Safe Speed Forums

Hi

This is my first post, so if this is the wrong place to post i am sorry in advance. Basically last night just before 6pm myself and my hubby were by a juction just from our home, going to visit family. My hubby was driving i was front passenger, we stopped at the jction for my huabnd to look up the road and down the road, and he stopped dead de to oncoming traffic, as we stopped a woman hit s in the rear, she was travelling at quite a speed as we were shunted forward over the line. First she was very sympathetic, asking if we were ok and saying sorry, then my hubby started holding his neck, as he injured it, he was looking right when she hit us, he was in a lot of pain, the woman then proceeded to abuse us verbually, he language was terrible, calling us all sorts and also a few kids had turned up for a look, she started abusing them as well. She continued to say that we were over the line, and that there were no cars coming and that she always just Goes, she dosen't look at this junction? she did not want to give s any info until i said i was phoning the police, she then proceeded to give us her details but not her insurance company. I am so annoyed we only had an accident last year, which wrote the car off, it was so bad, 100% fault by the other party, we feel like were jinxed? everyone is telling us that when someone hits you in the rear, that it's always their fault? is this true, we had no witnesses apart from the kids, noone stopped, what do you think? any help wold be appreicated.

Hi Lilly.

In my experience (not my own personal experience I might add) this seems to be the general case.
Did this happen in darkness? If so were the rear lamps of your vehicle properly operational?

I have a mate who was following someone on a motorway carriageway. The driver mistook the brake pedal for the accelerator pedal and in her panic performed an emergency stop. He was a bit too close and a minor shunt resulted. She subsequently admitted the error and that there was no reason for her to slow down, let alone stop. He was found to be 100% at fault.

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Hi smeggy

thanks for the reply, our lights were all working, the junction in question is very very busy at the time the accident took place and you have to be on the ball so to speak at this junction, as the road that we were planning on coming off onto is an A road, and very busy. She just kept on saying your over the line, your over the line, it's your fault? but i believe she's wrong, due to the fact that if she haden't hit us we would not of been over the line, also the road is a 20mph,thanks for the advice

Having had the misfortune of being hit twice on the rear of my vehicle within 6 weeks of each other, once in April once in May. The other party is always at fault.

First time I had pulled away from some lights only to see someone jumping the red on the crossing road. I managed to stop without hitting them. However the car behind me did not and drove into the back of me. The red light jumper got away scot free as neither of us managed to get their number. The car behind me was blamed for the collision. The damage was a complete new bumper.

The second time was when I was stationary in traffic and the car behind just drove into me. They then proceeded to tell me that the damage to my 6 week old bumper was old and could not have been done by her . Again they were blamed for the collision.

The first one I did not think the other driver was fully to blame. He just did not react as quickly as I did, this may be due to a restricted view at the junction. However if the other vehicle had not jumped the lights we would not have collided.

She’s trying it on, I guess that's to be expected nowadays.
It doesn’t matter where you are stopped and why, the following driver must always leave enough gap to stop.


I’ve just remembered: I was a passenger in my dad’s van when we were struck as we were pulling out of a junction (turning right), we were stopped a few meters past the line. The fault lay with the other driver.

1. Report the incident to the police if you haven't already.
2. Inform your insurers (as above). You have her details or at least registration number?
3. The damage to your car should clearly show who hit whom and where, so don't worry about that.
4. Get any details about your husbands neck injury as that will almost certainly be part of the insurance settlement.
5. Don't worry. The driver who runs into the back of you would have to have a pretty good reason NOT to be 100% at fault for this. Her claiming of you being 'over the line' is just bullshit. She should not go if her exit is not clear.

HTH.

Irrespective of the blame in this case (and I agree with others) there's a lot you can do in many driving situations to protect yourself from being rear-ended. Advanced drivers work to manage the space all around their vehicles; including behind.

If you can slow or even stop some number of yards before you actually need to, you can keep an eye on the mirror and simply move forward if someone behind is getting into difficulty.

Common reasons for being rear ended include:

- late braking. Brake earlier and give the chap behind more time.
- hesitation at roundabouts and junctions. If you miss a good clear gap sometimes the chap behind will assume you're going and crunch. Good judgement and a positive driving style will help here.
- driving up to the traffic jam and stopping without a thought for vehicles behind. If you stop early and watch the mirror you can easily escape the mess that others sometimes get themselves into by driving forwards.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

thanks everyone for the advice, so i think it's gonna be quite cut and dryed really. We did ring the police as soon as we got in due to her being so rude to us and the officer told me that if she calls to our home we are not to have an conversation with her, but to close the door and ring 999, they will then come asap, he also said that she may turn up, people like her usually do he told me. She gave us her name and address and tel number, but when i asked for her insurer that's when she stopped and told us were were in her words "F***ing pulling a fast one, there's F**k all wrong with our car or her's and we are trying to F**k her over" charming for a woman who was about 60!!!! she really shocked me, and the kids that were there, they were shocked as well, de to her verbally abusing them, and they were only about 11-12 years old, anyway we have had a hire car, but ford have not collected ors yet, a solicitor has rang and the AA or insurer's have beeen great, i have to say, so fingers crossed this should not take too long, or perhaps i should just keep my mouth shut? thanks again for the advice it's very much appreicated

Lots of things could happen to slow it all down, but I shouldn't worry about it. These things always take time.

I dont agree that the person who hits you is always to blame.

When I was 18 I was on the M66 motorway, it was pouring with rain and visibility was terrible, the average speed was about 50mph.

I was in lane two overtaking stationary traffic in lane one which was queing to come off.

Suddenly a vehicle decided he wasn't going to queue and pulled into my path without looking. I instinctivly (inexperience) swerved into lane 3 to avoid a collision and a vehicle smashed into the back of me.

We never saw the vehicle from lane 1 again.

No one was hurt but the police attended, to cut a long story short I was prosecuted for due care and attention and got 6 points and £150 fine.

Stupidly I stuck my head in the sand and didn't attend court. You're very naive at that age.

If I knew then what I know now.......

But that is a completely different set of circumstances to those described. In all fairness you pulled accross in front of another vehicle without looking, and I would say, indicating. The Highway code is quite clear that you must be able to stop in the distance you can reasonable expect to be clear. That means you must be able to stop behind the vehicle in front if it stops quickly. Hitting a stopped vehicle is pretty clear cut. Yours wasn't, you may have even got off if you went to court, we'll never know.

Actually I ran into the back of somebody once and didn't get the blame.....

Must have been back in '79 or '80. I'd just got a full bike licence and I ran into the rear of a car who seemed (to me) to have stopped for no reason and without me having the chance to avoid him. Seemed odd.

Luckily it was in town and a couple of coppers turned up pretty quick. Turned out that the car that I had just bent my bike forks on appeared to be positioned to turn right in to a junction that was marked as No Right Turn and, on investigation, his Morris Marina had no working tail lights at all and not because I'd smashed them (and the rear screen) either!)

He got fined and his insurance paid up.

I learnt a valuable lesson to expect the unexpected.

As far as this accident goes, leave it to the insurance companies and solicitors.

But...

You might want to take a step back and see if there is something about your driving which is making you a victim. Perhaps you are unconsciously giving other drivers the wrong signals. It may not be that you are doing something wrong, just that you are doing it in a way which suggests to other drivers that you are about to do something different.

I don't think so, i have been hit twice, both were women, my hubby driving the accident last year was on a round about she was in the wrong lane, and then this week, the woman told us that she never stops at a junction?????????? i think it's their fault not my hubbys driving?

It's a very good thing to stay out of trouble even when the crash wouldn't have been your fault. We'd recommend driving in a defensive way. That means making allowance for the predictable mistakes of others. It's amazing how effective such techniques can be.

The first step is really forgetting all about whose fault the crash might be and instead asking: 'how can I stay out of trouble'?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

What could I do if I notice an approaching driver unable to stop in time when I’m stopped at a busy junction? Do I pull out hoping I don't get hit by anyone on the carriageway, or do I stay put in the hope the shunt doesn't push me too far into the carriageway, or else?

Firstly you approach the junction in such a way that you're giving plenty of warning to following traffic. You watch the following traffic to ensure that it is also slowing. If not you slow down more and earlier leaving space in front for escape.

Secondly you might be in the position of stopping with nothing behind, and needing to move up to the line to get a view. Now if later something turns up behind, unable to stop, and you can't pull out into crossing traffic ahead, you are in real trouble. There's no obvious escape plan. You might well be better off barging into a small space ahead than getting hit from behind. You would have to be guided by conditions. You might honk and flash and hope to make a bit of space in the crossing traffic by generally looking like a loonie.

Thirdly you might be in a similar position to 'secondly' above, except in this case you really don't need to move right up to the line. You could stop 10 feet back and watch for your gap. A zillion roundabouts permit this. You can give a gift of ten feet to the non-stopper behind if he turns up.

Fourthly we have to consider the 'restart' problem. You have stopped (probably at a roundabout) so has chummie behind. Chummie behind sees an approaching gap. He likes the look of the gap. You don't. He goes straight into the back of you. The usual circumstance here is that you have given a false signal to the chap behind. Perhaps you creapt forwards as if you were getting ready to take the gap. The golden rules are: Don't miss good gaps. Never start to move before you are certain that you are going.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Thanks Paul.

I agree with your first point, I already endeavour to take such precautions.

I tend to agree with your third but kinda worry that I could be pushed further into the carriageway by the chap behind getting it really wrong if I jump forward instead than remaining still with foot brakes on.

I agree with your forth point – I never miss good gaps (my 4X4 helps). I suspect this is one of those times where is it better to apply the foot brake (to activate the brake indicator lamps) until you are sure you are going - or not at all.

The second point is what concerned me and what prompted my post. As you say, there could well be no possible escape route. I guess it simply comes down to an instant mental calculation: how far I can expect to be pushed out given their approach speed weighed up against what gaps are available (always electing to turn left so halving the risk of doing so). I suspect many won’t because they’re too busy looking for the elusive good gap.

The funny thing is I've never seen it happen. I'm sure it does but it seems quite rare.

Perhaps the nature of the setup required - stationary car, crossing traffic, give way lines and so on are a big enough fat enough signal that the chap behind can hardly miss it.

Contrast this with the chap behind on autopilot as you late brake your approach to a roundabout. If he's fixated on your rear it'd be much easier to understand how he might screw up and miss seing that you were braking.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I can relate to two of the four scenaios PS quotes above. The rear end sunt on the roundabout approach - front marker makes as if to go -2nd in line likes the gap too - goes, only to realise that #1 chickened out (I was number 2 sadly - a long time ago - telescoped the front end of my accord into a volvo that was almost unmarked as a result)

and

the one PS has never seen. I remember pulling out into the path f oncoming traffic deciding that, with coperation of thers (which was forthcoming I'd save being rear ended - which worked nicely. I think I've posted both in detail on here (separated by a year or so) some time ago.