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Undue care & attention?

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ryang | 19:39 Sun 29th Jun 2008 | Road rules
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Hi everyone. I'm sure you may get questions like this alot but I think my question may have some points that i'm not sure will be taken into consideration if I were to get punished for it, I was in a pretty nasty car crash. I fractured a bone in my neck and had some brain injury. Now with that all past, I was told the incident is going to go to court. I do not have any memory of the crash or even the hours before it. My last memory is being at gym the previous day. The crash happened with me driving round a corner (not a sharp one that needs you to be really slowed down) and encountered a council lorry stopped on my side of the road. I must have been passing the lorry and the crash happened. There are no witnesses to the crash and the only accounts of it are from the council worker in charge of the lorry and the women in the car I collided with. Both accounts of the incident have slight contradictions and points that will need to be questioned further. The main focus of my solictor is relating to the road not having enough/or no signs at all on the road to warn drivers. The council worker himself states he had two signs on the road that day. But his account of were they are spread from is 2 miles from were the accident happened. He also states he had lights flashing on his vehicle which is also in question. Now with all that being said - do any of you guys feel this is a case that I can be held accountable for? I should have been expecting the unexpected with regards to a corner. I would love to hear the case will be thrown out because there was very little inital investigation carried out but I aint pinning my hopes on it. Sorry for such a long question.
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why do you say that the lorry was stopped on your side of the road and you were passing it ...

... if you have ...

... no recollection of the accident ??????

Question Author
Hi, it is what I have been told of the accident by the police and the statement of the driver of the other car.
The police were not there when the accident happened, so they can't say what happened

You've said there were no witnesses

You have no recollection



SO how can the council worker's claim, that he had his lights flashing, be in dispute??

There is nobody to challenge it.

Question Author
There are two parts of the worker's claim in dispute:

1) He even had signs up (and if it is accepted he did, how can 2 signs cover an area of nearly 2 miles?)

2) The driver of the car I collided with states she saw a lorry stopped on the side of the road but only later found out it was a council lorry (no mention of any flashing lights)
Whether there were signs or lights is irrelevant.

If there was a broken down or stopped vehicle of any sort just round the corner and you swerved out to pass it and hit a car on the otherside of the road you would have been the one charged with careless or dangerous driving as you were obviously the one who caused the crash.

Highway code chapter 57.

Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

You didn't.
Question Author
Apologies if I led you to believe I swerved. We do not know this. The women driver also does not state this in her account of the accident.

The lorry was just on the corner so I would have had no way if seeing if the road was clear or not. The road was also on a slant, so any vehicles on their way toward me when I crossed over could have been hidden (when turning the corner I was at the top of this slant)

Speed has not been mentioned as of yet so I am puzzled by the answer implying I was speeding....
I did not imply you were speeding, I simply said you were driving to fast to stop in the distance you could see to be clear.

Most drivers do the same.

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