Insurance Woes - Feeling let down

[Blue Oval84]

To be honest, I think almost anyone posting here would be caught out by someone who fails to give way to then by entering the roundabout effectively in their blindspot. It's quite clear from the OP's description (to me at least) that the other driver has pulled out way to soon and more or less driven into the side of OP.

[anonymous-user]

Jayho said:

I do not accept that I could be held 100% liable in any instance.

OP - the reaction from many posters may seem a bit harsh, but you should remember that much 'real world' driving is not at all black-and-white. Many accidents and deaths occur every year because people are not aware of the 'greyness'.

Phrases like 'right of way' or 'I had priority' are of little comfort to the bereaved or seriously injured. Roundabouts are a classic example where the 'rules' are quite clearly laid down in the HC, but experience teaches us to be vigilant, and mindful of the actions of others. One writer has described it as maintaining a 'cocoon of safety' around your vehicle - an idea which I have found useful to follow.

Roundabout exits with two lanes can sometimes cause problems - particularly when they reduce to a single lane a few yards later. Many drivers perceive the use of the RH exit lane as 'pushing in', attempting to block other merging traffic.

I'm not suggesting that you should drive along an arterial 'A' road slowing down to give way to every tractor waiting at a minor junction, but sometimes one must cede 'priority' to facilitate overall traffic flow.

[TooMany2cvs]

Jayho said:

And on the subject of me not having checked my mirrors correctly.

Lovely, an' all - but you still didn't actually see this car until too late, did you?

Jayho said:

After that my concentration would have been to navigate my exit.

Again, lovely, an' all... It's a very handy catch-all excuse for not seeing anything. So what speed were you doing at the time that pointing your car at a two-lane wide gap, in a straight line, took QUITE so much concentration?

Jayho said:

Although I accept that there is more I could have done to reduce the risk of the accident, I do not accept that I could be held 100% liable in any instance.

Nobody's suggested you were. Merely that there was plenty you could have done to avoid the collision, so 50/50 is fair. Do you now accept that?

[Mandat]

Jayho said:

Mandat said:

Based on your comments, and particularly about having to have the reflexes of an F1 driver, it is clear that you haven't learnt the lessons from this collision, and are doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Irrespective of the fault or drunkenness of the other driver, it seems that you had plenty of opportunities to anticipate, observe and react accordingly, which could have helped yo avoid the collision. You need to critically analyse the events so that you can learn to avoid being in a similar situation in the future.

Have you ever watched air crash investigations? Nearly all air crashes are caused by a sequence of minor events and circumstances that combined together create the perfect storm for a crash. The same principles apply to car accidents as well.

OK fine, one last bite. I have actually in fact taken everything said on this post on board and will be practicing it as far as my ability allows me to (I am human after all)

I was incorrect to assume that the driver was not going to enter the roundabout. I admit that that is an incorrect assumption.

And on the subject of me not having checked my mirrors correctly. I had checked my mirror as I passed the junction at which they had entered from firstly. Then signalled my intention. Then I rechecked my mirrors again after passing the junction. After that my concentration would have been to navigate my exit.

Although I accept that there is more I could have done to reduce the risk of the accident, I do not accept that I could be held 100% liable in any instance.

Firstly, no one has said that you are 100% to blame, but I think that it is fair to say that you are not blameless at all in this collision. I would estimate somewhere between 20%-50%.

The type of collision on a roundabout is very common, and if you weren't previously aware of the inherent risks involved with your maneuver, then unfortunately you have learnt the hard way. Hopefully, you will be aware enough in the future to not make the same mistake again.

Finally, in everything that you have said, you have been very particular to mention numerous times that you checked your mirrors. Again, hopefully you'll now learn that mirrors have blind spots and that shoulder checks are critical whenever you change lanes, direction, turn corners, etc.

[Mandat]

Blue Oval84 said:

To be honest, I think almost anyone posting here would be caught out by someone who fails to give way to then by entering the roundabout effectively in their blindspot. It's quite clear from the OP's description (to me at least) that the other driver has pulled out way to soon and more or less driven into the side of OP.

Reading the OP's version of events, I don't see how the other driver failed to give way when entering the roundabout.

OP was in the right lane, and the other driver entered the empty left lane. Nothing much wrong with that. If the other driver had also intended to take the OP's exit, then there would have been no collision.

As it was, the other driver wanted to turn right from the left hand lane, and the OP wanted to turn left from the right hand lane. Both legitimate maneuvers (assuming lane markings allow, etc) but the problem was that both drivers wanted to occupy the same piece of road at the same time, and both didn't carry out adequate due care to avoid colliding with each other, hence the split blame.

[Sheepshanks]

Mandat said:

Reading the OP's version of events, I don't see how the other driver failed to give way when entering the roundabout.

OP was in the right lane, and the other driver entered the empty left lane. Nothing much wrong with that. If the other driver had also intended to take the OP's exit, then there would have been no collision.

As it was, the other driver wanted to turn right from the left hand lane, and the OP wanted to turn left from the right hand lane. Both legitimate maneuvers (assuming lane markings allow, etc) but the problem was that both drivers wanted to occupy the same piece of road at the same time, and both didn't carry out adequate due care to avoid colliding with each other, hence the split blame.

I think all this talk of "lanes" (started by the OP) is misleading - there don't appear to be any lanes marked on the roundabout in question.

On the face of it, this is 100% the OPs fault. There might be some mileage talking about change of direction, rather than change of lane. That could be 50/50 but would still tend to go against the OP as he was leaving the roundabout. Or the other car joining when it wasn't safe (as there aren't lanes) - but the impact is probably too far further on for that to come into play.

For the other car to have joined after the OP passed it, and then managed to get alongside the OP seems fairly unlikely - although obviously possible. Hence my comment much earlier that you've either got to take roundabouts very cautiously or very fast - if the OP had been going faster he'd have cleared the other car.