stopping dead in the middle of the road is what causes pileups - not the first car to fail to stop before a stopped car.

Why couldn't he have just kept going in the lane which he was in? Why the dead stop?

It seems likely that the OP was too close and driving too fast to handle the situation so both at fault in my opinion. The law/insurers mightn't see it that way.

@OP - did the guards come?

gonko

lawred2 wrote: »

what sort of driving is that?

Did the OP see the car coming from behind too?
I'd be interested to learn from this myself as to how it all went down, and maybe take away pointers myself.

bear1

Jesus lads before people jump down his throat wait for the video evidence.
It will tell us everything.
Op fire it up and then it can be debated, if it's like you said and you simply couldn't avoid it then potentially you've a case.

Gorgeousgeorge

BrownFinger wrote: »

9 whole posts before a keyboard worrier showed up.
must be a new record for boards.ie

I was about to post the dashcam footage but couldn't be ringed now.

But the poster is absolutley spot on.

1983ish

This actually happened today around 1pm on the m50 between red cow and Lucan heading northbound.
I’m in lane 1(of 3 not the filter lane) doing around 90kph and gaining on an artic in lane 2 who has pulled out to overtake. All of a sudden the artic driver hits the brakes and comes to a complete stop in the middle of lane 2. I couldn’t see what he stopped for as I was on the inside and presume the same for drivers on the outside.
Turned out to be a roll of underlay for wood floors that fell off a builders providers truck.
I drive artics myself and can understand why he didn’t drive over it but it just goes to show you have to expect the unexpected. Tailbacks for miles I’d say as it was quite busy.
I wonder would most people blame the artic driver in this situation?
OP let’s have a look at the dash cam footage as it would clear up a lot of speculation