Long Shot - anyone see an accident southbound on Yamba Dr/Erindale Drive Thurs 11 Jun at approx 17:50

jake555 said :

What idiot gave you that advice?

Jeez.. what’s your problem? Taking her to the police station to report the accident and getting her breath tested would have been a good idea (with her permission). Whether she was required to get a blood test or not after the fact is up to the cops..

Maybe take a couple of deep breaths before you blow your top on the interweb hey?

I would look at it the other way and say what idiot told you not to?

kieran AP said :

For Jake555: I was stationary or almost as I was inching forward. I was in a diesel. AS the line of cars cleared in front of me, it took me longer (diesel) to move forward than the other cars. Also, as I was entirely in the other lane but not perpendicular, eg on an angle, the hit from behind pushed me….wait for it…on to the median strip…which appears to be what I wrote above… I am grateful that no other vehicles/people were damaged.

Fair enough. All I wanted was some clarification. I agree with most, that if you were in the lane in sufficient time – her fault. If the lane change was dangerous, giving her insufficient time, your fault.

kieran AP said :

for your second question. I could have a. left her behind in the dark on the side of a 80 kmh road on a freezing night with no houses for miles with out a working phone or b. I could have taken her somewhere. I chose to take her home. I could have just as easily have taken her to the nearest police station or back about 5 km to the hospital and left the authorities to deal with it.

But thanks for asking the questions. Its people like you that make RA what it is.

You didn’t actually answer my second question, which was actually two questions:
1. What idiot gave you that advice?
2. Did you plan on restraining her while hospital staff took a blood sample?

What do you mean you “chose” to take her home? I’m guessing you offered to take her home and she accepted. If a stranger offered me a lift home, then began driving in the opposite direction, I’d be calling the Police.

Her mobile wasn’t working? Was that because she was using it at the time of the accident….?

Trouble is that it becomes their word agains yours if you have no witnesses. It could go either way with this, while most rear end accidents are the fault of the driver running up the back, if you pull out infront of another vehicle it will be your fault. Good luck with finding the witness.

Having said that, I’ve been cut off about 4 times tis week by people who just think they can pull straight into the other lane when they put their indicator on and not doing the speed limit.

Fairly common tactic by insurance companies, to send a claim letter to you in the hope you will pay it.

bubzie said :

darn, i would of drove past there like 15-20 mins later, sorry!

just curious bubzie, did you notice a car in the median strip in the middle or if in the left lane, 2 cars still on the side of the road. (Heading down the hill from mugga lane about 100m from Sulwood turn off???).

More importantly, did you see any police anywhere???

Kieran

For Jake555: I was stationary or almost as I was inching forward. I was in a diesel. AS the line of cars cleared in front of me, it took me longer (diesel) to move forward than the other cars. Also, as I was entirely in the other lane but not perpendicular, eg on an angle, the hit from behind pushed me….wait for it…on to the median strip…which appears to be what I wrote above… I am grateful that no other vehicles/people were damaged.

for your second question. I could have a. left her behind in the dark on the side of a 80 kmh road on a freezing night with no houses for miles with out a working phone or b. I could have taken her somewhere. I chose to take her home. I could have just as easily have taken her to the nearest police station or back about 5 km to the hospital and left the authorities to deal with it.

But thanks for asking the questions. Its people like you that make RA what it is.

darn, i would of drove past there like 15-20 mins later, sorry!

Igglepiggle said :

I waited until all the cars behind me had gone past and the right hand lane was clear. I then pulled out into the right hand lane. As there were the other cars in front of me merging from the left to right hand lane, I was left almost stationery in the right hand lane.

Just as the cars in front of me moved off I was rear ended. I didn’t hear the sound of brakes or anything, just a massive bang and my car was pushed approx 15 metres down the road and onto the median strip. I reported the accident to police on my mobile and then, as the lady who was driving was shaking badly and told me her mobile was not working so couldn’t get someone to come and get her, I took her home.

If there was a line of “almost stationary” cars directly in front of you (as were you), then how did your car get pushed 15 metres without hitting any other cars?

Igglepiggle said :

(I have since received advice that I should have taken her straight to Hospital/Police station for blood tests rather than home!)

What idiot gave you that advice? Did you plan on restraining her while hospital staff took a blood sample?

Unless there are injuries or the vehicles are unable to be moved from the road, Police usually don’t attend. The crash is just reported by both parties at a later time at a police station & the insurance companies figure it out from there.

Good luck Kieran. Glad to hear you’re alright.

Given how people ‘rubberneck’ at the slightest sign of a bingle, I am imagining that traffic was crawling around the scene of the original accident.

The ‘offender’ in accident 2 probably had her brain in sleep mode on her way home from work which is what tends to happen when you are driving the same route at the same time of day over and over again.

No excuse, she should have been paying attention to the road.

She got home and copped an earful from her significant other for being so careless, and then received advice on how to make it go away.

I was always under the impression that a direct hit up the backside is almost always the fault of the rear driver?

update: I was stopped or basically stationary or barely moving for I estimate about 10 -20 secs before the impact. As all the other cars were effectively between me and another accident they were somewhat hesitant in merging across, so I had to time to flash and then honk twice to let them know it was safe to merge into right hand lane.

I know it is in the hands of the insurance company and they have seen the photos of damage…fair square up the clacker!!! (no side/glancing anything just straight into the back of me!) and are supporting me. What annoys me the most is this lady didn’t brake even though I was in a line of approximately 5 cars all moving at very low speeds (because of another accident)then go tot he effort of taking her home etc and somehow either her or the insurance company is trying to transfer the blame. Although in speaking to my insurance company, as both cars are a write off, it is apparently “industry practice” to try and transfer the blame!!

still hoping for a witness, but thanks to all anyway!

Kieran

If you can’t stop in time, then it’s not a safe distance.

Prezactly. Tell the other insurance company to sod off.

screaming banshee said :

I don’t think thats right. You are required to follow at a safe distance however if you are following at a distance you a reasonable person would consider safe then all of a sudden the 4wd you couldn’t see around in front comes to a dead stop because they weren’t watching the traffic ahead of them your safe distance all of a sudden doesn’t cut the mustard….not your fault.

No way. Pretty sure the onus is on you to keep a safe distance.

I’ve done this before: person in front came to a dead stop suddenly, I slammed on my brakes and stopped, person behind me didn’t and slammed into me. He paid for my car repairs.

If you can’t stop in time, then it’s not a safe distance.

You are required to follow at a safe distance however if you are following at a distance you a reasonable person would consider safe then all of a sudden the 4wd you couldn’t see around in front comes to a dead stop because they weren’t watching the traffic ahead of them your safe distance all of a sudden doesn’t cut the mustard….not your fault.

If you can’t stop in time when the car in front of you stops suddenly, then you either didn’t have a safe distance between you, or you weren’t paying attention.

deezagood said :

I always thought that in 99.9% of cases, the driver at the very back of any accident (be it a 10 car pile up or two-vehicle accident) was considered to be ‘at fault’ for insurance purposes, irrespective of whatever the driver at the very front may have done to cause the bingle? Is this not correct?

I don’t think thats right. You are required to follow at a safe distance however if you are following at a distance you a reasonable person would consider safe then all of a sudden the 4wd you couldn’t see around in front comes to a dead stop because they weren’t watching the traffic ahead of them your safe distance all of a sudden doesn’t cut the mustard….not your fault.

A friend once told me of their involvement as the 2nd in a row of 4 cars. Constabulary asked each driver how many hits they felt from behind to determine which driver was at fault. ie mate stopped in time then felt two wacks that pushed him into the car in front.

1st car stopped
2nd car stopped in time
3rd car didn’t stop in time and smacked into 2nd
4th car couldn’t stop in time due to abrupt stop of 3rd
At some stage 2nd got pushed into 1st

On the face of it 3rd car would appear to be at fault.

Happy to be corrected by those that are involved in the actual assessment of these matters as a profession

Send it straight to your insurance company. I believe the general rule of thumb is that unless the point of impact on her car was on the side (i.e. you wiped her out when changing lanes) she is responsible.

It is the responsibility of all drivers to ensure that:
a) they expect the unexpected
b) they ensure they always have enough time to take evasive action.

Good luck with it!

If the accident occurred within about 3-4 seconds of the lane change, then the OP pulled out into her safe stopping zone. Otherwise, she had plenty of time to hit the anchors and come to a screeching halt.

deezagood said :

I always thought that in 99.9% of cases, the driver at the very back of any accident (be it a 10 car pile up or two-vehicle accident) was considered to be ‘at fault’ for insurance purposes, irrespective of whatever the driver at the very front may have done to cause the bingle? Is this not correct?

I thought that also. But thinking about it now, it can’t really be applicable in all situations. For example, if you are driving 80kms on Drakeford Drive and a car pulls out right in front of you and you can’t stop in time, it would be grossly unfair for that rule to apply.

I always thought that in 99.9% of cases, the driver at the very back of any accident (be it a 10 car pile up or two-vehicle accident) was considered to be ‘at fault’ for insurance purposes, irrespective of whatever the driver at the very front may have done to cause the bingle? Is this not correct?

Lol.
Dad’s joke.
But I like it 🙂

FC said :

car accidents SUCK!
I feel for you.
Having recently ridden off my car quote]

shouldn’t have been up there on your bike in the first place!!

car accidents SUCK!
I feel for you.
Having recently ridden off my car it is a terrible experience. I was lucky that my insurance company sorted mr out.
But now when I drive I have to try really hard not to get angry at all the speeding, talking on their phone idiots driving around me!

Again – Insurance companies work for their shareholders. Not their clients.

Fight them

🙂

Long story short….”Standard letter of demand” x “2 percent response” = “insurers laughing all the way to the bank”

I’ve had the same letter sent to me by RAA in SA after one of their idiot customers merged into my ute some years back. No damage to my tray but they couldn’t even open the passenger side door of their festyva.

After dutifully paying my excess and leaving it in the hands of my insurance company some 3 months later I called to find out what was happening becuase I wanted my excess money back.

Apparently my insurers were waiting on some information from the RAA, long story short RAA didn’t even have a diagram of how the accident had happened from their moron. Given I had provided diagrams, description etc they advised me they would reject RAA’s claim and protect me from any further claims in the matter. This without any witnesses too.

As with the majority here, I agree it sound like the OP wasn’t at fault, and that insurance companies tell you it is your fault as a matter of course.

Sorry I can’t day I was a witness, but to add my own story to the mix… I was involved in a very minor touch of vehicles on the Tugg parkway one afternoon, because a person decided to stop from 100km/h in the right lane, because they had passed the Hindmarsh exit, and apparently thought it might be OK to go back. About five or six other cars also had to make abrupt stops. The police were very sympathetic, but still said because we were behind the car that we hit, we are at fault. Think about how close you are behind someone on the parkway tomorrow, and if you could stop if that person suddenly stomped the brakes?

Do you have insurance? If so, what did they say when you called them?

In any case, if you have insurance, call the other insurance company and tell them you have lodged a claim with [your insurance company], and they should take it up with them. That’s what you pay them for, to deal with crap like this.

If not, what did the police report say? Who did they apportion blame to?

I’m with Thumper. The lane change, as described, was effected safely. A subsequent traffic stoppage caused him to stop at which time he was rear-ended by the Astra. with rear-enders it’s almsot impossible for it not to be the fault of the rear vehicle.

This is just the insuance company trying to spread some blame. My advice would be to not communicate with her insurance company in any way. Forward their letter to your insurer and re-state how it happened.

I beg to differ about the definition of a safe merge. From how he described it, he had completed a safe merge and then encountered vehicles that had stopped. By your definition, no-one can change lanes if (say) they are approaching a red light or a stop sign.

One thing I do agree with you is that it will be up to the insurance companies to sort this one out as ultimately they are the ones that will forking out the money to get these two drivers back on the road.

This sort of stuff appears to be painfully common – you need to contact your insurance agency about the accident and provide your story to them, at which point it becomes a case of insurance agencies facing off against each other.

I waited until all the cars behind me had gone past and the right hand lane was clear. I then pulled out into the right hand lane. As there were the other cars in front of me merging from the left to right hand lane, I was left almost stationery in the right hand lane.

Just as the cars in front of me moved off I was rear ended. I didn’t hear the sound of brakes or anything, just a massive bang and my car was pushed approx 15 metres down the road and onto the median strip.

For clarity, what do you mean by ‘almost stationary’? Did you move into the right lane and then stop, waiting for the queue to move on, or were you rear-ended immediately after moving into the right hand lane?

If you were hit immediately after changing lanes, you may be at fault, but my understanding is that in most cases, police attribute fault unless the facts of the case are in dispute (in which case the courts do), but insurance companies cannot determine who was at fault. If you weren’t charged with a traffic offence, you weren’t at fault, and the onus is on the insurance company to prove you were at fault.

I’ve never been involved in an accident in the ACT, but in NSW I’ve always been given a police report stating who was at fault in the accident.

Part of merging safely is being able to move off as well… I would think it was anticipatable that all the other cars in front would try the same thing and so you wouldn’t be able to move off safely. But its fine that others have a different opinion. I guess the companies with the $$ will sort it out. At least you were both insured!!

Sorry, can’t help you as a witness.

But I agree with Thumper here – you had already merged into the other lane, making sure that there were no cars in that lane before safely moving across. You had then come to a stop because there were vehicles stopped in front of you. And just as they start to move, along comes this other vehicle who smashes straight into the back of you (and not just a light tap either by the sounds of it). She was in the wrong as she obviously wasn’t looking where she was going.

I think every insurance company tries this on when faced with costs from an accident. Ring your own insurer and see what their opinion is. I would hazard a guess that they would be in agreement with Thumper and I.

So sorry that this has happened.

I agree with you that she wasn’t paying any attention- but he was still the one who unsafely crossed the painted lines..

I also agree with the assessment of insurance companies (although mine did just replace my windscreen with no arguments!)

Have to say, I think her insurance company is right by what you described. if you have merged across into her lane and then not moved off so that she couldn’t avoid hitting you, then you haven’t merged safely, and as you were the one who went across lines, its your fault.
Glad to hear noone was seriously injured though.