How will this pan out for me?

[thetrash]

The OP stated the driver was an old bloke who struggled to use his phone. It just looks like cronically bad driving and a car that's in a substandard state of repair.

Both the lorry and the OP did the right thing by coming to a halt as they did. The Peugeot driver wouldn't have had the skill or reactions to swerve around the M3 he didn't even notice it had stopped until too late and kept his front wheels locked so wouldn't have been about to steer around the car anyway.

[duckson]

The bloke in the Pug probably has eye sight issues, did the Police attend?
If not I'd be showing them the footage pronto before he kills somebody.

My wife was in a collision with a drunk/drugged driver a few months ago, side impact on her car from them running a T junction and she spun and went through a 2 foot thick stone wall backwards. She was fine but the other party drove off with 3 wheels (one was ripped off) and a caved in front end. Police caught up with them still in the car miles away a few hours later.
The whole incident was on the local pub CCTV and the police have a copy, we haven't seen it as yet.....I'll post up a copy when/if I can get my hands on it!

She got a good payout for her car (8 year old Scenic) and about 1k more than we'd of got in a private sale looking at similar cars so in that respect it worked out well. Her insurance is with Quotemehappy (part of Aviva).

[PorkInsider]

IntriguedUser said:

]
Why the f*ck was you stopped so long, no hazards, nothing?

You seem to have the observational skills of a Peugeot driving OAP.

[Flibble]

s3fella said:

As for the accident. Out was clearly on a different planet, almost certainly on the phone. These people are a,I get us, and there are millions of them unfortunately. Scary.
But I'm not sire the truck helped entirely here. By stopping where he did, he's left no option for anyone, the road is completely blocked now. Maybe that was his idea, but that's a big risk on a main road with light traffic, high speeds etc.

It's scary to read how often someone is hurt or involved in an accident where they stop to offer some kind of assistance or help. You did entirely the right thing, but truck imho should have either kept well back or gone well past you before stopping, in order to keep the road "imho". Always have an 'escape route' if you can, that truck didn't really leave you or the pug one.

The Peugeot driver had room to swerve around the OPs car; there were a couple of car lengths between him and the truck. Really though, it didn't strike me as dangerous in the slightest, given the clear sight lines and good weather you'd expect be to be able to stop in plenty of time and thus not need an escape route.

[jogger1976]

daveky said:

The issue is not so much that its a Peugeot but that its a sub £1000 car therefore indicating that the driver is a stig (not the TG racing driver sort) and is probably of low intelligence which I strongly suspect was the biggest factor in the collision.

Can you explain how the value of a car corresponds to the intelligence of it's driver?Judging from my daily commute, there are plenty of thick, mouth-breathing tts driving around in expensive metal.
Some PH's even like cheap cars http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=21&...

[thetrash]

C

jogger1976 said:

Can you explain how the value of a car corresponds to the intelligence of it's driver?Judging from my daily commute, there are plenty of thick, mouth-breathing tts driving around in expensive metal.
Some PH's even like cheap cars http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=21&...

Go to any Asda car park and then a Waitrose one to see the difference.

[croyde]

I'd say unbelievable but I was in the back of a cab having been stopped at a red light for at least 30secs when a tt ploughed into the back of us.

At night but in London on a well lit street.

Frightens me the idiots we have to share the road with.

[Maxus]

Sorry to see this OP, that looks a really nice, cared for M3. I think you will have a bit of a battle with the insurance, finding a good E46 is difficult. A decent one will command a premium but the insurance company will look at book values. Have the fight though.
As for the incident, yes the Peugeot driver should have been more aware but coming to a stop on what looks like a national speed limit road will catch lots of people out. Selfishly, I would have been around the hazard and on my way if there was not a decent place to pull over.
Hope it all works out for you.

[Gaygle]

John Laverick said:

He was a senior citizen.

* sigh*

The only people on the road who have a driving style which is nearly identical to that of a drink driver, but still get the "Ahh they're old" as if that makes it ok.

80 year old with bad eyesight and reaction times of a sloth crashing into car and kiling someone is exactly the same as 20 year old drink driver who does the same. Both are avoidable accidents, both are as a result people who shouldn't be driving, both result in a life being taken, and both result in two families being torn apart. Yet the drink driver is the only one who is stigmatised.

[pboyall]

There was a programme a few years ago where they tested OAPs against youngsters. Yes, the OAPs had poorer reactions. However, they drove a lot slower and were far more cautious to compensate.

One test was driving through some cones. The youngsters clouted the cones as they careened through, whereas one OAP actually stopped and got out to check the clearance (granted, it was big enough for a bus - but better safe than sorry).

So it's not a completely accurate analogy to say OAPs are like drink-drivers. Plus people age differently. I recall a flying lesson with a retired RAF pilot. I was expecting a nice gentle flight. Oh heck no, "why is the ground up there???". He was better than 99% of people I've since flown with.

Regarding the OP, when I had a bash with Swiftcover they accepted Autotrader adverts as the fair price.

[jogger1976]

thetrash said:

C

jogger1976 said:

Can you explain how the value of a car corresponds to the intelligence of it's driver?Judging from my daily commute, there are plenty of thick, mouth-breathing tts driving around in expensive metal.
Some PH's even like cheap cars http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=21&...

Go to any Asda car park and then a Waitrose one to see the difference.

Funnily enough, I've shopped at both of those stores and I see just as many knobs at the latter. Most of them are on their bloody I Phones. It's just that they appear to believe that the rules of the road don't apply to them just because they're driving a Range Rover/A6/E Class.

[HertsBiker]

I probably wouldn't have stopped. Would have been good to see the old bd smash their car on it. Hope you get a good payout.

[greggy50]

I would suggest buying the car back from insurance if possible as normally get a good price and as engine, brakes, wheels etc all good you could probably make a few quid to help go towards a new one or have a nice stock of spares!

[loose cannon]

thetrash said:

Go to any Asda car park and then a Waitrose one to see the difference.

You have obviously never been to waitrose In frimley !
Anyway hope you get a good deal op

[Gaygle]

pboyall said:

There was a programme a few years ago where they tested OAPs against youngsters. Yes, the OAPs had poorer reactions. However, they drove a lot slower and were far more cautious to compensate.

You would fail your driving test for being unduly hesitant if you did 35mph in 60mph zones, like many old people do. This also causes large tailbacks which can cause people to take risky maneuvers to try and overtake through frustration. Also, despite driving at 35mph everywhere, things do still jump out and your reactions still will be tested.

Risk wise, how is this any different from driving with defective tyres or under the influence of drink or drugs? If all you had to do was drive a bit slower to mitigate the risk, surely a whole host of traffic offences would be legalised as long as you did 50% of the speed limit. And most old people still do 30mph in 30mph zones (such as town centres) where you have cars pulling out, children crossing, dogs running out etc etc. This means their poor reactions aren't now mitigated by their frustratingly slow driving.

pboyall said:

One test was driving through some cones. The youngsters clouted the cones as they careened through, whereas one OAP actually stopped and got out to check the clearance (granted, it was big enough for a bus - but better safe than sorry).

I would argue that if you had to get out of the car to see if it was big enough to fit your car through, despite it clearly being big enough for a bus, you probably should get some more driving lessons, because you don't have the skills to drive on the road. Young people are undoubtedly more likley to be slap-dash and can be careless, which is evident from a 17 year old's insurance premium - but young people get enough stick for this to last them a lifetime. Old people seem to escape from this because they're old and sweet.

pboyall said:

So it's not a completely accurate analogy to say OAPs are like drink-drivers. Plus people age differently. I recall a flying lesson with a retired RAF pilot. I was expecting a nice gentle flight. Oh heck no, "why is the ground up there???". He was better than 99% of people I've since flown with.

I'm talking about your stereotypical old drivers - who can't see properly, have super slow reactions, drift across lanes and drive excessively slowly. These also happen to be characteristics of drink drivers, so I would say the analogy is pretty solid in my opinion.

[anonymous-user]

IntriguedUser said:

Few questions I have, just general self-questions...

Why the f*ck was you stopped so long, no hazards, nothing?

If you was going to drag it off the road, why didn't you pull onto that hard shoulder?

WHAT THE HELL WAS THE PEUGEOT DRIVER LOOKING AT? That's an awful long time to not be "with it"

Please can you add a reply to this, I find it fascinating how there's always someone who can find an alternate point of view, even when there isn't one.

[MissChief]

PorkInsider said:

IntriguedUser said:

]
Why the f*ck was you stopped so long, no hazards, nothing?

You seem to have the observational skills of a Peugeot driving OAP.

I wish I'd typed this.

[anonymous-user]

daveky said:

The issue is not so much that its a Peugeot but that its a sub £1000 car therefore indicating that the driver is a stig (not the TG racing driver sort) and is probably of low intelligence which I strongly suspect was the biggest factor in the collision.

So because the car is worth under £1k, the driver must be an imbecile, and thus incapable of driving? You, are a moron.

On my daily commute (70 odd miles) I unfortunately get the opportunity to observe dreadful driving regularly - and it comes from all sorts of vehicles. Old "bangers", small euro-hatches, to top end Japanese and German cars. The amount someone has spent/is willing to spend on their vehicle has no correlation with their intelligence or driving ability.

Now that I think of it, my commuter was £900 (and going strong for 2 years and 30k miles) - clearly I must be of low intelligence.

ETA: I just had a brief browse through your posting history. Surprised you can see us great unwashed all the way down here from your ivory tower

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 4th April 15:37

[TheInternet]

thetrash said:

It just looks like cronically bad driving and a car that's in a substandard state of repair.

Unless I've missed it there's nothing wrong with the car, it's just appalling driving.

[thetrash]

TheInternet said:

thetrash said:

It just looks like cronically bad driving and a car that's in a substandard state of repair.

Unless I've missed it there's nothing wrong with the car, it's just appalling driving.

No ABS and the front is bit of a mess.