Safe Speed Forums

......are they always liable??

I've always thought they would be totally, 100% liable for tailgating. So even if you do an emergency stop for no reason at all and they run into you, it's their fault. The only exceptions to the rule being if someone pulls out of a parked position on the side of the road, or from a side road in front of you. Is this how the law sees it?

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Why can't we just use Common Sense?

The awkward thing is the dividing lines in those caveats, i.e. how far ahead of you can someone pull out in front and it be their fault? 100 yards? 50?

This has always struck me as a bit awkward. The number of times I've had people, either maliciously or just through inattention, pull in front of my 44 ton artic and stop (at a roundabout or traffic lights) or slow down sharply (on the motorway, when I've had the audacity to blow my horn or flash my lights at them, or simply be in their way), is staggering. I've always managed to avoid a collision so far, but one day one too many motorists will push their luck and I won't be able to stop. (Obviously, I'd never suggest that I simply wouldn't be inclined to even try ) Anyway, if even in cases where people deliberately try and "sting" me the law is on their side, then frankly I think that's a poor do.

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We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the kerb.

I've just remembered I failed my first driving test for pulling out in front of someone and forcing them to slam the anchors on. This was at the very start of the test as I moved off from the test centre . Didn't do anything else wrong for the rest of it either.

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Why can't we just use Common Sense?

Or if someone pulls into your lane right in front of you and immediately brakes hard.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

If it could be shown that the front driver braked with the intention of causing a crash, that would be dangerous driving for sure.

Obviously also the front driver could be shown to be at fault if the damage was caused by his reversing.

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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

Or pulls into you lane when travelling much more slowly...

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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

..

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

When I was about 18 I ran into the back of someone in circumstances that could only be described as comical - even at the time!

On my morning commute to work I had to give way and turn left at a T junction to join a major trunk road. A guy I worked with lived in the next village and because we started at the same time it was quite normal that we'd end up travelling in convoy - he in his car and me on my motorbike.

On the morning in question he was in front as we came to the aforementioned T junction. I saw him check for traffic as he came to the giveway line and move to set off. I double-checked that he was actually definitely going and then looked over my right shoulder for a gap in the traffic on the main road.

All was clear, so I opened it up to follow him out to join the main road. Except that as I looked back he was stationary and about a bike's length in front of me! I didn't even have time to roll the throttle shut let alone brake before I clattered into his boot in a surprisingly violent collision.

I leapt to my feet split 50/50 between awareness that it was really my own fault for not looking where I was actually going, but also annoyed that he had stopped dead for no reason - unusually there was a long gap in the traffic on the main road.

Turned out his car had died as he put his foot down to join the main road, at exactly the moment I looked away from him. In the end we both had a laugh about it, and no noticable damage was caused (both vehicles were old bangers anyway).

A variation on the classic "roundabout shunt".

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

I think one of the exception is if the person's brake lights were completely non-functional.
Now, obviously, you should still be far enough back to be able to stop, but i would expect it would count as a mitigating factor if nothing else, particularly for an emergency stop.

A variation of this happened to me a few years back. I was approaching a set of green traffic lights when someone pulled out of a side lane just before the lights. No problem, plenty of room, he was going to accelerate and I wouldn't even have to slow down - or so I thought. But, just as he reached the lights they turned yellow so, as he was still going dead slow having just turned out, he stopped. I only just made it with inches to spare.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler