Driver not admitting fault, where do i stand?!

[Rose19911991x]

My lights were on green and i was going straight across the road as a car came speeding into me from the left hand side. He claims i was stationary in the yellow box but the traffic was flowing infront of me. He was speeding and not taking any notice of the road and must of came over on amber . As soon as he got out of ths car he had his phone in his hand which made me wonder if thats why he didnt see me. There was a witness around who didnt actually see the crash happen but said it looked 50:50 as i was in the box which i was but i was in flowing traffic not stand still so i had to be 'in the box' to go through the road. You can see from the damage to my car that the driver was speeding.

Driver at fault wanted to go down the 50:50 route as soon as the witness started to say her opinion but she didnt see the crash or his speed she just looked after the crash and saw he hit me whilst i was in the yellow box. driver at fault was saying he would be happy to go down that route to the witness but she didnt see the crash happen or see how he was speeding so I'm not agreeing as he went into me during flowing traffic and was speeding. I had my 6 week old baby in the car with me im a careful driver and dont take chances.(thankfully shes fine)

Where do i stand?
If there hadnt of been a yellow box he would be at fault, but because i was passing through a yellow box everyone seems to think its his word againt mine.

His car was small bumper damage but hes wrote mine off? Im panicking. Please help?

Yy she could have a fine if found to have stopped incorrectly in the box (and from what she has written she was not stopped, she was driving though and the exit was clear). But none of that negated his crashing in to her, stopped incorrectly or otherwise

@Caramellatteplease

In your OP you said traffic was flowing infront of me. but i was in flowing traffic

You shouldn't have been in flowing traffic/had traffic in front of you if the exit from the box was clear, you should have been the only car in the box.

Argue it out with your insurance company. Gives them a laugh

Why so aggressive? All I can see is that you are very poor at reading comprehension.

@Jenala

Even if OP had made a mistake and was sat in the yellow box, the other driver is still at fault if he bloody crashes into her. As a PP said, it's almost even worse for him if she's stationary as no reason not to see her.

MN is funny about yellow boxes, I don't know if the people on here drive round them or something? You have to drive through them to cross a junction with one and it sounds like that's all op was doing. But like I said even if she had stopped, he's still at fault for crashing into it.

Exactly what I was going to say. Even if PP had stopped in the yellow box, surely she would have been visible enough to have given the other car a chance to stop?!

Were there any skid marks on the road OP, or did they just plough in to you because they didn't see the traffic lights or you because they were weren't paying attention? Did you take lots of photos? If not, go back today and see if you can see any marks and take photos if you can.

And don't worry OP - I totally understood that you were simply driving through the yellow box having gone through your traffic lights on a green light. The yellow box is almost irrelevant in this scenario.

If you'd gone through any traffic light on a green light and another car drove in to the side of you, how is it anyone else's fault than the person that drove in to you?!

Unfortunately it will come down to what is provable and insurance companies often don't have the time or inclination to fight it if it's a bit tricky. On the Admiral website it says:

"You may have heard of ‘knock for knock’ due to the number of claims that settle 50/50. But while an insurer will know you’re not at fault, there may not be any proof so it becomes one word against the other.

There are some circumstances where a 50/50 settle is not always appropriate. Each case can be argued based on precedence set by similar claims that went to court. It’s not uncommon to settle a claim 70/30 or 90/10; it just depends on what happened and the available evidence."

Is there any cctv you can get given it was a box junction.

He must have come over on red, probably because he was on his phone or just thinking that the traffic lights don’t mean anything.

Definitely his fault. Even if you were stationary in a yellow box junction and hid lights had turned to green then it would still be his fault as he was the one who drove into you.
I think the yellow box junction is immaterial.

It is his fault for speeding through a red light.

Oh - and this is exactly the sort of reason I bought a dashcam. If anything happens, at least I have some sort of proof (even if it was me that fucked up lol!)

I know it's a bit late now OP, but there are some pretty cheap cameras that will do the trick. Even if they don't work perfectly, it might be sufficient for the other party to own up.

Maybe post on a local social media page and see if there were any other witnesses to the crash that might be willing to give a statement?

I'm glad you and your baby are OK though - if they hit the left hand side of your car, does that mean it was where your baby was sitting?! You must have been so scared in that split moment.

God, how stressful and and upsetting with a baby in the car. I hope you’re both ok.

Definitely go through your insurance. You don’t have to accept 50:50 from them. They will appoint a solicitor if necessary.

When I was in my early 20s, I hit a car in a parking lot. I was looking for a space, and missed the fact that someone pulled out of their space, and I drove into them. It was an older man who yelled and screamed and cursed at me. Until another man came along, who had seen it, and said to him, "Look, she could have had her eyes closed and it's still your fault - you pulled out without looking."

I think this is a similar situation. if it was green for you, he ran a red light. You weren't stopped illegally on the yellow box, but even if you were, it wouldn't matter because he still drove through a red light (assuming your'e not mistaken that it was green for you).

Similarly, when I was rear ended, the guy admitted fault but even before my insurer had spoken to him, they told me it didn't matter as the person who does the rear ending is almost always liable.

Your insurance will sort it either way, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Yes - emphasis on green light, actively crossing (driving across) the junction and your way being clear to exit the junction.

(Traffic processing across a junction very likely to not be doing the max speed allowed in heavy traffic, but if actively crossing under a green light, not having to stop, and the junction being cleared at change of lights, that would be a normal state of things, IME)

You may not have seen him coming until the last minute as you would have been looking forward, and not to your left.

You are not in the wrong here.
Sometimes the insurance companies will go 50/50 anyway.

It sounds as though he's committed at least one road traffic offence, but I don't suppose the police would be interested unless someone was injured, or unless there was camera evidence - those junctions sometimes do have cameras and will catch drivers entering the junction on a red light or stopping illegally for them to be fined - like speed cameras - certainly at a few in London.

Just be as clear and factual as you can be.

Fwiw dd went into the back of someone as they were going onto a roundabout.
There was nothing coming and the car moved forward, dd said she was slowly going forward looking out for any traffic coming round the roundabout thinking the car infront was going to pull onto the roundabout. There were no cars around and the car infront breaked suddenly. Dd tapped the back of the car.
They both got out and inspected the cars and as there looked to be no damage but the woman said her bf worked in a garage and he would inspect it when she got home so could she have Dds insurance details
They exchanged insurance details just incase and went on their way. Dd did have the presence of mind to photo graph the back of the other car
A few weeks later they made an insurance claim. Dd sent her photo in and explained what had happened and that they didn’t see any damage at the time.

The other side now know there is a photo of there undamaged car after the accident and have so far not pursued the claim further

We think they were thinking it was an opportunity to get a newer car out of the incident and saw dd as a young girl they could get one over. I don’t think they expected dd to come up with a photo of their undamaged car after the incident.

There are a lot of scammers about.

Can I ask what speed was he doing when he ran into you.
I had this type of thing where someone was doing probably over 30 mph and if I hadn’t been driving a tank of a car the police said I would have had broken ribs or be dead

@JaffaRaf

And did the police not attend? What did they say?

The police do no attend crashes where no one is hurt.

These crashes and bashes happen all the time.

Please report this to your insurance company - they are the experts and will deal with the claim accordingly.

@Bythemillpond I had this too. Car in front waiting for a gap in the traffic. Gap came, car took gap and went. I stupidly trusted they'd gone (no reason otherwise) and looked for my gap which came soon afterwards so started forwards - first car had stopped on roundabout. No idea why. Low speed bump
But she was married to a police officer.
I admitted fault and apologised, gave my details. When home, phone call from her husband demanding I report to the station with all my paperwork the next day, which I did, and the desk sergeant was amused but not surprised. Didn't want or need my paperwork. Insurance company looked after it.
It was a pita, but useful lesson really.
No-one was hurt and that's the main thing.

@Rose19911991x Reading your title again, I would say insurance companies always say to anyone to not admit fault at the time -stay neutral and give your details - so the fact he didn't/hasn't admitted fault is nothing to be concerned about, but the normal run of things.
Please don't be alarmed by it

DoubleTweenQueen
I have done it a couple of times but realised at the very last minute and slammed on my breaks and been close to a bump.

I nearly killed someone the other day and probably would have wrote off a very expensive sports car.
I drive a very large van.
There is a junction near me that has separate lights for the right hand turn that goes green when the 3 lanes of oncoming traffic go red.
2 lanes of traffic had stopped, lights had turned green for me. I set off slowly (my van isn’t exactly zooped up) suddenly a top end sports car comes down the road. Doesn’t stop at the red light (why would they? They have spent 6 figures on their little car so the rules don’t apply to them). They speed across and I think if my bumper had been any lower it would have ripped off the side of the car.

I braked just in time but I think when they get home their little car will have a brown streak on the drivers side.

If I was just 2 feet further on they would have been scraping their face off my wheel hubs

Even when you think you are abiding by the rules others don’t and you have to look out for them as well.

@Caramellatteplease

^174 Box junctions. These have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road (download ‘Road markings’). You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear^

was flowing then she is entitled to be moving through the yellow box.
As above no shes not. The exit actually has to be clear before you enter the box. Although most people dont stick to it is there in the highway code

He went through the lights illegally so shouldn't have been able to hit her but actually she entered the box illegally so she shouldn't have been there to be hit. 50/50

Even if OP was in the box illegally, that in no way makes it 50:50. That's not how the law of negligence works, which is how the case would be decided if it went to court. It would be the other driver's fault; he has caused the collision by driving into her.

As another Pp has said, it would be similar if you drove into a car parked on double yellows. Presuming you had sufficient time to see the vehicle and stop if you were driving properly, then it would be entirely your fault.

Whether there was a box junction or not I think this guy coming through on red and then hitting a car that was driving through on green is 100% his fault. Add using his phone whilst driving I really can’t see why anyone would say 50/50.

That person is not a witness if they didn’t see the collision.

Why were you stationary in a yellow box?

Box junctions. These have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road (download ‘Road markings’). You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear.

Floralnomad is absolutely right. Your actions were against 174 of the highway code. Legally you shouldn't have been there anymore than he should. I'd be deeply surprised if this came out anything other than 50/50 especially if the report you put into you insurance company reads the same as you put here.

Everyone who said you did nothing wrong (from a legal perspective) need brushing up on their highway code!!!

So whenever people flow through a yellow box they stop and wait until the car in front has cleared it before driving through. Really??

@EleanorOlephantisjustfine

That person is not a witness if they didn’t see the collision.

Why were you stationary in a yellow box?

Nowhere has the OP said they were stationary in the yellow box.

So whenever people flow through a yellow box they stop and wait until the car in front has cleared it before driving through. Really??

Well, yes. Of course that’s what you do. You always wait for the car in front to exit out of the box junction with enough room before you move into it. Unless you are turning right.

So whenever people flow through a yellow box they stop and wait until the car in front has cleared it before driving through. Really

Erm. Yes

Surely that is obvious.

If you were genuinely at fault (which you clearly weren’t even if people are too stupid to read your posts and think you are) then why would he go for 50:50? He would go for you being at fault

This happened to me- different circumstances around the accident, but it was the other driver’s fault and she refused to admit liability. She stuck to this all the way to the morning of the court hearing, and also claimed vast amounts from my insurance company for fairly spurious reasons. I was actually looking forward to getting my day in court. And then literally as I was waiting to go outside my solicitor called to say that she had accepted joint liability so the hearing was off. Overall, it was a very stressful experience over the course of several months.

Crikey,
The amount of what-iffery going on in this thread.

It’s a road traffic accident.

All you should do, all you CAN do is to report it to your own motor insurers, making sure you’ve given them a full description of the incident. They’ll liaise with the other insurers and contact you if they need any clarification and you ask them any questions you have a get answers from professionals who do this sort of thing every day.

** and you can ask them any questions you have and get answers from professionals who do this sort of thing every day.