Car accident

jack842

Last week i was involved in an accident when i was performing an illegal uturn and a motorbike (performing an illegal overtake) crashed into my drivers door.

Thankfully no one injured. Guards came and told me i would get 1 penalty point for the illegal u turn and 2 penalty points for careless driving. He also requested my dash cam footage.

Is the accident 100% my fault or does the biker bear some blame for the illegal overtake? How would the insurance company view this?
Is there any point in not giving the dashcam footage to either the guards or insurance company? Self incrimination and all that.



Thanks

Henry Ford III

Depends on how much blame can be fairly attributed to the biker I suppose.

Blanchy90

Was it a solid white line or broken? How fast was traffic moving?

Sir Galahad

What made the motorcyclists overtake illegal ? Is it your view or the garda's view ? As a retired Insurance Broker (35 years) I'll guess you are guilty. But on the upside the biker was not injured and you have insurance to cover the damage to his bike . . his clothing and his helmet (if it was damaged). The "Lifesaver" is not used by car drivers, so next time you are turning in ANY direction look around OVER your shoulder left and right. This way you will see whats in your blind spot on both sides. The Lifesaver is taught to Gardai in the motorcycle school and in the UK. As for the dash cam, the Garda is giving you the points and points for "careless driving" so it's a done deal. Just give it over. Clock it up to experience and again sleep well knowing the biker will be with his family friends this weekend and not another statistic.

GBX

Sir Galahad wrote: »

What made the motorcyclists overtake illegal ? Is it your view or the garda's view ? As a retired Insurance Broker (35 years) I'll guess you are guilty. But on the upside the biker was not injured and you have insurance to cover the damage to his bike . . his clothing and his helmet (if it was damaged). The "Lifesaver" is not used by car drivers, so next time you are turning in ANY direction look around OVER your shoulder left and right. This way you will see whats in your blind spot on both sides. The Lifesaver is taught to Gardai in the motorcycle school and in the UK. As for the dash cam, the Garda is giving you the points and points for "careless driving" so it's a done deal. Just give it over. Clock it up to experience and again sleep well knowing the biker will be with his family friends this weekend and not another statistic.

He is already in a statistic bracket. He was involved in an accident regardless of the overtake, caused by a driver who made an illegal turn.

ED E

jack842 wrote: »

Is there any point in not giving the dashcam footage to either the guards or insurance company? Self incrimination and all that.

That applies to your own testimony.

To not give it over now the gard knows it exists would have you up for obstruction.

Effects

Sir Galahad wrote: »

The "Lifesaver" is not used by car drivers, so next time you are turning in ANY direction look around OVER your shoulder left and right. This way you will see whats in your blind spot on both sides.

I thought checking your blind spots before turning was a pretty basic foundation while learning to drive?
I know someone who was even told by their instructor to make sure their head movement is noticeable to the tester.

honda boi

Hard to tell blame as none of us where there to see how it happened, solid line,broken line ,speed?
Regarding the penalty points I thought you would only get the points from only one of the things you were caught doing. So 2 points from careless driving and 1 for illegal turn would mean you only get the careless driving points?

Del2005

honda boi wrote: »

Hard to tell blame as none of us where there to see how it happened, solid line,broken line ,speed?
Regarding the penalty points I thought you would only get the points from only one of the things you were caught doing. So 2 points from careless driving and 1 for illegal turn would mean you only get the careless driving points?

You can't enter an already occupied lane, the legality of the person being in the lane is a separate matter for the Gardaí/DPP.

jack842

Sir Galahad wrote: »

What made the motorcyclists overtake illegal ? Is it your view or the garda's view ?




The biker was overtaking through hatch markings with a solid white line.
The garda told me he would look at the bikers overtake and issue him with points also if he wasn't inside the white line.

emeldc

jack842 wrote: »

Sir Galahad wrote: »

What made the motorcyclists overtake illegal ? Is it your view or the garda's view ?




The biker was overtaking through hatch markings with a solid white line.
The garda told me he would look at the bikers overtake and issue him with points also if he wasn't inside the white line.

How is the dash cam going to show what the biker did or is the cam facing backwards.
Can the Guard assume careless driving or does it have to go to court.

Killinator

emeldc wrote: »

How is the dash cam going to show what the biker did or is the cam facing backwards.
Can the Guard assume careless driving or does it have to go to court.

Careless driving (S.52) is a summons or charge so it goes to court anyway. This was probably a FCN for Inconsiderate Driving (S.51(a))

Careless driving is not a FCN offence to the best of my knowledge
If he does not pay the fine for Inconsiderate Driving then it will go to court.

The Garda can issue an FCN based on his/her observations and witness statements at the scene

Effects

jack842 wrote:

The biker was overtaking through hatch markings with a solid white line.
The garda told me he would look at the bikers overtake and issue him with points also if he wasn't inside the white line.

I'd say regardless of the biker breaking any laws, if you were taking an illegal U turn as described then you should have been watching out for anything coming from that direction.

slave1

ED E wrote: »

That applies to your own testimony.

To not give it over now the gard knows it exists would have you up for obstruction.

Really, and to what statute does that speak to?

9935452

jack842 wrote: »

Last week i was involved in an accident when i was performing an illegal uturn and a motorbike (performing an illegal overtake) crashed into my drivers door.

Thankfully no one injured. Guards came and told me i would get 1 penalty point for the illegal u turn and 2 penalty points for careless driving. He also requested my dash cam footage.

Is the accident 100% my fault or does the biker bear some blame for the illegal overtake? How would the insurance company view this?
Is there any point in not giving the dashcam footage to either the guards or insurance company? Self incrimination and all that.



Thanks

My advice to you is to talk to a solicitor and dont pass on the footage to the guard and dont make a statement.
If it goes to court for careless driving they will use your statement and possibly your footage against you.

biko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puK5CwThaq4