Idiots who block a lane to "exchange insurance details"
Idiots who block a lane to "exchange insurance details"
Author
Discussion

Dog Star

Original Poster:

17,594 posts

197 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Not a rant, I'm just a bit amazed by some people.

Some people must be so lacking in common sense that I'm certain that only the repeated administration of extreme pain could help teach them some....

Seen again (and seen before quite often) - utter, utter knob-jockeys who have a tiny bump (ie. so tiny that the damage isn't visible as you go past) in the right hand lane of a motorway/dual cabbageway/middle of a huge junction. So what do they do? Stop where the incident occurred and start exchanging details, or you can see them pointing out some microscopic scratch or similar to the other party. What is wrong with some people - does the notion of pulling off the road/onto the hard shoulder even enter their heads? Nobody is dead - nobody is hurt (until the whiplash claim goes in, that is rolleyes). The other thing I've noticed is that invariably they're suit wearing types.

Pints

18,451 posts

223 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
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Years ago, some tit rear-ended me (phnar phnar) and then, after wailing about how his boss was going to kill him for smashing the car for the second time in as many weeks, he wants to stand exchanging details with me in the middle of the road.

I politely put it to him that since neither of us were dead, we should just move to the side of the road and get things sorted from there. This revelation was like I'd just told him the sky was made of nougat.

LuS1fer

43,509 posts

274 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
It is inadvisable to move the cars until you have spoken to the other person and established whether there is an admission of liability as you may well want photos. Sometimes apparent minor scratches can end up being a write-off.

kambites

71,474 posts

250 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
I believe it's a legal requirement to stop at the scene of any road accident?

Liokault

2,837 posts

243 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Here in Russia, you can’t move a car till the police arrive and decide who will pay the biggest bribe.

I get driven about 10 miles/ 45 mins each way every day, to and from my hotel/factory, I don’t recall a day when there has not been at least one already chocked road partially blocked by cars waiting for the police to arrive. Its’ crazy, most times there is no damage and both cars would not be considered road worthy in the UK even before the "crash".

Liquid Tuna

1,403 posts

185 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
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However bad your day is that you have to wait a couple of minutes for them to exchange details and then drive off, their day is far worse.

Biker's Nemesis

41,413 posts

237 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
kambites said:
I believe it's a legal requirement to stop at the scene of any road accident?
Yes it is. That doesn't mean you have to stay where you are if no one is hurt and there's hardly any damage to either cars.



kambites

71,474 posts

250 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Biker's Nemesis said:
kambites said:
I believe it's a legal requirement to stop at the scene of any road accident?
Yes it is. That doesn't mean you have to stay where you are if no one is hurt and there's hardly any damage to either cars.
Yes but as someone said above, it's a good idea to get out of the car and make sure that's the case first.

LuS1fer

43,509 posts

274 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Biker's Nemesis said:
Yes it is. That doesn't mean you have to stay where you are if no one is hurt and there's hardly any damage to either cars.
Not entirely true. McDermott v DPP [1997] held driving on for 80 yards and then returning to the other vehicle was not sufficient and the defendant was convicted of failing to stop.

andrewrob

2,913 posts

219 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
I remember a good few years back in france I was going down a two lane motorway with my dad driving, we came to the top of a slope and just past the brow of the hill there were 3 cars all stopped (even though there was a hard shoulder they were still sat in lane 1).
Luckily the driver next to us had the sense to stand on the brakes so we had just enough time to swerve round. All of the cars looked like they had very minor damage.

Irrotational

1,580 posts

217 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
LuS1fer said:
Not entirely true. McDermott v DPP [1997] held driving on for 80 yards and then returning to the other vehicle was not sufficient and the defendant was convicted of failing to stop.
Thats crazy!!

What about 1 yard? 2 yards? 50 yards?

How on earth did they prove he had gone 80 yards?

Is there a site that lists the details of these cases? Or do you need giant law books that cost thousands of pounds?

kambites

71,474 posts

250 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
andrewrob said:
I remember a good few years back in france I was going down a two lane motorway with my dad driving, we came to the top of a slope and just past the brow of the hill there were 3 cars all stopped (even though there was a hard shoulder they were still sat in lane 1).
Luckily the driver next to us had the sense to stand on the brakes so we had just enough time to swerve round. All of the cars looked like they had very minor damage.
In that case, your dad was driving far too fast. That could just as easily have been a traffic jam or big accident blocking both lanes.

kambites

71,474 posts

250 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Irrotational said:
Thats crazy!!

What about 1 yard? 2 yards? 50 yards?
I always thought the point was that you weren't allowed to move the car at all until you'd checked that all parties were OK and exchanged details.

ceebmoj

1,899 posts

290 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
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As some one who has had the other diver fail to stop I think I would be far moor likely to block them in. we moved off the main road I got out of the car to exchange details and they dove off.


redgriff500

28,982 posts

292 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Liquid Tuna said:
However bad your day is that you have to wait a couple of minutes for them to exchange details and then drive off, their day is far worse.
That's hardly the point.

So if I have a bad day I can decide to block a road & that's ok ?

Frequently its adding 10+ minutes to hundreds of drivers trips.

I've seen the Police block off 2 lanes on the M way after a minor bump in Lane 1.

There were no injuries.

Yet 4 cops with 2 4x4's "couldn't" move it (TBH I'm 99% sure it would have driven) into the hard shoulder.


LuS1fer

43,509 posts

274 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Irrotational said:
Thats crazy!!

What about 1 yard? 2 yards? 50 yards?

How on earth did they prove he had gone 80 yards?

Is there a site that lists the details of these cases? Or do you need giant law books that cost thousands of pounds?
Usually these cases involve other offences - the application of common sense is far more widespread but you have to bear in mind that moving a car can often remove vital evidence if liability is in dispute. How often do you have a collision where the person at fault moves their car like a ferret out of a drainpipe into a less incriminating position before squealing "knock for knock". I have personal experience of a woman cutting into my lane and slamming the brakes on and being an obstruction, we moved the cars to a safer position. 12 months down the line and suddenly she is claiming I was in a completely different lane and ran into the back of her.

koolchris99

12,522 posts

208 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
in Oman you have to leave the cars exactly where they are untill the police come.

if you move your car you have to move it back

Pontoneer

3,643 posts

215 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Dog Star said:
Not a rant, I'm just a bit amazed by some people.

Some people must be so lacking in common sense that I'm certain that only the repeated administration of extreme pain could help teach them some....

Seen again (and seen before quite often) - utter, utter knob-jockeys who have a tiny bump (ie. so tiny that the damage isn't visible as you go past) in the right hand lane of a motorway/dual cabbageway/middle of a huge junction. So what do they do? Stop where the incident occurred and start exchanging details, or you can see them pointing out some microscopic scratch or similar to the other party. What is wrong with some people - does the notion of pulling off the road/onto the hard shoulder even enter their heads? Nobody is dead - nobody is hurt (until the whiplash claim goes in, that is rolleyes). The other thing I've noticed is that invariably they're suit wearing types.
I would generally get a few photographs showing the positions of the cars then , ASAP , move them to safety .

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

262 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
LuS1fer said:
... 12 months down the line and suddenly she is claiming I was in a completely different lane and ran into the back of her.
No surprise there. I was a witness (in lane 3) to a similar where driver in lane 1 jumped into lane 2 to stop from rear-ending the almost stationary car infront of him which he had ignored until it was too late.

Chap infront of me had no chance, I knew what would happen next so stopped to act as a witness for poor bloke infront. Sure enough the guilty party spent months trying to wriggle out of it, changing their story so many times it wasn't true.

agxster

396 posts

210 months

Thursday 21st July 2011
quotequote all
Someone rear ended me some years ago. We were blocking a lane leading up to a roundabout so I told him it would be best to pull into the McD's car park across the roundabout. He says yes, I pull into the car park and find he is long gone!