Idiot drivers

[Lunar270]

Another driving one!

Basically I was approaching a roundabout on the inside lane, at 6 o'clock. I'm looking to go straight ahead and exit at 12 o'clock. There are 2 lanes in/out so I observe lane discipline. It's all clear so I carry on in the inside lane.

Literally from nowhere a spotty oik comes racing from the outside lane and takes out my front end. He wanted to take the 1st exit (9 o'clock) so clearly in the wrong.

However, the little cretin gets out and it's all my fault, saying I should've indicated to go straight ahead as he'd have known what I was doing. I stay calm, taking photos (no dash cam sadly) but he's in my face ranting on.

AIBU to think if you're clearly in the wrong you should just zip it? It doesn't matter how much you try and intimidate, it's not going to make you suddenly right. Either that or the highway code has never sunk in and he doesn't have a clue what the rules are.

After 10 minutes of getting the hairdryer treatment the police happen to pass by (thankfully).

Cue more ranting and then, "well you really need to be in the inside lane if you want to take the first exit" from the officer.

Now I'm dreading what BS he's going to tell his insurers to try and get out of this. I can tell this isn't going to be an easy one to sort.

But if the idiot was taking the first left turn and has managed to hit the OP where he has on her driver's side then surely that makes it clear that he was in the wrong lane? As there's no way he could hit the OPs car where he hit it unless he was coming from the outside lane, in which case he is admitting fault for being in the wrong lane or will have to explain how he hit her in the way he did whilst also being in the right?

If he was coming from another entrance and the OP "pulled out in front of him" then it would be a totally different angle.

We ve a roundabout like this nr us (as we all have) used extensively for driving tests, just because of its potential for confusion.

I was told (by driving instructor) that whilst you can use either lane to go straight on (subject to road markings) also have to be aware of drivers cutting you up too, on either entry or exit, so better to use the right hand lane and indicators.

Too many entitled drivers, so i hope you get a good outcome OP.

Yes the 12 o’clock is taught in advanced driver training. its an Easy way of remembering it.

You should send the diagram to the insurance! Even if nothing ever happens again it is so reassuring to have dashcams so would wholeheartedly recommend you to get them for front and rear. If your insurance goes up look at switching, you may get back down to what you had that way.

If the picture is accurate even if you were al turning left he’d have hit you. He wasn’t even going to make that second Lane on the first exit.

I don't see why the insurance companies won't be able to assign blame? Won't it be clear from which side of the cars the damage is on who is at fault?

I suppose he could make up a very big lie, about which exit was involved. That might not be believed if it went to court, but I'm not sure about the practicality of taking it that far. I suppose the moral is to take photos of where the cars end up, and any damage, at the time.

If he was trying to turn left, he should have been in the left hand lane. Right hand lane is for straight on, or turning right.

I had a man smash into the side of my car approaching a junction because he was in the wrong lane to start with. Road marking clearly showed which lane was for which, so I took a screen shot from Google maps, and sent it to my insurance, along with all the photos I took at the scene. Insurance on both sides agreed it was 100% his fault. Didn't stop him from getting out his car and screaming insults at me at the time.

OP, take screen shots of the road markins on maps. If you can, annotate one copy with the paths taken by the cars. Send it to your insurance with the rest of your photos. Good luck.

Ummm no, straight ahead is the left hand lane unless it's marked as a left turn or a dual carriageway (in which case you can use either but still not indicate because you know you're going straight ahead)

@melj1213 that's if he's honest about which lane he was in and the exit he was taking.

If he had been in the LHL going straight through and OP came out the first exit and hit him the damage could have been similar.

Hopefully he doesn't do that and says what happens but I've seen similar cases that were settled split liability

You could not be more wrong

How does one ‘indicate to go straight over’ I wonder 🤔

Guys an aggressive idiot

@Hymnulop that poster already corrected themselves straight after they posted that. As have many others, no need for the pile on

Wow he is an idiot, sorry you have had to deal with him in your face and shouting that must have been intimidating. This post is a reminder to get a dash cam sorted for me. Hope you can find some cctv

That’s a good point about checking out what the road markings say.

The local authority could have made the inside lane the OP was in a ‘turning left only’ lane. In which case she’s at fault as she was not turning left.

if not marked with a left only arrow, the other driver was Definitely wrong.

Goos luck OP hope you get it sorted soon. And that your insurance doesn’t go up next year.

@Elieza even if the LHL was "turn left only" it wouldn't be OP's fault - it would be split liability as the other driver still shouldn't have been in the RHL to turn left

True, Lou. I see he went into the inside lane on the road he was turning into. If anything he should have gone into the right hand lane of the road he was turning into.

I don’t see how he can get out of this one.

I'd love to know how twat driver thinks you indicate to go straight ahead. Did he not think there was a bit of a clue that you weren't intending to go left from the fact that you were not indicating left?

Don't. I was trying to explain this to him but it was clearly not getting through. He obviously had s#it for brains.

My car was stopped on the roundabout after the collision and I left it there temporarily to take photos of the scene.

Would you believe, while I was taking photos, he was pointing at the cars trying to continue straight ahead. They were indicating and he said, "see all these cars, they're indicating to go straight ahead" pointing to them as they passed us. "It proves I'm right".

At this point I lost it, "no you fuckwit" I said, "they're indicating as my car is blocking a fucking lane and they're indicating to drive around my car" 🤦

I'm not violent but I could've wrung his neck 😂

How do some people get a licence 🤦‍♀️

You're not wrong at all, but good luck with insurance. Hopefully they aren't dickheads.

Wrong! Straight on ins the inside lane.
How can being on the outside lane and turning left EVER be OK?

YANBU, the accident could not have occured if he correctly used lane 1 to turn left.
Unless signed otherwise, lane 1 is the default to turn off at 12 o'clock.

I've encountered some right muppets who don't understand lane discipline recently.
This week alone I've had one cut across turning right off a main road from the left; I was in the marked section to turn right (and indicating) and he cuts from the left, in front of an oncoming car, and seperately another who decided that lane 2/3 was a good choice to do 450⁰ on a roundabout. I was in lane 3 indicating right as I was doing a 360⁰ (urban dual carriageway) so he cut across my path. Fortunately I take my observations seriously and don't think with my accelerator, but that can't guarentee against all blithering idiots.

I hope the insurance company sees sense on this one.