Merging into one lane accident
Discussion
So this morning, was traveling to work as usual.
Get to the traffic lights that are red, where the two lanes go into one ,I'm the third car to arrive (blue), with a car already both in the left and right lane. A fourth vehicle (green) arrives in the left lane, towing a trailer.
We pull away and the car in front of me (in the right hand lane) merges first, with the car in the left lane merging next. I go to follow and am almost an entire car length ahead of the vehicle (green) and go to merge; as I do so the vehicle (green) hits the accelerator with his vehicle making it through but their trailer (which is greater that the width of the towing vehicle) impacts on the front passenger side of my car (blue) where I'm positioned to merge. By this point I had slammed on the brakes so was almost stationary.
They stopped, and there argument was that as I was in the filter lane it was entirely my fault. Just looking for some advice on this.
It won't be going through insurance as it's an older car that's just used to commute to work in, however the damage was quite deep scratches and dents to the front passenger side and had to have the wheel replaced which had a massive tear in.
Get to the traffic lights that are red, where the two lanes go into one ,I'm the third car to arrive (blue), with a car already both in the left and right lane. A fourth vehicle (green) arrives in the left lane, towing a trailer.
We pull away and the car in front of me (in the right hand lane) merges first, with the car in the left lane merging next. I go to follow and am almost an entire car length ahead of the vehicle (green) and go to merge; as I do so the vehicle (green) hits the accelerator with his vehicle making it through but their trailer (which is greater that the width of the towing vehicle) impacts on the front passenger side of my car (blue) where I'm positioned to merge. By this point I had slammed on the brakes so was almost stationary.
They stopped, and there argument was that as I was in the filter lane it was entirely my fault. Just looking for some advice on this.
It won't be going through insurance as it's an older car that's just used to commute to work in, however the damage was quite deep scratches and dents to the front passenger side and had to have the wheel replaced which had a massive tear in.
I was, I had checked in my wing mirror and was almost the entire length of my car in front. He even admitted this but simply said that as I was in the filter lane it was my fault entirely, must admit it did cause me to question myself for a minute or two.
Lesson learnt to drive a bit more defensively especially when merging, oh and getting round to installing the dash cam that's been sitting on the office desk for the past few months.
Lesson learnt to drive a bit more defensively especially when merging, oh and getting round to installing the dash cam that's been sitting on the office desk for the past few months.
btcc123 said:
In your first post you said I am almost an entire car length ahead of the vehicle and you repeated it on this post as well.I dont think that is a big enough gap to move into,it should have been two car lengths to move into safely.
Yes you should have booted it to be first to merge or take it carefully as it seams the sort of place that if a car is behind another in the nearside lane may not know that the road merges ahead.
Of course, completely agree it needs to be more than a car length to move into. We had both just pulled away at a steady pace before he hit the accelerator, he admitted he had seen me in front but as he believed I was in a filter lane, simply said that he had right of way at the merge Yes you should have booted it to be first to merge or take it carefully as it seams the sort of place that if a car is behind another in the nearside lane may not know that the road merges ahead.
KrazyIvan said:
Sorry, just so we have this clear. Are you saying a defender towing a trailer out accelerated you, or in a way that caught you by surprise......
There not exactly known for their turn of speed, even less so when towing a ton of trailer.
As for the accident, 50/50 is probably the best you could hope for.
Not really, no.There not exactly known for their turn of speed, even less so when towing a ton of trailer.
As for the accident, 50/50 is probably the best you could hope for.
Pulled away at a steady pace, got to the point in the diagram where I was car length in front, and was about to start the merge. They sped up, and as I saw it emerging in the corner of my eye, braked. Defender moved slightly further to the left and touched the grass verge, but the trailer flare hit the front passenger side.
Just to answer a few questions.
The accident happened just after the lights changed, which meant I had only got to perhaps 15-20mph before hitting the brakes and being almost stationary just before the red hatching when contact was made.
In all fairness yes my car was angled slightly diagonally in the direction of the merge, as anyone would be when merging in turn - which I guess, fool on me for assuming that was the case.
I just couldn't believe that a driver knew there was a merge ahead, had a car a whole length ahead on his right, but decides to hit the accelerator rather than travelling at a constant speed to allow the merge.
The accident happened just after the lights changed, which meant I had only got to perhaps 15-20mph before hitting the brakes and being almost stationary just before the red hatching when contact was made.
In all fairness yes my car was angled slightly diagonally in the direction of the merge, as anyone would be when merging in turn - which I guess, fool on me for assuming that was the case.
I just couldn't believe that a driver knew there was a merge ahead, had a car a whole length ahead on his right, but decides to hit the accelerator rather than travelling at a constant speed to allow the merge.
Edited by Greengecko on Thursday 2nd April 09:00
I completely agree James that I'm not entirely blameless. However it is a merge in which you're meant to merge in turn, not a lane that ends with a bollard.
I can't see many people where there is a merge, and have a car considerably in front on there right, that they would then intentionally hit the pedal to the metal to block the merge.
I have drove this road in the same way for the past 5 years with incident, and is probably fair to say some drivers get the hump when a driver in the right hand lane merges in front.
I can't see many people where there is a merge, and have a car considerably in front on there right, that they would then intentionally hit the pedal to the metal to block the merge.
I have drove this road in the same way for the past 5 years with incident, and is probably fair to say some drivers get the hump when a driver in the right hand lane merges in front.
PorkInsider said:
You say the LR driver 'hit the accelerator' but surely he would have already been accelerating as best he could with a trailer, given that it looks to be less than 50m from the lights that you collided.
Was he perhaps just continuing to accelerate as he had done for the previous few metres away from the lights?
Was there another vehicle close in front of you or the LR which meant you couldn't get in?
I can't understand how you were comprehensively out-dragged by a trailer-towing LR within about 30m of the lights to such an extent that you had to slam your brakes on knowing that, with the best will in the world, the LR wouldn't be able to stop as quickly.
I get your point and it could have been the the defender was accelerating as fast as possible with the trailer attached. Usually it is a very slow merge, where you merge in turn - so I was simply accelerating steadily away from the lights.Was he perhaps just continuing to accelerate as he had done for the previous few metres away from the lights?
Was there another vehicle close in front of you or the LR which meant you couldn't get in?
I can't understand how you were comprehensively out-dragged by a trailer-towing LR within about 30m of the lights to such an extent that you had to slam your brakes on knowing that, with the best will in the world, the LR wouldn't be able to stop as quickly.
The car in front of me at the lights merged first, followed by the first car in the left lane. There was a large enough gap in front for me to merge into at the point when I was a car length in front.
pinchmeimdreamin said:
No I am trying to understand how if he was a car length past the LR the rear of the trailer hit his car. Bearing in mind this is just after the lights so the LR was probably doing 15-20 at most.
I was indeed roughly a car length past, but saw in the corner of my eye he was accelerating and therefore the gap to move into being closed. I was position diagonally for the merge and braked as he past the rear quarter of my car, I knew I wasn't going to be able to merge in front. At which time he slightly mounted the grass verge and the trailer followed.PorkInsider said:
I'm certainly not trying to blame you, OP, as I think deliberately trying to stop someone merging is a stupid thing to do, no matter how aggrieved the other driver might have felt.
But I'm another one really not understanding how you were a length in front but yet couldn't get across, though?
When you say you were a length in front, do you mean a clear vehicle length between the rear of your car and the LR or do you mean your rear bumper was alongside the LR's front bumper?
Given that you had only gone perhaps 30m by the time you were hit, and hence speeds would be pretty low, being a clear length in front would have been adequate to just pull across. I can't get why you would brake at that point since the LR wouldn't be capable of creating a huge speed differential between you.
Did you stop because you felt that if you'd pulled across he would have rear-ended you as he was going so much faster?
If so I just can't get my head around how there was such a disparity in speeds, with a trailer-towing LR, after only a few yards.
No worries, essentially my back bumper was in line with his front bumper. I was still accelerating steadily in line with other traffic and was positioned to merge, and had no reason to believe he would accelerate further using the grass verge. But I'm another one really not understanding how you were a length in front but yet couldn't get across, though?
When you say you were a length in front, do you mean a clear vehicle length between the rear of your car and the LR or do you mean your rear bumper was alongside the LR's front bumper?
Given that you had only gone perhaps 30m by the time you were hit, and hence speeds would be pretty low, being a clear length in front would have been adequate to just pull across. I can't get why you would brake at that point since the LR wouldn't be capable of creating a huge speed differential between you.
Did you stop because you felt that if you'd pulled across he would have rear-ended you as he was going so much faster?
If so I just can't get my head around how there was such a disparity in speeds, with a trailer-towing LR, after only a few yards.
I saw in the corner of my eye he was accelerating quicker than I was as he drew level with the rear passenger side door, there was no gap to merge so braked, otherwise I would've been on red hatchings/other side of the road.
Would've done things differently in hindsight but live and learn.
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