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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this driver was a twat

241 replies

PunkrockerGirl · 04/12/2015 22:01

Driving home about 6pm, very busy main road, 30mph speed limit.
A cat ran out in front of me, I braked, the car behind went right into me.
I got out of the car to a tirade of abuse and that if anything happened to the baby in the car I would be responsible Confused
I gently suggested that she had been driving very close to me right up my arse but just got screamed at.
I asked if they'd called the police and they said that they had. In the meantime, I called dh and ds to come and be with me. The police didn't turn up because they hadn't been called. Loads of incensed and abusive relatives turned up instead.

My dh and ds came, police were called and (rightly so) an ambulance to check the baby over (who was beaming and being bounced up and down by the outraged mother when dh went to see if they were ok).
Anyway, I feel very shaken up but glad that nobody was hurt.

Anyway, aibu to think if you drive so close to the person in front that you can't stop in time when they brake, then baby or no baby on board, you are driving like a twat.
And to say you've called the police when in fact what you've done is called loads of relatives to swerve up and intimidate the person you've bashed into is about as low as it gets.

OP posts:
TheFairyCaravan · 05/12/2015 21:56

I'm glad you think it's funny that you caused an accident Punk. Read the linked book up thread. You only do an emergency stop for a small animal if you know it's safe to do so. You knew it wasn't but did so anyway.

The arse isn't me!

Original poster
PunkrockerGirl · 05/12/2015 21:57

Purple
Hope you're ok. Flowers

OP posts:
Permanentlyexhausted · 05/12/2015 22:01

That sounds nasty Purple. I hope you're ok.

spillyobeans · 05/12/2015 22:03

Erm if a cat ran out in front of me i would slam brakes on too i think most people would!

Original poster
PunkrockerGirl · 05/12/2015 22:03

I didn't cause the accident, Fairy, it was caused by the person behind me driving too close and being unable to stop. As confirmed by the police and the insurers.

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 05/12/2015 22:04

Fairy - op didn't cause thd accident.

ComposHatComesBack · 05/12/2015 22:09

Fairy and if on your test you drove so close behind the car in front that you couldn't stop safely you'd do what?

All the chaff you are chucking out does not detract from the fact that the tailgater could not stop because they did not leave a sufficient gap and thus caused the accident.

SirChenjin · 05/12/2015 22:11

FAIRY - rtft. The police and insurers have confirmed that it wasn't the OP's fault. It's one of the first things that you're taught when you learn to drive - don't drive too close to the person in front, you'll be held liable if you go into the back of them.

ComposHatComesBack · 05/12/2015 22:20

Fairy you must have claimed the all-time record for being wrong about the most number of things on a single thread.

ProvisionallyAnxious · 05/12/2015 22:26

If a cat runs out into the road you're supposed to run it over

If a cat run in front of my car I would not stop.

You are not supposed to run a cat over. If you have a choice between braking and killing a loved pet and you choose the latter (in a situation in which you are not endangering anything more significant than your bumpers) then that's down to your conscience. But the part of me that remembers how heartbreaking it is to be a nine year old whose pet cat has been left squished at the edge of a road in a quiet 30mph zone thinks that's pretty bloody unpleasant of you.

SirChenjin · 05/12/2015 22:29

Agree. I'm not a cat lover at all - but there's no bloody way I'd run over one just because a tailgater was driving too close to me at 30mph. Bumpers can be replaced, a family pet can't.

wasonthelist · 05/12/2015 22:36

SirChenjin - I am a fellow non-cat lover, but I agree. In any case, as many posters have observed, it's a largely instinctive reaction - I don't think in a true emergencg stop situation, there's any time to think about whether it's a cat (or Hitler or Ghandi as someone with a brill sense of humour mentioned upthread). I regret to say that in spite of this I have killed two cats - in neither case did the poor cat even give me a chance to even brake.

Dipankrispaneven · 05/12/2015 23:07

Fairy: do you seriously believe that the law requires that, when something jumps out in front of a car in the dark, the driver will take time to analyse what it is and how close the car behind is and decide whether to stop or not?

munkisocks · 05/12/2015 23:39

I would stop I meant by my earlier post. There is no way I would ever run over a cat even if it meant someone running into back of me.

LyndaNotLinda · 06/12/2015 00:04

Fairy - I nearly said to you earlier that it would have been sensible for you to admit you were wrong and walk away. But you went to get your shovel and came back. :(

SmallLegsOrSmallEggs · 06/12/2015 00:19

So fairy, identical curcumstances but it is a person who has fallen into the road, no fault of their own i.e. they did notcarelessly walk out into path of oncoming car. The op stops. The car behind drives into her

Who has caused the accident in this case?

Is it still the op in your eyes?

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