Who was in the wrong? (car accident related)

[QuestionableMouse]

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.

Your friend is totally at fault. I think. Isn't that the Highway Code? She hit the parked car. She hit the oncoming car.

Irrespective of whether the car is parked legally or illegally, the fact is there is an obstruction on her side of the road and thus she is legally obliged to give way. I think.

Crap I know but definitely your friend at fault. Parking illegally doesn’t mean the driver who parked is at fault. They might have been disabled and had a disabled badge displayed. Even if not, you hit a parked car - it’s your fault. You hit a car because you’ve crossed over the centre of the road, it’s still your fault.

There’s a numpty near us who regularly parks on the brow of the hill obstructing any view of traffic coming up. I creep up at almost a standstill and am always ready to stop/reverse if someone is coming up.

Inconsiderate parking is a bloody nightmare but sadly a fact of life that your friend will have to get used to. I have hit three cars over the years who have parked opposite our driveway blocking us in and every time I’ve had to cough up for the damage- even though they parked like total fucking idiots.

You will have to wait for the insurance - many years ago my brother hit a parked car & then a car coming the other way. The car was parked on a bend too close to the junction (within 5 MTRS) & the accident was deemed to be the parked cars fault & everything went through their insurance.
It will also depend on the exact order it happened, how far round the car you/your friends was when they hit the 1st vehicle - like others have said the oncoming vehicle does have tight of way but if she was travelling that slowly they other driver may have overestimated her speed

StarEclipse

Your friend should have stopped and waited for the oncoming traffic to clear before she moved around the illegally parked car
^
This. The car could have stopped for all sorts of reasons, including driver feeling feint or emergency stop, you can’t just pull round into oncoming traffic. Her error, hope you’re both ok. She’ll be very shaken. Perhaps she should have a couple of advanced lessons to regain her confidence and improve her driving A maybe she passed too early, it was a pretty dumb thing to do.

Also - just worth noting, you mentioned residual pain and time off work. If you pursue a claim for that, it will be your friend who is liable and will impact on her insurance.

A colleague had a similar accident a couple of years ago and her daughter, who was in the passenger seat claimed for whiplash. My colleague was seriously pissed off when her daughter was awarded injury compensation which her insurance covered and which then put her premiums through the roof.

I honestly don't know how else to say this--there was no way of knowing a car was coming. There's building work going on in the area so even putting the windows down wouldn't have helped (they had wood chippers running 😟)

Also even if you have a blue badge you can't park on yellow lines if you're going to cause an obstruction.

Thanks for all of the replies. It's been interesting reading it.

Just to clear up something- my friend was almost past the parked car. She clipped it trying to get out of the way of the gigantic car coming at us. On a straight road the other car would have 100% stopped.

@Lincolnfield

I'm not going to claim. I have private health care through work so will be using that if I need.

Your friend is to blame. She clearly should have waited until the road was clear if the obstruction is on your side and you need to go around it you must wait until the road is clear of oncoming traffic . She damaged the parked car ? She didn't judge the width and if she also hit the oncoming car sounds like she tried to 'squeeze' through

It's your friend's fault annoyingly.

Hmm, tricky. If the parked car was on a blind bend, your friend did the right thing by edging slowly forward - you can't see round a blind bend, so you'd still be waiting there now!!

And you couldn't have turned around to go back, as you'd have been an obstruction then too.

The car coming towards you also has an obligation to drive carefully when approaching a blind bend... The driver has no way of knowing if there's an obstruction around the corner (as indeed there was).

Hope you and your friend are OK.

Report to police if you haven't already. Car parked on double yellow lines caused it, and police likely to prosecute them.

I think everyone has missed the whole point. The illegally parked car was parked at a BLIND BEND. There was no way the OPs driver could see if there was an oncoming car. The only option would be to hope that there was no oncoming traffic on the other side of the blind bend and proceed with caution- which is what they did. I think your friend may have a case if it is explained clearly that it was a BLIND BEND and there was NO OTHER OPTION but to proceed with care.

Parked car was there to be seen. Your friend crossed the lane into path of oncoming traffic. Unfortunately she'll likely be the one to blame.

@damnthatanxiety with all due respect youre talking bollocks.

As annoying as it is, the right option in the case where you CANNOT see ahead of you is to not proceed. You can't possibly argue that just "going for it" is an appropriate option, and I hope to god you don't drive 🤦‍♀️

In an ideal world OP should have gotten out and signalled the friend whether it was ok to go or not. Just driving and hoping for the best was wrong, and clearly didn't work.

Again I'll state that the illegally parked car is besides the point. They didn't directly cause the accident, OPs friend did. The same would be the case if it was a fallen tree, or any other obstruction. The onus is on the driver to decide whether it's safe to go. It obviously wasn't.

The insurance company will either hold your friend at fault or (quite likely) settle the claim 50/50. The parked car is irrelevant to the claim. Your friends should not have proceeded if it wasn't clear, nor should the vehicle coming the other way.

She can report to the police if she wishes but they have zero say over who is held at fault in terms of insurance and are highly unlikely to bother chasing up the parked on double yellow lines car. If your friend has dash cam footage that would be helpful, as would an independent witness (not you) but it'd still be 50/50 at best.

(my daughter make these decisions for a living so I get lectured about such things regularly, tell your friend not to be offended by the term 'fault claim', it's just a technical term used by the insurance industry not a personal judgement)

@damnthatanxiety Car could have broken down on that bend. The onus is on a human person driving the moving vehicle, not some inanimate object!

Your friend is completely at fault. If you're on a blind bend and don't have enough room/time to clear the obstruction, you simply DO NOT DRIVE on the other side of the road! It's common sense! You have to be mad to drive on the wrong side if you don't have enough space to be able to pull back in if someone suddenly drives round the corner. What if it had been a juggernaut!
If you have someone else in the car, get them to get out and stop any oncoming traffic. If you don't have anyone else in the car, reverse, turn around and go the other way. Or if you have a warning triangle, park up safely, walk around the corner, place your triangle then drive round.
But don't just drive on the wrong side of the road!

@WeeSleekitTimerousMoosey Sorry it will not be 50/50. The other car was in the right lane, on the correct side of the road for its path of trajectory! The op's friend was ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. ITS 100% down to the at fault driver.

@QuestionableMouse

Please tell your friend that the Highway Code has a remedy for her situation. She is allowed to sound her horn 'as a warning' to other drivers who may be unaware of her presence. The oncoming car would have been alerted to a hazard and would have had the opportunity to slow down. It's what the horn was put there for, not for blaring at incompetent drivers.

How did she manage to take a wing mirror off, if she was 3/4 of the way passed? Wing mirrors are about half way down a car.

if she took the mirror off the other car, presumably she did it with her own mirror, which makes then level ( not 3/4 way passed.)

Either way, she is at fault, and far too close to a parked car

The illegally parked car was parked at a BLIND BEND.

It doesn't matter. You still can't drive into the path of oncoming traffic!

The insurers won't use their common sense that it would be physically impossible for a car to get passed a parked car on a blind bend and be able to see what else is coming

Insurance companies don't need to rely on interpretation I.e. "common sense". They refer to the rules in the Highway Code which are unambiguous and specific, as regards who has right of way in which circumstances.

The HC also covers the fact that a stationary vehicle (as in a parked car on the highway) is not liable whereas the moving vehicle with someone behind the wheel is liable, in this case because said obstruction was on their side of the road..

As a retired police officer i am sorry but your friend was at fault. A parked car may have been parked illegally but it was static and therefore has nothing to do with the actual collision. Your friend pulled out across the centre white line and collided with an oncoming car in their correct lane.
Fortunately it sounds like a low mph collision.
The Law doesn't take into account the fact that your friend is an inexperienced driver.

OP, I am head of Third Party Claims for a large insurer. Your friend is at fault unfortunately. Whether the car was parked illegally or not it was parked and there to be seen. The onus is on the moving party to ensure that the way is clear before pulling around a parked car and into the path of oncoming traffic. If she couldn’t see around it she should have taken a peep and creep approach until she could see round the parked car. Not what you want to hear I know but unfortunately that’s how it goes.

If she couldn’t see around it she should have taken a peep and creep approach until she could see round the parked car

So she does this, gets a few feet out at barely walking pace, and a car comes flying around the blind bend at the speed limit and there’s still a collision... still at fault? Apparently so on this thread!

Or if you have a warning triangle, park up safely, walk around the corner, place your triangle then drive round.

Would literally wet myself laughing if I saw someone in front of me doing this for getting past a parked car on a 20mph road.