Mrs got into a fender bender

[Simpo Two]

Wills2 said:

without the poor driving of the OPs wife this would never had happened

That's like someone who drives into a car parked on a yellow line saying 'Well if they hadn't been there I wouldn't have hit them'...

[Roger Irrelevant]

TheLurker said:

IMO it's the other driver's fault. They pulled into her lane.

Agree - as another poster said above that road layout is so far from being a normal roundabout that a 50/50 apportionment of blame would seem very harsh. What M135i man did was more like cutting across lane 1 to take an exit from a dual carriageway without looking properly. That would almost always be judged to be 100% his fault, which wouldn't be unjust here IMO.

[FMOB]

Roger Irrelevant said:

TheLurker said:

IMO it's the other driver's fault. They pulled into her lane.

Agree - as another poster said above that road layout is so far from being a normal roundabout that a 50/50 apportionment of blame would seem very harsh. What M135i man did was more like cutting across lane 1 to take an exit from a dual carriageway without looking properly. That would almost always be judged to be 100% his fault, which wouldn't be unjust here IMO.

I think is a case of it takes two, you can argue the OP's wife should be in the right lane and the m135i driver should be in the left as there are 2 lanes to stay on the roundabout but also 2 lanes to take the exit.

Fundamentally I think the m135i driver is more at fault as they should have been in the left lane but why were they in the right lane? If the left lane was full of traffic how did the OP's wife find a gap to pull into or is the m135i driver one of these who thinks they are special and only drive in the right lane.

Their exclamation of this being the 3rd time points towards them being the 'special one'.

[heebeegeetee]

I think the OP's wife is more at fault. There are 2 lanes exiting the rab, are we saying that both can't be used?

There are 2 lanes entering, 2 lanes exiting, the BMW was going straight on more or less, so not really turning imo.

But I do note the comment that he's had 3 crashes though.

[Roger Irrelevant]

heebeegeetee said:

I think the OP's wife is more at fault. There are 2 lanes exiting the rab, are we saying that both can't be used?

No, but then just because the exit slip from a dual carriageway or motorway has two lanes doesn't mean you can slew across from lane 2/3 without looking and blame anybody you bash into in the process. To my mind the road markings on that quite odd bit of road are saying that you can exit from the right lane, but it's totally up to you to make sure nobody's in the left lane carrying on when you do.

Edited by Roger Irrelevant on Sunday 10th March 16:58

[frenmor]

Nah I don’t think the Mrs is at fault. The other guy was clearly driving like an absolute idiot. Not sure why she was in the left lane tho.

You’re right tho there aren’t actually any lane markings. Makes the bmw driver culpable in itself?

Edited by frenmor on Sunday 10th March 16:13

[Sheepshanks]

frenmor said:

Nah I don’t think the Mrs is at fault. The other guy was clearly driving like an absolute idiot. Not sure why she was in the left lane tho.

You’re right tho there aren’t actually any lane markings. Makes the bmw driver culpable in itself?

In a way it makes him less obviously culpable because it can't be argued that he crossed a lane marking when it wasn't safe to so. You're down to him changing direction without checking it was safe.

OK, most PHers probably drive like the BMW did, but you're asking from trouble if you go diving off roundabouts from the RH side of the road and don;t keep a clear "cell" around you. I've seen a police traffic officer describe a roundabout as being the same as a straight road with lots of side roads on the left - you'd be pretty miffed if you were on a 2 lane road and someone on your right turned left across you.

[Hilts]

frenmor said:

But also he was in the wrong lane too?

The markings are not much help, the left lane would have been the best choice to make for straight on and the right lane for the almost 180. Left lane should be possible also but then you run the risk of bumping in to '3 crashes'

If that's an indication of how he normally drives then easy to see why he's had three accidents that weren't 'his' fault.

[Pica-Pica]

Sheepshanks said:

In a way it makes him less obviously culpable because it can't be argued that he crossed a lane marking when it wasn't safe to so. You're down to him changing direction without checking it was safe.

Surely the two are the same - certainly as the outcome deemed it was not safe.

[Tiglon]

There aren't even any markings on that part of the road/roundabout, so to say one person has cut across the other's lane is just not true. With no markings, it's fair to say that everyone bears equal responsibility not to hit anyone else, unless someone is doing something ridiculous.

It sounds like two different drivers with very different styles, neither of whom made much consideration of the fact that other people might drive differently to them.

Personally, I would say that OP's wife has behaved in a less predictable way (you reallywouldn't expect anyone to turn right from that lane on that road). If she was indicating in good time though, then BMW driver should have been aware enough to see this and adjust, so has to share the responsibility.

That said, if OP's wife was indicating and BMW driver wasn't, then it suggests she new she was potentially cutting across other traffic whereas BMW man thought everyone was going straight on. OP's Mrs should have realised it was going to be very dangerous to continue trying to go right, adjusted and gone straight on, and turned back a hundred yards further down the road at the roundabout.

BMW man has more right to feel aggrieved, but 50/50 blame.

[andburg]

F355BMF said:

Presented without comment (does make it look worse for my mrs!). Arrows circled in black correspond to the exit before where the incident was so no defence from those.

Anyway it's a company car and I don't pay the insurance so no NCB to lose. Will cost me on the renewal of the policy on my other car though.....

It’s not a roundabout it’s a gyratory. Both lanes go straight ahead and wife has tried to go right, crossing the right lane which exits into the right hand of the dual carriageway classed as straight on.

[Gary C]

frenmor said:

Nah I don’t think the Mrs is at fault. The other guy was clearly driving like an absolute idiot. Not sure why she was in the left lane tho.

You’re right tho there aren’t actually any lane markings. Makes the bmw driver culpable in itself?

Edited by frenmor on Sunday 10th March 16:13

Sorry, but it clearly is her fault from any objective defensive driving point of view. Bearing right, be over to the right, its simple, defensive driving.

Passing a two lane exit and not expecting a car on her right to want to go straight on is just bad driving.

That said, it looks as if the HWA have just thought "sod it, lets just let people make it up as they go"

Edited by Gary C on Sunday 10th March 17:25

[Sheepshanks]

Tiglon said:

Personally, I would say that OP's wife has behaved in a less predictable way (you reallywouldn't expect anyone to turn right from that lane on that road).

Assuming what another driver is going to do is a recipe for spending a lot of time on bodyshop hassles. I used to work for a company based in Reading and found our head-office staff, all with company cars, were pretty terrifying drivers as they just didn't give a toss if they had a bump because it wasn't their car.

Back home, I live near a tourist city so we get a lot of drivers not familiar with the area. Some ahole locals give no quarter to them.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 10th March 17:26

[MightyBadger]

andburg said:

It’s not a roundabout it’s a gyratory. Both lanes go straight ahead and wife has tried to go right, crossing the right lane which exits into the right hand of the dual carriageway classed as straight on.

Correct. She messed up unfortunately.

[Tiglon]

Sheepshanks said:

Tiglon said:

Personally, I would say that OP's wife has behaved in a less predictable way (you reallywouldn't expect anyone to turn right from that lane on that road).

Assuming what another driver is going to do is a recipe for spending a lot of time on bodyshop hassles. I used to work for a company based in Reading and found our head-office staff, all with company cars, were pretty terrifying drivers as they just didn't give a toss if they had a bump because it wasn't their car.

Back home, I live near a tourist city so we get a lot of drivers not familiar with the area. Some ahole locals give no quarter to them.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 10th March 17:26

Exactly, hence the rest of my post that you cut out...

[BlindedByTheLights]

frenmor said:

she was driving around a roundabout in the left lane intending to exit at 3 o clock.

Out of genuine interest, where did your wife learn this manoeuvre? I’ve had some very close calls recently, and more and more people seem to be doing this so I’m interested as to where they’ve learnt or seen it

Edited by BlindedByTheLights on Sunday 10th March 18:01

[MightyBadger]

[uknick]

F355BMF said:

Presented without comment (does make it look worse for my mrs!). Arrows circled in black correspond to the exit before where the incident was so no defence from those.

Anyway it's a company car and I don't pay the insurance so no NCB to lose. Will cost me on the renewal of the policy on my other car though.....

Ah, Reading/Bracknell area, make complete sense now. I find there are plenty of drivers round Bracknell who use the left lane to enter the roundabout and then take the past 12 o'clock exit (right hand exit). All without indicating as to where they are going, but I suppose that goes without saying!!

[TooLateForAName]

There are so many people who don't understand the roads posting here.

BMW driver is at fault.

That isnt a roundabout. the two lanes of the A4 do a loop around. Arrows on the road show both lanes can be used to follow the A4.

BMW crossed another lane without it being clear.

[MightyBadger]

TooLateForAName said:

There are so many people who don't understand the roads posting here.

BMW driver is at fault.

That isnt a roundabout. the two lanes of the A4 do a loop around. Arrows on the road show both lanes can be used to follow the A4.

BMW crossed another lane without it being clear.

The yellow car is the bmw driver?

Maybe I misunderstood this lol.