Rant Have you been in an accident that wasn't your fault?

You guys watch too much daytime TV

 

so i might sue my council.

































I was out at 3am nicking drain covers and i think i got hepatitis from some guys blood on the rim of this drain, i watched him fall down on my way to my 120k a year financial advisor job. ill be back next week because its decent beer money.

 

I wasn't too close to the car in front mate, there was plenty of space for me to brake safely but it was on Christmas Eve and the weather here over Christmas was terrible. The road was icy and it had started to snow again. In driving conditions like those, it is a nobrainer that you must check your rear view mirror before even touching your brakes never mind performing an (unnecessary) emergency stop. The only way you could have said it was my fault was is if I hadn't been paying attention. I can guarantee you, though, if I hadn't been paying attention and reacted so quickly, I'd have been killed. I was lucky enough to survive at all but my brakes locking up and the icy road and grass verge sliding me into a tree was not my fault.

 

Does my birth count?

 

That would have been half your fault for being the sperm that swam the fastest. And I guess also half your fault for being the egg that got released. So in total, nobody is to blame but yourself for that one, Joe.

 

I was in a car crash that wasn't my fault. Sitting in the back of a taxi with my wife, coming home, pass by a petrol station, and some stupid soccer mom MPV backs out and slams into the taxi. No one in it thankfully, stupid bint had parked on an incline and not put the breaks on.

Cops arrive, try to blame our cab driver since he was from Nigeria (lovely man) showing absolutely racist attitude for some reason. Was not happy with how they dealt with it.

Got a fair packet out of it, and got the cab drivers car replaced. Oh and the cops got sacked for racism.

 

No, no, no, no, no. You got it all wrong. It's your fault on so many levels. In Icy Conditions you should drive a lot further back, it's common sense. And an Emergency stop isn't exactly planned, your not going to think, oh I'm about to hit that car, just let me quickly check my rear vie- oh shi- I just crashed.

Trust everyone, it's your fault and don't sugarcoat it, you didn't drive to the conditions in a safe distance, you are to blame. I had to have this convo with a dimwitted girl and she wouldn't take it at all. Unless yo used to own a Saxo and crashed in that?

 

No, no, no, no, no. You have got it all wrong. First of all, don't talk to me about common sense because I have plenty of it and take exception at your implication that I lack it. Secondly, don't presume to tell me about an accident that you neither witnessed nor that you clearly understand. I'm not sure if you have a License yet but even if you have, I'm sure I have been driving for longer, have more experience and know the procedures for driving safely in bad conditions better, because I do so on a regualr basis and spend a lot of time driving because of the nature of my work and study. The unnecessary nature of the other drivers emergency stop was what I was referring to when I brought it up. He was not about to hit anything, he began to brake from about 55-60mph less than 15 meters from an amber traffic light leaving any traffic that was any distance behind him nowhere to go instead of driving on through the light and leaving room. The fact that the ABS on my car was not able to handle the wheels locking up was yet another factor and there was f**k all I could do but steer the car away from his so that I didn't end up liable for damage to his car as well.

The other driver was an 18 year old, fresh off his R plates (google it since I know you don't have those in England), who admitted to me on the scene that he had stopped unnecessarily and that he'd had 2 other accidents last year, one of which was a write off. He actually thanked me for avoiding him because 3 accidents in one year would have been too much and the police officer who took my statement didn't go so far as to congratulate me but mentioned that I seemed to have made the best of a bad situation and was lucky to have escaped serious injuries.

Finally, don't adopt a smartass attitude with me, especially over this. I will not be compared with a "dimwitted" girl who you "had to have this convo with" and I am in no way sugarcoating this. What part of "if I hadn't been paying attention and reacted so quickly, I'd have been killed" sounds like sugarcoating to you?

This thread is entitled "Have you been in an accident that wasn't your fault?", not "Tell us about an accident you had so we can tell you it was all your fault and be a ****ing insolent p***k about it" so stop posting if you have nothing constructive to say.

 

I always check behind me when I emergency brake, since I should be aware of everyone on the road.
Some people just can't get it through their head that sometimes it's not the person in the backs fault.

 

+1 same here

 

y so mad?

It probably was.

 

Now now ladies, chill out or take a short holiday.

 

I perfectly happy, I am sure a bit of friendly wee taking either makes people realise the error in their ways (of taking things faarrrr to seriously, and its better off for them to laugh and ease the tension) or blow a fuse.

 

I'm inclined to agree with this, people who are saying you should check your rear view mirror before you emergncy break are in the wrong if you ask me. The only time you should do it is if you've been asked to do one in your driving test i.e. when it is planned.

If you're in a real life situation the priority falls on stopping in the shortest distance possible and saving yourself a collision and serious injury. The time spent before hand checking your mirror is going to increase your stopping distance significantly, if you see a crash/incident/someone else emergency stopping then you brake, end of. What would you do if someone was considered to be too close to perform an emergency stop? Would you just continue on at full speed and plow into whoever's stopped in front of you?

It falls on the person behind leaving enough distance to stop in time, taking into account weather conditions and being aware of what's happening around them.

 

It's down to how much of an emergency it is.

Sometimes when you see an accident you slam the brakes on and can already tell you'll be stopping short of hitting the first crash, so very often you can look in the rear view and see if you're about to be rear-ended. If so you might be able to ease off a bit and give yourself a few extra feet. In that case you might avoid a secondary accident which makes you crash into the first.

If you're struggling to stop it doesn't matter, and you'll be concentrating on minimizing the forward impact either by turning or just bracing.

 

Sorry 100% your fault - hard to accept but thats life

Actually he had 'R' plates ? How could be too close in such conditions ? your guilty of careless driving minimum . Bad driving pushes up premiums!

 

I've tried to sit on the fence for this one, but I'll chime in now I reckon before this gets too nasty.

When you are maintaining what you would normally consider a safe distance (hell, even the one set out in the fabulously outdated highway code), there's always an implicit assumption that the person in front will do the predictable, normal thing. If a traffic light turns red you don't expect the person in front to go zooming through, narrowly avoiding the other traffic.

Similarly, you wouldn't expect someone to slam the brakes on and come to a dead stop at a green traffic light. Whatever distance you were behind someone if they did it unexpectedly and quickly enough you could easily end up in an accident.

In this case maybe Unicorn strayed too close to the car in front (and no-one who drives hasn't done that, no-one), this time it cost him because the chap did something totally out of the blue. From the sounds of it I and many of you would have been totally caught out by this guy.

Having said that it doesn't alter the fact that in that situation, in the eyes of the law (and the cynics who hide behind anonymity on the internet) you were too close and the accident was your fault. It sounds like you dealt with the incident well, and you came out of it unscathed, which is the most important part.

Now let's stop all this goading and flame baiting before I have to break out the "Krikkit bat" as jon puts it.

 

Because Pieface likened me to a "dimwitted" girl who knew very little about driving, and no, once again, it wasn't my fault. Unless you were sitting in my passenger seat or in the car in front or behind me, you have absolutely no right to comment on who was at fault.

I'm going to re-iterate this just one more time - nobody who has commented on an accident that could have easily killed me or left me with serious, life threatening injuries had the car not been so well equipped with safety measures knows everything about this incident, and cannot pass judgement on who was at fault.

I, as the person who was driving the only car that got damaged, could have avoided crashing entirely if I had been driving in a lower speed limit area, or if the road had not been covered in black ice, or if the grass verge I drove onto to avoid hitting the car in front when I realized that I was not going to stop in time had not been covered in snow and slippery mud, or if the car in front of me had not performed an unnecessary emergency stop when there was no reason to stop at all, but all of these factors contributed to the crash. In case any of you are wondering, I haven't thought "What if this" or "what if that" or even "I wonder who actually was at fault" since the 24th of December last year. The only thing I have been is 100% glad that I was not hurt.

You're*

I said he was "fresh off his R plates" which means that he had his License just over a year and had taken them down, allowing him to drive at the national speed limit of 60mph rather than the NI restricted limit of 45mph. He has had 2 serious accidents in that time, one of which involved his own car along with two others, and one which was contributed to bad road conditions (oil or petrol on a bend) where his car left the road and ended up in a hedge with only body damage.

This was my first accident, and I have been driving for 5 years now. As I have already said, I spend a lot of time driving and I see people do things whilst driving every day that make me think it's no wonder people get killed on our roads. I'm annoyed that I have lost my car, the no claims status on my insurance and most of all a lot of money because the insurance company has been extremely unfair in how they have dealt with the matter. I can assure all of you, this is by far the worst thing that has ever happened to me, and reading a lot of comments about it from people seemingly taking advantage of John Gabriel's theory has angered me.

I appreciate you taking a more intelligent view of this than others who have commented, and can I respectfully remind everyone of my previous statement about what this thread is for.

 

Lol, quick random, question... Have any of you ever driven over a sizable frost heave? (they are about 2-4 feet in height, think tall and elongated speed bump)

Not all that dangerous (well it might be), but still surprises the hell out of you when you crest a hill cruising at 70 down the highway, only too see one when its too late, and find your truck temporarily airborne...

Then of course, breathing rather hard and wide eyed from surprise, you immediately slow to around 30...

Then, you proceed creep along at like 30-40, then after not encountering any for a mile or two, you get lulled into a false sense of security and finally start speeding up again to around 60, until AVAST, you get another set of frost heaves after rounding a blind corner, only to find your bell rung since your body took leave of your seat and your head hit the roof of your car.


I'm not sure what they teach you as a rule of thumb for following cars on that side of the globe. Over here they stand on the 2 second rule. (count to two seconds before a sign that passed the car in-front of you passes you.) In my personal experience of far too many close calls of me almost ramming the car in-front of me only to stop a few feet away, with most of it because I pulled halfway into the ditch.

I now practice, the 1 minuet and 2 second rule. basically meaning, if I cant see the car in-front of me on a decent sized straight away I'm still too close.

However I will admit this rule might not be the most practical In a more congested area. (IE. any amounts of traffic) So instead, in traffic heavy areas, resort to a more manageable 5 second rule.

On a more serious note, things that i have found that have saved my life and vehicle on numerous occasions, and also my parents have found to save their lives and vehicles on numerous occasions.

Is to:

A: Drive defensively, which means, drive like everyone else on the road are teenagers, wearing horse blinders, who are texting, while doing their make up in the mirror, and eating french fries, while talking to their friends in the back seat, and for good measure, completely confident that what they are doing is the easiest thing in the world, and all the people honking at them are just derivatives of acceleration.

What this means to you: don't be afraid to be EXTRA far behind people, use your blinker excessively (Yes i know that sign says its a turn only lane, but use your damn blinker anyway.)
Don't be afraid to be that slow guy you all hate with the passion of 1000 suns because he finds it good to go SLOWER than the speed limit. Just sit smugly and go slower than the speed limit, and remember that the guy flipping you off while roaring by wont see that patch of black ice ahead, and will start performing over-steer, and him and his car will then closely embrace that sturdy looking tree off the bend.

B:.... B:....... yea i think i used up all my driving suggestions in a.. so

B: Get good winter tires!

Oh just remembered another one...

C: If you ever find your self fishtailing back and forth, DON'T PANIC, your car is only temporarily angry with the road surface under you, and will only get more erratic and enraged, if you attempt to spurn its anger and over-correct. So unless you have much experience and training in controlling ECSARS (Enraged Car Syndrome Aimed at Road Surfaces) Simply, apply the brake in a controlled manner, and try not to spin the steering wheel wildly. Didn't think of that now did yah!

So in summary:

A: Drive like the other people on the road are determined to get you to hit them and pay for their crappy car.

B: Good winter tires help

C: Keep Calm

D: Remember the 1 minuet and 2 second rule (or the 5 second version if you are in traffic)

E: USE YOUR DAMN BLINKERS EXTRA early when attempting a lane change or when turning.

Note: All of these suggestions, I only recommend performing in winter driving conditions, if you attempt to do the 1 minuet and 2 second rule OR drive below the speed limit in GOOD and DRY driving conditions, your are just being a Nancy so stop it.

 

Been ran over twice - one time the other persons fault, the other time 50% my fault.