Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who was in the wrong? (car accident related)

289 replies

QuestionableMouse · 19/01/2020 16:14

Out with my friend in her car today. She's a fairly new driver and has black box insurance.

We came to a blind bend with a car parked in our lane on double yellow lines. Friend moved over and drove around the car at probably 10 mph.

A car coming the other way clipped her car and has done quite a bit of damage to the front end. The car was doing 20mph roughly which is the speed limit.

My friend clipped the parked car and took the wing mirror off, doing some damage to the bumper too.

Both drivers are blaming my friend (she's the youngest/least experienced driver.)

I say the parked car driver is at fault because they were parked on double yellow lines and if they hadn't been there the accident would never have happened.

All been referred to the insurances of course, including pics of the parked car.

I'm feeling very stiff and achy and will probably miss work tomorrow (it's aggravated my already bad back) and poor friend is really upset and shaken.

OP posts:
Thislittlepiggywentto · 19/01/2020 17:53

Bear in mind your injury claim will also come from your friends insurance and ramp up costs. The law around soft tissue claims is about to change too, the MOD is very hot on injury claims now.

busybarbara · 19/01/2020 18:01

The oncoming driver is entirely at fault. You can't come around a corner and expect the road to be clear. You should slow down for bends so you can stop in cases like this or if someone is stood in the street etc

adaline · 19/01/2020 18:04

The oncoming driver is entirely at fault.

Totally incorrect. The oncoming driver was on the right side of the road and came around the corner to a car who was dangerously overtaking!

Retroflex · 19/01/2020 18:05

"Parked car was a Vauxhall Nova! I haven't seen one of those for years." if the damage done to the parked car (wing mirror removed, damage to the bumper) costs more to repair, which when insurance companies and garages are involved, prices unfortunately do escalate, but if the cost to repair is more than the "worth" of the car, (parkers guide will often give an estimate), the insurance company will often write the car off... So what didn't look like "much" damage, can leave someone without a car... The fact that it's an old Vauxhall Nova, would in my mind support a claim that the car had broken down...

spongejack · 19/01/2020 18:06

@busybarbara but the oncoming driver was on their side of the road within the speed limit. How on earth can it be their fault, had PPs friend been on the their own side of the road then no accident would've occurred.

purplecorkheart · 19/01/2020 18:08

The obstruction was on your friends side so they liable as your friend was on the wrong side of the road. Unfortunately it is their responsibility ensure the road was clear. Even if that meant you getting out of the car to check

coconuttelegraph · 19/01/2020 18:16

I'm surprised posters are saying the other driver is at fault, that person was on the correct side of the road under the speed limit according to the OP, how can it be their fault?

Do people really drive around at a snail's pace in case they meet someone on the wrong side of the road round the corner?

It's a hard lesson fro your friend, I think she'll be held liable by the insurers

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 19/01/2020 18:18

@Retroflex

I don't think it had broken down. Started right up when the owners came out to see what had happened. I was more amazed it was still on the road!

Not looking to claim from anyone. My bad back has been bad for a while and is a pre existing injury.

OP posts:
SouthWestmom · 19/01/2020 18:25

But the oncoming car doesn't have carte Blanche to just hit anything on its side! So who hit who? Did the oncoming car hit your friend?

For example, I had right of way and kept going past a row of parked cars. Unfortunately so did the twat who decided to go round them and come at me. I'm not allowed to just drive into them, so stopped and tried to get round them.

coconuttelegraph · 19/01/2020 18:29

I wasn't saying the oncoming driver can drive without any care and attention but if the bend is as bad as the OP says and the driver was only doing 20mph it sounds like he couldn't avoid the friend, maybe there simply wasn't time to do anything.

A Google strretview of the bend would help understand it more.

MyNewBearTotoro · 19/01/2020 18:34

Unfortunately your friend is likely to be found to be in the wrong for overtaking an obstruction in the road when it was unsafe to do so. if an obstruction in the road is so placed that you can’t see whether it’s safe to cross into the other lane to pass it then the correct action to take is to stop and call the police, not just to cross your fingers and overtake blindly whilst hoping for the best.

In the case where the road is impassable then unfortunately as a driver you either have to turn around and find an alternative route or wait for the police to come and remove the obstruction. That would be the case whether the obstruction is a fallen tree, an over-turned lorry, an escaped herd of cows, a flooded road or an illegally parked car.

It is an unfortunate situation for your friend to have been caught in but ultimately she was wrong to overtake if she couldn’t see whether it was safe to do so.

BiarritzCrackers · 19/01/2020 18:34

I can't see why the other car doesn't have a responsibility to be driving in a way that enables them to stop. A tripped-over pedestrian could be in the road - we can't just drive over people, because we didn't expect them to be there.

adaline · 19/01/2020 18:35

But the oncoming car doesn't have carte Blanche to just hit anything on its side! So who hit who?

The OP hit him, because she was in the wrong lane. If she wasn't performing a dangerous manoeuvre, the oncoming car would have just carried on his merry way without hitting anything.

OP's friend shouldn't have overtaken if it wasn't obviously safe to do so. She did and hit an oncoming car. Her fault.

adaline · 19/01/2020 18:37

I can't see why the other car doesn't have a responsibility to be driving in a way that enables them to stop.

Well, they do, but it's not always possible. The fact that he could have hit a pedestrian is irrelevant, really.

He didn't. He hit the OP's friend who was driving into oncoming traffic!

cabbageking · 19/01/2020 18:38

Your friend saw the obstruction and still hit it at 10mph?
How is it the parked cars fault? It might have broken down, been a child and pram, animal etc. But it was not moving.

If she couldn't see the road was clear when she overtook she should have waited or used her horn to alert other drivers.

You can get whiplash at any speed.

spongejack · 19/01/2020 18:49

But the oncoming car doesn't have carte Blanche to just hit anything on its side! So who hit who? Did the oncoming car hit your friend?

They hit each other.... one was travelling at 10mph the other at 20mph Confused

bettytaghetti · 19/01/2020 19:03

Sorry Op, agree with all the others; your friend is at fault and this is one of those situations that you learn to deal with by experience, which your friend doesn't have.
Put yourself in the Audi driver's position: they were driving on the correct side of the road and obeying the speed limit. Why on earth should they be forced to pay because your friend couldn't wait?
Unfortunately I think a pp may be right and the insurance companies will settle 50/50, because that way they (collectively) take two insurance excess payments rather than one, and so the person that loses out is the Audi driver. Speaking from bitter experience

Jomarchsburntskirt · 19/01/2020 19:08

Your friend needs more driving lessons.

cologne4711 · 19/01/2020 19:11

If someone is parked in your lane on a blind bend or the top of a hill that you can't see around, what are you meant to do from an insurance liability point of view?

Other than turning around and finding a different route?

Personally I think the parked car owner should be liable for forcing people into an impossible situation.

Obviously, if you can see, then you wait until it is clear. But that wasn't the case here.

Your friend needs more driving lessons She does not.

Winterwoollies · 19/01/2020 19:11

Based on some of the comments on this thread about who is to blame and some of the comments on another thread about speeds on dual carriageways, there are some terrifyingly inept and ignorant motorists out there.... 😳

cologne4711 · 19/01/2020 19:11

cabbage read the opening post again - the OP's friend did not hit the obstruction, she hit an oncoming car (that she could not see) because of the obstruction.

Sugarplumfairy65 · 19/01/2020 19:15

Your friend is at fault. If the car had a blue badge in it, it would be legally parked unless within 10m of a junction

cologne4711 · 19/01/2020 19:16

Something needs to be done about dangerous parking like this.

But yesterday I saw a police car parked on a pavement blocking most of it. No wheelchair user or pram could have got through. Yes the police may have been on an emergency call. But it would have take the same amount of time to park on the road as it would have done to park on the pavement. I've also been in a situation where there were roadworks and temporary traffic lights near my home, and people kept stopping across the mouth of the road, blocking access in and out. I came along, and you've guessed it, a police car was blocking it. I stopped and gave him a meaningful look and he reversed back slightly to let me though. I absolutely would have sat there and caused gridlock to make a point (on other occasions when it was blocked I went down the road and turned round and came back but I was furious at a police car doing it). But if the police are so rubbish, there's no hope for the ordinary driver.

Sometimes when I have to go past some idiot parked on the brow of a hill I do beep my horn in warning.

adaline · 19/01/2020 19:16

If someone is parked in your lane on a blind bend or the top of a hill that you can't see around, what are you meant to do from an insurance liability point of view?

You might not be able to do much, but that still doesn't mean the accident isn't your fault. If you overtake something on a blind bend and hit a car, it's nobody else's fault but your own.

cologne4711 · 19/01/2020 19:16

If the car had a blue badge in it, it would be legally parked unless within 10m of a junction

Blue badge holders are not exempt from the requirement not to cause a dangerous obstruction, which this clearly was.

Swipe left for the next trending thread