Worth reporting minor bump to police?

[Ian Geary]

Afternoon all

after many bump free years of driving, my car was scuffed by a van at a traffic island today.

Briefly, I was in lane 3 of a 3 lane spiral traffic island, turning right. A van in the middle lane taking the second exit decided to take a straighter line across the "round" bit of the roundabout, which was unfortunately where my car was. He obviously didn't see me / hear me hoot / care. Hey ho.

I have his reg details but doubt he got mine. The island was too busy to stop, and he'd already gone down a different exit anyway. I'm thinking of reporting the incident to Surrey plod online, to cover myself re: requirements to do so in 24 hours.

Question: would other people be bothered reporting this? Seems so minor, but I don't want to leave myself open to any comeuppance should for not doing it.

Here's the incident in question (note: I was chatting to my 8 yo and was thinking of the PH dashcam thread about "going on amber" at the time! )
https://youtu.be/46wFFcnvQfs

Here's the damage (foglight was already broken) which I am not bothered about really.




Interesting snippit: On the police page, if I don't say the other driver committed an offence, I can't then put in any details about the accident, such as the video. But I guess the police will disregard my opinion of whether it was DWDCA and make their own mind up. I don't want to get the guy in trouble particularly.

thanks

Ian

[poo at Paul's]

er sorry, but why did you drive into that narrowing gap and hit the horn instead of just braking gently, in which case he would have missed you...….?

How odd!

Ref police, I am not sure it will help you too much, and they may end up looking dimly on the driving from both parties!

[BIG DUNC]

As damage has occurred to someone else’s property (the van) it should be reported.

I am not sure they will do a lot but at least you are covering yourself while the van driver has effectively hit and run. Assuming of course you stopped as soon as it was safe to do so.

[Sheepshanks]

Ian Geary said:

Here's the incident in question (note: I was chatting to my 8 yo and was thinking of the PH dashcam thread about "going on amber" at the time! )

You certainly weren't thinking about your driving!

Second clip on here in a few days where the camera car could have so easily avoided the incident. Maybe it's something about having a camera in the car?

[jondude]

You are supposed to do as you say but then make sure you have the right reg number as if the other driver cannot be found, all that is left on file is you had an accident.

I'm not sure if they are linked but my worry then would be why the other driver gets off scot free, you will now risk your insurers knowing via the database/sharing you had an accident and maybe extra premiums plus having to declare it for years.

You are supposed to tell them too.

It is a tough one. If the damage is light then yes, there is no doubt you are supposed to inform the police (as is he) but it could well be the only one who suffers financially is you.

[loskie]

October '15???

[Ian Geary]

poo at Paul's said:

er sorry, but why did you drive into that narrowing gap and hit the horn instead of just braking gently, in which case he would have missed you...….?

How odd!

Ref police, I am not sure it will help you too much, and they may end up looking dimly on the driving from both parties!

The "narrow gap" being the entire width of the painted right hand lane, which is where you'd expect a car turning right? Yes, how odd.

Obviously I have watched this clip a few times.

Time 00:17 and the start of 00:18 still shows a clear lane ( I was already alongside the van, in the appropriate place, as I customarily drive round an island with a clear lane ahead of me)

During time 00:18 the van's right wheel moves into lane 3. Time 00:19 shows it's wheel near the "right only" arrow (so well into lane 3), which is when I started to hoot, and the bump happened during 00:19.

I'm sure there are numerous things people could have done in this whole second other than hoot and lift off, but I feel the video supports the gap being closed on me due to the other vehicle's poor lane discipline, rather than me heading into a gap that had already narrowed.

To be honest, playing that back makes me more sure to report it, so the comment has been of some use.

It's a good point about causing damage to another vehicle, and I don't want any silly future claims cropping up so it's worth just doing it properly.

Ian

[martinbiz]

Are you on a wind up OP I would say it was as much a hit and run from you, you didn’t bat an eyelid and just carried on, the van driver actually braked and looked like he was going to stop. Plus as mentioned video is from 2015???

[SuperNads]

He closed a gap sure, but you could and should have slowed down when you saw him move over and you didn't stop either. This happens all the time and I rarely line up alongside cars on multilane roundabouts for this reason exactly.

[roadsmash]

The van driver stopped (or at least slowed down).

You however chose to take the next exit and drive off, when you could have gone around the roundabout to meet the van driver - who had already taken an exit.

But “you couldn’t be bothered” to quote you in the video.

His argument will be that he pulled over just after the crash and waited for you to come back round (he had already left the roundabout, you had not).

I think the onus was on you to meet the van driver (although I appreciate the accident wasn’t strictly your fault).

You could have stopped but instead chose to just sound your horn.

Everything apart from the van driver’s lane cutting is against you.

Your only saving grace is that the van driver may not have grabbed your number plate.

[Sargeant Orange]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that would be an open & shut case in your favour in terms of an insurance claim. I can understand you not wanting to go down that road for a banger, neither would I.

I wouldn't be contacting the police, absolute waste of your time.

You clearly lift off while sounding the horn, not much else you could do

[RemyMartin81D]

Sargeant Orange said:

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that would be an open & shut case in your favour in terms of an insurance claim. I can understand you not wanting to go down that road for a banger, neither would I.

I wouldn't be contacting the police, absolute waste of your time.

You clearly lift off while sounding the horn, not much else you could do

Yeah bloody brake pedal being fitted which wipes of speed, what's the point. Takes up the footwell. Clear 50/50 to me.

[Retroman]

If i was you OP i'd report it in person to a station within 24 hours to keep yourself right and i'd inform the insurance as well. The chances of something happening due to the van driver taken further action might be slim but it's not worth the risk as it wouldn't look favourably for you should this come back later.

poo at Paul's said:

er sorry, but why did you drive into that narrowing gap and hit the horn instead of just braking gently, in which case he would have missed you...….?

How odd!

He probably made the mistake we all do, and didn't use his psychic ability to know that the driver was going to drive into the side of him before it happened.

poo at Paul's said:

Ref police, I am not sure it will help you too much, and they may end up looking dimly on the driving from both parties!

One driver is driving in thier lane doing nothing wrong aside from not being able to see into he future.
The other driver is driving in 2 lanes, doing everything wrong.

SuperNads said:

He closed a gap sure, but you could and should have slowed down when you saw him move over and you didn't stop either. This happens all the time and I rarely line up alongside cars on multilane roundabouts for this reason exactly.

Hindsight is trully wonderful eh?

RemyMartin81D said:

Yeah bloody brake pedal being fitted which wipes of speed, what's the point. Takes up the footwell. Clear 50/50 to me.

From an insurance liability perspective, 50/50 is absolute nonsense with this video.
It would go completely in favour of the camera car unless it went to court, which with the video...it won't.
The van driver came out of their lane, when it wasn't safe to do so and in doing so entered another lane which was occupied and caused the accident.
The camera car could have driven more defensively but that doesn't mean they were equally negligent.

[anonymous-user]

You're obligated to report. If you don't you've failed to stop and failed to report.

You're not obligated to provide the footage. Some may even suggest you may not recall the other vehicle's VRM for the police report.



In terms of the driving, am I missing something? I don't see how the OP is any way at fault.

[Countdown]

Sargeant Orange said:

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that would be an open & shut case in your favour in terms of an insurance claim. I can understand you not wanting to go down that road for a banger, neither would I.

I wouldn't be contacting the police, absolute waste of your time.

You clearly lift off while sounding the horn, not much else you could do

Pretty much what I was thinking. Knob van driver CBA to stay in his own lane.

[Countdown]

roadsmash said:

Everything apart from the van driver’s lane cutting is against you..

Absolutely. Everything apart from the very very minor point that the van Driver didnt stay in his own lane and hit the front of the OP’s car is the fault of the OP. Tbh we really need to see the previous 3 hours of the OP’s driving before making any judgements, he probably provoked the van Driver with his aggressive dashcamming.

I’m beginning thing that Dashcams are pointless because people dont seem to recognise completely moronic driving EVEN WHEN ITS ON fkING VIDEO....

[Earthdweller]

I’d say you are three and a half years too late

Statutory limit for minor road traffic offences is 6 months

April 2016 was the latest the Police could take any action

[Earthdweller]

But, if the date on your dashcam is wrong ..

Then I’d say that both you and the other driver have committed the offence of failing to stop/report a collision.

At the very least you should have stopped and seen if the van driver came back around

If you are unable to provide your details at the time to someone reasonably requiring them then you must report the collision immediately or if unable to do so ASAP but at least within 24hrs

With regards to fault .. You could very easily have avoided a collision

It would not pass the threshold for prosecution in my humble opinion

Edited by Earthdweller on Thursday 5th September 22:10

Edited by Earthdweller on Thursday 5th September 22:11

Edited by Earthdweller on Thursday 5th September 22:12

[carinaman]

That the van was registered on 1 Sept. 2016 would suggest that the date on the dashcam footage is wrong?

[roadsmash]

Countdown said:

roadsmash said:

Everything apart from the van driver’s lane cutting is against you..

Absolutely. Everything apart from the very very minor point that the van Driver didnt stay in his own lane and hit the front of the OP’s car is the fault of the OP. Tbh we really need to see the previous 3 hours of the OP’s driving before making any judgements, he probably provoked the van Driver with his aggressive dashcamming.

I’m beginning thing that Dashcams are pointless because people dont seem to recognise completely moronic driving EVEN WHEN ITS ON fkING VIDEO....

Yep that’s it, ignore the rest of my post and just quote the bit that makes sense to your pointless argument.

How about we use the dashcam footage as proof that the OP has failed to stop at the scene of an accident?

Time is ticking to report it.

Edited to remove misleading wording.

Edited by roadsmash on Friday 6th September 01:34