U Turn on 'A' Road?

[EJD]

Can anyone tell me whether it is legal to perform a 'U' Turn on an A road, please?

My husband was involved in an accident recently, where the car in front of him did an emergency stop in order to perform a U Turn, despite the prescence of oncoming traffic. My husband's bike was a write-off, & he was also injured - however the 3rd party's car was fine.

Anybody know who is to blame, from an insurance point of view?

Thanks in Advance,
Emily.

(PS: Forgot to mention that neither vehicle was speeding, and the Third party driver was not a UK National)

[funkymoped]

to my knowledge it is legal to do a u turn on an A road unless there are signs preventing you to do so.
im guessing the car involved didnt crash, so the oncoming traffic wasnt an issue.
bikers are on the whole decent riders so im guessing again that your man was keeping a safe distance between himself and the car infront.
from my point of view, and its only my opinion, your man was in the wrong !
for whatever reason, he lost control of his bike and this resulted in him dropping it.
at worst, the driver of the car MAY have been driving with undue care and attention but he wasnt involved in the accident !

i hope someone can tell me im wrong on this ! ! !

[bednobs]

hi emily, i fail to see what difference not being a UK national makes, unless you are implying the other person did not have a valid driving liscense, or indeed you are implying that only uk nationals can drive properly!
Anyway, as with most rear end accidents, the facts as you have presented them lead me to believe that the following vehicle (your husband) was at fault because he should have left enough of a stopping distance that he was able to bring his bike to a stop if the person in front brakes suddenly (example: if the person braked sharply to prevent themselves running over a child, then your husband went into them, it would be the same situation. Just because the driver braked suddenly to do a manouver, dosent really make any difference)
But anyway, it dosen't matter what a bunch of randomers on a website think, what does the police and insurance company say?

[Ethel]

I agree with Bednobs.

But I do take exception at being called a common ramonder.


:)

[tigwig]

well your not going to like my answer but apart from once, my experiences of bikers has been negative. It sounds to me that your hubby was riding far too close to the car in front, probably up his backside trying to get past him then in this case the car decided to do a u-turn, your hubby was going too fast and too close to be able to stop in time. I don't think you can really blame the other driver. I am sorry to hear your hubby was hurt though and although I rarely see a 'good' biker it doesn't mean I want them all to be hurt. Your insurance company will sort it out

[Loosehead]

Assuming you mean that your husband ran into the back of the car doing the "emergency stop", then it is 100% his fault. Makes no difference what the intentions of the driver where, it's a simple case of a rear end shunt. If I have misunderstood what happenned please provide further details.

[markja]

the driver in the rear is not allways at fault...!?
there is a part of the law which says you must drive with due care and attention, if the action of slamming your brakes on, without warning or reason, causes an accident ,you are in the wrong.i am assuming your husband was closing up on the car so he could over take it, and he could see the road ahead was clear with no reason for the car to brake sharpley. the car driver should, that is should, mirror, signal, manuover, and do it in a safe careful manner.
i would speak to the police and then take it from there. don't forget if your johnny foriegner was uninsured you can go to the motor insurers bureau.

[EJD]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your replies. The case is currently with the insurance companies, and the police are no longer interested, as although they attended the incident, they decided there was no criminal activity & therefore a matter for the insurance companies. I know whatever answers I get on here don't mean much, & it's the Insurance Company's decision - I just wondered what the general consensus was, as it's going to take months to sort out officially.

To answer some questions, there was no overtaking (intended or actual) involved. My husband was simply following the third party down the road, in a line of traffic. Neither were speeding as they'd just passed a speed camera, and my husband was maintaining a 3-second gap between him & the 3rd party in front - he was definately not 'up his backside'!

He didn't lose control of the bike - in fact he tried his best to steer around the car, but there wasn't enough time & in any case, would have had to choose between a ditch & a line of oncoming traffic. He only 'lost control' when his front wheel connected with the 3rd party's tow bar.

I appreciate the 'what if a child ran out' point of view (thanks bednobs); however if that (or similar) had happened, my husband would have seen this also, & likely would have braked earlier. Surely a sudden decision to stop immediately, just because you fancy turning around can't be viewed the same, can it?!

By the way, I only mentioned that the 3rd party was not a UK National in case it had some bearing on the insurer's views - I wasn't trying to imply non-UK Nationals in general can't drive!!

Thanks very much to all of you for taking the time to reply.
Emily.