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Post by browny on Oct 31, 2005 19:18:08 GMT
Hi there, i have been involved in a accident today after i finished college. I would like to know if I was in the right here. This is what happened:
I was approaching a junction and i wanted to turn right. There is a separate lane for people turning right though. I was about 200m away from the junction and i did, as i was taught in my CBT, to position myself on the right hand side of the lane after checking there was no traffic. At this moment on the left hand side there was a stationary Que of traffic. I slowly approached the junction just about to come into the lane when a car from a side lane on the left pulled through the stationary Que of traffic, The car came to a stop as the lady applied her brakes. I applied the front brake and then the back brake, once again as instructed in my CBT, and managed to slow done but did NOT come to a complete stop. I was doing around 10mph (originally doing 20) when i hit the side of the car. My head was flung forward while still holding onto the handlebars. I hit my head on the corner of the car and landed on the floor with the bike on top of me. The car in front was a witness and pulled aside after the accident. He said that he gave way to the side lane and let the lady in her car pass. But obviously as there was a a Que of stationary traffic I was unable to see the car until it pulled out in front of me. Please can i say that the car was aiming to go the opposite direction to me, (back up the road) My insurer says it may go my way in the claim but i would like to know your view.
By the way my bike is okay. However i can not ride it. The front bodywork is smashed and the front mudguard effort is dangling. The front wheel has been forced back and now rubs against the underside of the bike which means there is high friction and lack of steering. The indicator light is partly smashed and is dangling from its wires. I'm okay a few sore spots on the neck and various cuts on my knees and several bruisings. But I owe my life to my helmet which stayed intact despite the bang on the car. I shall be getting a new one though.
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Post by Gavin on Oct 31, 2005 19:40:31 GMT
If your facts are correct, the woman driver was at fault.
She has wrongly taken the decision that as another driver has left room for her to get through, then the road must be clear for her to proceed, and she has not checked properly before entering the lane to which you had priority.
Glad to hear your OK, but if you get have the witnesses details, you will also have a very very good case. Even without witnesses, this is probably a common type of accident, so if the woman does not lie, you should still be OK. Make a drawing of what happened, and submit this to the insurers, along with the witnesses details, include any road markings and road names, position of cars etc.
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Post by browny on Oct 31, 2005 20:02:21 GMT
yeah well i phoned the insurance and they said leav it to the claims officers for now. But im just so shakin about whats happend
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Post by Badobsession (the real one) on Oct 31, 2005 20:15:49 GMT
Hey browny, at least your ok i remember my first crash all those years ago (1987) and it freaked me out too  But its all part of the learning process ie: not all car drivers look whats happening around them. Trust me it gets better after the first three prangs  Let the insurance do what you pay them for and try not to worry about it too much #cheers# Hope you feeling better about it soon. Rob. P.s. cheer yourself up with a leering session on the who would you like to nail? thread #woohoo# |
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Post by Gavin on Oct 31, 2005 20:23:56 GMT
Here is a rough guide of what to write on the claim form.
I was traveling along ABC road, towards its junction with DEF road at about 20mph, I had positioned myself in the right hand lane in order to turn right at the junction. There was a queue of stationary cars in the left hand lane, and as I approached the junction, the driver of car JKL 123 drove out of GHI road through a gap in the stationary cars on the left hand side, and straight into my path. I braked but was unable to avoid a collision with car JKL 123, and I collided with the offside of her car.
In my opinion, the driver of car JKL 123 was totally at fault because she pulled out without fully checking that there was no oncoming traffic. The witness in car MNP 456 saw the collision and he can back up my version of events.
Then you should put each vehicles position on the road map at the time of the collision, including your own, and the witnesses car, with arrows marking the direction of travel, and the reg number of each vehicle, include the line of stationary cars, but obviously their reg numbers are not important, but the side road would be.
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Post by Ginger Phil on Oct 31, 2005 20:31:52 GMT
At least you're not dead chap that's the main thing.  Are you going to get the scooter repaired, I imagine getting spares is going to be a nightmare?  |
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Post by browny on Oct 31, 2005 20:33:21 GMT
Yeah thats really helpful thanks guys! However the witness is backing the lady in the car up for some reason. He said that he let her pass and that i should of stayed on the left hand side in a single file despite i was going into the right hand side lane to turn right. This is worrying me alot as I have a big excess as i was told to get fully comp on my first insurance. And the only way i could afford it was to have a big excess of around £700 i think. However if the accident is proven not to be my fualt will i not have to pay this excess or do i still have to pay it no matter what the outcome is?
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Post by Badobsession (the real one) on Oct 31, 2005 20:49:09 GMT
I think you have to pay the excess no matter who is at fault but if the other driver is to blame you can claim this back off them.
Did you get legal protection with your insurance?
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Post by browny on Oct 31, 2005 20:59:02 GMT
Yes i got legal protection and a few other things, im really miffed at having to pay this 700 excess then. I may of survived the crash but god help me with paying it off!
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Post by Badobsession (the real one) on Oct 31, 2005 21:05:42 GMT
I would imagine the bike would be wrote off due to the cost of repairs.
Have a read of your policy i could be wrong about the excess if its not your fault and it is a write off.
A lot depends on whether they see it as 100% her fault or not, sometimes it goes 50/50.
I always thought legal protection to be a waste of money but i think it may come in handy this time.
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Post by Gavin on Oct 31, 2005 21:29:55 GMT
Yeah thats really helpful thanks guys! However the witness is backing the lady in the car up for some reason. He said that he let her pass and that i should of stayed on the left hand side in a single file despite i was going into the right hand side lane to turn right. This is worrying me alot as I have a big excess as i was told to get fully comp on my first insurance. And the only way i could afford it was to have a big excess of around £700 i think. However if the accident is proven not to be my fualt will i not have to pay this excess or do i still have to pay it no matter what the outcome is? Just rewritten the first part with the new information supplied. I was traveling along ABC road, towards its junction with DEF road at about 20mph, I was overtaking a line of stationary cars in order to position myself in the right hand lane to turn right at the junction. There was a gap in the queue of stationary cars in the left hand lane, and as I approached the junction, the driver of car JKL 123 drove out of GHI road through the gap, and straight into my path. I braked but was unable to avoid a collision with car JKL 123, and I collided with the offside of her car. You seem to be giving conflicting statements though, did the accident occur in the right turn lane, or in the left hand lane as you were overtaking the stationary traffic, this might be relevant, but I can't see why it should be. If you was in the right turn lane, then it shouldn't matter how you arrived there, the woman should not have driven into your path. The witness seems to be blaming you for overtaking the stationary traffic, but if there was plenty of room to do this safely, then the question could be was your overtaking manoeuver legal, and I can't answer this, as most of my driving experience is in cars, perhaps a more experienced biker can comment, but in my opinion, it shouldn't matter, she drove into your path without checking, which puts her at fault. The witness could still be useful, even if he thinks you were in the wrong and you wasn't, he might be feeling guilty because he could have waved the woman through, but she should still have checked before pulling out. |
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Post by Badobsession (the real one) on Oct 31, 2005 21:39:58 GMT
Yeah if he was in the right turn lane she was definatley at fault.
I have been riding for 16 years now and i am 100% certain that it is legal to overtake a stationary or slow moving line of traffic.
I think the only time you might be in the wrong is if you crossed a double white line to do so (although most people do it)
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Post by Gavin on Oct 31, 2005 21:40:11 GMT
Just a note about the excess, if the woman admits fault, (and she is insured), then your insurance company might agree to claim the excess from the other party's insurance on your behalf, especially as you were fully comp. You should not lose out if it is someone else's fault.
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Post by browny on Oct 31, 2005 21:53:31 GMT
Just to clear up the road is a wide road that splits into two lanes near the junction. I was about to approach the two lane markings as i positioned myself on the right hand side of the road, there was no traffic on this side of the road so i went on and then she appeard infront of me on the right hand side of the lane. The road had single line markings so overtaking was allowed and as the road was extremley wide it was safe. Obviously not today though. I wont be getting it repaired just yet as i will have to see what the claims company says. Thanks for all your help.
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Post by Gavin on Oct 31, 2005 22:21:58 GMT
Just to clear up the road is a wide road that splits into two lanes near the junction. I was about to approach the two lane markings as i positioned myself on the right hand side of the road, there was no traffic on this side of the road so i went on and then she appeard infront of me on the right hand side of the lane. The road had single line markings so overtaking was allowed and as the road was extremley wide it was safe. Obviously not today though. I wont be getting it repaired just yet as i will have to see what the claims company says. Thanks for all your help. This is still not clear, and it is important to get things very clear with insurance claims. When you say you was on the right hand side of the road, do you mean that you was in the oncoming lane, as this is how an insurance company could interpret it. I think you mean that you were in the right turn lane, but either way, if the woman was coming through the stationary traffic on the left, she still drove into your path without checking properly. As I see it, after over 1/2 million miles of driving experience, and how the insurance companies will probably see it. The male car driver left a gap for the woman to exit the side road, and probably waved her through, the woman thinks, 'thanks very much' and assumes the road is clear, so drives through the gap without checking properly, straight into your path. |
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Post by Badobsession (the real one) on Oct 31, 2005 23:05:36 GMT
I remember reading in a bike mag about some 1960's law where in this type of accident if it goes to court a judge will find it as the motorcyclist partly to blame.
It was a recent article i will try to find out more.
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Post by Gavin on Nov 1, 2005 8:34:07 GMT
I remember reading in a bike mag about some 1960's law where in this type of accident if it goes to court a judge will find it as the motorcyclist partly to blame. It was a recent article i will try to find out more. This is what I would be concerned about, because if Browny was on the wrong (oncoming) side of the road, the woman, or her insurance company, might try to use the excuse that she was not checking traffic in that direction properly because traffic should not be coming from that direction, (which in my opinion would be wrong in the case of motorcycles, but might be a concern if it was a car). The insurance companies could then agree to pay 'knock for knock' with the womans insurance paying for her damages, and Browny's insurance paying for his, but this would be disastrous in his case, with his £700 excess having to be deducted from any pay out, so best to press for total blame against the woman driver. If he was on the oncoming side of the road at the point of impact, this could have occurred when he swerved, or moved to the right, after seeing the woman appear from the left, which would be an automatic response in this type of situation. This is why the correct wording to match the circumstances is important when filling in the claim form. It is highly unlikely this would need to go to court, but the clerks at the insurance companies need to have a clear picture of what happened in order to ascertain blame, and the easier that Browny makes this for them the better, because to them it will be just another claim, (another motorist pulling out from the left into the path of a motorcyclist). He should not forget to claim for the helmet, and any damaged clothing, as they are also legitimate expenses. |
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Post by browny on Nov 1, 2005 18:48:39 GMT
NO i wasnt in the oncoming traffic side of the road . I was on the wright side of the road but i was in the right side of the side of the road getting ready to enter the right turning lane. I will do a picture to demostrate and post it on here later
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