Intentional Crash and Witnesses

Intentional Crash and Witnesses

Author
Discussion

daveky

148 posts

141 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
My poor sister was involved in a deliberate crash on Friday. Driving from work the only car up ahead was a Yaris. She was keeping her distance but the driver decided to come to a full emergency stop for absolutely no reason, no traffic up ahead etc. Now a couple from the other side of the road saw it happen and were so shocked they made their way to the accident scene to act as witnesses.

Her 5 year old Fiat 500 has probably at least around 2k damage to it, both airbags went off and the impact of this smashed the windscreen. She had a bit of delayed shock over the weekend and had bruised both her shins. It was a polish trio in the car ahead, women in her 40's driving and a girl and guy in their 20's. After initially asking my sister was ok due to the smoke and not knowing if she could move, she managed to get out and he became agressive with her, saying it was her fault because she crashed into them.

Police arrived and basically said it's insurance call, but even with witnesses the 3 in their car work against her 2. This lot in the Yaris had only insured the car for 3 days starting on the day of the accident. Her insurance called her to get more statements but said it may go to court. Her insurance won't go up too much but she lost her £200 excess.

Is it worth getting a solicitor involved in this should it get to court? Police said if she was under 25 she could have been charged for dangerous driving - I know the consensus of the law is it is always the person behinds fault no matter the circumstances. Angers me this is a blatant insurance scam for them to gain from and my sister to lose.
Out of interest what was the ethnicity of the Yaris occupants?
Just asking

ging84

8,789 posts

145 months

Sunday 27th July 2014
quotequote all
daveky said:
Out of interest what was the ethnicity of the Yaris occupants?
Just asking
you mean the 3 people who seem to be in the polishing business?

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
daveky said:
Out of interest what was the ethnicity of the Yaris occupants?
Just asking
Polish.

Update is she hasn't heard anything else about going to court. Car is a write off mainly due to the dashboard / all airbags going off. She has been given £5300 for the car which isn't bad.

Me and my Dad were looking at replacement cars (newer 500 or a VW Up) and spotted a white 7 month old Groove Up for 1.8k miles for £10.3k. Sister drove it and liked it and she got it for £10k exactly and collects today, happy ending...for now!

Centurion07

10,381 posts

246 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Her ins. co. have paid out just TWO weeks after a highly suspicious accident and she's already bought a new car which she picks up today? That sounds perfectly likely. scratchchin

kiethton

13,878 posts

179 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Why wouldn't it? Maybe her ins. Co have pulled their finger out and paid up now but not yet established liability.

Hire car costs = mitigated
Customer = happy (for now)
Liability = still to be determined - they can always get these costs paid to date back if the Op's first post can be proven.

Sheepshanks

32,412 posts

118 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Yep, seems reasonable to me. Once the car is declared a write off in an at-fault accident you typically only get a hire car for 5 days (if you have a courtesy car in the policy) so if the insurer doesn't pay out promptly it leaves their customer high & dry.

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Centurion07 said:
Her ins. co. have paid out just TWO weeks after a highly suspicious accident and she's already bought a new car which she picks up today? That sounds perfectly likely. scratchchin
Yes it's absolutely fine. They've paid her who is the policyholder in line with her policy. Liability and other queries will be ongoing.I still don't believe the story though. Especially as the OPs "poor sister" seems incapable of wiping her own arse.

burwoodman

18,709 posts

245 months

Thursday 31st July 2014
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LoonR1 said:
Mouse1903 said:
Well I can't remember whether she got it from the party in front or was told by her insurance (who contacted the police).

I've basically told her that if it does go down the court route then she should certainly try her best to fight it, despite the keeping her distance issue.
Why don't you give her a call and ask her. I'm sure your sister will be happy to hear from you. I'll ask another question depending on your answer most probably.
Rumbled by Loon

burwoodman

18,709 posts

245 months

Thursday 31st July 2014
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
Mouse1903 said:
Well I can't remember whether she got it from the party in front or was told by her insurance (who contacted the police).

I've basically told her that if it does go down the court route then she should certainly try her best to fight it, despite the keeping her distance issue.
Why don't you give her a call and ask her. I'm sure your sister will be happy to hear from you. I'll ask another question depending on your answer most probably.
Rumbled by Loon

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Friday 1st August 2014
quotequote all
Hmm, seems my posts have disappeared. All I will say is some people really need to get a life trying to have a go at people for suffering misfortune.

pork911

7,080 posts

182 months

Friday 1st August 2014
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
Hmm, seems my posts have disappeared. All I will say is some people really need to get a life trying to have a go at people for suffering misfortune.
I don't think anyone has had a go at the occupants of the car she hit, apart from perhaps you.

Anyway, along with her new car is she having any refresher driving lessons?

Phatboy317

801 posts

117 months

Friday 1st August 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You can be keeping a safe distance, even with some margin, and it can all go horribly wrong in the space of less than 2 seconds if you happen to take your eyes off the road, eg looking in your r/v mirror, at what turns out to be precisely the wrong time.
Or someone cutting into your lane just ahead of you going a good deal slower.
Under normal driving conditions, the probability of these things actually happening is almost vanishingly tiny, however if it's been planned by the person in front then the probability suddenly becomes very large indeed.

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
pork911 said:
I don't think anyone has had a go at the occupants of the car she hit, apart from perhaps you.

Anyway, along with her new car is she having any refresher driving lessons?
Quite the comedian, you must be a right laugh at parties you.

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
Phatboy317 said:
You can be keeping a safe distance, even with some margin, and it can all go horribly wrong in the space of less than 2 seconds if you happen to take your eyes off the road, eg looking in your r/v mirror, at what turns out to be precisely the wrong time.
Or someone cutting into your lane just ahead of you going a good deal slower.
Under normal driving conditions, the probability of these things actually happening is almost vanishingly tiny, however if it's been planned by the person in front then the probability suddenly becomes very large indeed.
Spot on. My first ever accident involved someone stopping dead in the road. I was within speed limit and keeping the recommended braking distance whilst navigating a corner. After turning my head to the right to check that the pedestrians on the other side of the road weren't going to cross, I was about to pull out into the right lane for my correct exit at the roundabout when I saw the guy in front stopped dead after misreading the red signal for the opposite side of the road. Swerved to the right with brakes hard on but still hit him on my left corner

pork911

7,080 posts

182 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
Spot on. My first ever accident involved someone stopping dead in the road. I was within speed limit and keeping the recommended braking distance whilst navigating a corner. After turning my head to the right to check that the pedestrians on the other side of the road weren't going to cross, I was about to pull out into the right lane for my correct exit at the roundabout when I saw the guy in front stopped dead after misreading the red signal for the opposite side of the road. Swerved to the right with brakes hard on but still hit him on my left corner
Runs in the family then? Perhaps you can get a group discount on the refresher driving courses or just continue in the mutual validation of avoiding personal responsibility.

Centurion07

10,381 posts

246 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
Phatboy317 said:
You can be keeping a safe distance, even with some margin, and it can all go horribly wrong in the space of less than 2 seconds if you happen to take your eyes off the road, eg looking in your r/v mirror, at what turns out to be precisely the wrong time.
Or someone cutting into your lane just ahead of you going a good deal slower.
Under normal driving conditions, the probability of these things actually happening is almost vanishingly tiny, however if it's been planned by the person in front then the probability suddenly becomes very large indeed.
Spot on. My first ever accident involved someone stopping dead in the road. I was within speed limit and keeping the recommended braking distance whilst navigating a corner. After turning my head to the right to check that the pedestrians on the other side of the road weren't going to cross, I was about to pull out into the right lane for my correct exit at the roundabout when I saw the guy in front stopped dead after misreading the red signal for the opposite side of the road. Swerved to the right with brakes hard on but still hit him on my left corner
By definition then neither of you were keeping a safe distance. A safe distance is one in which you can stop, having taken into account the time needed to turn your head to check for pedestrians or whatever.

Keeping the recommended braking distance between yourself and the car in front only works if you maintain it. You've found out to your cost that that distance can rapidly disappear in the second or two you take your eyes off it. You need to allow space to do things like checking for pedestrians/positions of other vehicles etc.

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
pork911 said:
Runs in the family then? Perhaps you can get a group discount on the refresher driving courses or just continue in the mutual validation of avoiding personal responsibility.
What runs in the family, oh because two of us have had an accident must mean we are very bad drivers, oh you are so correct! I'm going to go to the police station and hand in my licence today because I'm such a terrible driver. Where do you stay so I can meet you and gain your 1st class driving skills as I am very envious? We should all give up driving until we drive as flawlessly as pork911.

Centurion07 said:
By definition then neither of you were keeping a safe distance. A safe distance is one in which you can stop, having taken into account the time needed to turn your head to check for pedestrians or whatever.

Keeping the recommended braking distance between yourself and the car in front only works if you maintain it. You've found out to your cost that that distance can rapidly disappear in the second or two you take your eyes off it. You need to allow space to do things like checking for pedestrians/positions of other vehicles etc.
In reality you can be keeping the distance and like you said lose it within seconds when trying to look out for other obstacles on the road. The irony is if I took the risk and just ploughed ahead without looking out for pedestrians I would have reacted to the guy doing an emergency stop in enough time. Certainly now I keep a much bigger distance, sometimes bigger than recommended, and especially at the spot where it occurred.

wiggy001

6,541 posts

270 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
Mouse1903 said:
How can the polish mob justify reasons for only taking out 3 days insurance? That's the question that should be asked by the insurance company
Right. This was posted at exactly the same time I posted for the first time. The OPs sister has no way of knowing this. The whole story is BS.
Out of interest, what makes you think the OP's sister has no way of knowing that the third party only had 3 days' cover?

pork911

7,080 posts

182 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
Mouse1903 said:
pork911 said:
Runs in the family then? Perhaps you can get a group discount on the refresher driving courses or just continue in the mutual validation of avoiding personal responsibility.
What runs in the family, oh because two of us have had an accident must mean we are very bad drivers, oh you are so correct! I'm going to go to the police station and hand in my licence today because I'm such a terrible driver. Where do you stay so I can meet you and gain your 1st class driving skills as I am very envious? We should all give up driving until we drive as flawlessly as pork911.
I'm as good or as bad as the next driver, apart from you and your sister since i accept my fallibility and take personal responsibility for my actions.

Mouse1903

Original Poster:

839 posts

152 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
pork911 said:
I'm as good or as bad as the next driver, apart from you and your sister since i accept my fallibility and take personal responsibility for my actions.
My sister accepted she ran into the back of the Yaris, but they also braked suddenly. I accepted I ran into the back of someone after losing braking distance time by checking for pedestrians going round a corner. Still waiting to see your point...