Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Is rear driver always at fault in an accident?

44 replies

Canshopwillshop · 03/04/2019 14:04

Please be nice as I’m a bit shaken up and didn’t want to post in AIBU as couldn’t face any backlash!
So this morning I was driving to meet some friends. I was on a main road and came to a roundabout where I turned right. I was busy negotiating the roundabout and was aware of the car in front who had just also turned right. However, the front driver decided to suddenly stop immediately after the roundabout to let a pedestrian cross the road! It wasn’t a crossing or anything and I was not expecting the driver to suddenly stop. I slammed on the brakes but hit the back of her car. I need to talk to my insurers and I know I’m likely to get the blame but I feel she contributed towards the accident by stopping the way she did. Luckily no injuries but I am quite shaken. Never had to claim on insurance before.

OP posts:

MyPatronusIsAnOrca · 03/04/2019 15:49

I can’t remember the ins and outs of the case, but the crux of the issue was that the front driver couldn’t be held responsible for the rear driver as that’s the point the rear driver was making

DGRossetti · 03/04/2019 16:03

Which is the default position though. It's interesting it ended up with a judge stating it though ?

I have heard a couple of people who have tried to claim that the car they hit in front could have moved forward and avoided an accident (police driving instructor I had was emphatic that "Driving doesn't stop because the car has"). However they never quite got that to court (presumably their insurers had a word ...)

donajimena · 03/04/2019 16:08

I was always told check your rear mirrot before braking. I doubt I would do that in an emergency. This wasn't an emergency.

DGRossetti · 03/04/2019 16:15

I was always told check your rear mirrot before braking. I doubt I would do that in an emergency

by definition, if you have time to check your mirror, it's not an emergency.

MyPatronusIsAnOrca · 03/04/2019 16:25

I clearly have too much time on my hands (sat on the sofa with a cluster feeding baby!)

I got some of the facts slightly wrong but the outcome is as stated above:
**On 31 July 2008, 69-year-old Valerie Steadman was a passenger on a London United Busways (LUB) 49 bus on Kensington High Street in London.

**The bus was immediately behind a Ferrari sports car, driven by a Mr Sala.

**Suddenly, the bus driver braked hard, causing Mrs Steadman to be thrown from her seat and suffer a serious spinal injury, resulting in tetraplegia.

**The bus driver claimed that the Ferrari had braked without warning, requiring him to do an emergency stop to avoid a collision.

**Mr Sala was not aware of any accident at the time and was only traced by the police sometime later. He denied that he had braked suddenly or done anything to cause the accident.

**Mrs Steadman’s claim was against LUB but they tried to pass the blame onto Mr Sala.

**The court had to decide whether the accident was the fault of the Ferrari or of the bus driver or a combination of the two.

**The court’s conclusion was that the accident was solely the fault of the bus driver.

**Due to his impatience (which had led him to sound his horn on two occasions before the incident happened), the bus had been driven too close to the car in front, meaning that the bus driver did not have enough time to react to what was happening in front of him.

**The judge said that Mr Sala’s main focus reasonably had to be on what was happening in front of him rather than behind him.

StarlingsEverywhere · 03/04/2019 16:26

I've rear ended someone at a roundabout too, busy looking for traffic to the right and didn't realise the fella in front had stopped.

I did this too - there was a gap big enough for both of us, the car in front set off then stopped and I was looking right to judge the gap instead of at the car in front. It was my fault, and my insurance paid out. But because my car wasn't damaged, I didn't have to pay any excess, weirdly. It did knock four years off my no-claims bonus though, so I paid for it when the time came to renew.

DGRossetti · 03/04/2019 16:31

I've rear ended someone at a roundabout too, busy looking for traffic to the right and didn't realise the fella in front had stopped.

LOOK THE WAY THE CAR IS GOING would be shouted at me when I was learning to drive. Maybe a bit lacking in touchy-feely, but it did the trick ....

hidinginthenightgarden · 03/04/2019 16:34

I've had someone roll back into me at a junction and that was still my fault! In a queue. I don't agree that should be the fault of the person behind.

I was almost in this position but beeped my horn. The women in front appeared to be oblivious as to why I beeped at her.

ShaggyRug · 03/04/2019 16:34

Sadly you are at fault here in the eyes of the insurers.

I once was in an accident where I was the rear driver but not at fault. However the circs were diff:

Duel carriage way 40mph limit. I was overtaking in the right hand lane. Very young new driver suddenly pulled out from left lane into my lane (with about a foot of room between us) and emergency braked to a full stop right in front of me in order to wait to make a right turn! I hit the back of him. Literally no option as swerving either way would have made me crash into left lane traffic or oncoming traffic.

It was proven that he was utterly at fault and I was exonerated in the claim.

That’s the only time I’ve ever heard of it happening.

mclaleli · 03/04/2019 16:36

It was my fault, and my insurance paid out. But because my car wasn't damaged, I didn't have to pay any excess, weirdly.

That's not weird. It's totally normal. The excess is applied to claims for your car. If your car wasn't damaged you haven't made a claim for it so no excess to pay.

DGRossetti · 03/04/2019 16:39

ShaggyRug

That's almost the textbook implementation of a cash-for-crash incident.

Original poster

Canshopwillshop · 03/04/2019 16:43

Thanks again everyone. I’ve just rung my insurers who confirm that I’m at fault. However it’s all being sorted now - obviously will have to pay my excess and will have one strike against my 9 years no claims. I’d already had a quote for my renewal at the end of this month and this claim will only add £9 to the renewal price.

OP posts:

HappyGoGoLucky · 03/04/2019 16:48

Yes it was your fault because you should've been looking ahead, only look to your right when you are in front/the first to merge onto the roundabout.

Don't worry about it. You will not be the first and certainly won't be the last! Just admit liability and leave it to the insurers deal with.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 03/04/2019 16:58

Yes, it is the rear driver’s fault, but if I slow down or stop to let someone cross the road, I’d check the mirror to see if there was traffic behind.

georgie262 · 03/04/2019 17:44

@ShaggyRug my husband was told if you are changing lanes you are nearly always at fault

DinosApple · 03/04/2019 18:22

Imo the driver who stopped to let the person go should have checked their rear mirror before stopping first.

We call that 'being the good driver' in this house. In their haste to give way to people whose right of way it isn't, they inconvenience other road users unnecessarily.
You're still at fault for running into the back, it's a horrible shock though .

Tonight I had a near miss with a pedestrian who crossed at a T junction where two roads merge into one, one way street. I checked to the right for cars, but the view left is blocked by buildings - so I crawled round the corner to find an adult stepping into the road on the blind junction. Fortunately as I'd crawled I could do an emergency stop in time...

No doubt I would have been at fault if I'd have hit her, but the very first thing we teach our children to do is find a safe place to cross, then stop, look and listen.

safariboot · 03/04/2019 18:37

Not always, but in cases where no lane changes are involved, the only way I know the front driver would be at fault is if they were trying to cause a crash. That'll be near-impossible to prove without a dashcam.

ShaggyRug · 03/04/2019 19:13

@DGRossetti

ShaggyRug

That's almost the textbook implementation of a cash-for-crash incident.

Yeah I’d have thought so too but in another twist he drove off immediately after the crash and I had to chase him down. When I pulled him over flashing my lights and blaring my horn he looked about 12 and rang his mum. Don’t think him fleeing the scene of an accident helped his argument either lol

ShaggyRug · 03/04/2019 19:16

@georgie262

ShaggyRug my husband was told if you are changing lanes you are nearly always at fault

Yeah again that went in my favour. I was worried that the rear driver thing would affect me and at first when he rang his mum she was saying the rear driver was always at fault.... er not in this case! I could have throttled the young lad for nearly killing me by being so careless.

Flip

1 2