Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was I involved in this car accident? (attempt 2)

253 replies

Chefwifelife · 20/12/2019 20:12

I was at the bottom of a hill turning right onto a main road. Turned right when clear then heard a loud noise. Looked in my mirror to see a wing mirror shattering and debris in the air. Pull over a little way up the road and go and see if I can help.

The lady is really shaken up. I ask what happened and she tells me that she just looked up and I was in front of her!

There is zero damage to my car. I have checked it three times but can only find mud BlushShe has damage to her drivers wing mirror and drivers front wheel arch.

I’ve rung my insurance company, and they have got the information on file ready but it just all seems a bit bizarre.

Anyone been in a similar situation?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
Jux · 21/12/2019 12:31

GrinGrinGrinGrin

Anyway,I'm with yo, easyandy, it was someone behind op who went left.

Jux · 21/12/2019 12:33

Can you suggest to your insurance company that scenario - someone behind you going left clipped her? She wasn't looking as she herself implies....

MaButterface · 21/12/2019 12:40

There is no way you wouldn't get at least a paint damage looking at her car's damage. Even if your car is made of the hardest metal, your paint will still show something.

And yes, what is she looking up from? Was she using her phone? I absolutely hate people who do this, and most are women. Even adjusting your radio will cause significant lack of concentration.

And to say she has anxiety? That has nothing to do with this accident. It's not a get away card! I hate when people use that card to excuse their behaviours.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/12/2019 12:51

I’d just tell my insurance company as far as you know you didn’t hit anyone, she didn’t hit you, you have no damage to your car and no idea what happened.

BlaueLagune · 21/12/2019 13:34

You turned into what you say was a clear road in both directions.

There isn't a "blind spot" when you turn out of a side road.

You didn't hear any noise or feel any impact and there is no damage to your car.

So if she hit something, it wasn't you.

She was probably looking at her mobile phone, silly moo - in fact not just silly - downright dangerous and should be fined. Don't let her pin it on you in any way. You don't have to tell your insurance because there is no damage to your car, you only stopped to help and you can easily argue you had nothing to do with the accident itself if it came to it. To be honest I'd let it go now. You know you didn't hit anything.

As for the person saying "well even if you didn't hit her you could be at fault" - if I turn out into a clear road and the person behind me hits a bollard because they are looking at their mobile phone or fiddling with their radio, how on earth is that my fault. There's a lot of rubbish spouted about insurance and it always being your fault if...no, each case is decided on its own facts and merits.

TheCoolerQueen · 21/12/2019 13:47

I've hit a stationary car at a very low speed, in a car park, the car I hit was small, mine is large, completely my fault. I knew straight away that I'd hit it.
So two cars, both moving, and you've hit something without realising doesn't seem likely to me.

I've also been a passenger when a wing mirror has been knocked off and it went with a hell of a bang.

Teateaandmoretea · 21/12/2019 13:58

There is no way you can be involved in an accident without feeling an impact. Think of the dodgems 🤷🏻‍♀️

It is possible to feel an impact and there be no damage, however particularly if the impact is at the rear.

I think if you didn't feel an impact OP she hit someone else not you. Possibly the reason you have heard nothing is because she knows this but rather than being anxious is a bit of a chancer.

I'd stick to your guns - there was no impact she didn't hit me, end of.

Teateaandmoretea · 21/12/2019 13:59

I've also been a passenger when a wing mirror has been knocked off and it went with a hell of a bang.

^^exactly this.

I think you sound lovely OP and possibly too nice for your own good.

CouldBeOuting · 21/12/2019 13:59

Be very careful OP. My brothers car got hit, while it was parked in a residents bay outside his house, brother was in the shower, our Dad heard the bang. Brothers car shunted up the road into neighbours car which was shunted into next neighbours car - the car that my brothers car was going at well over the 30mph limit. Police called by one of the neighbours. Brother then a couple of weeks later heard from his insurance company that they had agreed fault as he had pulled out in front of the speeding vehicle! Because that is what the other driver claimed! Fortunate that the neighbour had called the police as the police report was the only thing that saved my brother being blamed for an accident that occurred while he was IN THE SHOWER!

MRex · 21/12/2019 14:14

I had a bus take off my wing mirror with the rear of his bus as he tried to overtake and pull in too quickly. Not only did it make a very loud noise, but the bus driver knew and stopped. The pieces landed very quickly. It must have been another car that hit her and she only noticed you because she was on her phone texting.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 21/12/2019 14:21

It would be interesting to see her phone records at the time of the accident...

Teateaandmoretea · 21/12/2019 14:33

The other possibility other than phone that I can't see anyone has mentioned is that she had been drinking. We are talking here about the Friday before Christmas when lots of people will have been out for lunch.

She didn't need to be the staggering around stinking of booze level to be impaired. It would also explain why she panicked and appeared very distressed/ wanted her boyfriend to retrieve her ASAP/ why she didn't insist on the police being called when the OP didn't admit to hitting her (which is surely what you would do if this happened and you were sure she had)

LizB62A · 21/12/2019 14:38

And this is why I have a dashcam - it's too easy for people to make up shit and blame their accident on an innocent party.

FYI - I've got this one which has both front and rear cams: www.amazon.co.uk/VIOFO-Cameras-Detection-G-sensor-Parking/dp/B07DHKLH4F/ref=sr_1_4?crid=344LXMDIKT3FA&keywords=viofo+dual+dash+cam&sprefix=viofo+dual%2Caps%2C132&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1576939006&sr=8-4

IamPickleRick · 21/12/2019 15:02

Someone took my wing mirror off while I was parked and stood next to the car getting the kids out. The whole thing shook. DS asked if there had been an earthquake. Their wing mirror came off in its entirety, my casing was ok but the glass shattered. They didn’t stop either despite everyone seeing and hearing it. People came out of the shops to see what had happened, that’s how loud it was.

My guess is she was on her phone and veering close to the middle because of lack of concentration. Makes someone passing or turning left a real possibility. I’m another one who would have told her to jog on if she had literally no explanation for what happened and you were far in front of her when the crash occurred.

Original poster
Chefwifelife · 21/12/2019 15:08

@FlatCheese nice to have someone on here who knows the road. Yep I was on route home from an apt at the RUH. I have come out of that junction many times and I’m always used to waiting for a gap in the traffic. She ended up in the side of the new self pay petrol station thing that’s now there. I think in future I’ll take that option!

OP posts:
Original poster
Chefwifelife · 21/12/2019 15:11

@easyandy101 you could totally be right. My BIL said the same thing about the crumple zone.

OP posts:
Original poster
Chefwifelife · 21/12/2019 15:12

@Jux actually there’s two lanes at the bottom
Of the hill. The left is for left so people were parallel with me.

OP posts:
Original poster
Chefwifelife · 21/12/2019 15:19

@LizB62A thanks for the info. I’m definitely going to purchase one in the NY!

OP posts:
Apolloanddaphne · 21/12/2019 15:21

I think the scenario where she was hit by someone turning left makes the most sense.

Original poster
Chefwifelife · 21/12/2019 15:35

@Teateaandmoretea thank you for the kind words.

And to clarify for others I didn’t mean I have to stop at the scene of an accident because I work in the NHS. I stop because I’d like to think someone would stop to help me, and I’m trained in basic life support so guess I feel a personal obligation.

OP posts:
StealthMama · 21/12/2019 20:33

There's no way you hit her, you couldn't possibly cause that damage without knowing and you would have virtually gone head in into her. There are insurance fraudsters out there who go round in a damaged car and convince you to stump up cash for the damage.

AngelGabs · 21/12/2019 20:48

Not read the whole thread. But LOTS of experience with RTAs

I would say 50/50. You pulled out when there wasn’t enough room, she was distracted/ going too fast. she swerved to avoid you and hit a bollard. The fact your cars didn’t come into contact doesn’t make it not your fault - because it was you pulling out on her that caused her to swerve.

expect now to read rest of thread and find new key facts

nocoolnamesleft · 21/12/2019 21:55

I don't think you hit her. I think you pulling out in front of her made her swerve to avoid you. Which is still your action causing the accident.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 22/12/2019 00:28

The other driver didn't say that she had swerved to avoid OP's car, though; she says that the other driver claimed that "she just looked up and I was in front of her!"

Surely if the other driver had then swerved to try to avoid a collision she would have said so?

I don't easily see how damage of the sort in the photograph could have been caused by the OP's car without the OP hearing, seeing and feeling it as it happened.

There must have been two points of impact for both the wheel-arch at knee-height or less and the wing-mirror at maybe waist-height or a bit under to have been damaged. And you say that neither has left any mark on your car.

If I were being unkind, I'd say that she must have been driving without due care and attention: she stated that "she just looked up and I was in front of her!" -- and you were there all the time, so she can't have been looking before then, at a junction when she ought to have been anticipating another car possibly pulling out.

DeRigueurMortis · 22/12/2019 02:54

Looking at the photo there is no way the OP had contact with the car.

Firstly, she would have felt an impact and her car would have sustained damage.

Looking carefully at the damage above the wheel, the metal has be warped towards the rear of the car.

If the OP had pulled out in front of her and clipped her car the warping would be in the opposite direction.

So she's either hit something else, such as the bollard, or a car turning left behind the OP crashed into her (both would warp left).

Looking at these possibilities, the latter is unlikely for 2 reasons. Firstly there is no paint transfer I can see from another car. Secondly the damage ends very abruptly and "squarely" which would tend to indicate she's hit something and done a correction steer away from it. If it was another car, I'd expect to see much longer marks along the wing and door.

As such I think she's hit the bollard as other posters have suggested.

What I can't tell is if she hit them as part of an emergency brake to avoid hitting the rear of your car but this would be very difficult for her to prove without a dash cam.

From her response at the roadside I'm inclined to think she was distracted and crashed into the bollards rather than you being at fault.

Swipe left for the next trending thread