motorway crash

[Fergo10]

i was involved in a motorway crash,i was in the 3rd lane when suddenly the car in front decided to slam all on his brakes, i tried to stop but knew i would crash into him so i swerved into the middle lane.

there was a collision and we ended up being bounced across to the hard shoulder, i ended up in hospital and my wife and 3 kids had some bad bruising.

when we went to empty thr car judging by the impact on both cars and from what the police say it looks like he actually crashed into us, our insurance say unless we can prove he hit us we will have to take the blame.

our car was a MPV, and his was a hatchback, surely if we hit him he and his passengers would have been injured and his car wouldn't have stayed put.

a witness who stopped said he tried to drive off but we don't know what else the witness said to the police as they won't get involved unless the insurance ask for details.

has anyone any advice?

because not only am I still in a lot of pain (2 weeks later) my children are really unsettled and have been having nightmares and I am not happy about having to accept the blame when I initially avoided the crash

[ChuckFickens]

Gaming???

Anyhow... so you are basically saying you had not left enough room to stop safely when the car in front of you stopped so you had to swerve into the path of another car thus causing an accident?

If you had left enough stopping distance between you and the car ahead you wouldn't have had to swerve and wouldn't have caused an accident, it's your fault.

[Fergo10]

no you are missing the point, i avoided the initial crash by moving into the middle lane and he decided to also come across and hit us.

we don't know why he braked suddenly in the fast lane when the road ahead was clear, maybe he was on the phone or messing around with a GPS or something.

[Fergo10]

the car who braked causing the swerve was the car who hit me

[Coobeastie]

Agree with Chuck you either drove into the car in the third lane or cut into the path of somebody in the second lane either way its your fault for driving too near to the car in front.

[Davethedog]

So your moving into the middle lane had no influence on the accident?

You moved into middle lane continued some yards and the got hit? Where did his car hit yours?

[squarebear]

Most games will allow you to reset. Not sure why you would be in pain? Were you in one of those motion chairs? Sounds like you had it too tight to me.

[Coobeastie]

Didn't see your next post...did he sideswipe you then?

Still think that if you'd given yourself enough room the crash wouldnt have happened.

[Fergo10]

but i didn't cut antybody up, he cut me up he braked for no reason and swerved across into me for no reason - i did all i could to avoid it - it is easy to sit there blaming me when you weren't actually there - i know it was not my fault so you can think what you like - i hope something like this happens to you and lets see what make of - either read what i am putting properly or don't answer!!

[Davethedog]

Didn't see you 2nd comment so you were overtaking on the inside?

[Fergo10]

don't know how this got onto gaming topic, but my moving over had no influence on the crash, however his did as it CAUSED THE CRASH ALONG WITH HIS SUDDEN BRAKING FOR NO REASON WHAT AREN'T YOU GETTING HERE?

[ChuckFickens]

it doesn't matter why he braked, he can slam the brakes on for no reason at all and you should have been far enough back from him to be able to stop safely without having to swerve across a motorway.

If he braked suddenly and swerved too maybe there was an obstruction in the road they needed to avoid?

from your additional information (it was the car that braked that hit you) you are now basically saying you didn't have enough room to stop safely when the car in front braked so you swerved and undertook him.

point one where you are at fault, not leaving enough room to stop safely

Point two where you are at fault, you swerved into another lane to undertake a car on a motorway.

I am sorry about your injuries and more so about your childrens distress but I'm afraid to say you did not avoid a crash, you caused it by not leaving enough space to be able to deal with an incident in front of you in a calm manner (i.e. by being able to come to a stop before hitting the car)

[Coobeastie]

Nice... presume you wanted us to commend you on your driving skills and are now throwing your toys out of the pram because we think your at least partially to blame.

[Fergo10]

i was undertaking on the inside to avoid a collision which i thought i had done but he swerved over and hit my front wing and door so how can i be blamed for hitting him ?

[Fergo10]

no i dont want any recognition of my driving skills and it is easy for you say i am to blame when you weren't there.

so you are saying you are model drivers and always stay the recommended distance by the highway code for stopping at 70 mph?

I'll bet you work for an insurance company the way you talk - i'd be happy with a 50/50 but not all the blame

[Davethedog]

Right you were travelling behind a car when he braked you were to close to stop in a straight line - Correct - You fault See the highway code

You then pulled into the middle lane and instead of braking you tried to over take on the inside - Correct - Your fault. illegal

The Car on the outside lane pulled into your lane and you hit him - Correct - Your fault. again illegal

[ChuckFickens]

Bottom line is you didn't leave a safe stopping distance in front of you.

I'm sure everyone on this thread has at some point driven too close to a car on a motorway, but if in doing so we had caused an accident then maybe we would realise that it was our actions that had caused the accident, trying to argue "well everyone else drives too close" isn't going to cut a lot of ice with an insurance company.

Look at it from the other drivers point of view, he was driving along minding his own business and spots an obstruction on the road, he hits the brakes, checks his mirror and it's clear to the inside of him so he starts to move across to avoid the obstruction, in the mean time a person behind has not left enough room to deal with the situation safely so instead of being able to pull up behind they have swerved and started to come past on the inside thus performing an illegal undertaking manoeuvre and causing an accident while doing so.

You may not like it, but if you had left enough space to stop then the accident wouldn't have happened.

[redcrx]

"surely if we hit him he and his passengers would have been injured and his car wouldn't have stayed put"

so his car stayed put? how does that happen if you hit him or he hits you, unless he was stationary and you were hardly moving?

get your insurers to ask for the witness details. You have witnesses who saw what went on, we can only go by one version of events, yours.

[redcrx]

of course, even if he was found at fault, that wont help settle your children. Thats got to be most important, they may be getting even more upset if you are angry at the situation.

[doomey!]

You should probably lay off playing Burnout revenge then.